I have always been fascinated by this little known battle as it displayed superior generalship by Curtis and highlighted how an overzealous commander, Van Dorn, could have the tables turned on him while expecting to mop up the Federal army on the second day’s fight. I also consider Pea Ridge Military Park to be one of the best preserved battlefields in the United States, looking much as it did nearly 150 years ago.

For more information on the Battle of Pea Ridge, see my blog article by clicking HERE. If you are interested in seeing pictures of the Pea Ridge National Military Park, click on the following link.

Mike’s Photo essays on Pea Ridge National Military Park

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Prior to the firing on Fort Sumter, both sides began organizing for what was believed to be the inevitable: civil war. Francis Preston Blair, Jr., working with US Captain Nathaniel Lyon, moved much of the arms and ammunition, from the St. Louis Federal Arsenal, to Alton, Illinois. Additionally he began recruiting and outfitting nearly 1,000 militia troops, largely from the secret paramilitary group, the St. Louis Wide Awakes. Operating not so secretly, were the pro-secession faction of Missourians. They had previously taken the arsenal at Liberty, Missouri and now began organizing the Missouri State Militia. Missouri governor Claiborne Jackson established Camp Jackson just 4 1/2 miles from St. Louis and used it to enlist and train the pro-Confederate forces under the command of Brigadier General Daniel M. Frost.

On May 10, recently promoted Brigadier General Lyon forced the surrender of 669 militiamen at the camp. Tensions were extremely high and would be inflamed by Lyon forcing the militiamen to march through lines of German born anti-slavery troops, then called the German Home Guard. These were many of the same men that Lyon and Blair had recruited earlier. These actions would lead to the St. Louis Massacre on May 11 – where the German Home Guard was fired on from windows in St. Louis. The same day, the Missouri General Assembly would approve a measure creating the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard and appointing Sterling Price major general and commander. These troops would begin to gather at Jefferson City by mid-May. After suffering at setback at Boonville, on June 17, they would begin to move southwest. The stage was set for the upcoming Battle of Carthage (July 5) and the first large scale battle in the Trans-Mississippi, Wilson’s Creek, on August 10.

Missouri would remain torn through the remainder of the Civil War, with guerrilla action being the norm. Jesse James and William C. Quantrill would become infamous for many of these brutal acts. St Louis, would remain in Federal control throughout the rest of the war and would become the headquarters for the District of Missouri.

This past July, friend, author and fellow ACW blogger, Eric Wittenberg, came to visit me in St. Louis. We dubbed the trip our Trans-Mississippi excursion and visited Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, Pea Ridge National Military Park and Prairie Grove State Battlefield Park. We started the excursion with a visit to Calvary and Bellefontaine cemeteries. The photo essay from these historic cemeteries can be found by clicking on the following link.

Mike’s photo essay on Saint Louis Civil War era graves

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I wrote a detailed battle narrative for last year’s anniversary of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek.  You can read it by clicking on the following link.

Wilson’s Creek: The Civil War Breaks out in the West

Click HERE to view my photo essay on the Battle of Wilson’s Creek

One particular passage of the book caught my interest as it demonstrates the fighting elan of the field officers of the Confederate army.  CSA Colonel Joseph C. Pleasants commanded an Arkansas infantry regiment in CSA Brigadier General James F. Fagan’s Brigade of CSA Brigadier General Francis S. Shoup’s Division.  Assigned the unenviable task of holding the north face of the hill, that was Prairie Grove, Fagan’s Brigade was assaulted by two separate Federal thrusts – first by the 20th Wisconsin and 19th Iowa – and then later in the afternoon by 37th Illinois and 26th Indiana.  These attacks were brutal, with the fighting devolving to hand-to-hand combat.  Supporting the Federal assaults were very well executed artillery bombardments by a superior Federal artillery, with 20 pieces.  Fagan’s Brigade was posted on the high ground, south beyond the West Cornfield.  Pleasants’ Arkansas Infantry held the right flank of Fagan’s Brigade and received a direct attack by the 19th Iowa.  Described by Columbus H. Gray, of Pleasants infantry, the fighting was most severe in an orchard, “We were all laying down and the Federals came up in fifty steps of us when our colonel ordered us to rise and fire.”(i)

During the melee around the orchard, Colonel Joseph Pleasants became one of the many Confederate casualties.  Unable to describe the heroism better than Mr. Shea, the following text, from “Fields of Blood,” describes Pleasants’ actions leading his regiment.

“Among the dozens of Rebels who fell in the orchard was Colonel Pleasants.  A bullet broke his leg, but he stayed on his horse until the animal was shot out from under him.  In excruciating pain, the forty-seven year old Virginia native was dragged clear of his horse and propped up against a tree.  When Captain Henry C. Pleasants attempted to carry his father to the rear, the older man would have none of it.  He stated that “his place was with the regiment” and that “he would take care of himself.”  Others offered to move Pleasants to the opposite side of the tree so he would be protected from enemy fire.  “No,” he said, “my boys fight so well I must see them through the charge.”  When the fighting ended, Colonel Pleasants insisted that all the other wounded members of the regiment be removed before he allowed himself to be taken to the rear.  At the hospital he refused to let surgeons dress his wound until everyone else had been looked after.  Pleasants’ selfless behavior may have contributed to his death ten days later.”(ii)

CSA Colonel Joseph C. Pleasants was a brave leader that led his men from the front.  Even after his wounding, he refused to be removed from the field until all his wounded men had been taken care of.  While Congressional Medals of Honor were never awarded to Confederate soldiers, Pleasants’ gallantry at Prairie Grove would have been deserving of such recognition had he been fighting in a blue uniform.  Today we are one country - with fifty separate state flags – flying next to one national flag.  I am proud to say that Colonel Joseph Pleasants is a true American HERO, who fought bravely, and selflessly, for what he believed in.

(i) Shea, William L., Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign, published by The University of North Carolina Press in 2009, Pg. 177.
(ii) Shea, William L., Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign, published by The University of North Carolina Press in 2009, Pg. 178.