Pea Ridge National Military Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Pea Ridge National Military Park

Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

Pea Ridge National Military Park is a 4,300-acre park located in Benton County of northwestern Arkansas, 7 miles east of the town of Pea Ridge. The property, situated in the rolling foothills of the Ozarks, is in a forested area interspersed with fields. The park resides on a high plateau of land and rises to its highest elevation at Elkhorn Mountain. Pea Ridge National Military Park contains two battlefields and the surrounding areas, including a discontiguous block of land to the south known as the Little Sugar Creek Trenches that served as Federal trenches during the Civil War Battle. The primary period of significance for Pea Ridge National Military Park includes the years 1862 to 1865, based on the landscape’s association with events of the American Civil War. On March 7 and 8 of 1862, Federal and Confederate troops clashed at the site. Many features of the landscape that contributed to the battles, such as the presence of roads and the Elkhorn Tavern (c. 1833), had developed since the 1830s as the region was settled and cultivated, transportation and communication structures were extended, and population centers grew. During the battle on the Pea Ridge landscape, these features would serve as points of control and attack. The final confrontation of the skirmish occurred after Union General Samuel R. Curtis counterattacked near the Elkhorn Tavern and Telegraph Road, which had been seized by Confederate forces under General Earl Van Dorn the previous night. This action forced the Southern troops to retreat, and the outcome was critical for determining that Missouri would remain in the Union. The Elkhorn Tavern was eventually burned after a period of Union occupation; a chimney is all that remains of the original structure. The village of Leetown, deserted after the battle, was also significant to battle events due to its location and its relationship to other places in the Pea Ridge vicinity. The area contained a network of farmsteads and roads dating from before the battle. During the battle, the Lee house served as a hospital for the wounded, and a long trench was used to bury casualties. Pea Ridge is also important as part of the nationwide movement in battlefield commemoration that emerged after the Civil War. The efforts to establish a military park began following a veterans reunion held on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle, yet the park was not officially established until 1956. The Pea Ridge National Military Park opened to the public in 1963. Between 1960 and 1963, the park constructed the visitor center, tour road, employee residences, and planted trees. The Elkhorn Tavern was reconstructed as an interpretive site. A seven-mile self-guided tour road winds through the park, providing access to 11 interpretive sites and details on the locations where significant battle-era events occurred. The park also includes hiking and horse trails. Topography, road alignment, and land uses have remained similar to the time of historic significance. Telegraph Road, Ford Road, and Huntsville Road are still evident and serve primarily as interpretive and nature trails. All three have retained good integrity despite a typical amount of weathering, overgrowth, and erosion. The Pea Ridge National Military Park is described as one of the most well-preserved Civil War battle sites in existence. The NPS aims to interpret and manage the landscape in a way that the historic battle areas and their commemorative features, such as monuments, illustrate a cohesive image. Visitors can still see where the battles occurred and envision the movements of the troops across the landscape, as the park has been developed to appear similar to how it was in 1862. In general, the landscape of Pea Ridge National Military Park retains integrity of location, design, setting, feeling, and association.

Pea Ridge National Military Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Pea Ridge National Military Park

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