Page 5

(Pea Ridge)

Pea Ridge

 Control of Missouri was a goal for both sides: the North wanted to hold as many slave states in the Union as possible, while the South wanted to make all the stars on its flag represent states.  The South had won at Wilson's Creek in 1861, but lacked the resources - and the popular support - to take the whole state.  Sterling Price made his base in Springfield, in the southwestern corner and tried to organize, equip, and train his men.  The Union faced similar problems.

 Then General Samuel R. Curtis was appointed.  He had plenty of energy and troops, and forced Price and the Missouri State Guard down into Arkansas.  Price withdrew along the Telegraph Road (Springfield, Missouri to Fayetteville, Arkansas), one of the few good routes through the Ozarks.  But he planned to be back soon. 

 Jefferson Davis had appointed a new commander for the Trans-Mississippi theater, Earl Van Dorn, to get around the bad blood between Price and Ben McCulloch, commander of a Texas-Arkansas contingent.  Van Dorn had a good reputation and was certainly an aggressive officer; he did what he could to meld the two contingents into one army, with the addition of about 800 pro-Confederate Indians under Brigadier General Albert Pike.  He intended to lead his men back into Missouri, beat whatever forces he found, and capture the state.

 Curtis' army was in the way, around the Elkhorn Tavern and in front of PEA RIDGE.

Page 5

(Pea Ridge)