Pea Ridge: A 360° Battle
Dec 1861 – March 8, 1862 · The full Pea Ridge Campaign
Why the cannons face every direction
Van Dorn marched his entire army around behind Curtis to attack from the rear. Curtis literally turned his army 180° in place, his rear became his front. Then Van Dorn split his force on opposite sides of Big Mountain, so within hours Curtis was fighting two simultaneous battles two miles apart, on different fronts, facing different directions. The cannons in the park aren't oriented randomly. Each one points the way it actually fired during a specific phase, placed using archaeological evidence of where shell fragments and bullets landed.
Map layers
Period roads
Wire/Telegraph Rd
Bentonville Detour
Ford Road
Huntsville Rd
Christmas Day: Halleck orders Curtis to drive Price out of Missouri
What happened
Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, in St. Louis, gives Curtis command of the District of Southwest Missouri on Christmas Day 1861. Curtis is at the supply railhead at Rolla, the western terminus of the railroad from St. Louis. From Rolla he stages forward to Lebanon to assemble the new Army of the Southwest. The supply chain Rolla to Lebanon to Springfield to Sugar Creek will be the fragile lifeline that nearly costs him the campaign.
📜 Historical MarkerThere is no historical marker at Rolla itself, but the Frisco Depot and Phelps County Courthouse mark the supply line origin. Curtis's army would draw from Rolla supplies for the entire campaign.
Key people
Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck
Commander, Department of the Missouri
West Pointer, lawyer, military theorist ("Old Brains"). Headquartered in St. Louis. His Christmas Day 1861 order set the Pea Ridge campaign in motion. He despised Sigel and tolerated him only because of political pressure from German immigrants. After Pea Ridge he was promoted to general-in-chief of all Union armies.
Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis
Commander, Army of the Southwest
Iowa congressman, West Point class of 1831, civil engineer who built railroads before the war. Stiff, deliberate, traditional, but precisely the kind of officer needed at Pea Ridge. He resigned his House seat to take command. His engineer's eye placed the Sugar Creek entrenchments; his calm under fire let him turn the army 180 degrees when Van Dorn flanked him. After Pea Ridge he marched across Arkansas to Helena, freeing slaves along the way, months before the Emancipation Proclamation.
📜 Full chronology — click any event to view
🏔️ Campaign Phase — Dec 1861 to March 6, 1862 (20 events)▼
Dec 25, 1861
Christmas Day: Halleck orders Curtis to drive Price out of Missouri
Jan 13, 1862
Halleck's telegram to McClellan starts the campaign
Feb 12, 1862
First contact: skirmish at Pierson's Creek
Feb 13, 1862
Price abandons Springfield
Feb 14, 1862, late afternoon
Skirmish at Crane Creek: Ellis disobeys orders
Feb 15, 1862
Skirmish at Flat Creek: Sigel's trap fails
Feb 16, 1862
Skirmish at Cross Timber Hollow / Potts Hill: into Arkansas
Feb 17, 1862, afternoon
Battle of Dunagin's Farm: first Civil War battle in Arkansas
Feb 18-21, 1862
Why the Confederates burned Fayetteville
Feb 17 - Mar 1, 1862
Why the CSA generals were feuding (the McCulloch-Price problem)
March 2, 1862
Van Dorn takes overall command
March 4, 1862
Forced march begins: "bloody footprints in the snow"
March 5, 1862, evening
Van Dorn's army camps at Elm Springs
March 5, 1862
Federal divisions encamped at McKissick's Spring
March 6, 1862, ~10:00 AM
Sigel's interrupted breakfast at the Eagle Hotel
March 6, 1862, 10:00 AM - 3:30 PM
The Bentonville running fight: McIntosh's blunder saves Sigel
March 6, 1862, evening
Vandever's 42-mile march arrives at 8 PM
March 6, 1862, evening
Van Dorn at Camp Stephens: decides to flank
March 6-7, 1862, overnight
Federal trenches at Little Sugar Creek
March 6, 1862, night
Dodge fells trees on the Bentonville Detour
⚔️ March 7, 1862 — Day 1: Confederate attack (20 events)▼
Pre-dawn / early morning (5)
Dawn (~6 AM) March 7
Van Dorn's plan unravels: splits the army
Early AM March 7
Curtis turns his army around: the 360 degree pivot
~9:30 AM March 7
First contact: Cross Timber Hollow
~10:00 AM March 7
Carr deploys at Elkhorn: facing NORTH
~10:30 AM March 7
Van Dorn pauses: fatal hesitation
Late morning / midday (7)
~11:30 AM March 7
Osterhaus spots McCulloch's column from Foster's Farm
12:00 PM March 7
12:30 PM: Vandever arrives at Elkhorn
~Noon March 7
Pike's Indians overrun Bussey's guns
~12:30 PM March 7
Carr's guns silenced; falls back behind tavern
~1:00 PM March 7
Greusel forms on Oberson's Field: Sul Ross repulsed
~1:30 PM March 7
McCulloch killed at Oberson's Field
Late afternoon March 7
Williams Hollow flank turns Carr's right
Afternoon (5)
~2:00 PM March 7
McIntosh killed: division leaderless
~2:00 PM March 7
Hebert attacks Morgan's Woods: alone, unaware he's in command
~3:00 PM March 7
Davis arrives, Pike takes over Leetown front
~3:00-4:00 PM March 7
Hebert captured, Leetown front collapses
~2:00 PM March 7
Van Dorn learns McCulloch isn't coming
Evening (2)
~5:30-6:00 PM March 7
Carr pushed back to Ruddick's Field: 4th defensive line
6:30 PM March 7
Curtis's dusk counterattack: recalled
Night (1)
Night March 7-8
Bitter cold; Asboth begs Curtis to retreat
🎯 March 8, 1862 — Day 2: Union counterattack (6 events)▼
Pre-dawn / early morning (2)
~8:00-10:00 AM March 8
Largest massed artillery of the war (so far)
~10:30 AM March 8
Sigel's infantry assault: Big Mountain
Late morning / midday (2)
~11:00 AM March 8
Van Dorn breaks off; CSA escapes via Huntsville Rd
~12:00 PM March 8
"Victory!": Sigel meets Davis at Elkhorn Tavern
Evening (1)
~7:00 AM March 8
Confederate cannonade: but weak
Night (1)
Pre-dawn March 8
Curtis reorients: Sigel takes the left
🚩 Aftermath — March 8 onward (4 events)▼
March 8-9, 1862
Sigel marches the wrong way
March 8 - late March 1862
CSA retreat through the Ozarks to Van Buren
Late March - April 1862
Van Dorn ordered east of the Mississippi
1956 to today
Pea Ridge National Military Park