Rogers-Lowell Area News

U of A Graduate Student to Visit Hobbs State Park: Will Reexamine Recent Archaeological Work at Pea Ridge National Military Park

U of A graduate student, Victoria Jones, will present a two-part program at Hobbs State Park bringing attention to fundamental events that occurred during the largest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi. 

According to Jones, “My presentation will focus on the surveys and excavations conducted in 2017 and 2018 within Pea Ridge National Military Park. Specifically, I will first explain the University of Arkansas field school excavations at Leetown, which happens to be the topic of my Master’s thesis. This part of the presentation is an update to previously-presented material, sharing the data analysis and results from these excavations.

The second part of this presentation focuses on the 2018 survey and excavations of Clemens Field, Fosters Farm and Field, as well as the continuation of the Leetown excavations.” Jones is responsible for the artifact cataloging and analysis of the summer 2017 and 2018 Pea Ridge National Military Park archaeological collection as well as supervision of the students working on the collection. 

Clemens Field was where the fighting took place in the early afternoon on March 7, 1862 between Major General Sterling Price’s Southern troops, and Union Colonel Grenville Dodge’s troops. Price and his men were out maneuvered and fled. At Foster’s Farm 500 Federal cavalrymen & artillerymen met face to face with General McCulloch’s 7,000 Southern troops. Hopelessly outnumbered, the Federal troops fled. Leetown was made up of a dozen or so log-and-frame homes and outbuildings that served as field hospitals to take care of the wounded and dying on both sides. The Leetown battlefield is where the Confederate Generals McCulluch and McIntosh were killed within 200 yards of each other. The Southern leadership on the battlefield gone, it was time to retreat. The Southern troops retreated 10 miles down the Huntsville Road to Peter Van Winkle’s mill, the location of which is now at Hobbs State Park. 

Civil War enthusiasts and just plain history buffs will not want to miss this program.

When: Sunday March 24, 2019
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Where: Hobbs State Park visitor center located on Hwy. 12 just east of the Hwy 12/War Eagle Road intersection.

For more information on Hobbs State Park programs, trails, picnicking, or meeting room rentals: Call: 479-789-5000.

Also see: http://www.friendsofhobbs.com/ and www.ArkansasStateParks.com/hobbsstateparkconservationarea.