The Battle of Prairie Grove was a battle of the American Civil War fought on December 7, 1862. While tactically indecisive, the battle secured the Union control of northwestern Arkansas.
The Battle of Pea Ridge, also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, took place during the American Civil War near Leetown, northeast of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Federal forces, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, moved south from central Missouri, driving Confederate forces into northwestern Arkansas. Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn had launched a Confederate counteroffensive, hoping to recapture northern Arkansas and Missouri. Confederate forces met at Bentonville and became the most substantial Rebel force, by way of guns and men, to assemble in the Trans-Mississippi. Against the odds, Curtis held off the Confederate attack on the first day and drove Van Dorn's force off the battlefield on the second. By defeating the Confederates, the Union forces established Federal control of most of Missouri and northern Arkansas.
The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is the preserved 19th-century village named Appomattox Court House in Appomattox County, Virginia. The village was named for the presence nearby of what is now preserved as the Old Appomattox Court House. The village is the site of the Battle of Appomattox Court House, and contains the McLean House, where the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee to Union commander Ulysses S. Grant took place on April 9, 1865, an event widely symbolic of the end of the American Civil War. The village itself began as the community of Clover Hill, which was made the county seat of Appomattox County in the 1840s. The village of Appomattox Court House entered a stage of decline after it was bypassed by a railroad in 1854. In 1930, the United States War Department was authorized to erect a monument at the site, and in 1933 the War Department's holdings there was transferred to the National Park Service. The site was greatly enlarged in 1935, and a restoration of the McLean House was planned but was delayed by World War II. In 1949, the restored McLean House was reopened to the public. Several restored buildings, as well as a number of original 19th-century structures are situated at the site.
Kennesaw Battlefield Park preserves a Civil War battleground of the Atlanta Campaign, and also contains Kennesaw Mountain. It is located at 900 Kennesaw Mountain Drive, between Marietta and Kennesaw, Georgia. The name "Kennesaw" derives from the Cherokee Indian "Gah-nee-sah" meaning "cemetery" or burial ground. The area was designated as a U.S. historic district on October 15, 1966.
Fort Donelson National Battlefield preserves Fort Donelson and Fort Heiman, two sites of the American Civil War Forts Henry and Donelson Campaign, in which Union Army Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant and Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote captured three Confederate forts and opened two rivers, the Tennessee River and the Cumberland River, to control by the Union Navy. The commanders received national recognition for their victories in February 1862, as they were the first major Union successes of the war. The capture of Fort Donelson and its garrison by the Union led to the capture of Tennessee's capital and industrial center, Nashville, which remained in Union hands from February 25, 1862, until the end of the war, and gave the Union effective control over much of Tennessee. This struck a major blow to the Confederacy early in the war.
Monocacy National Battlefield is a unit of the National Park Service, the site of the Battle of Monocacy in the American Civil War fought on July 9, 1864. The battlefield straddles the Monocacy River southeast of the city of Frederick, Maryland. The battle, labeled "The Battle That Saved Washington," was one of the last the Confederates would carry out in Union territory. The two opposing leaders were General Jubal Early, fighting for the South, and General Lew Wallace, fighting for the North.
Shiloh National Military Park preserves the American Civil War Shiloh and Corinth battlefields. The main section of the park is in the unincorporated community of Shiloh, about nine miles (14 km) south of Savannah, Tennessee, with additional areas located in the city of Corinth, Mississippi, 23 miles (37 km) southwest of Shiloh and the Parker's Crossroads Battlefield in the city of Parkers Crossroads, Tennessee. The Battle of Shiloh began a six-month struggle for the key railroad junction at Corinth. Afterward, Union forces marched from Pittsburg Landing to take Corinth in a May siege, then withstood an October Confederate counter-attack.
Vicksburg National Military Park preserves the site of the American Civil War Battle of Vicksburg, waged from March 29 to July 4, 1863. The park, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, flanking the Mississippi River, also commemorates the greater Vicksburg Campaign which led up to the battle. Reconstructed forts and trenches evoke memories of the 47-day siege that ended in the surrender of the city. Victory here and at Port Hudson, farther south in Louisiana, gave the Union control of the Mississippi River.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, located in northern Georgia and southeastern Tennessee, preserves the sites of two major battles of the American Civil War: the Battle of Chickamauga and the Siege of Chattanooga. A detailed history of the park's development was provided by the National Park Service in 1998.
Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, originally Harpers Ferry National Monument, is located at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers in and around Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. The park includes the historic center of Harpers Ferry, notable as a key 19th-century industrial area and as the scene of John Brown's failed abolitionist uprising. It contains the most visited historic site in the state of West Virginia, John Brown's Fort.
Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site memorializes the Battle of Brice's Cross Roads, in which a U.S. Army force was defeated by a smaller Confederate force commanded by Major-General Nathan Bedford Forrest on June 10, 1864, but nonetheless secured Union supply lines between Nashville and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Antietam National Battlefield is a National Park Service-protected area along Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Washington County, northwestern Maryland. It commemorates the American Civil War Battle of Antietam that occurred on September 17, 1862.
Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park is a unit of the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and elsewhere in Spotsylvania County, commemorating four major battles in the American Civil War: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania.
Stones River National Battlefield, a 570-acre (2.3 km2) park along the Stones River in Rutherford County, Tennessee, three miles (5 km) northwest of Murfreesboro and twenty-eight miles southeast of Nashville, memorializes the Battle of Stones River. This key battle of the American Civil War occurred on December 31, 1862, and January 2, 1863, and resulted in a strategic Union victory.
Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, located near Republic, Missouri, preserves the site of the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Fought on August 10, 1861, the battle was the first major American Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi River. In the battle, a Confederate army commanded by Benjamin McCulloch and Sterling Price defeated a smaller Union army commanded by Nathaniel Lyon. However, the Confederates were unable to hold much of Missouri, and a Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge effectively solidified Union control of the state. Major features include a five-mile automobile tour loop, the restored 1852 Ray House, and "Bloody Hill", the site of the final stage of the battle. The site is located near Republic in southwestern Missouri just southwest of the city of Springfield. It has been a unit of the National Park Service since 1960, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
Manassas National Battlefield Park is a unit of the National Park Service located in Prince William County, Virginia, north of Manassas that preserves the site of two major American Civil War battles: the First Battle of Bull Run, also called the Battle of First Manassas, and the Second Battle of Bull Run or Battle of Second Manassas. It was also where Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson acquired his nickname "Stonewall". The park was established in 1936 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
Elkhorn Tavern is a two-story, wood-frame structure that served as a physical center for the American Civil War Battle of Pea Ridge, also known as the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, which was fought on March 7 and March 8, 1862, approximately five miles east of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, located in the northeastern Benton County, Arkansas. The tavern, a replica built in 1865 following the burning of the original building by bushwhackers, is now the centerpiece of the Pea Ridge National Military Park, which includes approximately 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) around the structure, including the restored battlefields, a stretch of the pre-war Telegraph Road, which runs directly in front of the tavern, and a section of the Trail of Tears. The tavern is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail is a heritage tourism program that links more than 600 U.S. Civil War sites in more than 30 states. The program is one of the White House Millennium Council's sixteen flagship National Millennium Trails. Sites on the trail include battlefields, museums, historic sites, forts and cemeteries.
The Springfield to Fayetteville Road-Elkhorn Tavern Segment is a section of historic 19th-century roadway in Pea Ridge National Military Park in northwestern Arkansas. It is a dirt road, about 1 mile (1.6 km) long and 18 to 20 feet wide, that was built in 1835. The first major road through northwestern Arkansas, it connected Fayetteville, Arkansas with Springfield, Missouri. The road was part of the major northern route of the Trail of Tears, the forcible remove in the late 1830s of Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River to what is now Oklahoma. The road was also actively used by both Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War, and was the major route of advance by Confederate forces leading to the Battle of Pea Ridge, whose battlefield is preserved by the park.
Leetown, also known as Lee Town, was a historic village in Benton County, Arkansas, United States. The first day of the Battle of Pea Ridge was fought around Leetown.
