PEA RIDGE — Editor’s Note: The following article is from Billie Jines’ 1996 booklet, “The Streets of Pea Ridge.” It has been updated to include new streets and those scheduled for future development.
Tinnin Street - Runs two blocks eastward from Curtis Avenue to North Davis St. The Pea Ridge Post Office, built in 1995, is located at the corner of North Curtis and Tinnin St. This street was named for Capt. Hugh Tinnin, one of three Tinnins from the Maysville area, who served the Confederacy at Pea Ridge. The Tinnin family, described as community and church-minded, donated the bell for what now is the Maysville Community Church. The three soldiers named Tinnin trained at Camp Walker, located nearly two miles east of Maysville for training Civil War soldiers.
Van Dorn Street - Leaves McCulloch Street a block west of North Curtis Avenue, goes south a block and heads west three blocks before circling back to McCulloch. Named for Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn, commander of the Confederate forces at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Gen. Van Dorn was a West Point graduate and had participated in the Mexican War. He was a planter from the same plantation country of Mississippi as was Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. It is reported that in 1863, the next year after the Battle of Pea Ridge, he died at the hands of a jealous husband in Spring Hill, Tenn.
Wade Lane - Turns east off of S. Curtis Avenue between Harris Street and Carden Road. Passes Oak Ridge Retirement Lodgeand then curves on to include residential areas.
Named for Capt. William Wade of Wade’s Missouri Battery. Capt. Wade was killed, and his battery then was known as Walsh’s.
Wakefield Drive - Arkansas Hwy. 94 west, located in the Givens Place development, which was added in 1996. Honors Harvey Wakefield of Hawkins Co. 2nd Arkansas Mtd. Rifles.
Watie Street - Another of the 1959 street-naming committee selections was conferred on Watie. Pronounced Wait-e, this one honors Col. Stand Watie, who commanded the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles under Brig. Gen. Albert Pike. Watie Street turns off of North Curtis Avenue and goes east one block to North Davis Street, then veers slightly and heads on east again another long block. Going back to the west of Curtis Avenue, one short section of Watie picks up a few hundredfeet from Curtis and goes to Bowen Street. Col. Watie was promoted before the end of the Civil War to general, and reportedly was the first Indian ever to have attained that office. He also is said to have been the last general to surrender after the war. He was in Texas when the war ended. Stand Watie was one of the four Cherokees who signed the treaty that brought about the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. All four were marked for death after the removal of the Indians to what we know today as Oklahoma. Three of the four were killed, and Stand Watie was the lone survivor of the plot.
Wood Street - Turns east from North Davis Street just north of the city’s shops. It does not connect to any other street at this time. Wood Street honors Private William H.
Wood, Co. A, 4th Arkansas. He was wounded in the throat and shoulder at Pea Ridge.
Opinion, Pages 4 on 04/04/2012