The week of Feb. 5-11, 1862, the Pea Ridge campaign was set into motion.
The Union army under Brigadier Gen. Samuel R. Curtis had prepared for weeks at Lebanon, Mo., to begin the winter campaign to crush or push the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard out of southwest Missouri once and for all. Gen. Sterling Price, former governor of Missouri and now the commander of the Missouri State Guard, was alarmed at the Federal build up and sent frantic messages to northwest Arkansas for Confederate General Ben McCulloch’s troops to march north and help defeat Curtis’s army.
McCulloch was away in Richmond, Va., meeting with Jefferson Davis and his second in command, Gen. James McIntosh, did not believe that he had the authority to move into Missouri.
Before arriving in Fort Smith on Feb. 5, McCulloch had met his new commander Major Gen. Earl Van Dorn in Little Rock and Van Dorn informed McCulloch that he intended to move the Confederate troops to Pocahontas, Ark., in time for a new spring campaign. Earl Van Dorn had his eyesset upon capturing St.
Louis.
When McCulloch returned to his headquarters in Fort Smith, he read the messages from Price and also felt that he had no authority to move into Missouri especially with the new information form Van Dorn about a spring campaign. Like his commander Major General Earl Van Dorn, McCulloch waited for spring to come and welcome the new campaign season. Curtis would use the winter season to his advantage.
On Feb. 10, 1862, Curtis’s 13,000 troops marched from Lebanon towardsPrice and his Missouri State Guard then encamped near Springfield 55 miles distant. The rail road line ended at Rolla, Mo., and Curtis was forced to leave troops behind at several key points to guard his supply route as they marched. Curtis was hemorrhaging badly needed troops before he ever fired a shot.
Sterling Price nervously watched both to the north and south.
◊◊◊
Editor’s note: Troy Banzhaf is the supervisory park ranger/interpretation at the Pea Ridge National Military Park.
News, Pages 1 on 02/08/2012