Re-enactors experience history first-hand

Steve Bailey
Steve Bailey

Hundreds of men, women and children dressed in muslin and wool 1860s-style clothing will camp on the fields along Big Sugar Creek north of Pea Ridge along the Missouri border over the Sept. 25-27 weekend.

They will build campfires and cook in cast-iron Dutch ovens; children will play in the alleyways between tents; soldiers will drill and prepare for battle. And, on Saturday night, all will gather to dance under the stars.

4 p.m. Friday, Battle

2 p.m. Saturday, Battle

7-10 p.m. Saturday, Dance

11 a.m. Sunday, Battle

17398 Patterson Road, Pea Ridge, Ark.

Tickets for spectators are $10 a day or $22 for a three-day pass; free for children under 16.

The organizer of the re-enactment of the 1862 Battle of Pea Ridge, Steve Bailey, said: "We certainly don't do this to memorialize our nation's worst tragedy."

"Our efforts are purely public charity," Bailey said, explaining that money raised goes to the Pea Ridge National Military Park Foundation.

The sixth re-enactment event is set for Sept. 25-27, on the Webb family farm, four miles north of downtown Pea Ridge. The farm, a picturesque and pristine 340-acre, seventh-generation farmstead, is near the 4,300-acre Pea Ridge National Military Park.

"It has nothing to do with hate. It's so the park can be preserved for future generations ... so they can learn that a house divided cannot stand. We can't ever go through another Civil War," he said.

Bailey said his first big event was in 1995.

"This will be a first event for many re-enactors. I want to make it memorable," Bailey said.

This will be the second re-enactment held on the Webb farm; the first was in 2013. It was held on Bentonville park property in 2005, 2007 and on a farm on Little Sugar Creek in 2001, 2003.

The nearly 200 acres south of Sugar Creek along the Arkansas-Missouri state line will be turned into battlegrounds and Civil War encampments as re-enactors set up camp Thursday. Visitors may tour the camp Thursday; battle re-enactments begin Friday.

Bailey, president of the Arkansas Re-enactors Education Association, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Northwest 15th Arkansas Infantry, says 600 re-enactors registered early and, depending on weather conditions, there could be as many as 800 attend.

The battle re-enactment is on private land instead of at the Pea Ridge National Military Park because battle re-enactments are not allowed on federal land, although encampments are.

Bailey said he anticipates more than 10,000 people over the three-day period based on registration.

"About three-fifths of the U.S. is represented with re-enactors coming from Maryland to California, from Washington State to Florida. We've never been represented like this in the Midwest," Bailey said. He explained that typically registration at national events is $20 but here it is only $8 and he said he provides well for the re-enactors.

The sponsor is the Arkansas Re-enactors Educational Association, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit tax-deductible public charity corporation designed to raise funds for historical preservation, e.g. the Pea Ridge National Military Park Foundation. Pea Ridge is being run by re-enactors, for re-enactors. Everyone is welcome, as is the Trans-Mississippi general rule. Wood, water, hay, sanitation and $2,000,000 insurance is available for only $8 per person, military or civilian re-enactor.

This Civil War re-enactment is endorsed by the Sons of the American Revolution, Daniel McKissic Chapter, Bella Vista, Ark.

Community on 09/23/2015