There is one thing that is true of wars and battles -- the winner gets to name the battle/war. To the Federal Forces, it was the Battle of Pea Ridge; to the Confederates, it was the Incident at Elkhorn Tavern. The Battle of Pea Ridge is considered to be the battle that saved Missouri for the Union.
March 6-8, 1862, Union forces under Gen Samuel Curtis clashed with the army of Gen Earl Van Dorn at the Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas. The battle ended in defeat for the Confederates.
Pea Ridge was part of a larger campaign for control of Missouri. Seven months earlier, the Confederates defeated a Union force at Wilson’s Creek, northeast of Pea Ridge. General Halleck, the Federal commander in Missouri, organized an expedition to drive the Confederates from southwestern Missouri. In February 1862, General Samuel Curtis led the 12,000-man Union army toward Springfield, MO. Confederate General Sterling Price retreated from the city with 8,000 troops in the face of the Union advance. Price withdrew into Arkansas, and Curtis followed him.
Price hooked up with Confederate Gen McCulloch and their combined army was placed under the leadership of General Van Dorn, recently appointed commander of Confederate forces in the trans-Mississippi area. Van Dorn joined Price and McCulloch on March 2, 1862, and ordered an advance on Curtis’ army.
Curtis received word of the approaching Confederates and concentrated his force around Elkhorn Tavern. Van Dorn sent part of his army on a march around the Yankees. On March 7, McCulloch slammed into the rear of the Union force, but Curtis anticipated the move and turned his men towards the attack. McCulloch and his second in command were both killed during the battle sending the Confederate troops into confusion. Meanwhile, the other part of Van Dorn’s forces attacked the front of Curtis’ command. Through bitter fighting the Union troops held their ground. Van Dorn's troops may have had better results if he had not left additional ammunition and supplies behind the lines so he could force march his troops to Elkhorn Tavern.
Curtis, suspecting that the Confederates were low on ammunition, attacked the divided army the following morning. Van Dorn realized he was in danger and ordered a retreat, ending the battle.
The Yankees suffered some 1,380 men killed, wounded, or captured out of 10,000 engaged; the Confederates suffered a loss of about 2,000 out of 14,000 engaged. The Union won a decisive victory that also helped them clear the upper Mississippi Valley region on the way to securing control of the Mississippi River by mid-1863.
There is an Iowa connection to the Battle at Pea Ridge:
4th Iowa- Lieutenant Colonel John Galligan
Losses: 160 (18 killed, 139 wounded, 3 missing)
1st Independent Battery, Iowa Light Artillery-Captain Junius A. Jones (wounded), Lieutenant Virgil A. David
Four 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder howitzers
Losses: 17 (3 killed, 14 wounded)
9th Iowa- Lieutenant Colonel Francis J. Herron (wounded/captured), Major William H. Coyl (wounded)
Losses: 218 (38 killed, 176 wounded, 4 missing)
3rd Independent Battery, Iowa Light Artillery (Dubuque Battery) - Captain Mortimer M. Hayden
Four 6-pounder guns and two 12-pounder howitzers
Losses: 22 (2 killed, 17 wounded, 3 missing)
3rd Iowa Cavalry- Colonel Cyrus Bussey
(Companies A, B, C, D and M present at Pea Ridge; remainder absent on duty in Missouri)
Losses: 50 (1 killed, 3 wounded, 2 missing)
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