PEA RIDGE, Ark. — A battlefield preservation group has identified land it wants to save in Northwest Arkansas.
The American Battlefield Trust wants to preserve 3 acres on the western side of Pea Ridge National Military Park near the Missouri-Arkansas line as part of its latest campaign, which also includes preserving land at two battlefields in Virginia.
“It would be the first time that the trust has saved land at Pea Ridge,” said Jared Herr, spokesperson for the organization.
The American Battlefield Trust has helped protect more than 60,000 acres around the country, including 351 acres of the Prairie Grove Battlefield in Northwest Arkansas, 326 acres of the Mine Creek battlefield in eastern Kansas, and more than 170 acres of the Cabin Creek and Honey Springs battlefields in Oklahoma. In Missouri, the group helped protect 180 acres of the 1861 Battle of Carthage, 8 acres at Newtonia, the site of two battles, and 278 acres at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
Although only 3 acres, Herr said the land that has been identified by the trust for preservation is important to telling the story of the fighting there in early March 1862.
“This is land that has been deemed core battlefield land,” Herr said. “We know historically that action took place here.”
This week, the trust announced a matching campaign to raise money for the Pea Ridge land, as well as 6 acres at Deep Bottom, Virginia, and 65 acres at Saltville, Virginia.
“This is $6.56-to-$1 match,” Herr said. “For every dollar, we’re getting seven times the impact.”
The trust said it is hoping to raise $245,000 to preserve the land at the three sites.
Herr cited growth in Northwest Arkansas as one of the reasons for the focus on the land near Arkansas Highway 172 on the west side of the existing 4,300-acre Pea Ridge battlefield.
If successful, this would be the second addition to the battlefield in recent years.
Two years ago, the Conservation Fund announced it was donating the 140-acre Green Homestead in Benton County to Pea Ridge National Military Park. It had acquired the land in 2020. The Green Homestead was on the north side of the battlefield had been identified as a conservation priority for the National Park Service.
Pea Ridge National Military Park preserves and commemorates the March 7-8, 1862, battle that helped Union forces maintain physical and political control of Missouri.