Batesville During The Civil War

Independence County was the state's second most populous in 1860, with 12,970 free residents and 1,337 enslaved people, and the war split it. Local men filled twenty-eight companies, twenty-three Confederate and five Union. Saltpeter mined in the county supplied munitions. Batesville served as a military headquarters through three Confederate and two Union occupations, with skirmishes in 1862 and 1863 and an expedition in 1864. The county had sent three delegates to the 1861 secession convention: M. S. Kennard, Urban Fort and F. W. Desha.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Independence Regional Museum — steps away
  A Batesville museum in a 1936 WPA sandstone National Guard armory, telling the story of the twelve counties that once formed Independence County, with a research wing for local records.
• Jacksonport State Park — 21 mi
  A steamboat port at the confluence of the White and Black rivers whose 1872 Second Empire courthouse, raised two feet to clear the floods, stands as the park museum.
• Greers Ferry Dam and Lake — 26 mi
  The Corps of Engineers dam on the Little Red River that President Kennedy dedicated on October 3, 1963, with a visitor center, a trout hatchery below the dam and a lake of 340 miles of shoreline.

More markers nearby

• Arkansas College — steps away
• Independence County First Court House — 0.5 mi
• Governor Elisha Baxter — 0.8 mi
• Three Governors of the State of Arkansas — 2.0 mi