Skirmishes at Okolona

The fight is remembered as the Battle of the Bees. John Newman Edwards, adjutant to General Joseph Shelby, wrote in Shelby and His Men that a Union shell overturned beehives and angry bees drove the Confederate line back. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas finds no support for it. Shelby's report does not mention bees, nor do other reports or period newspapers, and the entry calls the story probably Edwards's embellishment. The records do show a hailstorm in the middle of the April 3, 1864 fight and Union losses of 11 killed, 44 wounded and 14 missing over both days.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Crater of Diamonds State Park — 19 mi
  A volcanic crater where anyone can dig for diamonds and keep what they find.
• DeGray Lake Resort State Park — 20 mi
  A resort park on a 13,400-acre lake made when the Caddo River was dammed, with a lodge, a golf course and a paddle trail through the islets.
• White Oak Lake State Park — 25 mi
  A 725-acre park on the lower of two 1961 lakes, where white sand marks an ancient shoreline and the visitor center carries a Poison Spring display eight miles from the battlefield.
• Historic Washington State Park — 25 mi
  A Southwest Trail town that was Arkansas's Confederate capital from 1863 to 1865, then lost the railroad and kept its buildings, with a blacksmith shop and the 1836 courthouse.

More markers nearby

• Fighting at Elkins' Ferry — steps away
• Skirmishes at Prairie D'Ane — 14 mi
• Action at Moscow — 16 mi
• Moscow Church and Cemetery — 16 mi