Overview
"Northwest Arkansas was a contested Civil War landscape, and this two-day route follows that conflict from the Ozark battlefields toward the Arkansas River. Pea Ridge National Military Park interprets the March 1862 battle that helped determine control of Missouri and became a turning point in the Trans-Mississippi theater. Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park continues the story with the December 1862 engagement widely recognized as the last major Civil War battle in northwest Arkansas. The route then turns south to Fort Smith National Historic Site. Fort Smith’s preserved history stretches well beyond the war, but its Civil War experience sits within a much larger story of the federal frontier, Indian Territory, the Trail of Tears, and later federal courts. That broader context makes Fort Smith a strong final stop: travelers see not only battlefield tactics, but also the political and geographic importance of western Arkansas."
