By the end of 1861, the Union forces had secured Missouri by routing the Missouri militia that favored secession. In early 1862, the Union commander, General Samuel Curtis moved his Army of the Southwest into northwest Arkansas to take the fight to the Confedrates and secure Missouri from Rebel cross border incursions.

Newly appointed Confederate Army of the West commander, General Earl Van Dorn decided to take his numerically superior, but logistically inferior forces to the northwest of Arkansas and push the Union back onto the back foot in both Arkansas and Missouri.

After several skirmishes in February and early March, 1862, Curtis settled on favorable ground to the east of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Van Dorn knew it was a good position, so decided to split his forces in an attempt to draw Curtis into a weaker position.

On day one of the battle, Curtis took the north and west of the position by heading off a flanking movement. The day was carried by the quick movement of the Union forces, the loss of two Confedrate Genrals and the capture of a Colonel. Van Dorn led the other Confederate column to take the south and east near Elkhorn Tavern. On day two, Curtis regrouped and attacked Elkhorn tavern with heavy artillery support. Van Dorn held the position but at a tremendous cost in casualties and ammunition and eventually had to retreat and leave the position to Curtis.

The Union continued to hold the area and the strategically important state of Missouri for most of the rest of the war.

Motorcycle Ride Recommendation

Begin or end your ride with the tour of the battlefield(also available as an online tour). Outside of the Pea Ridge Battlefield National Military Parkpark take a through the loop ride through the Hobbs State Park and around Beaver Lake.

Book Recommendation: Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Map Recommendation: Arkansas Atlas and Gazetteer 2006 from AbeBooks.com or Amazon.com

Accor Hotels in the Rogers area

From the late 1840s to the early 1890s, the USA fought many of the disparate Native-American, or Indian, tribes throughout the USA frontier states. Many of the battles are well known, such as Little Bighorn, but many more have fallen into obscurity.

• The Fetterman Massacre 21 December 1866
• Baker-Marias-River-Piegan-Massacre-23-January-1870
• Battle of Wolf Mountain Battle of the Butte 8 January 1877
• Sitting Bull Killed on Indian Reservation 15 December 1890
• Wounded Knee 29 December 1890
Technorati Tags: 1800s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s Apache AZ CA CO frontier ID Indian Kiowa KS MN MT Native-American ND NE NM NV OK OR SD Shoshone Sioux TX US Cavalry USA USA USA Indian Wars of the West UT WA west west WY motorcycle motorcycle-touring motorcycle touring military history military-history battlefields

Battle of Lansdown Hill - 5 July 1643

The Royalists had been gathering strength throughout the west in early 1643, but there were still several Parliamentary strong points that needed to be neutralised, before the Royalist rear would be secure enough to mount an all out assault on London. With this aim, Sir Ralph Hopton set out to draw his old friend William Waller out to battle, so that the Royalists could take the Parliamentary town of Bath. The two met north of Bath on Lansdown Hill.
Waller had had time to prepare, so had used the existing Saxon-times quarry pits and embellished them into a formidable network of trenches and gun emplacements. Seeing Waller on top of a nearly impregnable position, Hopton thought better of the situation and retreated in good order. However, Waller wasn't having it and sent a substantial amount of cavalry down the hill to maul the Royalists as they retreated. The Parliamentary cavalry did a good job and almost broke the retreat, but Hopton held on and rallied his forces to reverse the attack and flank the attacking cavalry some ways back up the hill.
With their blood up, Hopton's infantry made their way up the hill and eventually took over the crest from Waller's infantry. Unusually, Hopton had sent the infantry up the hill to protect the cavalry flanks, but his cavalry had been pushed back and the infantry had to carry the attack. Hopton lost one of his troops' most beloved leaders in the melee, in Sir Bevill Grenvile. The Royalists now held the breastworks on top of the hill but could not really secure their flanks and were running low on ammunition. Waller's troops had reformed behind a stone wall about 400 yards south on the plateau. With darkness falling, neither side had the strength to close the battle.
Neither side had won a decisive victory. The Royalists had taken a tactical stronghold from the Parliamentarians by force, but they had lost their ability to threaten Bath, so strategically it had hurt them.

Rides, Routes and Waypoints

25-40 miles, depending on the options chosen. For the base ride, take the A431 southeast out of Bristol going to Bath. In Bath, follow the A4 through town and on to Chippenham. Near Chippenham, take the A350 north to the A420. Turn Left on the A420 and go to Cold Ashton. Past Cold Ashton, turn left on Freezing Hill Lane to go directly to Lansdown Hill. This ride really comes into its own when all of the steep, curvy farm tracks are taken around the battlefield itself. Note, try to avoid Bath during heavy traffic and watch the debris on the farm tracks around the battlefield.
Use Ordnance Survey Landranger 172. The battlefield is centred on ST 723703. If using a road map, the battlfield is located north of Bath, near the racecourse.