Marks' Mills Battleground State Park
Marks' Mills Battleground State Park | |
Location | Cleveland County, Arkansas |
---|---|
Nearest city | Fordyce, Arkansas |
Coordinates | 33°46′52.4″N 92°15′17.5″W / 33.781222°N 92.254861°W |
Built | 1961 |
NRHP reference No. | 70000119 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | January 21, 1970[1] |
Designated NHL | April 19, 1994[2] |
Marks' Mills Battleground State Park is an Arkansas State Park located at the junction of Arkansas Highway 8 and Arkansas Highway 97, north of New Edinburg, Arkansas. It preserves a portion of the battlefield of the Battle of Marks' Mills fought on April 25, 1864, in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of American Civil War. The battle was part of the Camden Expedition.[3] The park is one of nine historic sites that make up the Camden Expedition Sites, a National Historic Landmark District. The battle was most known for the slaughter of black Union soldiers that were murdered as they tried to surrender.
Description and administrative history
[edit]The roadside park is shaped in an irregular four-sided shape at the junction of the two highways. It is dotted with picnic facilities shaded by pine and oak trees, and the area is in much the same condition of dense vegetative growth that the area was described as having in 1864. There are commemorative markers on the site.[4]
The Battle of Marks' Mills was between a column of Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele's Union Army, en route from Camden to Pine Bluff for supplies, and a Confederate force under the command of Maj. Gen. James F. Fagan that had taken up a defensive position at the road junction since the last sweep of Union reconnaissance in the area on April 21. The battle was a decisive victory for the Confederates, who captured 2,000 Union troops, four guns, and 240 empty supply wagons.[4]
The National Historic Landmark District designation was made in 1994.[2][3][5]
See also
[edit]- List of Arkansas state parks
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Arkansas
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Cleveland County, Arkansas
References
[edit]- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
- ^ a b "Camden Expedition Sites". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. September 26, 2007. Archived from the original on March 1, 2007.
- ^ a b Bearss, Edward C.; Charleton, James H. (November 29, 1993). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Camden Expedition Sites" (pdf). National Park Service.
- ^ a b "NRHP nomination for Marks' Mills State Park" (PDF). Arkansas Preservation. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Camden Expedition Sites—Accompanying photos" (pdf). National Park Service. 1993.
External links
[edit]- 1961 establishments in Arkansas
- Arkansas Heritage Trails System
- Battlefields of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War
- Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark
- Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
- National Register of Historic Places in Cleveland County, Arkansas
- Parks in Cleveland County, Arkansas
- Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
- Protected areas established in 1961
- State parks of Arkansas