Preservation Opportunities
The legacy of the Civil War in Arkansas is represented in the fields and forests in which the soldiers fought and died, the letters and diaries that record the thoughts and feelings of the men and women who lived during the war, and the flags, uniforms and other artifacts that provide tangible links to the people who used them. The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission is dedicated to the preservation of these precious reminders of the Civil War. The following organizations are working to preserve Arkansas’s Civil War legacy:
REED’S BRIDGE BATTLEFIELD PRESERVATION SOCIETY, INC., c/o Jacksonville Museum of Military History, 100 Veterans Drive, Jacksonville, AR 72076. Phone (501) 833-0565. The Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Preservation Society is working to preserve the core area of the August 27, 1863, battle of Reed’s Bridge, or Bayou Meto – the best-preserved battlefield of the 1863 campaign that resulted in the capture of Little Rock by Union forces. Click here to read a pdf copy of the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield preservation plan. Click here to read the text of the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the battlefield.
OLD STATE HOUSE MUSEUM,300 West Markham, Little Rock, AR 72201. Phone (501) 324-8685. This past fall, the Old State House Museum and the Missouri State Museum exchanged ownership of Civil War battle flags, returning them to the appropriate states. The Old State House Museum received two Arkansas-related flags and transferred a Missouri-related flag from its collection to that of the Missouri State Museum.
The first of the two Arkansas-related flags obtained by the Old State House Museum is a Confederate Second National pattern battle flag belonging to the Consolidated 6th & 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. This flag is important because it is the only famous "Stars and Bars" pattern in existence with Arkansas provenance that displays battle honors, with "Shiloh," "Perryville" and "Murfreesboro" stenciled on the flag. Acquisition of the 6th & 7th Arkansas Second National pattern flag makes the Old State House Museum's collection unique because all three major patterns of flags distributed to these hard-fighting units of the Confederate Army of Tennessee are represented. To our knowledge, no other museum in the nation has examples of all the major patterns of flags distributed to a specific unit from the Army of Tennessee.
The Old State House Museum also acquired a Confederate First National pattern flag attributed to "Hart's Battery," otherwise known as the "Dallas Artillery" as it was organized at Dallas, Arkansas (Polk County), in August 1861. Prior to the receipt of this flag, the museum's collection included only one other flag attributed to an Arkansas artillery unit, that of "Key's Arkansas Battery." Apart from Hart's and Key's flags, no other flags of Arkansas artillery units are known to exist. Acquisition of Hart's flag is an exceptional addition to our nationally-recognized collection of Confederate flags from Arkansas. These two impressive additions now expand the museum�s Civil War battle flag collection to include twenty flags.
Unfortunately both flags desperately need conservation. The total estimated cost of proper cleaning and preserving both flags is $26,000. The museum's goal is to conserve the flags by 2012, in time for our second exhibit commemorating the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War.
You can help the Old State House Museum protect these flags, ensuring their survival for future generations. Contribution to the Civil War Flag Preservation Project can be mailed to the Old State House Museum, 300 West Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72201.
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