Welcome to the e-newsletter of the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission. Newsletters will be sent out periodically to keep readers up to date on recent activities of the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, which is housed in the Historic Preservation Program, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to a friend.

For more information on the commission’s activities, or to subscribe to the e-newsletter, visit the ACWSC web site at www.arkansascivilwar150.org.  To become a fan of the ACWSC on Facebook, go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Arkansas-Civil-War-Sesquicentennial-Commission/279474924191?ref=ts.

IN THIS ISSUE:

ACWSC TO HOLD INFORMATION MEETING IN BRINKLEY JUNE 22

TWO SESQUICENTENNIAL HISTORICAL MARKERS DEDICATED

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ARKANSAS CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL COMMISSION TO HOLD INFORMATION MEETING IN BRINKLEY

       LITTLE ROCK—The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission will hold a free information meeting beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22, at the Central Delta Depot Museum at 100 West Cypress Street in Brinkley, ACWSC Chairman Tom Dupree announced today.

       “The State of Arkansas will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War between 2011 and 2015, and the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission looks forward to working with people and organizations around the state to develop local activities for the observance,” Dupree said.

   Topics to be discussed include:

* Civil War Sesquicentennial Historical Markers

* Civil War Sesquicentennial Passport Program

* Annual Themes

* Sanctioning of Local Events

* Civil War Sesquicentennial Grants

* Heritage Tourism.

   This meeting is targeted to residents of Monroe, Prairie, Woodruff, Phillips, St. Francis and Lee counties, though everyone is invited to attend.

   For more information or to RSVP, call Mark Christ at (501) 324-9886, email him at mark@arkansasheritage.org, or write him at Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission, 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201.

    For more information on sesquicentennial plans, visit www.arkansascivilwar150.com or e-mail acwsc@arkansasheritage.org.

    The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission is housed within the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.

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TWO ARKANSAS CIVIL WAR SESQUICENTENNIAL HISTORICAL MARKERS DEDICATED

       LITTLE ROCK—Two more Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Historical Markers have been installed and dedicated, Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission Chairman Tom Dupree announced today.

       A marker commemorating an 1864 skirmish at Lunenburg in Izard County has been installed at the Lunenburg Community Center. It was sponsored by the ACWSC, the Izard County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Preserve America, National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

       The marker says: “On January 20, 1864, a detail of 44 men of the Fourth Arkansas Mounted Infantry Volunteers (U.S.) under Capt. T.A. Baxter, the brother of a future Arkansas governor, attacked Col. T.R. Freeman’s Confederates, driving them from their camp at Lunenburg. Four Confederates were seriously wounded and two were captured, along with horses and equipment. The Fourth Arkansas lost one man killed in the skirmish. The combat at Lunenburg illustrates the war’s true nature: Most of the men in both forces were residents of Izard County.”

       Another marker commemorates activities at DeValls Bluff in Prairie County during the Civil War. The ACWSC, Bill and Sharon Arnold Family Foundation, City of DeValls Bluff, and Preserve America, National Park Service, Department of the Interior sponsored the marker.

      The marker says: “DeValls Bluff was strategically important to both the Union and Confederate armies as a major White River port and as head of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad. It became a key Union supply depot after its fall 1863 occupation, as well as a haven for refugees, both freedmen and white. Mounted Confederates operated around the town during 1864, attacking the railroad and Union troops on the nearby prairie. After the war ended, the Freedmen’s Bureau had an office in DeValls Bluff, aiding the newly freed African-Americans in the area.”

       Through the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Historical Marker program, which received initial funding from the National Park Service’s Preserve America program, the ACWSC will contribute up to $1,000 toward the creation of historical markers. Commission historians will work with the local sponsors to ensure that all of the information on the markers is accurate. The commission hopes to see at least one marker in each of Arkansas’s 75 counties.

       Application forms are available by writing Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Historical Marker Program, 1500 Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201 or sending an e-mail message to acwsc@arkansasheritage.org.  They also can be downloaded at http://www.arkansascivilwar150.com/historical-markers/.

       For more information on sesquicentennial plans, visit www.arkansascivilwar150.com or e-mail acwsc@arkansasheritage.org.  

       The Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission is housed within the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. The AHPP is the Department of Arkansas Heritage agency responsible for identifying, evaluating, registering and preserving the state’s cultural resources. Other agencies are the Arkansas Arts Council, the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, the Old State House Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and the Historic Arkansas Museum.