The Bella Vista Civil War Round Table announced the April 4th program will be titled the Battle of Massard Prairie. It will be presented by National Park Ranger Cody Faber.
The Battle of Massard Prairie took place on July 27, 1864, on the outskirts of Fort Smith, Ark. The attack, led by Brigadier General Richard Gano, who had served with John Hunt Morgan and Nathan Bedford Forrest, with some 600 Confederate troops -- made up of Texan, Chickasaw and Choctaw soldiers -- swept down on a camp of four companies of the 6th Kansas Cavalry. It was called a 'brilliant and dashing affair' in Confederate reports, and when the short but intense fight was over, Gano had achieved a very one-sided victory. A morning raid and the charge of horses, Union cavalry surrounded and brawling on foot, a desperate firefight, failed rescue attempts, and even scalping of the dead ... it reads like a storybook. But there is more to the story of Massard Prairie than a simple tale of a small, albeit highly successful Confederate victory in Arkansas.
Cody Faber is a native Arkansawyer and has been a Park Ranger with the National Park Service for 16 years at Fort Smith National Historic Site. There, he is the Volunteer, Living History and Historic Weapons Coordinator. He is also an instructor with the Historic Weapons program with the NPS. On academic scholarship, he obtained a bachelor's degree in historical interpretation at the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith and a master's degree in historical interpretation at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, where he was a graduate assistant.
The purpose of the Bella Vista Civil War Round Table is to educate and stimulate interest in the period of United States history known as the "Civil War," to promote historical, educational, and literary study and activities related to the Civil War, including events and circumstances related to the cause and effect of the war.
The Round Table normally meets at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month at the Bella Vista Historical Museum, 1885 Bella Vista Way, Bella Vista. The museum is located at the intersection of Highway 71 and Kingsland Road. Admission is free, but donations are accepted to cover the expense of guest speakers.
For further information, contact Dale Phillips at [email protected] or through the Bella Vista Historical Museum at 479-855-2335.