The Enemy Is Behind Us!

It was still below freezing at 10:30 a.m. on March 7, 1862, when an alarmed messenger arrived at Union headquarters with startling news: Confederates were moving down the Telegraph Road a mile north of Elkhorn Tavern. General Curtis's careful troop positioning for a battle at Little Sugar Creek to the south was suddenly useless. As gunfire from the far side of Elkhorn Mountain and the fields north of Leetown grew louder, Curtis had to move his remaining troops to prepare for the Confederate attack, and blue-coated regiments reversed direction and rushed past their vulnerable supply wagons to confront the enemy.

Arkansas · United States