Civil War reenactors will be at Reed’s Bridge off South Hwy. 161 in Jacksonville all this weekend to commemorate the August 1863 battle there. Events will begin at 3 p.m. Friday with a reenactment of the troop’s arrival.
A reenactment of the battle will take place Saturday afternoon and again on Sunday. A reenactment of the drill at Reed’s Bridge will take place Saturday morning with the battle at 2 p.m.
Church and memorial services will be held from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday for those who died at the battle.
A final reenactment of the battle will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Col. Mark Vlahos, vice commander of the 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, is one of the reenactors scheduled to appear. The other reenactors will come from across the state.
The Battle of Reed’s Bridge was a Confederate effort to slow the Union’s inevitable capture of Little Rock. Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in the August 1863 battle at Reed’s Bridge along the Bayou Meto during the North’s advance toward Little Rock.
Confederate Major Gen. Sterling Price sent two of his best cavalry units to Reed’s Bridge with instructions to stall the Union and placed them under the command of Brig. Gen. John Marmaduke and Brig. Gen. Lucius M. Walker.
The job of the Confederate troops was to hold out for as long as possible. During the battle, the Confederate troops set fire to the original Reed’s Bridge.
As Union troops ran to put out the flames, the Confederate troops opened fire, killing seven, wounding 38 and delaying the Union advance.
But the battle was not all glory for the Confederacy. As they pulled back, closer to Little Rock, Gen. Marmaduke supposedly accused Gen. Walker of cowardice during the Battle at Reed’s Bridge. The accusations were quickly settled during a duel in which Marmaduke killed Walker.
The site is on the National Historical Register and has grown larger than 100 acres because of the Reed’s Bridge Historical Society. The field was 412 acres at the time of the battle.
The site along Hwy. 161 is considered to be the best-preserved Civil War site in Arkansas, even though similar sites in Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove are better known.