were Major General Earl Van Dorn and Brigadier General Albert Pike. For the Federal's side there were Major General Samuel R. Curtis and Brigadier General Franz Sigel (Battle). The Confederate General Earl Van Dorn's objective was to "have St. Louis - then Huzza!" He hoped to accomplish this by going north from his headquarters at Pocahontas to the Boston Mountains, where the Union forces under command of General Samuel Curtis had taken up camp. After a nine-day march, Van Dorn finally made it to
northwest Arkansas. Union forces, led by Brig. Gen. Samuel Curtis, moved south from central Missouri, driving Confederate forces into northwestern Arkansas. Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn launched a Confederate counteroffensive, hoping to recapture northern Arkansas and Missouri. Curtis held off the Confederate attack on the first day and drove Van Dorn's force off the field on the second. The battle, one of the few in which a Confederate army outnumbered its opponent, essentially established Federal control
fighting force for the remainder of the war. The 1864 Battle of Franklin was the second military action in the vicinity. The Battle of Franklin was a minor action associated with a reconnaissance in force by Confederate cavalry leader Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn on April 10. Following his defeat in the Atlanta Campaign, Hood had hoped to lure Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman into battle by disrupting his railroad supply line from Chattanooga to Atlanta. After a brief period in which he pursued Hood, Sherman