Camp White Sulphur Springs Confederate Cemetery

    In April, 1862, Arkansas was desperate.
The only organized Confederate Army in the State was leaving. The Army of the Southwest, under the Command of Major General Earl Van Dorn, had just steamed down the White River from Jacksonport, Arkansas headed toward the Mississippi River, and the war east of the Mississippi on orders from Major General Albert Sidney Johnson. Hard on Van Dorn’s heels was the Union Army under the Command of Brigadier General Samuel Ryan Curtis. Little more than a month before, the Southern Forces had met defeat at the hands of this smaller force at the Battle of Elk Horn Tavern. General Johnson needed all the southern troops he could get for his campaign in Tennessee and the coming Battle at Shiloh. But, Van Dorn’s Army would miss the Battle of Shiloh.
They would never return to Arkansas.

Meanwhile, two men rose to the challenge of saving Arkansas for the Confederacy. The first was Governor Henry M. Rector who in the face of extreme odds held the government of Arkansas together and organized renewed resistance in people of Arkansas. The second
was Brigadier General John Selden Roane, himself a former Governor of Arkansas, and resident of Pine Bluff. Between them they began to stop all Southern troops passing through Arkansas headed for the North and Eastern battlefield and re-routed them to Pine Bluff, Little Rock, and Searcy. In a desperate move a small Confederate force under General Roane convinced General Curtis that he faced a strong, well organized resistance at the Battle of Whitney's Lane, at Searcy on May 21st, 1862.
Curtis hesitated.

        Thus, began the story of the Forgotten Fortress of Arkansas, Camp White Sulphur Springs. Most correctly Camp White Sulphur Springs was a military base of operation for the defense of the Lower Arkansas and White Rivers, located then 9 miles southwest of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which contained several encampments of instruction and organization of new recruits.  These Camps, such as Camp Lee, Camp R. G. Shaver's, Camp Holmes, and other smaller camps were all located within one mile of the community of present day Sulphur Springs in Jefferson County, Arkansas, which served as a Headquarters, Commissary, and Hospital facility for these operations.

This Page is dedicated to the Memory of those
Men and Women of the South
Who gave their full measure in these Hospitals and Camps.

..............................

Camp White Sulphur Springs Cemetery Census

Mrs. Eliza Davis Currie
Of White Sulphur Springs, Jefferson Co.,  Arkansas

Civilian Nurse
Who gave her full measure in caring for her patients

Questions and Comments may be emailed to the Camp White Sulphur Springs Historic Preservation Association

Cemetery Preservation sponsored and supported by Patrick R. Cleburne Camp #1433, Sons of Confederate Veterans Pine Bluff, Arkansas
David O. Dodd Chapter #212 United Daughters of the Confederacy Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Military Honor Guard Company "D" Clan MacGregor 1st Arkansas Infantry CSA
 

Webpage designed by:  DeTaylor Designs
 

Since March 14, 2000

Last updated May 3, 2003.
 

Graphic's provided by:

.....................
                                                                                      Jim's Flags

Background music:

The Vacant Chair
Used courtesy of Benjamin Tubb of
The Music of the American Civil War (1861-1865)
Folk Music of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and America