The new pavilion at Prairie D’Ane was dedicated Friday morning, April 10, 2026, the date chosen to fall on the anniversary of the second day of the Battle of Prairie D’Ane when 13,000 Union and 7,000 Confederate troops exchanged fire after the Union Army launched the Red River campaign.
But in 2026 on the same ground, the new pavilion was filled with people hearing dedicatory speeches and enjoying the cookies, brownies and punch provided to celebrate the site’s restoration and to remember the men who fought there over four successive days in 1864.
Prairie D’Ane Battlefield Park Curator and President of the Nevada County Depot Museum Board Paul Ridgell opened the program and described the eight years of steady work that has transformed the site: “This property has gone from overgrown, thorn-infested fields to what you see here today,” he said.
He also acknowledged the volunteer hours, grant money and donations that were paid toward pond-bank restoration for public fishing, roads and ditches, a concrete low-water bridge, water and electricity to the front area, split-rail fencing, parking-area fencing and a walk-through gate, porta-potties, multiple walking trails and interpretive signs. He pointed to the 65-foot flagpole, which was donated by Energy Transfer and to the large flag intended to draw the eye of travelers coming off I-30.
Ridgell described the prairie itself as a rare blackland prairie with grasses “not found anywhere else” and sketched plans to restore roughly 60 acres to native prairie grasses and wildflowers. He said the pavilion “can be used for travelers needed as a rest stop, or for locals just taking a break for the day,” and invited anyone who wanted to use it for a family reunion or seminar to contact the Depot museum staff to schedule.
He also listed upcoming events at the site, including cannon training, a mountain-man rendezvous, a Dutch-oven cooking class, and a November reenactment in conjunction with Historic Washington State Park, and reminded the crowd that the property is open for those who want to walk, cast a hook or watch wildlife. “We encourage you to walk the roads and walk the trails, fish on the ponds and see the beautiful sunsets that you can see right back here in this field,” he said.
Joshua Williams, Curator at Historic Washington State Park, read a passage from a dispatch by Lieutenant Colonel Adolph Dengler of the 43rd Illinois Volunteers referring to Prairie D’Ane as “this beautiful prairie amidst a dense forest and almost impassable swamps, a relief for the eyes of the traveler who has for many days hardly seen anything but rocks crowned by dark pines or the gloomy Cypress Swamp.”
Williams reminded the audience that the fighting here in April 1864 was the opening action of a campaign that forced Union troops under General Frederick Steele to alter their advance. Instead of attacking the Arkansas Confederate Capital of Washington, Steele ordered a southeasterly march to Camden, there making the choice to retreat back to Little Rock. About 100 Union soldiers and 50 Confederates were listed as casualties after Prairie D’Ane, just one of several costly attacks the Unionists weathered during an offensive effectively halted by General Sterling Price's continual harassment at multple sites in South Central Arkansas.
Ridgell said the Nevada County Depot Museum Board has already recorded more than 734 visitors this year and estimates actual visitation closer to 1,000. Volunteers continue to clear thorn trees and restore fields. He described infrastructure work yet to come, a road and two bridges to complete a two-mile loop through the property, and the hope that driving tours will follow.
When the formal remarks concluded, the ribbon was cut and guests moved under the new roof, lingering over cookies and punch, walking out to read the interpretive plaques, explore the mowed half-mile trail and examine the nearby artillery piece.
