With Memorial Day just passed, and the Festival of Ozark Heritage Civil War Reunion scheduled for June 7 – 10, 2007, a look at the veterans of that battle seems in order. This group of Civil War veterans – both Union and Confederate – met for the last time at the battlefield on October 26, 1926. This was the year of the sixtyfourth anniversary of the March 1862 battle that decided the fate of northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri. Among the veterans are Capt. J. Wade Sikes (one of the founders of Rogers) back row far left with white beard and Michael Thomas Harris (Great Uncle of RHM’s own Monte Harris) front row second from right. It is one of the unique aspects of the American Civil War that allowed these men to come together as friends after hostilities had ceased.
It is hard to imagine the civil wars raging in the world today resulting in this kind of harmony among former adversaries.
Credits: Rogers Historical Museum, 75.1.114.