A civil war reenactment will be held in Centerville June 16 to 17 at the Appanoose County Fairgrounds.
The battle of Elkins Ford will be recreated in honor of Centerville’s Gen. Francis Marion Drake, who was also a state governor and for whom the Des Moines University is named after.
Drake took part in the Arkansas battle as a lieutenant colonel.
The battle was also known as the Battle of Okolona. It took place in Clark and Nevada Counties in Arkansas.
A history of the battle was written by Civil War buff, Dr. James McConville:
Camden Expedition
April 3-4, 1864
During the course of the American Civil War, the Union Army of Major General Ulysses S. Grant succeeded in splitting the Confederacy along the major waterway, the Mississippi River. The river was secured by Grant in the victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 4, 1864. From there, it would be just a matter of time until Arkansas, Texas and the whole Southwest would be back in Union hands.
In March of 1864 Union forces led by Major General Frederick Steele began his Camden Expedition into Southwest Arkansas. At the same time Major General Nathaniel Banks began his ill-fated Red River Campaign from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Their ultimate goal was for the two armies to meet at Shreveport, bisecting the Trans-Mississippi. But ultimately neither army would make it to Shreveport. Steele's march was to be opposed by a former Missouri Governor, Confederate General Sterling Price, who had been governor of Missouri in 1853-1857. General Steele's army advanced out of Little Rock on March 23, 1864. The Confederates were able to slow Steele, but not stop his army.
One of Steele's key regiments in the campaign was the 36th Iowa Infantry. A volunteer regiment organized in the summer of 1862 at Camp Lincoln, Keokuk, the regiment numbered about 930 men. The titular leader was Colonel Charles W. Kittredge of Ottumwa, but he was said to be frequently indisposed and absent from his command. Companies C, F, G and I, about 400 men, were from the Appanoose County area. The real leader of the 36th Iowa for most of the campaign was Lt. Col. Francis Marion Drake, whose family founded Drakeville and later moved to Unionville in Appanoose County. His leadership proved to be vital during the campaign. Other noted leaders were Captain William F. Vermilion, a medical doctor from Iconium who was elected Captain of Company F, Captain Joseph B. Gedney of Bellaire (Numa) who was elected Captain of Company I, and Captain Alvin Miller of Company C. Captain Thomas M. Fee of Centerville was the elected leader of Company G, and Surgeon Sylvester Sawyer of Unionville was the medical doctor. During the Camden Expedition Major General Steele's army was comprised of the 3rd Division of the VII Corps and two cavalry brigades (about 8,500 men) under his command. After advancing to Arkadelphia on March 29, Steele remained for three days while awaiting reinforcements from Fort Smith under the command of Brigadier General John Thayer. But Thayer's advance was hampered by bad roads and a lack of provisions. After three days, Steele was forced to continue his mission without the extra men. General Steele's Union army proceeded out from Arkadelphia on April 1, reaching the Little Missouri River on April 3. By this time he was running low on food and forage. He wanted to reach Camden to resupply his hungry army and horses. This task proved difficult. The Union forces had to ford the Little Missouri River on April 3, 1864. Spring rains had made bridges impassable. The Federals reached Elkin's Ferry, about 3-4 miles from Okolona, Arkansas. Leaving one brigade of infantry on the north bank of the river near Okolona to act as a rearguard and look for General Thayer, Steele quickly moved most of his 8,500 men toward the ford in the river. Lt. Col. Drake and the 36th Iowa took the lead. General Price meanwhile had dispatched Confederate General Joseph O. "Jo" Shelby's cavalry to harass the column from the rear. Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke moved to try to stop the forward advance. Shelby attacked at 9:00 a.m. on April 3. Soon, a hailstorm moved into the area. Amid lightning and thunder Union and Confederate forces continued their fight. The Confederates were not driven off by Federal troops or even the weather. But neither could the Union troops be stopped. After three hours, Union artillery fire upset several beehives near the Confederate positions, forcing a hasty Confederate retreat. At the same time General Shelby launched his attack, General Marmaduke assaulted the head of the column on the south bank of the Little Missouri under the command of Lt. Col Drake. Marmaduke soon was driven back, only to resume his attack the next morning on April 4 at 6:00 a.m. General Marmaduke had three cavalry brigades at his disposal (about 7,500 men). He would be later elected Governor of Missouri (1885-1887), and was attacking a future governor of Iowa. Marmaduke's attack initially seemed successful, pushing Drake's Federal troops back toward the river. But as more Union troops crossed the river, it became harder and harder for the Confederates to continue their attack. Drake's men had good cover of trees. The Confederates fell back to their original positions by 11:00 a.m and the rest of the Union army was successfully able to cross the river. The Confederates soon were in retreat.
The brunt of the unsuccessful Confederate frontal attack was born by the 36th Iowa Infantry under the command of Lt. Col. Drake. There were 38 casualties for the Union army, all wounded Union soldiers. There were 54 casualties for Confederate forces with 18 Southerners killed.
Three weeks later, while attempting to obtain supplies and food for Steele's army, a large wagon train led by Drake and the 36th Iowa was attacked at the Battle of Marks' Mills. Drake himself was severely wounded and most of the ill-fated 36th Iowa Infantry was either killed or captured and sent to the notorious Confederate prison Camp Ford at Tyler, Texas. But Drake ultimately recovered from his hip wound and returned to limited duty late in 1864. For his leadership in the Battle of Elkin's Ferry, Francis M. Drake later was brevetted the rank of Brigadier General near the end of the Civil War in 1865. After the war he became a successful attorney in Centerville. He later became a successful businessman, banker, builder of railroads, statesman and philanthropist. He and his brother-in-law founded Drake University. He became a very popular Governor of Iowa from 1895-1897.
-----Original Message----- From: Dan Ehl [mailto:iowegianeditor@mchsi.com] Sent: Thursday, April 05, 2007 3:43 PM To: bmaxwell@cnhi.com Subject: FW: Re-enactment meeting
