Gentry gives awards, hears history

GENTRY — Gentry resident and historian Rick Parker was the featured speaker at the Gentry Chamber of Commerce Banquet. With more than 120 in attendance, Parker explained the rich history of the area and how that history could impact western Benton County today through the Northwest Arkansas Heritage Trail Map.

After John McLarty, transportation planner of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, spoke briefly about the Heritage Trails program in Benton County, Parker gave the audience an overview of local Civil War history and pointed out sites in the western part of Benton County that played very significant roles in the history of the war between the states.

Among locations mentioned were Camps Jackson and Walker, and Old Fort Wayne, in the Maysville area. These camps were training grounds for Confederate troops and staging grounds for important battles, both in Missouri and in northwest Arkansas, including the battle at Wilson’s Creek. For a time, the Missouri State Legislature took refuge there, after fleeing from Jefferson City, Mo.

Camp Babcock, at the confluence of Flint Creek and Little Flint Creek, along Arkansas Highway 43 just north of Siloam Springs, was the site of a large Union Camp under the command of Gen.James G. Blunt and the staging grounds for the battles at Cane Hill and Prairie Grove.

Dawn Hill Road, which followed Flint Creek, was an old road from Bentonville to Indian Territoryand the site of numerous military skirmishes.

According to Parker, the ancestors of many of today’s residents lived through the most difficult and perilous times during the Civil War days, with murder, rape and plundering of crops and property commonplace.

Parker said there is much history yet to be published, in the form of diaries, letters and other written accounts from the time. He said these things needed to be published so that people today could understand what happened in the area and how their ancestors survived those difficult days.

With the documentation and publishing of the area’s history, trail markers on the heritage Trail System will be added to western Benton County, Parker said.

McLarty presented Gentry Mayor Kevin Johnston with a Heritage Trails sign to be kept at Gentry City Hall, saying that he was certainthat the signs would soon be coming to the Gentry area.

Also present for the history presentation made by Parker was Glenn Jonesof the Benton County Historical Preservation Commission