NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin, How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories from the instructions. Place additional certification comments, entries, and narrative items on continuation sheets if needed (NPS Form 10-900a). 1. Name of Property historic name Pleasant Hill Battlefield Historic District other names/site number Old Pleasant Hill, 16DS234 & 16DS235 2. Location street & number Near junction of Louisiana State Highways 175 and 177 NA not for publication city or town Between the towns of Pelican and Pleasant Hill, Louisiana X vicinity state 031 & 71065 Louisiana code LA county DeSoto & Sabine code 085 zip code 3. State/Federal Agency Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this X nomination _ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property X_ meets _ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant at the following level(s) of significance: x national x statewide x local Phil Boggan, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer Signature of certifying official/Title Date Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of commenting official Date Title State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government 1 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Pleasant Hill Battlefield Historic District Desoto Parish, LA Name of Property County and State 4. National Park Service Certification I hereby certify that this property is: entered in the National Register determined eligible for the National Register determined not eligible for the National Register removed from the National Register other (explain:) _________________ Signature of the Keeper Date of Action 5. Classification Ownership of Property Category of Property Number of Resources within Property (Check as many boxes as apply.) (Check only one box.) (Do not include previously listed resources in the count.) Contributing Noncontributing x private building(s) 1 8 buildings public - Local x district district public - State site 2 1 site public - Federal structure 11 structure object object 3 20 Total Name of related multiple property listing Number of contributing resources previously (Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing) listed in the National Register N/A 0 6. Function or Use Historic Functions Current Functions (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) DOMESTIC: town site AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE: agricultural field DEFENSE: battle site LANDSCAPE: park FUNERARY: cemetery LANDSCAPE: forest AGRICULTURE/SUBSISTENCE: agricultural field RECREATION & CULTURE: monument/marker 7. Description 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Pleasant Hill Battlefield Historic District Desoto Parish, LA Name of Property County and State Architectural Classification Materials (Enter categories from instructions.) (Enter categories from instructions.) Battlefield: No style foundation: BRICK/CONCRETE/WOOD: Log O’Pry/Elam House: OTHER: Louisiana vernacular dogtrot house walls: WOOD: Weatherboard roof: Metal: Tin other: Narrative Description (Describe the historic and current physical appearance of the property. Explain contributing and noncontributing resources if necessary. Begin with a summary paragraph that briefly describes the general characteristics of the property, such as its location, setting, size, and significant features.) Summary Paragraph: The Battle of Pleasant Hill occurred on April 9, 1864 in and around the rural village of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana during the American Civil War’s Red River Campaign. This nomination seeks to propose for listing on the National Register of Historic Places a historic district consisting of the entirety of the known battlefield and the historic town site, containing in total approximately 1,010 acres. The battlefield is located in southeastern DeSoto Parish and extends just inside the Sabine Parish line. The boundary for the battlefield was chosen based on an extensive review of primary sources including maps, participant/witness diaries, after-action reports and surveys of the terrain and extant cultural features of the land itself. Much of the original town was damaged or burned as a result of the battle. Later, in 1881, the town officially relocated to Sabine Parish. The site today is still very rural, characterized by approximately one-third open pasture and grassland, separated by a few barbed wire fences and natural features and the remainder largely vegetated in mixed hardwood and deciduous growth. Despite some minor intrusions of a limited number of contemporary domestic and commercial buildings, the Pleasant Hill battlefield and town site retain substantial integrity for the purposes of inclusion upon the National Register of Historic Places. There are 3 contributing (including one building and two archaeological sites) and 20 non-contributing resources/elements within the boundaries of the battlefield. Narrative Description: To a casual observer –say a motorist passing through the site via LA HWY 175 at 55mph, Pleasant Hill Battlefield would seem an almost ordinary north Louisiana rural landscape. However, this landscape played an important role in our nation’s history. The battlefield contains identifiable fighting positions including numerous in situ rifle pits, or hastily completed defensive entrenchments, at various positions throughout the site. Within the context of the greater battlefield lie vestiges of the abandoned town despite years of plowing and cultivation, timber harvesting, nearby petroleum and natural gas exploration, and historic periods of desertion and neglect. Within the historic town site one original building remains, the O’Pry/Elam dogtrot house. There are numerous in situ archaeological features from the historic town site such as brick cisterns, roadbeds and surface scatters of 3 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Pleasant Hill Battlefield Historic District Desoto Parish, LA Name of Property County and State archaeological material such as brick and ceramics. Additionally, the original town cemetery is largely preserved. Old Town Cemetery is included in this nomination despite Criteria Consideration D because it represents an important tangible vestige of the now abandoned town of Old Pleasant Hill. It might seem difficult to imagine that this serene place was once home to a bustling and prosperous community of diverse individuals, ranging from aristocratic planter to the backwoods pioneer. Or too, that this ground hosted a brief but chaotic Civil War battle which left some 3,000 Americans as casualties of war in just four hours time.1 It is likewise hard to imagine that an entire community, faced with the hard times following war and alienation from the new railroads which were then driving the postwar southern economy forward, could just pick up and move after more than thirty years of rooted existence. It’s when the casual observer abandons the highway and begins to traverse the fields, trudge the old roadbeds, photograph the O’Pry/Elam house and peer down an old handmade brick cistern (which has no business in an active cow pasture) that the historic aspects of this unique place begin to come vividly to life. The battlefield is adjacent to both sides of Louisiana State Highway 175, which bisects the site, entering from the northwest and exiting to the southeast in adjoining Sabine Parish. The peak in elevation is located roughly on the northwestern edge of the historic town site. A contemporary commemorative park is located just to the south of this rise. The commemorative park is approximately one-acre in size and is where several granite interpretive markers are located. This park is situated very near the heart of the original town’s commercial and educational district. In keeping with its historic appearance, each vista across the landscape terminates at a line of dense pine and intermittent hardwood growth. Much of the open surface of the landscape dips in a rather gentle slope moving towards the center of the battlefield in the area just south of the old village site. The main rise which comprises Pleasant Hill proper peaks around the Old Town Cemetery towards the northeast corner of the landscape. Upon entering the