I had wanted to start on Sylamore, a strategic crossing of the White River in THE OZARKS CAMPAIGN command simulation, but I was attempting to more accurately reflect local topography and Sylamore has a lot of steep slopes and contour lines. I moved on to Rapps Barren, in what is now Baxter County, but was then Marion County. The word "barrens" was a contemporary word for "plains," and applied to areas where there were few trees. Out of all of the counties in THE OZARKS CAMPAIGN, Marion had the most plains. Rapps Barren is a much easier map for engagements than many of the other areas in the campaign theater.
Rapps Barren later became Mountain Home, in what is now Baxter County. The History of Mountain Home in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture gives some information on the town's origins as Rapps Barren. The area being made into THE OZARKS CAMPAIGN map is the east side of Mountain Home around Falls Creek. (The original Rapps Barren was probably a little further west near Hicks Creek.) The simulation map will include the Dodd Mansion and plantation and the Mountain Home Male and Female Academy and should be completed in the next few days and sent to the testers.
I would love to see this map laid over a current map of Mountain Home for perspective!
ReplyDeleteI wonder was there a Dodd Mansion in the area for real?
DeleteKimberly, Thanks for the comment! WIA is really a very highly fictionalized version of Arkansas. I used some names from period records, but I really have no idea where the actual houses were located or what the towns looked like in the 1860s. I did use a topographic map of the area to get the elevations though. I will try to make a post of the map I used soon. I have never even been to Arkansas before, but now I am seriously thinking of taking a holiday to the Ozarks some day!
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