Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Battle of Van Buren

Battle of Van Buren

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/December 28, 2022 by Wehwalt (talk) 23:16, 9 November 2022 (UTC)



The Battle of Van Buren was fought at Van Buren, Arkansas, on December 28, 1862, during the American Civil War. After winning the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, Union forces under Brigadier Generals James G. Blunt and Francis J. Herron prepared for a raid against the Confederate positions at Van Buren and Fort Smith. The Union troops struck an outlying Confederate cavalry unit north of Van Buren the morning of December 28. The Confederate cavalry fled to Van Buren, which was then overrun by Union troops. The Union pursued and captured three steamboats, Confederate troops, and many supplies; two more steamboats and more supplies were destroyed by the Confederates. An artillery duel occurred at Van Buren and there was minor skirmishing further downriver after nightfall. After the battle, Confederate Major General Thomas C. Hindman withdrew his men to Little Rock and the Union force returned from the raid. The battles of Prairie Grove and Van Buren broke Confederate strength in the region.
 * Most recent similar article(s): First Battle of Newtonia on September 30
 * Main editors: Hog Farm
 * Promoted: July 21, 2022
 * Reasons for nomination: December 28 is the 160th anniversary of the battle.
 * Support as nominator. Hog Farm Talk 19:40, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Support--NØ 08:00, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Support reasonable gap since the last ACW battle article. Peacemaker67 (click to talk to me) 10:20, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Comment: Is there a reason why an image is not used for the blurb? The article does use a few, such as the one for James G. Blunt, and I would imagine an image would make the TFA more engaging to readers than just text. Aoba47 (talk) 05:28, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
 * - I've always thought it was a bit unbalanced to run a TFA of a battle with only one side's commanding officer as the picture. The map image wouldn't be useful as a TFA picture, I don't think the cannon would be a good choice, and the Ft. Smith building really only related to the aftermath.  I'm not opposed to running with an image, but doubt the relevancy of the existing ones. (Note: If an image is added, the blurb will need to be shortened by 5 or so characters, which shouldn't be hard). Hog Farm Talk 13:38, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the explanation. That makes sense to me. I honestly did not think about it possibly being unbalanced and I agree with that. I support this as a TFA. Aoba47 (talk) 16:13, 27 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Support. Gog the Mild (talk) 13:40, 8 November 2022 (UTC)