Bentonville was mentioned as having been burnt by Union forces in retaliation for the killing of a Union Cavalry trooper. Story goes that his unit had occupied Bentonville for several days on picket duty as the Confederate forces marched north through the Boston Moutains. When his unit pulled out, back toward the main Union encampment at Pea Ridge, the trooper decided on a little liquid comfort, turned back to Bentonville to fill his canteen with whiskey. Apparently, he encountered a Confederate and when the smoke cleared the Yankee was dead. The Confederate rode on off. The townfolk fearing retribution hid the Yankee's body in a privy. His buddies came back looking for him, found the body and burnt a good portion of the town as the citizens had feared. However, there are still some WBTS era buildings intact.
Folks are sometimes confused as there is both a Benton (Saline County, about 15 miles south of Little Rock off I-30) and a Bentonville (in the I-540 corridore that links Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers-Bentonville urban complex) in Benton County which is in the extreme NW corner of the state (the county's western border is the Oklahoma line and its northern border is the Missouri line).
Would recommend a tour of Pea Ridge (aka, Elkhorn Tavern) NMP for anyone interested in Texas WBTS history. The Confederate forces had a large number of Texas units. One of the Division Commanders was the famous early Texan, Ben McCulloch...served at San Jacinto, was a frontier Ranger Captain and active in politics and led the Texas troops. He was killed early in the battle when he rode too far forward, scouting the Union position and was shot from his saddle.
Many credit the Confederate loss of the battle to the confusion following his death and the sorry leadership of the overall commander, Gen Earl Van Dorn who apparently forgot that half his army was still standing around, waiting for McCulloch's orders while the battle raged across the field from them.
One of the best books on the subject is "Pea Ridge, Civil War Campaign in the West" by William L. Shea & Earl J. Hess(c)1992, The University of North Carolina Press.
I'd recommend to anyone thinking about touring Pea Ridge NMP consider late October when the Ozarks are alive with autumn color and the temperatures are cool enough to make it comfortable for walking, bike riding, horse back tours, as well as an informative, well marked auto tour loop. Elhorn Tavern, on the grounds and used by both sides as a hospital, was burnt by irregulars after the battle, but rebuilt on the site after the war and is well maintained. Telegraph Road, on which both sides manuvered during the battle looks much as it must have in 1862. It is also marked for the Trail of Tears route associated with the Indian Removal in 1837-38 and was the old Butterfield Stage route to the West Coast in th 1850s.
As a fourth generation Texan, now retired in Arkansa, I've found Texas WBTS all over the Arkansas and a number of battle sites have been preserved that are associated with Texas including Arkansas Post, Helena, Poison Springs, etc., that are worth a trip.