270

1864.

STEELE'S ARMY IN ARKANSAS.

a

Let us now see what the Seventh Army Corps, under General Steele, was doing in the way of co-operation with the Red River expedition while it was in progress. General Steele was at his head-quarters at Little Rock when that expedition moved. On the 23d of March he started southward, on the military road, with about eight thousand troops, horse and foot, the former commanded by General Carr. On the previous day General Thayer, commanding the Army of the Frontier, left Fort Smith with about five thousand men, for the purpose of joining Steele at Arkadelphia; and Colonel Clayton marched from Pine Bluff with a small force to the left of Steele, in the direction of Camden, a place held and well fortified by the Confederates. That was Steele's first objective, for Sterling Price, with a considerable force, was holding a line from that place westward to Washington, the capital of Hempstead County. It was necessary to dispose of this force before marching toward Shreveport.

The roads were so wretched that the junction of forces could not be relied upon, and Thayer failed to join Steele at Arkadelphia. The latter had been compelled to skirmish at the crossings of streams all the way from Benton, and his troops were somewhat worn by fatigue, but, after waiting two days for Thayer, he pushed on in the direction of Washington, for the purpose of flanking Camden, and drawing Price out of his fortifications. there. He encountered the cavalry of Marmaduke and Cabell at almost every step, and day after day skirmished, sometimes lightly and sometimes heavily, with them, until the 10th of April, when he found Price in strong force across his path at Prairie d'Anne, not far from Washington, prepared to make a decided stand. Steele had been joined by Thayer, and he readily accepted battle. An artillery fight ensued, which lasted until dark. The Confederates made a desperate attempt in the darkness to capture Steele's guns, but failed. He pushed nearer their position the next day, and at the dawn of the 12th attempted to turn their flank, when they retreated to Washington, pursued for several miles by cavalry.

Steele now heard of the disaster to the Union troops at Sabine Cross Roads,' and, instead of pursuing Price toward Washington, turned sharply toward Camden. The Confederates quickly perceived his purpose, and, stimulated to stronger action by the news from Western Louisiana, they made vigorous efforts to save Camden from Steele's grasp. While his army was corduroying Bogue bottom, one of the worst in the State, his rear, under Thayer, was strongly attacked by General Dockery. The Confederates were repulsed, and the army moved on, but to find itself confronted by Cabell and Shelby. These were driven from position to position, and on the evening of the 15th the National troops entered

¿ April. Camden.

b

Although Steele was in a strong place, and supplies could be easily obtained by way of the Washita, he found Camden to be an uncomfortable and dangerous post. The Confederates were swarming thickly around him, for there was no occasion for their employment in the direction of the Red River. Three days after his arrival they attacked and captured a forage train, little more than a dozen miles from the Union

April 18.

1 See page 258.

272

BATTLE OF JENKINSON'S FERRY.

lines, by which Steele lost two hundred and fifty men and four guns. This was followed by another disaster, five days later, when the escort of a supply

⚫ April 28,

1864.

train, which had come down from Little Rock, and was returning empty, was attacked twelve miles from Camden by Shelby's cavalry. The escort consisted of a brigade of infantry, four guns, and a small cavalry force, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, of the Seventy-seventh Ohio. The assailants were beaten off, and the train and escort pressed on, until again attacked, as it emerged from a swamp at Marks's Mill, by an overwhelming force under General Fagan. A desperate fight ensued between his force and the Forty-third Indiana and Thirty-sixth Ohio, until Drake was mortally wounded, and the Confederates had wedged in between the troops in conflict and the Seventy-seventh Ohio, guarding the rear of the train, when all were compelled to surrender. The National loss was two hundred and fifty men. The negro servants of the officers were butchered after the surrender. The Confederate loss was estimated at full six hundred.

⚫ April 30.

Steele now felt it necessary to retreat to Little Rock, for he was informed that Fagan was marching on that place, and that E. Kirby Smith had heavily re-enforced Price. He accordingly threw his army across the Washita on the night of the 26th of April, and at daylight the next morning began a retreat by way of Princeton and Jenkinson's Ferry, on the Sabine River. At the latter place he was attacked' by an overwhelming force, led by Kirby Smith in person. Steele's troops were nearly famished, having eaten but little since they left Camden, and were exceedingly weary. A part of them had already crossed the river, when the foe struck the Thirty-third Iowa, Colonel Mackey, covering the rear, a very heavy blow. The Fiftieth Indiana pressed forward to its aid, when both were pushed back behind the Ninth Wisconsin and Twenty-ninth Iowa. These were then furiously assailed, when all the troops yet on the south side of the river were ordered up, and a most sanguinary battle ensued, in which General S. A. Rice was in immediate command of the Nationals.

Three times the Confederates charged heavily, and were repulsed each time. Then they threatened the National right flank, when the Forty-third Illinois and a part of the Fortieth Iowa dashed across a swollen, miry stream, and drove the enemy back. The latter then made a desperate attempt to crush the left and center. They turned the extreme left, held by the Thirty-third Iowa, whose ammunition had given out, when four companies of the Fortieth Iowa, led by Colonel Garrett, hastened to its support, formed under a tremendous fire, and restored the line, when it pressed forward, and for a full hour drove the Confederates steadily back. It was a fight by infantry alone, and at noon the Nationals had gained a complete victory. Then they crossed the river leisurely, and moved on toward Little Rock, leaving only a burial party behind. These the Confederates captured, and then claimed a victory in THE BATTLE OF JENKINSON'S FERRY. In that struggle the Confederates lost over three thousand men, including three general officers. The loss of the Nationals was seven hundred killed and wounded.

Steele pressed on toward Little Rock as rapidly as possible, to prevent

STEELE'S ARMY AT LITTLE ROCK.

273

its capture by Fagan, and succeeded. It was a terrible march from Jenkins's Ferry over the swampy country, the half-famished men dragging cannon and caissons over corduroy roads they had made for the purpose, for the animals were so exhausted that they could not draw even the wagons, which had to be destroyed. A supply-train met them, and on the 2d of May the broken and dispirited troops entered Little Rock.

So ended, in all its parts, the disastrous campaign against Shreveport. Its result caused much disappointment and dissatisfaction; and General Banks was specially blamed for not pressing forward after his victory at Pleasant Hill. The narrative here given, drawn from authentic sources,' and the reasons offered by General Banks in his report, seem to the writer to be his sufficient justification in the judgment of candid observers. He was nowise responsible for the radically defective plan of the campaign, and his troops evidently did all that it was possible for them to do under the circumstances.

1 The authorities from which the facts of this narrative have been chiefly derived, are the Reports of General Banks and his subordinates; of Admiral Porter and his subordinates; of the Confederate General E. Kirby Smith and his subordinates; the narratives of newspaper correspondents, and the manuscript diaries of General T. Kilby Smith and Brevet Brigadier-General George Bernard Drake. The latter was the AdjutantGeneral of Banks's forces engaged in the Red River expedition, and, at the request of the writer, kindly furnished him with a copy of his diary.

2 The chief reasons offered were: (1.) The difficulty in bringing his trains on the road toward Grand Ecore in time to move quickly after the flying Confederates; (2.) A lack of water for man or beast in that region, excepting such as the wells afforded; (8.) The fact that all surplus ammunition and supplies of the army were on board the transports sent up to Loggy Bayou, and the impossibility of knowing whether these had reached their destination; (4.) The falling of the river, which imperiled the naval part of the expedition; and (5.) The report of a scouting party, on the day of the battle, that no tidings could be heard of the fleet. "These considerations," said Banks, "the absolute deprivation of water for man or beast, the exhaustion of rations, and the failure to effect a connection with the fleet on the river, made it necessary for the army, although victorious in the struggle through which it had just passed, to retreat to a point where it would be certain of communicating with the fleet, and where it would have an opportunity for reorganization. The shattered condition of the Thirteenth Army Corps and the cavalry made this indispensable."

274

ARKANSAS OVERRUN BY CONFEDERATES.

CHAPTER X.

THE LAST INVASION OF MISSOURI.-EVENTS IN EAST TENNESSEE.-PREPARATIONS FOR THE ADVANCE OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

1864.

a

HE failure of the Red River expedition, and the expulsion of Steele from the country below the Arkansas River, by which two-thirds of the State of Arkansas was given up to the Confederates, had a disastrous effect upon the Union cause and people in that State, where the restoration of civil power in loyal hands, amply sustained by the military, had been, it was believed, made permanent.' The dream of security was now dispelled. Steele was placed on the defensive at the State capital, and the Confederates everywhere showed, by their boldness and activity, a determination to repossess the State, if possible. Their cavalry roamed at will over all the region below the Arkansas, after Steele retreated to Little Rock, plundering and overawing the Unionists. Nor did they confine themselves to that region. Late in June Shelby, with a considerable body of Confederate cavalry, dashed across. the Arkansas eastward of Little Rock, and pushed on to the White River, on the eastern border of Arkansas County, where they were attacked and thrown back, in the vicinity of St. Charles, by four regiments under General' Carr, with a loss of about four hundred men, of whom two hundred were made prisoners. Carr's loss was about two hundred. Shelby was speedily re-enforced by Marmaduke, when Carr was pushed northward to Clarendon,. when he, in turn, was re-enforced, and the Confederates retreated southward. This bold movement was followed by others in that section of the State. In July about four hundred colored troops, led by Colonel W. S. Brooks, went up the country a short distance from Helena, when they were attacked' by a heavier force under General Dobbins. Fortunately, Major Carmichael was then passing down the Mississippi on a steamer, with one hundred and fifty of the Fifteenth Illinois Cavalry, and

July 26.

Jan. 8.

1 The occupation of Little Rock by General Steele in the autumn of 1863, and the seeming acquiescence of the Confederates in the necessity of giving up the State to National rule, emboldened the Unionists, who finally met, by delegates, in a State Constitutional Convention, at Little Rock, in which forty-two of the fifty-four counties in the State were represented. A State Constitution was framed, whereby slavery was forever prohibited. Isaac C. Murphy, the only stanch Unionist in the Secession Convention of that State [see page 474, volume I.], was chosen Provisional Governor, and duly inaugurated, with C. C. Bliss Lieutenant-Governor, and R. J. T. White Secretary of State. The Constitution was ratified by a vote of the people of the State, there being 12,177 in favor of it, and only 226 against it. Representatives in Congress and State offieers were chosen under it, and the Legislature elected United States Senators. By every usual form the 1 April 25. State was restored to its proper situation in the Union, in partial accordance with the terms of the President's Proclamation. See page 282. Such was its position when the military power of the Government began to wane, at the close of May.

d Jan. 22.

• March 14.