Battle of Reed's Mountain, Arkansas - December 6, 1862

Original Road over Reed's Mountain

Today (December 6th) is the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Reed's Mountain, the final preliminary fight to the Battle of Prairie Grove, the anniversary of which is tomorrow.

Following the Battle of Cane Hill one week earlier, Union General James G. Blunt had kept his division at Cane Hill. The other division of the Army of the Frontier was in southern Missouri and Confederate General Thomas Hindman saw an opportunity in the miles that separated the two wings of his enemy's army. If he could push north rapidly and place his own army between the two Federal divisions, he might be able to destroy each individually before they could unite and outnumber him.

Driving north through the Boston Mountains, he struck the Cove Creek Road in northern Crawford County and crossed into Washington County on the morning of December 6, 1862. Aware that a small force of Union soldiers had been at the intersection of the Cove Creek and Cane Hill roads, to watch for Confederate movements, Hindman ordered Colonel J.C. Monroe to advance ahead of the main army and drive the Federals over Reed's Mountain where they would not be able to see his main body as it came north. Reed's Mountain is a rugged slope that separates the Cane Hill (now spelled Canehill) area from the Cove Creek Valley.

Cove Creek Valley from Reed's Mountain

Monroe moved forward rapidly and attacked the Federal pickets, driving them up and over the crest of Reed's Mountain. Union reinforcements moved up and the two forces battled back and forth for the top of the mountain. The hard-fighting Arkansas cavalrymen of Monroe's brigade, however, kept the Federals on their side of the mountain and effectively screened the northward march of Hindman's main army.

The battle would pale in comparison to the vicious fighting that would take place the next day at the Battle of Prairie Grove, but it was highly significant as it allowed Hindman to slip past Blunt and put himself into position to deliver what he hoped would be a crushing defeat to the Federals in Northwest Arkansas.

Learn more about the battle at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARReedsMountain.

The Battle of Devil's Backbone, Arkansas - Mountain Fight for Fort Smith

As Union troops surged into Fort Smith on the morning of September 1, 1863, General James G. Blunt ordered his cavalry to pursue the retreating soldiers lead by Confederate General W.L. Cabell.

The Confederates were falling back on the Waldron Road, having evacuated Fort Smith without a fight, and appeared to be in full flight. Following Blunt's orders, Union Colonel William F. Cloud led the 2nd Kansas and 6th Missouri Cavalries, along with two sections from Rabb's Indiana battery, down the road leading to Jenny Lind and Waldron.

The Federals skirmished with Cabell's rear guard at Jenny Lind, sending the Confederate horsemen into a rapid retreat. What Cloud didn't know as he stormed after them, however, was that it was all part of a trap planned by the Southern general. Knowing that the Union commander would think he had the Confederates on the run and was closing in on the rear of their column, Cabell prepared an ambush where the Waldron Road crossed the Devil's Backbone, an abrupt mountain ridge that runs east to west across the horizon south of Fort Smith.

As Cloud and his horsemen rode up to the foot of the ridge, intent on catching their prey, the hunter suddenly became the hunted. The Union troopers road into a deadly trap and were ambushed by the Confederates of Monroe's Regiment who were hidden at the bottom of the Backbone:

The enemy formed in a dense growth of small timber and brush, and when our scouts came up, they let them pass through without firing a gun, but when Company C came up, they opened upon them a very heavy volley of infantry in two columns. Your son (Capt. E.D. Lines, 2nd Kansas) was killed at that time. He was in the extreme advance, (as was his custom,) and was shot by a Minnie ball, through the bowels and liver.

Following the ambush, the Battle of Devil's Backbone raged for three hours. The two forces engaged in a severe artillery duel that damaged nerves far more than it did bodies. The Confederates held their own and appeared to be on the verge of prevailing when the cannon fire finally slowed. To his shock and dismay, however, General Cabell watched as his army virtually disintegrated around him.

Not under immediate attack and having fought well so far, the Confederate lines suddenly collapsed and soldiers streamed down the backside of the ridge. Cabell could do nothing but withdraw his remaining intact units and fight a rear guard action as he pulled back to Waldron. The loss of the fight at Devil's Backbone ended his hopes of defeating the Union army in detail and retaking Fort Smith.

To learn more about the battle, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/devilsbackbone.

Battle of Reeds Mountain - Washington County, Arkansas

On December 6, 1862 - the day before the Battle of Prairie Grove - Union and Confederate troops battled for control of Reed's Mountain, a ridge separating the Cove Creek Road from today's community of Canehill (then spelled Cane Hill).

The mountain was critical to Confederate General Thomas Hindman's plans to advance up from Van Buren into Northwest Arkansas before the divided Union Army of the Frontier could reassemble. If all went well, he hoped to move up the Cove Creek Road and destroy one Union division with overwhelming force before then turning on the other with the same advantage.

To achieve this objective, however, it was critical that Hindman's movement up Cove Creek be screened from Union General James G. Blunt's division at Cane Hill. Since Blunt had pickets on the road and a small force overlooking the Cove Creek Valley from the crest of Reed's Mountain, Hindman ordered Colonel J.C. Monroe to take his brigade of Arkansas cavalry ahead of the main army and drive off the Federals.

Driving Blunt's pickets up the road, Monroe struck Reed's Mountain with a force of only 400 men (150 of his soldiers were doing picket duty up and down the road). Charging up the slope of the mountain, he was initially driven back by the Union soldiers at the top. Spreading into a full line of battle, however, he engaged the Federals in a severe firefight and then, finally, was able to move around one of their flanks and drive them from the mountain as night fell on December 6, 1862.

The small victory by Monroe's Arkansans created the opportunity Hindman wanted to push his army past Blunt's position at Cane Hill before his movement was detected by the Union commander.

To learn more about the remarkable fight at Reed's Mountain, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ARReedsMountain.