May 4, 1864 - Another Union Account of the Battle of Poison Spring

Poison Spring State Park

In the weeks and months after the Battle of Poison Spring (April 18, 1864), a steady stream of letters trickled north from officers and men in the Union army.

Most of these came from soldiers in Thayer's column, which had marched south from Fort Smith to join in the Camden phase of the Red River Campaign. Since many of these men were from Kansas or associated with regiments from that state, a number of their letters wound up in newspapers there.

The following, for example, was dated from Fort Smith on May 4, 1864, and appeared in the White Cloud Chief newspaper in Kansas on May 26th:

Interpretive Shelter at Poison Spring

...They fought the rebels nearly half a day, until, overpowered by superior numbers, they were crushed and dispersed. When the officers of the Colored Regiment held up their arms in token of surrender, the enemy took their arms and blew their brains out. The negroes, seeing that no quarter was to be given them, stood and fired as long as they had ammunition, then took what they could from the dead around them; and when this failed, clubbed their guns and waded out. One company went in with 80 men, and was led out by the Orderly Sergeant, with only 11 men left. Most of the Cavalry escaped. About 60 of the 18^th Iowa were taken. One-half of the officers of the 1^st Colored are reported killed or wounded. Col. Williams escaped. All the trains and guns were of course captured. One Major got in, in the evening. His first words were: “Good God! Why didn’t you reinforce us?” The question was asked by hundreds. They heard the firing at Camden, for hours. Gen. Thayer wanted to send reinforcements, but Gen. Steele was not willing. There he lay, with 12,000 men, in hearing distance of the guns, (about 8 or 10 miles,) when they were not only willing, but anxious to go; and more, he let the dead and wounded lie on the field for four days, without caring for the wounded or burying the dead. The wounded died by inches, and crawled into camp on their hands and knees; and in some instances, not until a flag of truce came in from the rebels....

The writer, who identified himself only by the initials "O.B.G.," appears to have been in Camden during the battle, since he describes such details as the arrival of Union survivors there and being able to hear clearly hear the sound of the guns.

Fought when Confederate forces trapped and overwhelmed a Union foraging force, the Battle of Poison Spring was one of a series of disasters that hit Steele's column as it tried to march to Shreveport to link up with a larger Union army marching up through Louisiana. Federal losses in the fight totaled more than 200 killed and missing and 97 wounded, while Southern forces 13 killed and 81 wounded. The Confederates also captured more than 1,200 mules, 170 wagons, 4 pieces of artillery and all of the corn, furniture and other items seized by the Union forces as they rampaged through the countryside.

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

Eyewitness Account of the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas

Poison Spring Battlefield

The Battle of Poison Spring, fought near Camden on April 18, 1864, was one of the deadliest Arkansas encounters of the Civil War.

Around 3,600 Confederates overwhelmed a force of 1,160 Union troops trying to escort a train of around 200 wagons loaded with corn, supplies and various other items taken from farms in the area. The battle has since been one of the more controversial of the war in the west, due largely to allegations by Union officers and newspaper writers that Southern troops murdered surrendering African American soldiers from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.

Southern officers, however, attributed the high number of killed among the black soldiers from Kansas as being due to the fact that they would not surrender or give up their weapons.

A letter written by a lieutenant from the 1st Kansas seems to substantiate to some degree the Confederate version of events at Poison Spring:

Interpretive Panels at Poison Spring

We were attacked about 10 o’clock, a.m., and fought for about three hours, when our regiment was surrounded and we tried to cut our way out. We were fighting against ten thousand rebels. The [blacks] fought like hell. We had only 1,200 men but we repulsed the enemy three times. All our wagons (170) were captured. My captain, Armstrong, was killed, and Lieuts. Colman, Topping, Samuels and Hitchcock were all killed.

Capt. Welch, and Lieut. Macy, were wounded. Twelve of my men were killed and fifteen missing.

Wilson’s Creek was nothing compared with this fight. All the cannon were captured. Our regiment is literally cut to pieces. Our loss is three hundred killed and wounded. Most of the Iowa regiment were killed or taken prisoners. Our regiment would not surrender, but fought their way out.

This account, by Lieutenant D. McFarland from Company D of the 1st Kansas, appeared in the Marysville, Kansas, Big Blue Union newspaper on May 14, 1864. It clearly indicates that the 1st Kansas Colored did not surrender at Poison Spring, as many Union accounts soon claimed, but instead fought to the last.
 
To learn more about the Battle of Poison Spring and see photos of the battlefield, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Conclusion

The allegations that Union soldiers were massacred as the fighting deteriorated has long clouded the memory of the Confederate victory at the Battle of Poison Spring.

The story of what happened as the Union lines broke, in fact, is remarkably similar to the situation at the so-called "Fort Pillow Massacre" in Tennessee when General Nathan Bedford Forrest's men overran a Federal position and pursued black Union troops down a bluff to the edge of the Mississippi River. In both cases, Southern troops were later accused of murdering African American soldiers.

Based on the surviving documentary evidence, there can be no doubt that killings did take place at Poison Spring as Union soldiers fled the battlefield. One Confederate participant wrote after the battle that he saw black Union soldiers being killed by Choctaw warriors fighting with the 1st and 2nd Choctaw Regiments of the 2nd Indian Brigade. These warriors were outraged over raids carried out by Union soldiers from Fort Smith, Arkansas, into the Choctaw Nation earlier that year. Homes had been burned, crops destroyed, family possessions looted, women and children harmed or left homeless and men killed. The Choctaw soldiers, as might be expected, took this personally and when the Federal lines broke at Poison Spring, they did "kill and scalp some" as one eyewitness wrote.

Other eyewitnesses, however, reported that the African American soldiers of the 1st Kansas Colored so prized their weapons that they fled the battlefield clinging desperately to them. If this is correct, which it probably was, then Confederate soldiers confronting them would still have considered the men armed combatants. A very similar situation was reported at Fort Pillow as well.

It should further be noted that Colonel James Williams, the Union commander at the battle, reported that "fully one-half of my infantry engaged were either killed or wounded" before the final Confederate assault broke the Southern lines and forced the Union troops to retreat. This is fairly consistent with post-battle casualty totals.

It should also be noted that muster rolls and other documents reveal that the total loss in killed for Union troops during the battle was much smaller than is often stated. Although many sources report that 236 or more Federal soldiers were killed at Poison Spring, the actual verifiable number was 124. Several others died in hospitals after the battle.

It should be noted that the 1st Kansas Colored did suffer by far the most severe casualties in the battle. It must also be considered, however, that the regiment was positioned at a point on the battlefield where it was attacked both in front and from the flank and also was under heavy cannon fire from two directions. The regiment was hit by the main Confederate attack and by all accounts the men fought with great courage.

In short, while there is evidence that men were killed after the main fighting at Poison Spring, the evidence is not so compelling as to warrant allegations of an intentional massacre of Union troops.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Union Casualties

So what really happened at Poison Spring on April 18, 1864? Was there a brutal massacre of Union black troops? Did hundreds die as some modern writers insist?

A review of the surviving records of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers (later the 79th U.S. Colored Troops), reveals the names of 107 men killed in action, 12 wounded (one of whom was captured) and two prisoners of war, or a total loss of 121 men.

The number killed in action who can be indentified today is remarkably close to the number reported just two days after the battle by Major Richard G. Ward of the 1st Kansas. He reported a loss of 5 officers and 112 enlisted men killed, or a total of 117. He also reported 2 officers and 63 men wounded.

Since the names of men with minor wounds were often not included on regimental reports, especially for African American regiments of that day, there is no reason to suspect that Major Ward's numbers are inaccurate. It is safe to conclude, then, that the total loss of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers at the Battle of Poison Spring was probably around 117 killed, 65 wounded and 2 captured. This represents a total loss for the regiment of 185.

Records of other Union units present at Poison Spring provide the names of another 7 killed, 26 wounded (of whom 17 were captured and 1 listed as missing in action) and 56 captured or missing in action.

This places verifiable Union casualties in the battle at 124 killed, 91 wounded and 58 captured or missing in action. Seventeen of the wounded were also reported as captured and an 18th was listed as missing in action, but they are listed here only with the wounded. This would place the total verifiable Union loss in the battle at 273.

Obviously, this is a severe loss for a small battle, but it is somewhat below the 301 listed by the National Park Service. And the total killed of 124 is far fewer than the 236 or more listed (without names) by some sources.

Part of the confusion seems to originate from the fact that 17 of the wounded were also taken prisoner. They appear to often be listed among both totals, which leads to inaccuracies. Other errors result from the fact that a number of men initially listed as "Missing in Action" eventually returned to their regiments. All eight of the missing in action from the 18th Iowa Infantry, for example, eventually turned back up.

The intial Confederate reports of the battle, while they far overstated Union dead at 400 to 600 (impossible figures since these totals would represent more men lost than reported by all of the Union units present at the battle during the entire war), were more accurate in their statements that roughly 100 Union soldiers had been wounded and around 120 captured. This initial estimate included some prisoners who were released on the day of the battle as well as some wounded prisoners who later died.

The question that remains is whether Union soldiers were killed after they surrendered, especially in large numbers. I will explore the evidence for and against a massacre at Poison Spring in the next post. Until then, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Map of Poison Spring Battlefield, Arkansas

To help you better visualize the tactics of the Battle of Poison Spring, I prepared the map below using information from the forms submitted for the Red River Campaign National Landmark designation.

The troop positions shown here are approximate and are merely intended to provide an idea of how the battle unfolded, so they are not scale and are generalized. The gray lines represent the positions of the Confederate troops as the battle developed. The blue line represents the position of the Union wagon train during the battle. As with most maps, north is up, south is down, west is left and east is right.

The Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - April 18, 1864

As Colonel James Williams and his force of Union raiders tried to make their way back to Camden on the morning of April 18, 1864, with nearly 200 wagons loaded down with confiscated corn and stolen goods, a Confederate force of roughly 3,600 men with 12 pieces of field artillery moved to intercept them.

Williams and his men were following the Washington-Camden road, which ran along the route of today's Arkansas Highway 76. Moving slowly due to their heavily laden wagons, the Federals approached a small water source known locally as Poison Spring at around 10 a.m. Their vanguard was met there by Confederate troops led by General John S. Marmaduke.

Marmaduke reacted boldly, driving back the forward elements of the Union column and seizing a ridge that would prove a critical position in the coming battle. The Washington-Camden Road led up and over this ridge, so Marmaduke positioned his force directly across it. Cabell's and Crawford's brigades of dismounted Confederate cavalry formed the main Southern line, with Greene's brigade (also dismounted) held in reserve. Marmaduke's personal escort was placed in advance of the main line to serve as skirmishers.

The main Confederate position was near the eastern edge of today's Poison Spring State Park, while the Union wagon train stretched down the road from roughly the area of the state park west to the vicinity of the Poison Spring Lookout Tower, a distance of nearly two miles. Virtually the entire battlefield is now preserved in either the state park or the adjoining state forest.

Just as the battle began, Marmaduke was reinforced by the arrival of his commanding officer, General S.B. Maxey, with additional men and artillery. Although Maxey was the senior officer on the field, he declined Marmaduke's offer to accept command because the latter general had already initiated the battle and was more familiar with the ground.

After a brief conference, it was decided that Marmaduke would hold his position astride the road, while Maxey would move off to the left (opposite the road from today's state park) and form his men at a right angle to the initial Confederate line. This resulted in an "L" shaped line with Marmaduke at the base and Maxey to the left.

The Confederate plan was for Maxey to engage the Union forces that were moving into position to protect their wagons and convince them that the main Confederate attack would come from the pine woods to the south of the road. Once the Federals deployed to meet this anticipated attack, Marmaduke would then storm forward with Crawford's and Cabell's brigades and overrun what he expected would be the right flank of the Union line.

To help you better visualize the positions of the troops, I will include a map in the next post. Until then, learn more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Williams' Raid before Poison Spring

Colonel James Williams left Camden on the morning of April 17, 1864 (145 years ago today) with 670 men, 200 wagons and 2 pieces of artillery.

The Federals marched 20 miles out from Camden, striking plantations and farms to the west of the city. By the end of the day, they had confiscated an estimated 5,000 bushels of corn as well as livestock and other supplies. Stories handed down in local families also indicate the soldiers raided homes for clothing, furniture and any other valuables they could fine. According to some eyewitnesses, they even stole items from the slave cabins, taking from those with little to offer.

Although they did not encounter resistance on the 17th, the Confederates knew the Federals were on the move. General John Marmaduke learned from scouts and local citizens of the Union raid and decided to intercept them on their way back to Camden. Accordingly, he set out with 3,600 men and 12 pieces of field artillery on a road that would intersect the route by which Williams had marched.

In Camden, General Steele became concerned that his raiding party might not have enough men to fend off a Confederate attack, so he sent out an additional 490 men and 2 more cannon to link up with Williams and assist in getting the confiscated provisions safely back to camp.

By the evening of April 17th, the stage was set for the Battle of Poison Spring. The fighting would begin the next day.

I will have details about the battle in the next post. Until then, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Eight

This is the final part in our series on the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas.

A small portion of the battlefield is preserved today as the Poison Spring State Park. Located about ten miles west of Camden, Arkansas, the park features an interpretive display, monument, nature trail and picnic area set in the beautiful countryside of southern Arkansas.

Although the surrounding battlefield is not developed at this time, it is preserved by the state and artifact hunting is prohibited.

The interpretive panels (seen here) provide visitors with a good overview of the battle and provide a good orientation of the setting. The nature trail also carries visitors down into the steep ravine created by Poison Spring and Poison Spring Branch and is quite beautiful.

If you would like to learn more about the Battle of Poison Spring, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Seven (Ghosts?)

The site of the Battle of Poison Spring is one of a number of Civil War battlefields that are reputed to be haunted by the ghosts of long forgotten soldiers.

I visited Poison Spring on the late afternoon of a stormy summer day and noticed an odd yellow glow through the trees near the spring. Although my mobility is limited, I walked a short distance down the path into the woods and could no longer see the strange light, but when I returned back to the cleared area at the parking lot it was once again visible.

I took a quick photograph before heading to the car to get out of the approaching lightning and, surprisingly, it showed up. This photograph to provide a better view, but the light I saw is clearly visible in the background behind the tree. The other "orbs" are, I think, just light effects from the weather conditions, but notice that one small white one is visible in front of the yellow light, showing that it was at a depth into the woods.

What was it? I have no idea. It is the first time I have encountered something like this in my various visits to battlefields and historic sites. It was clearly visible to the eye during the afternoon from a distance, but could not be seen from locations closer to its apparent position. If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them!

You can see other "ghost" photos from Poison Spring State Park and read more about the battle at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Six

By the time the firing stopped at the Battle of Poison Spring, the scene was apocalyptic.

The Union forces had sustained losses estimated at 204 killed or missing and 97 wounded.

The Confederates also reported the capture of around 120 prisoners, only four of them black soldiers from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.

In addition, Southern troops took all four pieces of Union artillery, several hundred stand of small arms and 1,200 mules.

Of the wagons filled with supplies or stolen goods, the Confederates captured them all, although nearly 30 had to be abandoned and burned because they were either damaged or there were insufficient teams left to haul them away. Eyewitnesses on the scene reported that the wagons were filled with everything from corn to personal goods stolen from houses and even the meager possessions from slave cabins.

Confederate losses, by comparison, were small. Official reports listed 13 killed, 81 wounded and 1 missing. Although the disparity in losses is often used to demonstrate post-battle killings by Southern troops at Poison Spring, it should also be remembered that the Confederates had superior artillery on the ground and struck the Union line from both the front and flank.

Confederate troops pursued the retreating Federals for some distance from the battlefield, but were eventually halted by order of General Maxey who was more concerned with getting the massive haul of captured supplies to a safe position.

Our series on the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas will continue. Until the next post, you can read more by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Five

This is a view of the trickling stream that flows from Poison Spring in Arkansas. It can be viewed along the nature trail at Poison Spring State Park.

At the time of the Battle of Poison Spring, the stream or "branch" was flowing with much greater force due to heavy rains that had deluged the area over previous weeks.

As the Union retreat at Poison Spring degenerated into a rout, many of the Federal troops fled the battlefield in any direction possible. It was at this stage of the fighting that alleged murders of Union black soldiers took place.

According to Federal accounts, many men from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry were shot down by Confederate troops as they were either taken prisoner or tried to flee. The eyewitness accounts are silent as to how many such incidents allegedly took place, but the allegations do surface in a number of the post-battle reports and accounts.

Confederate accounts also indicate that Union black soldiers were killed as they tried to flee the battlefield. Southern eyewitness accounts generally alleged that the men of the 1st and 2nd Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiments were responsible for these actions, noting that the families of these men had suffered greatly at the hands of these same Union troops prior to the beginning of the Red River Campaign.

The latter fact was definitely true. Outrages visited on Choctaw and Chickasaw homes and farms by Union troops had caused a massive flood of refugee men, women and children to flee south from their lands to the areas along the Texas border where they could be protected by Confederate forces. Many of these refugees were family members of Choctaw and Chickasaw soldiers that fought on the Southern side at Poison Spring and there can be little doubt but that they held grudges over the treatment of their loved ones.

Several of the Confederate accounts also note that as the black Union soldiers attempted to flee at the end of the battle, they did not throw down their weapons, but "shuffled" along carrying their firearms with them. This is strangely similar to the accounts of Southern troops describing the alleged massacre at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.

Could there have been something in the pysche of Union black troops that made them unwilling to surrender their weapons? It is certainly possible, considering that for the most part they had been slaves prior to the war and ownership or use of firearms was generally forbidden to them. The possession of a musket or rifle to a black soldier certainly would have been a powerful symbol of his new found freedom and it is reasonable to think that he would have been extremely relunctant to part with it.

It is interesting to contemplate whether the refusal of men from the 1st Kansas Colored to throw down their weapons at Poison Spring might have contributed to alleged post-battle killings there.

It is also worth noting that Colonel James Williams, the commander of Union forces during the battle, reported that nearly half of the men in the regiment had either been killed or wounded during the actual fighting and before the beginning of the retreat. The regiment was stationed in a position where it received massive fire from superior Confederate artillery and the main infantry battle lines of the Southern forces.

Our series on the Battle of Poison Spring will continue. To read more about the battle before the next post, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Four

When the Confederate attacks broke the Union lines at Poison Spring, the battle quickly devolved into a bloody rout.

Pressed from three sides, the Federals began to fall back away from the coveted wagon train and tried to escape across a steep ravine and into swampy areas to the rear of the main battlefield.

The ravine proved impossible to cross with artillery, so the four Union field pieces were abandoned and fell into Confederate hands.

The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry had already sustained heavy casualties by this time of the fight, so it is difficult to determine how many of its men fell during the retreat phase of the battle. The subsequent reports of Union officers indicated that "half" of the regiment had been killed or wounded on the main battle line by Confederate artillery and musket fire.

When the regiment began its attempted retreat, it did so under heavy Confederate pursuit, particularly by the 1st and 2nd Choctaw and Chickasaw Regiments. These Native American soldiers were irate with the Union cause because of the suffering inflicted on their families by these same soldiers prior to the beginning of the Red River Campaign. Union treatment of Choctaw and Chickasaw families near Fort Smith had forced them to flee their homes by the hundreds and many now lived in refugee camps near the Texas border. The Choctaw and Chickasaw warriors struck back with a vengeance at Poison Spring.

According to Union and some Confederate reports, soldiers from the 1st Kansas Colored were killed as they fled from the scene of the fighting and much controversy about murders has swirled around the Battle of Poison Spring.

When our series continues, we will look closer at this phase of the battle and the evidence on murders at the battlefield. Until then, learn more about this fascinating and controversial fight by visiting www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Three

When the Confederates began their main advance, the Union wagon train was in tight formation along the road (visible here beyond the interpretive shelter) and the Federal troops were positioned beyond the road to defend the train.

Maxey and Marmaduke's plan was to push against the main Union force to divert their attention while a surprise assault was launched against their right flank.

The flank attack was not really a surprise because Col. Williams and his men were able to see the Southern troops moving into position through gaps in the underbrush, but even so it proved highly effective.

As the firing between the two sides reached a peak, the Confederates moved forward. Williams estimated his effective force at the beginning of the battle at around 1,000 men and Maxey later reported that, although his command was much larger, only about 1,500 of his men were actually engaged. Much has been said about the overwhelming size of the Southern force during the Battle of Poison Spring, but in truth the forces actually engaged were closer in size than has generally been stated.

The Confederates did have a major advantage in field artillery during the battle and employed it to good use. The twelve Southern guns devastated the Union lines and had inflicted heavy losses on Williams' command even before the main attack began.

When the Confederates moved forward against their front and right flank, the Federals quickly realized that they were in serious trouble. Williams tried to bring forward additional men from his rear guard to help, but found out that the Southern lines were overlapping him in all directions.

He and his officers would later report that they beat back three distinct Confederate attacks, but the reports of Generals Maxey and Marmaduke do not agree. The Confederate generals describe one constant push that ultimately drove the Federals beyond their wagons and broke their lines.

Our series on the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas will continue. Until the next post, you can read more and see battlefield photos by visiting the new Battle of Poison Spring website at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part Two

On the morning of April 18, 1864, the Union raiding party began its return to Camden.

Commanded by Col. James Williams of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers, the Federal force numbered nearly 1,200 men with four pieces of field artillery. As they moved forward on the Washington-Camden Road, however, they soon began to encounter Confederate pickets. Pushing the Southern horsemen before them, the Federal vanguard advanced roughly one mile before a stronger line of Confederate skirmishers suddenly halted the advance.

Colonel Williams quickly realized he was in trouble and pulled the 198 wagons loaded with stolen supplies into a tight formation on the road and then placed his troops into a position to defend the train as well as possible. The Confederates were concealed by the thick undergrowth and timber of the battlefield and the Federals had difficulty determining what kind of a force they were up against. To better unveil the situation, Williams felt from his right flank with detachments from the 2nd and 6th Kansas Cavalry and opened fire with his artillery. To his chagrin the Confederates responded with massive volleys of musketry and artillery fire and began to show themselves in force both in his front and on his right flank.

The Confederates had devised a plan of action that called for them to push strongly against the main Union line while also striking hard at the Federal right flank. As Williams began to realize the difficulty he was in, Maxey and Marmaduke ordered their troops forward, accompanied by the crash of 12 pieces of Confederate artillery.

Our series on the Battle of Poison Spring will continue. Until the next post, you can read more and see photographs of the battlefield by visiting the new Battle of Poison Spring site at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas - Part One

During the spring of 1864, Union forces engaged in one of the most ill-conceived campaigns of the Civil War.

Despite the objections of Gen. U.S. Grant, two armies were sent to invade northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. Their target was the strategic city of Shreveport, Louisiana, and the ultimate goal was the establishment of a foothold in Texas.

The Louisiana wing of the invasion was turned back at Battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill. The Arkansas phase began to unravel here at the Battle of Poison Spring.

Following smaller engagements at Elkin's Ferry and Prairie d'Ane, the Union army of Gen. Frederick Steele occupied Camden, Arkansas on April 15, 1864. The Federals were desperately short of supplies, so three days later Steele sent a force of 670 men with nearly 200 wagons to confiscate corn from private farms about 20 miles east of Camden. This force was reinforced by around 500 additional men as it returned from its raid, giving the Federals 1,190 men and four pieces of artillery as they leisurely escorted the slow-moving wagons on their way back to Camden.

The Confederates, however, were aware of their activities. After Union troops had occupied Camden, Southern Gen. Sterling Price sent out cavalry forces to observe all of the roads leading in and out of the city. When the wagon train emerged and began to move west, Price's forces began to prepare a surprise for the enemy raiders.

The surprise came on April 18, 1864, near a trickling water source named Poison Spring.

We will continue our look at the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas in our next post. Until then you can read more by visiting our new Battle of Poison Spring website at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/poisonspring.

Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas

I hope you are having a good Labor Day.

Beginning tomorrow I'll start a series of posts on the Battle of Poison Spring, Arkansas. An important part of the Red River Campaign, this engagement was a controversial and bloody Confederate victory.

A portion of the battlefield is now preserved as the Poison Spring State Park near Camden and much of the rest is protected in a natural state.

Be sure to check in tomorrow for part one on this new series!