Battle of Jenkins' Ferry 150th Anniversary

Monument at Jenkins' Ferry State Park

Today (April 30, 2014) marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas.

The last significant action of the Camden Expedition, as the Arkansas phase of the Red River Campaign is known, the battle took place in the floodplain of the Saline River about 12 miles south of Sheridan, Arkansas.

Gen. Frederick Steele
Courtesy National Park Service

In the Spring of 1864, Union troops from Little Rock and Fort Smith had joined forces for a march to join a second Union army making its way through Louisiana to Shreveport and northeastern Texas. Commanded by General Frederick Steele, the Federals made it as far as Camden before running into a hornets' nest of Confederate resistance.

Following disastrous defeats at the Battles of Poison Spring and Marks' Mill,  Steele's army faced the very real threat of starvation due to his inability to obtain supplies. Giving up on the idea of pushing forward to Shreveport, he ordered a retreat back to Little Rock.

Gen. E. Kirby Smith
Library of Congress

The Federals reached Jenkins' Ferry on the Saline River on April 29, 1864, and their engineers began building pontoon bridges for the soldiers to use in crossing. Heavy rains, however, turned the river bottom swamp into a muddy morass, bogging down men, cannon and wagons. Then, late on the afternoon of the 29th, Confederate forces arrived on the high ground to the south and began lobbing shells into the Union ranks.

The main Confederate army came up during the night and heavy fighting began at sunrise on April 30, 1864. As the Union troops threw up temporary breastworks of logs and fence rails, Confederate General E. Kirby Smith ordered wave after wave of Southern attacks.

The fighting was fierce and bloody as the soldiers fought in mud and water that ranged from a few inches to three feet deep.

To read more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1.

Battle of Jenkins' Ferry (April 30, 1864)

Jenkins' Ferry Battle Monument

Today marks the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas.

A bloody and important engagement of the Arkansas portion of the Red River Campaign, the battle took place about 12 miles south of Sheridan in the lowlands and swamps along the Saline River.

Union General Frederick Steele had been badly mauled in a series of battles near Camden over the previous two weeks, particularly at the Battle of Poison Spring on April 18th. Learning that the Louisiana phase of the campaign to take Shreveport and advance into northern Texas had failed, he decided that discretion was the better part of valor and began to evacuate his fortified position at Camden on April 26, 1864.

Saline River at Jenkins' Ferry

The Confederates, who had hovered around Camden in large numbers and had defeated several efforts by General Steele to supply his hungry army, quickly moved in pursuit of the retreating Federals. Led by General Kirby Smith in person, they caught up with Steele at Jenkins' Ferry on the morning of April 30, 1864, 148 years ago today.

The ground over which the battle was fought was horrible for offensive operations. The river was running high and the bottoms were partially flooded. Thick swamps and mud hindered the movement of troops and cannon and greatly impacted Smith's ability to properly coordinate his forces.

Fighting on the defensive, the Federals were able to condense their lines and throw up breastworks of fence rails and logs. The Confederates had to come at them through the swamps and mud and without the protection of fortifications of their own. The result was a bloody fight that ended when Kirby Smith realized he would not be able to overwhelm the Union lines and ordered the attacks to stop. The Union army slipped across the Saline River during the night, destroying its pontoon bridge behind it, and moved on for Little Rock.

Total losses in the battle numbered nearly 1,000. The Confederates suffered casualties of at least 86 killed and 356 wounded. The Federals lost an estimated 63 killed, 413 wounded and 45 missing in action.

To learn more about the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry and Jenkins' Ferry State Park, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1.

The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas - Capt. John Whiteford's letter to his wife

Jenkins' Ferry State Park

The letters of Captain John Whiteford, a Southern Unionist who commanded Company I, 1st Arkansas Infantry (U.S.) during the Camden Expedition of the Red River Campaign, reveal a great deal about the tribulations of a Southern family that fled north during the Civil War.

Whiteford was a resident of Texas when that state left the Union in 1861. Leaving his wife "among strangers" at Fort Riley in Kansas, he enlisted in the Union army. In September of 1863, he was appointed as the captain of Company I, 1st Arkansas (U.S.). In this capacity he served first in Sebastian County, but went on to fight in the Camden Expedition.

Saline River at Jenkins' Ferry Battlefield

On April 30, 1864, Whiteford was among the Union officers and soldiers who threw back the bloody attacks of Confederate forces at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry on the Saline River near Sheridan, Arkansas. Under the command of General Kirby Smith, Southern troops tried to destroy the retreating Union army as it crossed the flooded Saline River at Jenkins Ferry. The attacks, however, were not well coordinated and the Federals escaped after inflicting heavy casualties on the Confederates.

Whiteford, who had never actually been mustered into the service and would later be labeled a "civilian" by the Union army, led his company in heavy fighting at Jenkins' Ferry and described the scene in a letter to his wife a short time later:

Jenkins' Ferry Battle Monument

...The infantry were in the rear to protect the train, and fight the rebels, while the balance of the army were crossing on the pontoon. It was a regular infantry fight. The rebels had four pieces of artillery in making the attack on us, but the Second Kansas Colored Volunteers captured that after the third charge, and then we had an even show. They massed their infantry on us and charged fiercely, but it was no go. Our regiment (Second Arkansas) distinguished itself. The dead rebels were thick over the ground. As we drove them back one man, by my side, was shot, and the bushes and sapplings were cutting down in front of me and bark and dirt thrown in my face, but no ball touched me. Thanks to God, who saw fit to spare my life awhile longer. The musketry was fiercer and more constant than at Prairie Grove. We fought all day on swampy land. The night before we were up all night in the rain in line of battle, and during the fight we were up to our knees in water, and when we had drove the enemy back we had to march on return four miles through mud knee deep. - Capt. John Whiteford, May 4, 1864.

Whiteford continued by describing the actual crossing of the Saline River, which took place at the site of today's Jenkins' Ferry State Park:

...Union families from Camden had to leave their carriages in the mud, and carry their children to the bridge. Men even dropped down in the confusion and wagons pass over them, it raining all the time. When we got across the bridge we had three miles more of such mud. Such a sight of women and children crying, and horses and mules dying, and wagons abandoned, I never saw. The rebels came to the river after we had crossed, but too late to do us any damage. We had destroyed the bridge that night, and all the wagons except one to each brigade. - Capt. John Whiteford, May 4, 1864.

Although the numbers may not be accurate, reported losses at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry were 86 killed and 356 wounded for the Confederates and 63 killed, 413 wounded and 45 missing for the Federals.

You can learn more about the battle and today's Jenkins' Ferry State Park at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1.

The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry - Arkansas

It seems appropriate in a way that the last significant battle of the Arkansas phase of the Red River Campaign was fought in flooded swamps with the soldiers of both sides standing from a few inches to a few feet deep in water.

The campaign to seize Shreveport, an important strategic objective on the Red River, was already a disaster by the time the Union and Confederate armies tore into each other at Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas, on April 30, 1864. General Frederick Steele's troops from Little Rock and Fort Smith had been badly beaten in fighting at Poison Spring and Marks' Mills after they had bogged down due to a shortage of supplies and stiffening resistance at Camden earlier in the month.

The other arm of the Union army, led up from the Mississippi River by General Nathaniel P. Banks, had advanced as far as Alexandria, Louisiana, before they were soundly thrashed at the Battle of Mansfield by a much smaller Confederate army commanded by General Richard Taylor.

With the campaign in shambles, both Federal forces went into retreat. In Arkansas, the last major fight of that retreat took place at Jenkins' Ferry, an important crossing of the Saline River about 12 miles south of Sheridan. The fighting started on April 29th, when Confederate artillery opened an ineffectual fire on Union forces trying to move supply wagons across a pontoon bridge.

Heavy rains began to fall, and continued to fall through the night, and by the next morning the swamps along the Saline were flooded with muddy water. The road leading to the temporary bridge was a quagmire of mud and the Union troops were battling the elements in trying to cross the river when Confederate troops launched a dawn attack from the rear.

The Federals threw up temporary breastworks and hurled back repeated Confederate attacks in fighting that turned out to be confused and bloody. The Southern assaults were poorly coordinated, however, and General E. Kirby Smith was finally forced to call off the fight. Steele took advantage of the break in the fighting to move his army across the Saline and destroy the bridge behind him.

To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1. Our page on the battle is newly updated. Among the new features is an aerial photograph of the battlefield.

Jenkins' Ferry - Part Five

We wrap up our series on the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry and Jenkins' Ferry State Park today with this view of the state park area.

Things are a little brown here (the photo was taken in late February), but the trees should be showing plenty of green soon.

The park is a very nice place to stop for an hour or so and reflect on the history of the area or to enjoy an afternoon in the sunshine. In addition to its historical significance, Jenkins' Ferry State Park offers picnic tables, a boat ramp and a "swimming hole." There are no facilities at the park, so keep that in mind.

After crossing the Saline River at the end of the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, the Union army marched away across the ground seen here and continued their retreat to Little Rock. The withdrawal ended the last significant Arkansas action of the Red River Campaign.

To read more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1.

Jenkins' Ferry, Part Four

This photo gives you a good idea of the appearance of the actual battlefield at Jenkins' Ferry as it appears today.

This vast swampy scene of the battle is located across the Saline River from Jenkins' Ferry State Park and remains on private property. Access is restricted, so please respect private property rights.

At the time of the battle, as seen here, the white oak swamps bordering the Saline River were overflowing and the men of both sides fought in water, muck and mud. This contributed greatly to the inability of Confederate commanders to properly coordinate their attacks and proved an advantage to the Federals in defending their wagon trains until they could get them across the river.

If you would like to read more about the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jenkinsferry1. I'll be adding other Arkansas sites from the Red River campaign over the next few weeks.

Jenkins' Ferry State Park - Arkansas

The last major battle of the Arkansas phase of the Red River Campaign took place here at Jenkins' Ferry. The Battle of Jenkins' Ferry is commemorated by Jenkins' Ferry State Park, located 13 miles south of the city of Sheridan on Arkansas Highway 46. The park is an easy drive of less than one hour from Hot Springs, Little Rock and Pine Bluff.

The park is set along the picturesque Saline River and includes interpretive displays, a monument, picnic areas, a swimming hole and a boat ramp.

The actual battle was fought across the river from the park, but it provides interpretation of what happened in the Saline River swamps on April 29-30, 1864 and preserves the site of the actual ferry, where Union troops built a pontoon bridge across the river and made good their escape from Kirby Smith's attacking Confederate army. The retreat route led through the state park.

I'll have more on Jenkins' Ferry in the next post.