The Action at Pine Bluff was fought on October 25, 1863, when Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke’s Confederate cavalry division attacked the small Union garrison under Colonel Powell Clayton that had occupied Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) following the capture of Little Rock (Pulaski County) on September 10, 1863. The purpose was to return the strategic initiative to the Confederacy.
Marmaduke led a force of some 2,000 Rebels out of Princeton (Dallas County) on October 24 to assault the 1,200 to 1,500 Union troopers of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry and the First Indiana Cavalry, which were posted at Pine Bluff with their six artillery pieces. Marmaduke planned for Colonel Robert C. Newton’s division to approach Pine Bluff from the southeast while Marmaduke led the remaining Confederate troops in from the west, trapping the Yankees between the converging Confederate forces and the Arkansas River.
A patrol from the Fifth Kansas encountered Marmaduke’s advance on the Princeton Road at about nine o’clock in the morning on October 25 and sent …show more content…
However, Marmaduke had failed in his goal of capturing the Federal garrison at Pine Bluff. He assessed the battle in his report by writing, “My troops behaved well. The Federals fought like devils.” Union losses were sixteen dead, thirty-nine wounded, and one missing; eighteen of those casualties were from among the contrabands who had aided the Federal defense. For the rest of the year, the Federals would maintain winter quarters along the line of the Arkansas River while Confederates held their positions in southwest Arkansas. The Action at Pine Bluff was the last sizeable military engagement in Arkansas in
Marmaduke led a force of some 2,000 Rebels out of Princeton (Dallas County) on October 24 to assault the 1,200 to 1,500 Union troopers of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry and the First Indiana Cavalry, which were posted at Pine Bluff with their six artillery pieces. Marmaduke planned for Colonel Robert C. Newton’s division to approach Pine Bluff from the southeast while Marmaduke led the remaining Confederate troops in from the west, trapping the Yankees between the converging Confederate forces and the Arkansas River.
A patrol from the Fifth Kansas encountered Marmaduke’s advance on the Princeton Road at about nine o’clock in the morning on October 25 and sent …show more content…
However, Marmaduke had failed in his goal of capturing the Federal garrison at Pine Bluff. He assessed the battle in his report by writing, “My troops behaved well. The Federals fought like devils.” Union losses were sixteen dead, thirty-nine wounded, and one missing; eighteen of those casualties were from among the contrabands who had aided the Federal defense. For the rest of the year, the Federals would maintain winter quarters along the line of the Arkansas River while Confederates held their positions in southwest Arkansas. The Action at Pine Bluff was the last sizeable military engagement in Arkansas in