page_title: History of Arkansas
section_title: Secession and Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: History of Arkansas / Civil War and Reconstruction / Secession and Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the Battle of Mine Creek, Kansas by Samuel J. Reader dated February 13, 1865.
context_page_description: The history of Arkansas began millennia ago when humans first crossed into North America. Many tribes used Arkansas as their hunting lands but the main tribe was the Quapaw, who settled in the Arkansas delta upon moving south from Illinois. Early French explorers gave the territory its name, a corruption of Akansea, which is a phonetic spelling of the Illinois word for the Quapaw. This phonetic heritage explains why "Arkansas" is pronounced so differently than "Kansas" even though they share the same spelling. What began as a rough wilderness inhabited by trappers and hunters became incorporated into the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and became the Territory of Arkansaw in 1819. Upon gaining statehood in 1836, Arkansas had begun to prosper under a plantation economy that was heavily reliant on slave labor. After the American Civil War, Arkansas was a poor rural state based on cotton. Prosperity returned in the 1940s and it became famous for its political leadership, including President Bill Clinton, and as the base for the Walmart Corporation.
context_section_description: Support for the Southern cause was great immediately following secession. Many towns sent enthusiastic men with hunting rifles to Little Rock prepared to fight. Citizens across the state thought victory over the lazy Northerners would come swiftly. Some anti-war organizations formed in northwest Arkansas such as the Arkansas Peace Society, but members of these groups were usually arrested and charged with treason or forced to join Confederate ranks. Geographically Arkansas was a very important state during the war, giving the Rebels control of the Mississippi River and tenuous holds on Missouri, Louisiana and Indian Territory to the west. Benjamin McCulloch was ordered to defend north Arkansas and Indian Territory; however he elected to lead his troops in to Missouri in support of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard, leading to the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri. This bloody battle shocked many Arkansans who thought the war would be a quick and painless victory for the South.
  Once it became apparent to Arkansans and the nation that the war would not be a quick and painless proposition, excitement began to temper. Unpopular Confederate programs like higher taxes and a draft from which one could be exempted from by owning 20 or more slaves became major issues for civilians in addition to the Confederate soldiers losing battles such as the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. Casualties were high for both sides at the Battle of Shiloh, a function of better rifles, but also poor battlefield medicine. Both sides battled disease, poor nutrition, and transportation issues throughout the war.
  The Union began an offensive across Arkansas in early 1862 in which General Samuel Curtis led troops near Leetown, where the Battle of Pea Ridge occurred. After securing a Union victory, Curtis swept across the state to Helena. Curtis intended to knock Arkansas out of the war by capturing Little Rock. However, reinforcements arrived in Spring 1862 under General William Steele. General Thomas C. Hindman, although recently defeated at the Battle of Cotton Plant, attempted to return northwest Arkansas to Confederate control. The Battle of Prairie Grove was essentially a stalemate, but Hindman's unit withdrew to Van Buren and was driven from the region completely by December 1862. Union troops defeated a Confederate attack in the Battle of Fayetteville on April 18, 1863, but a week later abandoned Northwest Arkansas and retreated to Missouri for the summer.
  The war began to turn against the Confederates in 1863, losing at the Battle of Helena despite a coordinated attack by generals Theophilus H. Holmes, Sterling Price, John S. Marmaduke, and James Fleming Fagan. The Siege of Vicksburg concluded as a Union victory the same day, severely compromising the Rebels' control of the Mississippi River. Later in the year the Union used the post at Helena to capture Little Rock, forcing the Confederate government to relocate, with the state archives, to Washington. Despite controlling the state capitol, the Union hold on the state was tenuous. Guerrilla warfare ravaged the countryside and small towns throughout the war. Bands of guerrillas often stole from houses and burned fields wherever the Union or Confederate armies were not present.
  The last major fighting within the state occurred during the Camden Expedition (March 23 – May 2, 1864). The expedition was a military campaign in southern and central Arkansas which involved Union forces stationed at Little Rock and Fort Smith under the command of Major General Frederick Steele. The plan called for Steele's force to march to Shreveport, Louisiana, where it would link up with an amphibious expedition led by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks and Rear Admiral David D. Porter, whose force was to advance up the Red River Valley. Once joined, the Union force was to strike into Texas. But the two pincers never converged, and Steele's columns suffered terrible losses in a series of battles with Confederate forces led by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price and Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith.
  The victory by
caption: The Price Raid by Samuel J. Reader