Battle of Helena The Battle of Helena was a land battle of the American Civil War fought on July 4 , 1863 , at Helena , Arkansas . The battle was a Confederate attempt to relieve pressure on the besieged city of Vicksburg . The victory secured eastern Arkansas for the Union . Background . Union forces . Maj . Gen . Benjamin M . Prentiss , in command of the District of Eastern Arkansas , was headquartered at Helena with approximately 20 , 000 troops . Brig . Gen . Frederick C . Salomon commanded a division from the XIII Corps and had been placed in charge of the forces manning the defenses of Helena , a Mississippi River port town at the terminus of Crowley ' s Ridge and ringed by steep hills cut by heavily thicketed ravines . Four artillery batteries with breastworks and rifle pits were placed in a semicircle around the town . In addition , the USS " Tyler " , a " timber - clad " gunboat was assigned to support Prentiss . Just prior to the battle , a large number of troops were transferred to Vicksburg to strengthen the siege around that city . This transfer left only about 4 , 000 Union soldiers to protect the Federal enclave at Helena . Confederate forces . Lt . Gen . Theophilus H . Holmes , commander of the Confederate District of Arkansas , planned a coordinated attack from three sides on the formidable Federal fortifications surrounding Helena in order to relieve pressure on Vicksburg and to prevent Helena being used as a base to attack further into Arkansas . Prelude . Holmes wrote to Gen . Edmund Kirby Smith , commander of the Trans - Mississippi Department , and received permission to attack Helena . Infantry under Maj . Gen . Sterling Price and cavalry under Brig . Gen . John S . Marmaduke would move from Jacksonport , Arkansas , to the vicinity of Helena . Price and Marmaduke would meet up with infantry out of Little Rock , under Brig . Gen . James Fleming Fagan . Holmes and Arkansas governor Harris Flanagin travelled to Helena to take personal command of the attack . Union General Prentiss received word that an attack was in the works and actively worked to slow the movement of Confederate forces by felling trees . Helena itself was overcrowded with Union troops and was suffering from housing shortages and poor health and sanitation facilities . Union soldiers renamed the town " Hell - in Arkansas " . Battle . Holmes planned for a dawn attack with Marmaduke ' s 1 , 700 dismounted cavalry attacking fortified Rightor Hill northwest of the town and capturing the artillery battery stationed there . General Fagan ' s 1 , 300 men were assigned to capture Hindman ' s Hill southwest of the city . Brig . Gen . Lucius M . Walker was assigned the task of guarding Marmaduke ' s flank and preventing Union reinforcements from reaching Rightor Hill . The main attack however , would take place in the center with Sterling Price ' s 3 , 100 men seizing Graveyard Hill and the battery protecting it . Marmaduke ' s assault ran into trouble quickly and began taking artillery and small arms fire from his left flank . Walker was supposed to intervene for Marmaduke , but failed to come to his aid out of concern for his own exposed position . Walker ' s failure would eventually lead to bad blood between Marmaduke and Walker that would end in a bloody duel during the campaign for Little Rock . The southwest and center elements of the Confederate attack also suffered from failed communications and misinterpreted orders . Fagan and Price failed to coordinate their attacks due to Holmes ' vague order to " attack at daylight " . Price interpreted this order to mean an attack at sunrise and Fagan interpreted it to mean an attack at first light . Fagan was surprised to find his attack on Hindman Hill was opposed by artillery fire from Graveyard Hill . Fagan had expected Price to be engaged already with that battery . Fagan ' s artillery had not been able to reach the battlefield because of felled trees blocking the road . Fagan had no artillery available to silence the Federal guns and had no choice but to order his troops to try to take the hill while under artillery fire . Fagan ' s men reached the summit of the hill and managed to seize the outer fortifications but were pinned down just short of the summit by the two Union batteries . Price ' s assault on the center of the Union lines did not commence for almost an hour after Fagan ' s attack began . Price ' s men charged the Federal lines but were repulsed by concentrated artillery fire from the batteries and the USS " Tyler " . Price ' s Confederates made two more desperate charges before successfully capturing the guns on Graveyard Hill . Price attempted to turn the guns on the remaining Federals but found that the guns had been successfully disabled before their capture . The Confederates had achieved some success despite the miscommunications . Fagan held most of the fortifications to the southwest and Price held the high ground in the center of the Union lines . Holmes arrived on Graveyard Hill and failed to press his advantage home . Holmes was seemingly unable to decide if he should support Marmaduke on his left flank , Fagan on his right flank , or press his advantage in the center and instead issued a series of confusing orders that led to partial measures which failed to turn the tide in any of the three positions . The exposed Confederates were targeted by every remaining gun on the battlefield as well as the heavy guns of the " Tyler " . By 10 : 30 Holmes realized that his position had deteriorated and that he could make no further headway . A general retreat was ordered , and the attack on the Union base had failed . Aftermath . The Battle of Helena left 239 Union and 1 , 614 Confederate casualties . No longer threatened , Helena became an important Union enclave on the Mississippi River and would become the base for the successful campaign to seize Little Rock , Arkansas , later in the year . References . Bearss , Edwin C . , " The Battle of Helena , July 4 , 1863 " , " Arkansas Historical Quarterly " , Autumn , 1961 , Vol . 20