Battle of Mount Elba
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The Battle of Mount Elba (March 30, 1864) was fought in present-day Cleveland County, Arkansas, Arkansas, as part of the Camden Expedition, during the American Civil War. The Camden Expedition was launched in cooperation with the Red River Campaign of 1864. U.S. planners envisioned two federal armies converging simultaneously, one force under the command of General Nathaniel Banks pressing northward up the Red River commencing at Alexandria, Louisiana and the other federal army under the command of General Frederick Steele driving southwestward from Little Rock Arkansas. The objective was to press the rebel army of General E. Kirby Smith back upon the rebel stronghold at Shreveport and defeat him. If successful, a somewhat vague second phase envisioned the two federal armies combining into one large force and continuing their offensive with a westward push into Texas.
Background
On March 23, 1864, Maj. Gen. Frederick Steele marched a combined 8.500-man force of infantry, artillery and cavalry from the Little Rock Arsenal. At roughly the same time, Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Banks' army departed from New Orleans in conjunction with Rear Admiral David Porter's naval expedition. Steele and Banks were to push aside the enemy in their respective fronts, then combine forces to seize Shreveport. Steele would garrison that city while Banks forged ahead into northeastern Texas.
Prelude
The expedition to Mount Elba began on March 27, 1864 when the Federal forces under Colonel Powell Clayton left the post at Pine Bluff on its mission to attack the Confederate forces commanded by Brigadier General Thomas P. Dockery camped at Monticello. Colonel Clayton's force consisted of elements of Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, Fifth Kansas Cavalry, First Indiana Cavalry, Seventh Missouri Cavalry (US). General Dockery's forces consisted of his own brigade composed on of Regiments what had been paroled and declared exchagned following the Confederate defeats at Vicksburg and Port Hudson in July 1863, and elements of Colonel Crawford’s Arkansas Cavalry Brigade, including Poe’s and McMurtrey’s Cavalry Battalions. [1]
Battle
"Col. Clayton, commanding the expedition from Pine Bluff, destroyed the pontoon bridge at Longview--burned a train of thirty-five wagons loaded with camp and garrison equipage, ammunition, quartermaster's stores, etc., and captured over three hundred prisoners.....He engaged (General Thomas) Dockery's division, of about 1200 men, from Monticello, on the morning of the 30th ult., routed and pursued him ten miles, with a loss on his side of over one hundred killed and wounded--capturing a large quantity of small arms and two stands of colors. Our loss did not exceed fifteen in killed, wounded and missing."
"Three hundred horses and mules and many wagons were captured. Col. Clayton by this expedition has added fresh laurels to his brow. He is worthy of all honor, and deserving the highest reward at the hands of the government. He has been in every instance successful and will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General for valiant service to the Union cause. He justly deserves the honor."[2]
Major General Sterling Price, the commander of the Confederate district of Arkansas, wrote to Brigadier-General W. R. Boggs, Chief of Staff of the Trans-Mississippi Department, that General Dockery, who was headquartered at Monticello commanding the 12th Arkansas Battalion Sharpshooters, the 18th Arkansas, the 19th Arkansas and the 20th Arkansas, had been ordered to harass the rear flanks of the Union troop movements and attack Union supply trains. "Unfortunately," he reported, "before Brigadier-General Dockery could execute this order he was on March 29 attacked at Mount Elba by a party of the enemy from Pine Bluff and completely routed. They at the same time captured at Long View his entire train (twenty-six wagons) and about 200 prisoners."[3]
Aftermath
Even though the Union forces at Longview were victorious, it was not a meaningful victory in that the Camden campaign as a whole failed. Southern Arkansas remained under Confederate control through the end of the war,
See also
References
- ↑ Mark K. Christ, "Action at Mount Elba",The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, The Central Arkansas Library System, Accessed 4 February 2016, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=522
- ↑ http://www.ashleycountyledger.com/articles/2016/01/27/history/aai7.txt
- ↑ http://ehistory.osu.edu/books/official-records/061/0784
Further reading
- Castel, Albert (1993) [1st pub. 1968]. General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West (Louisiana pbk. ed.). Baton Rouge; London: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-1854-0. LCCN 68-21804.
- Forsyth, Michael J., The Camden Expedition of 1864. (Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland and Company, 2003)
- The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 34. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1890–1901, p. 767–779.
- Wright, John C. Memoirs of Col. John C. Wright. Pine Bluff, AR: Rare Book Publishers, 1982.
External links
- Battle at Mt. Elba at the Cleveland County, ARGenWeb
- Action at Mount Elba at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture
- Mount Elba Battlefield at the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission
- Mount Elba Battlefield at the Civil War Trust
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