Confederate Retreat from Little Rock (September 11–12, 1863)

Union forces mounted a half-hearted pursuit of Major General Sterling Price’s Confederate army as it retreated toward Arkadelphia (Clark County) after abandoning Little Rock (Pulaski County) on September 10, 1863.

Price ordered his troops to abandon their fortifications north of the Arkansas River on September 10 after Brigadier General John Wynn Davidson’s Union cavalry crossed the river east of Little Rock and engaged Confederate cavalry at Bayou Fourche. The capital formally surrendered to Major General Frederick Steele’s Federal army by 7:00 p.m.

Around 6:00 a.m. on September 11, 1863, Colonel Lewis Merrill led Union cavalry and artillery down the road toward Arkadelphia, finding “the debris of a retreating and demoralized army—broken wagons, arms and equipments, partly destroyed, ammunition upset into small streams and mud-holes, and deserters and fagged-out soldiers.”

The Federals ran into Confederate pickets about four miles from Little Rock and, a few miles later, encountered the Southerners’ rear-guard under Major Leonidas Campbell, who “retiring slowly by company, making successive formations…fought the enemy for 7 miles, drew them into an ambuscade…completely checked them for a time.”

Merrill reported that the country through which the Confederates retreated was “exceedingly difficult, affording numerous strong defensive positions, compelling a cautious pursuit” with no opportunity to flank the enemy. He claimed his guide led them to Henry’s Bayou, a tributary of Bayou Fourche, causing an hour’s delay while they halted “in order to reconnoiter the ground in expectation of a stout resistance.” This was likely in the vicinity of the McHenry House in what was then rural Pulaski County.

Clarkson’s Second Missouri Artillery (US) then shelled “what seemed to be the dust of their column in the road, about 1 ½ miles ahead” as Merrill halted the main pursuit near the Saline/Pulaski County line since “the day was now well worn away, and my troops, weary from the previous day, were worn out with 16 miles of skirmishing through thickets and heavy timber.” Colonel Powell Clayton continued forward for two miles with a small force of cavalry and artillery to fight the Confederate rear guard near Collegeville (Saline County) before being ordered back to the main body.

Clayton again advanced on the morning of September 12 and discovered that the rear guard had rejoined the Confederate retreat. He had “been ordered to return when he found pursuit useless, and accordingly returned about 12 o’clock.” The Federals suffered one man wounded in the fighting while Confederate losses were four dead and as many as 300 captured.

Merrill was criticized for the lackluster pursuit of the defeated Confederate army. The historian of the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry later wrote that “the pursuit of Price & Marmaduke…was a mere farce; a useless promenade, that took the last wind out of our poor horses.” Steele wrote that “Merrill destroyed a portion of Price’s train and captured some prisoners, but the pursuit was not as vigorous as it should have been.” Davidson reported that Merrill’s column “returned the day after its march without accomplishing anything and…did not pursue the enemy with the necessary vigor.” He suggested an official inquiry, though none apparently was made.

For additional information:
Christ, Mark K. Civil War Arkansas, 1863: The Battle for a State. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. 22, Part I, pp. 496–500, 534, 479. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1888.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas