Expedition from Helena to Friar’s Point, Mississippi (January 4–5, 1864)

A two-day Civil War expedition by Black Union soldiers from Helena (Phillips County) unveiled widespread trading irregularities across the Mississippi River from the Federal base.

Captain Henry N. Payne led fifty men of his Company D, Fourth Arkansas Infantry (African Descent)  along with Lieutenant John H. Becker, Orderly Sergeant Frank Collins, and “10 men of the Ark [cavalry] Battalion under Lieut Ford” aboard the ferry boat Williams at 8:00 p.m. on January 4, 1864, to conduct a scouting operation in Mississippi. Payne noted that the boat, designed to carry 160 tons, held 140 tons of coal “which left small room for the men who had no opportunity to lie down during the trip.”

They stopped briefly at Island 63 three hours later before crossing the Mississippi River to Island 62, reaching there at 3:00 a.m. on January 5. Payne took nine men and surrounded the home of a C. Decker, where they found Decker, his brother Frank, J. Dedwick, and J. Morrow. Dedwick said that he was hiding from Lieutenant Tom C. Casteel, an irregular Confederate officer who operated in Phillips County, saying that Casteel was trying to capture him “for bringing cattle to Helena to market.” Payne added that Dedwick “desired to leave the country,” and he did voluntarily return to Helena with the Union soldiers.

Taking the four men aboard the Williams “to prevent their giving information to the enemy,” the soldiers proceeded to the Mississippi shore. With Dedwick as their guide, the Union horsemen went to search several local houses “without effect…as the noise of their horses hoofs could be heard on the frozen ground a mile in their advance.” Returning to the boat, they headed toward Edward’s Landing two miles below Friar’s (usually spelled Friars) Point. They stopped by the USS Covington, stationed at Friar’s Point, to ask directions and were told “all these houses through this section harbor rebel soldiers who come here disguised as citizens, to get supplies.”

The Federals proceeded to Edwards Landing, where they searched a house and seized “two pair of oars and two set of Wall Tent Poles,” which the owner said he found on a sandbar. Payne chose to walk to Friar’s Point with about a dozen of his men, planning to meet the boat there. They ran into two riders, “one of whom from his conversation I believed to be disloyal,” and brought them along to Friar’s Point.

Reaching their destination, Payne found a man with twenty bales of cotton who asked him for permission to sell them, a request the officer deferred to the captain of the Covington who was in command of the post, after which the man said “then…he would have no difficulty selling.”

Payne found that “no restrictions whatever are placed upon sales of Cotton or other productions” and called on Brigadier General Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, commander of the Eastern District of Arkansas, for an investigation of trading practices “at Friar’s Point and other points below,” griping that “the most arrant rebel in the S. Confederacy, Jeff Davis himself, if he did not proclaim his name too loudly, can bring cotton to these landings, under protection and cover of our own Gun Boats, sell their cotton for Green Backs, worth five to one of their own Currency, without having a single question asked him, or even professing to be a loyal man.”

The officer complained that the “Government Aids” responsible for regulating trade with riverboats “are many of them incompetent or corrupt” and said he had been told that Confederate forces were receiving “large amounts of supplies” through illicit trading, adding that “they laugh at the greenness of the Yankees in fighting and feeding them at the same time.” Payne wrote that no one should be allowed to engage in trade “without exacting the most stringent oath of Allegiance,” and if anyone refused, “his property should be confiscated.” He called for closer regulation of trading on the river “and that all trade with Friars Point or with Coahoma County should be stopped; as I believe the citizens thereof to be disloyal and to be furnishing the rebels with supplies in large quantities.”

Payne and his men returned to Helena at 10:30 p.m. on January 5, 1864.

For additional information:
Capt. H. N. Payne to Brig Genl. N. B. Buford, January 6, 1864. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of Named Departments, 393P2E299, Box 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas