Little Rock Campaign Timeline

Following the Confederate defeat in the July 4, 1863, Battle of Helena and the surrender of rebel forces at Vicksburg, Mississippi, Union authorities endeavored to capture the state capital at Little Rock (Pulaski County). Cavalry under Brigadier General John Wynn Davidson descended Crowley’s Ridge in mid-July to join Union infantry from Helena (Phillips County) under Major General Frederick Steele to confront Confederate forces under Major General Sterling Price, whose infantry manned fortifications north of the Arkansas River while most of the combat would involve his cavalry. After several armed confrontations, Federal forces occupied Little Rock on September 10, 1863.

Little Rock Campaign

For additional information:
Burford, Timothy Wayne, and Stephanie Gail McBride. The Division: Defending Little Rock, August 25^th–September 10^th, 1863. Jacksonville, AR: WireStorm Publishing, 1999.

Captain Benjamin Tolbert Humphrey Diaries. MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, Little Rock, Arkansas.

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

———. “Here in the Wilds of Arkansas: Interpreting the 1863 Little Rock Campaign.” MLS thesis, University of Oklahoma, 2000.

———. “‘The Sting of Being an Exile’: The Little Rock Campaign of 1863.” Pulaski County Historical Review 61 (Spring 2013): 34–47.

Huff, Leo E. “The Last Duel in Arkansas: The Marmaduke-Walker Duel.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 23 (Spring 1964): 36–49.

———. “The Union Expedition against Little Rock.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 22 (Fall 1963): 224–237.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas