January 12, 1863

While leaving on a mission to deliver dispatches back to Helena (Phillips County), Lieutenant James Bradford and his command of twenty-five troops engaged in gunfire with Confederates at Lick Creek until their weapons were empty. Before they could reload, they were attacked once again by Confederates concealed in a nearby bush. Bradford, however, refused to surrender, taking his remaining men around the enemy to continue on the road to Helena, arriving at 7:00 p.m. By the time of his return, he was left with only four soldiers.