Pine Bluff During the American Civil War
- Ninfa O. Barnard
- Jul 30
- 3 min read
Despite the Confederate army’s repeated attempts to weaken Union strongholds and regain control of cities along the Arkansas River, Pine Bluff remained firmly in Union control until the end of the American Civil War.
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On September 10, 1863, Union forces captured Little Rock during the Little Rock Campaign. Union troops led by Major General Frederick Steele maneuvered Major General Sterling Price and his Confederate troops out of the Arkansas state capital, thus restoring control of Arkansas to the federal government. This Confederate defeat also gave Union forces strategic control of the Arkansas River Valley as Union troops occupied several towns along the Arkansas River, including Pine Bluff.
On October 25, 1863, in the Battle of Pine Bluff, Colonel Powell Clayton and the Union troops successfully defended Pine Bluff against Confederate forces led by Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke, who had slowed Union advances in the Little Rock Campaign. Although Union troops held most towns along the Arkansas River, General Marmaduke was confident his force of 2,000 could overpower the 550 Union soldiers and 300 freed slaves that supported them. So, he and his troops attacked from three sides. However, the Union soldiers were one step ahead as they barricaded themselves in the Jefferson County courthouse square using cotton bales and wagons. Despite several attempts at taking the square, including setting the courthouse on fire, the Union troops held their position. The Confederate soldiers were forced to accept defeat and retreat to Princeton, Arkansas. Thus, Pine Bluff remained under Union control.
By the summer of 1864, Union forces still maintained control along the Arkansas River. Confederate forces mainly occupied territory south of the Arkansas River, where small units operated behind Union lines, disrupting and harassing their troops. Colonel Powell Clayton of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry continued to command the Union troops posted in Pine Bluff. He also regularly sent out patrols to gather information about Confederate movements in the area.
On June 16, 1864, three patrols returned from surveying the area. One patrol reported a Confederate cavalry brigade camped near “Connersville” (probably Cornersville) and enemy scouts watching the road to Monticello. One patrol even captured a dispatch rider carrying information about where Confederate troops were located in the area. According to the messages the rider carried, every road in the area was covered by Confederate scouts.
The next afternoon, a large Confederate force attacked the Union army along the Monticello road. A heavy skirmish continued until Lieutenant Colonel Wilton Jenkins and his troops forced the Confederate forces to retreat. Jenkins and his men pursued the retreating Confederates for several miles while Lieutenant William Grove of the Seventh Missouri Cavalry approached their campsite. Lieutenant Grove destroyed the campsite, which had housed about 700 Confederate horsemen who were currently engaging the other Union force. This skirmish openly displayed the effectiveness of Union patrols in maintaining their strongholds in Arkansas.
On July 29, 1864, Second Lieutenant James Teale of the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry led forty men from Pine Bluff to repair the telegraph line that connected Union commanders in Little Rock and the garrison at Pine Bluff. The following day, Union troops started making their way back to Pine Bluff after completing the repairs. Along the way, the Union advance party was fired upon by Confederate forces. Lieutenant Teale rushed forward to help his men, but the main Union force was ambushed as it advanced. During the battle, Teale was separated from his men and had to flee into the nearby woods. He eventually returned to Pine Bluff on foot, warning them about the attack.
Major Frederick Behlendorff of the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry immediately led 100 men from the city to the battle site, where they found two dead and two wounded Union soldiers. As the Union forces marched back to Pine Bluff, Major Behlendorff ordered the house near the skirmish to be set ablaze. However, its occupants had warned them about the Confederate forces and provided care for one of the wounded Union soldiers.
Major Behlendorff’s actions sparked controversy in Pine Bluff, so Union officers investigated the burning of the house. Two reports were filed by officers involved in the action, but no record of the outcome exists.
Despite these efforts to regain control of Pine Bluff and other towns in the state, Arkansas remained firmly in Union control until the end of the American Civil War.
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Written by: Ninfa O. Barnard