Battle of Fort Hindman
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The Battle of Fort Hindman, or the Battle of Arkansas Post, was fought from January 9 to January 11, 1863, near the mouth of the Arkansas River at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, as part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War.
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[edit] Background
The Confederate Army constructed an earthen fortification near Arkansas Post, forty-five miles downriver from Pine Bluff, to protect the Arkansas River and as a base for disrupting shipping on the Mississippi River. The fort was named Fort Hindman in honor of General Thomas C. Hindman of Arkansas. It was manned by approximately 5,000 men, primarily Texas cavalry and Arkansas infantry, in three brigades under Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill.
Union Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand was an ambitious politician and had permission from President Abraham Lincoln to launch a corps-sized offensive against Vicksburg from Memphis, Tennessee, hoping for military glory (and subsequent political gain). This plan was at odds with those of Army of the Tennessee commander, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. McClernand ordered Grant's subordinate, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, to join the troops of his corps with McClernand's, calling the two corps the Army of the Mississippi, approximately 33,000 men. He launched his quest for glory on January 4 with a combined army-navy force movement on Arkansas Post, rather than Vicksburg, as he had told Lincoln (and did not bother to inform Grant or general in chief Henry W. Halleck).
[edit] Battle
Union boats began landing troops near Arkansas Post in the evening of January 9 and the troops started up river towards Fort Hindman. Sherman's corps overran Confederate trenches, and the enemy retreated to the protection of the fort and adjacent rifle-pits. Flag Officer David D. Porter, on January 10, moved his fleet towards Fort Hindman and bombarded it, withdrawing at dusk. Union artillery fired on the fort from positions across the river on January 11, effectively silencing most of the Confederate guns in the fort, and the infantry moved into position for an attack. Union ironclads commenced shelling the fort and Porter's fleet passed it to cut off any retreat. As a result of this envelopment, and the attack by McClernand's troops, the Confederate command surrendered in the afternoon, despite orders to Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill that he must defend the fort at all costs.
The results of the battle were 6,547 total casualties: Union forces suffered 1,047, with 134 killed; Confederate about 5,500, almost all by surrender. Although Union losses were high and the victory did not contribute to the capture of Vicksburg, it did eliminate one more impediment to Union shipping on the Mississippi. Grant was furious at McClernand's diversion from his overall campaign strategy, ordered him back to the Mississippi, disbanded the Army of the Mississippi, and assumed personal command of the Vicksburg Campaign.
[edit] Union order of battle
[edit] Army of the Mississippi: MG John A. McClernand
XIII Corps: BG George W. Morgan
1st Division: BG Andrew J. Smith
- 1st Brigade: BG Stephen G. Burbridge
- 2nd Brigade: Col William J. Landram
2nd Division: BG Peter J. Osterhaus
- 1st Brigade: Col Lionel A. Sheldon
- 2nd Brigade: Col Daniel W. Lindsey
- 3rd Brigade: Col John F. DeCourcy
XV Corps: MG William T. Sherman
1st Division: BG Frederick Steele
- 1st Brigade: BG Francis Preston Blair, Jr.
- 2nd Brigade: BG Charles E. Hovey
- 3rd Brigade: BG John Milton Thayer
2nd Division: BG David Stuart
- 1st Brigade: Col Giles A. Smith
- 2nd Brigade: Col Thomas K. Smith
[edit] Naval forces: Flag Officer David D. Porter
Fifty transport ships and 13 gunboats, including the USS New Era, USS Black Hawk, USS Lexington, USS Monarch, USS Glide, USS Rattler and the ironclads USS Louisville, USS Cincinnati, and USS Baron DeKalb.
[edit] Confederate order of battle
Fort Hindman Garrison: BG Thomas J. Churchill
1st Brigade: Col. Robert R. Garland
2nd Brigade: Col. James Deshler
3rd Brigade: Col. John W. Dunnington
[edit] Fictional Battles of Arkansas Post
In Eric Flint's alternative history novel entitled 1824: The Arkansas War, there are two battles fought at Arkansas Post, called First and Second Battle of Arkansas Post, respectively. These battles pitted irregular (in the first battle) and a combination of regular army and militia troops (in the second battle against the Army of Arkansas, Arkansas being an independent country generally covering the area of the current U.S. states of Arkansas and Oklahoma that was created by treaty between the U.S. government and the southern native American tribes, particularly the Creeks and Cherokees. The Arkansan nation consisted of several chiefdoms with the easternmost (and thus closest to the U.S.) being the chiefdom of Arkansas, whose population was largely African American freedmen and former slaves who'd fled slavery and freedmen exclusion laws in the U.S. Since the Arkansas chiefdom bordered on the Mississippi (and, thus, bordered on the U.S., too), it served as a buffer between the U.S. and the chiefdoms of the various native American tribes that were further west.
The First Battle of Arkansas Post resulted from the 1824 "invasion" of Arkansas territory by several thousand freebooters, mostly from Louisiana but also from most other southern states, who had tacit, behind-the-scenes assistance from several U.S. officials, among them Congressman, Henry Clay of Kentucky. These men were intent on seizing the fertile land of the delta region of eastern Arkansas for what they expected to be enormous profits. Many of the men on the expedition were slave hunters who intended to bring in extra profits by seizing escaped slaves (and freedman who they would have declared runaways even if they weren't) for sale in the U.S. Lacking any real organization, the group found itself running short on supplies even as it was just entering Arkansas territory. This left them little choice but to start their incursion by taking Arkansas Post, which was a small fort in the delta region guarding the Arkansas River near it's entrance to the Mississippi and protecting the interior of Arkansas nation from incursion by water. Shortly after arriving at the fort and commencing siege operations, Arkansas steamboats armed with cannon stormed downriver and began destroying as many of the invaders boats as possible to cut off any possible retreat. Then, the Arkansas army, which was small but astonishingly fit and well-trained, arrived after a forced march from New Antrim (i.e. Little Rock) and immediately attacked the disorganized freebooters. The Arkansas army quickly overwhelmed them and, with most of their boats destroyed and additional armed Arkansan steamboats waiting at the mouth of the Arkansas to attack any who managed to escape, the battle turned into a massacre, with the Arkansans (with assistance from angry Choctaws waiting in the woods to ambush them) killing almost every single man in the freebooters force.
The Second Battle of Arkansas Post was fought the following year, but this time the invading force was an army of approximately 1500 U.S. regular army troops under General William Henry Harrison along with several thousand additional state militia troops (mostly from Georgia). Again, the Arkansan Army, with two regiments totaling perhaps 1200 well-trained troops, marched from New Antrim to face the invaders. However, their plan of attack was very different. Instead of simply charging down the road from New Antrim and pitching into the invaders, the army purposely took a more leisurely course until almost on top of the post and the U.S. troops. Although General Harrison had been told of the Arkansas army's marching prowess, he refused to believe that they could march from New Antrim before he could take the post, which was manned by perhaps 700 Chickasaw braves who had recently been driven out of the U.S., with plenty of time to turn to face the Arkansans when they arrived. As a result, he commenced an artillery barrage of the post and, once the walls had been breached in several places, he sent approximately half of his army into the post to mop up the Chickasaws. Almost as soon as his troops were engaged within the post, the Arkansas army arrived on the field and their first regiment formed into battle lines and began to attack. Harrison's immediate response was to get his remaining regular army troops in line facing the Arkansans. Then, once he'd stopped their advance, he would bring up the militia troops, whose numbers could simply overwhelm them. The result was a slugging match between one Arkansan regiment and two understrength U.S. regiments with extremely heavy casualties on both sides, but, even though the two armies were only a few feet apart in spots, neither side was able to drive the other away. In the heat of the battle, Harrison essentially forgot to give orders to the militia troops who simply milled about in a mass well to the north of the post, and, then, when the second Arkansan regiment instead of joining the fight against the regulars began a charge in a flying column specifically aimed at the Georgian militia, Harrison was unable to react since all of his troops were heavily engaged either within the post against the Chickasaws or in front of it against the Arkansans. The charge against the Georgian militia was devastating and sent the troops scattering, often into the woods where Cherokee braves and irregular troops under abolitionist, John Brown, were waiting in ambush. Once the charge against the militia was complete, the Arkansan army pulled back in a very orderly retreat. Tactically, the battle was a U.S. victory since they were able to both seize the fort and retain control of the battlefield. However, it was clear to all observers (which included former U.S. Army Commander Winfield Scott acting as a journalist for U.S. newspapers) that, strategically speaking, the battle had been a devastating defeat to Harrison's army. Not only had they suffered grievous casualties and the near-destruction of their militia forces, but the Arkansan army remained fully intact and ready and willing to continue to fight them if and when they advanced further into Arkansas.
[edit] References
- Eicher, David J., The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War, Simon & Schuster, 2001, ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
- National Park Service battle description
- Civil War Harper's Weekly, February 7, 1863
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