January 9–11, 1863
The Battle of Arkansas Post (also known as the Battle of Fort Hindman) was fought in Arkansas County, Arkansas from January 9 to 11, 1863. A combined Union naval and army force of 33,000 men, commanded by Flag Officer David D. Porter and Major General John A. McClernand, forced the surrender of Fort Hindman, on the Arkansas River, and its 5,000-man garrison.
After the Union successes at the Battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, the Federals turned their attention to the Mississippi River. If the Union could gain control of the Mississippi, the Confederacy would be denied easy access to supplies from the Gulf of Mexico and territories in the American West. Admiral David Farragut captured the port city of New Orleans, Louisiana on May 18, 1862, closing down Confederate access to the Gulf. In June, the Union tightened its grip on the Mississippi River when Federal forces captured the river city of Memphis, Tennessee. Nevertheless, the South still controlled traffic on much of the river because of its strong fortifications at Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Vicksburg is located on the eastern side of the Mississippi, south of the mouth of the Yazoo River. The city was known as "The Gibraltar of the Confederacy" because it is situated on a high bluff overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river. The bluff upon which the city sits made it nearly impossible to assault from the river. Farragut made two attempts to do so in May and June 1862, but both efforts failed. To the north, nearly impenetrable swamps and bayous protected Vicksburg. To the east, a ring of forts mounting 172 guns shielded the city from an overland assault. The land on the Louisiana side of the river, opposite Vicksburg, was rough, etched with poor roads and many streams.
In July 1862, General Henry Halleck was called to Washington and promoted to chief of all Union armies, leaving Major General Ulysses S. Grant in charge of operations in the Western Theater. In December, Grant divided his Army of the Tennessee into two wings and launched his first attempt to capture Vicksburg. Grant ordered Major General William T. Sherman, commanding the right wing of his army, to travel down the Mississippi River and attempt to assault Vicksburg from the north. Sherman's 30,000 Federals were badly defeated by 13,000 Confederate defenders at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou (December 26-29, 1862).
After the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, Major General John A. McClernand replaced Sherman as commander of the right wing of the Army of the Tennessee. McClernand was a Democratic politician from Southern Illinois who raised a brigade of volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War and served under Grant during the early Union victories in Tennessee. McClernand was also an ambitious man who was well connected with fellow Illinoisan President Abraham Lincoln. In October 1862, McClernand used his political influence to gain authorization from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to raise an army for an expedition against Vicksburg. Because he had more seniority than Sherman, McClernand was able to take Sherman's command, combine it with the army he raised, and rename it the Army of the Mississippi.
After assuming Sherman's command, McClernand launched an attack on Fort Hindman, near Arkansas Post, rather than assault Vicksburg, as he had told Stanton he was going to do. The Confederates constructed Fort Hindman on the Arkansas River in 1862, to discourage an attack on the Arkansas capital at Little Rock and to serve as a base for disrupting Union traffic on the Mississippi River. Grant and other Union generals did not consider the fort and Brigadier General Thomas J. Churchill's 5,500-man garrison enough of a threat to distract them from their main objective of capturing Vicksburg. In late December 1862, however, Rebels operating out of Fort Hindman captured a Federal steamer on the Mississippi. McClernand, eager for a victory of any sort, considered that enough provocation to divert the 33,000 soldiers under his command, plus Flag Officer David D. Porter's Mississippi naval fleet, to subdue the fort.
On January 9, 1863, thousands of Union soldiers began disembarking from troop ships and advanced up the Arkansas River toward Fort Hindman. Led by Sherman, the Federals quickly overran the outnumbered Rebels, forcing them back into the fort. The next day, Porter's naval fleet moved into position and bombarded the fort. On January 11, McClernand's artillery joined in with another barrage, effectively silencing the defenders' remaining big guns. As the infantry prepared for an attack, Porter's fleet moved upstream to prevent a Rebel retreat. Hoping for reinforcements, Churchill ordered the Confederate garrison to defend the fort at all costs, but when McClernand's infantry advanced, some of the Rebels realized that their situation was hopeless. About 4:30 in the afternoon, defenders on one side of the fort began raising white flags of surrender. Unaware of the white flags, soldiers on the other side of the fort fired on Federals who exposed themselves in response to the flags of truce. Eventually, the situation was resolved inside of the fort and white flags were raised on both sides.
Losses at the Battle of Arkansas Post were moderate. The Federals suffered a little over 1,000 casualties, including 134 killed. On the Confederate side, 709 soldiers were killed and nearly 4,800 surrendered, almost one-fourth of the total Rebel armed forces stationed in Arkansas. In addition, the Union soldiers commandeered Confederate arms, ammunition and other supplies before razing Fort Hindman. The Battle of Arkansas Post contributed little, if anything, toward the success of the Vicksburg Campaign, but it did eliminate a minor impediment to Union shipping on the Mississippi River.
Ohio units that participated in the Battle of Arkansas Post included:
Infantry units:
- 16th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 42nd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 48th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 54th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 57th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 58th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 76th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 83rd Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 96th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 114th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
- 120th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry
Artillery units:
- 4th Ohio Artillery Battery
- 8th Ohio Light Artillery Battery
- 17th Ohio Light Artillery Battery
City class ironclad ship:
- USS Cincinnati
After the battle, McClernand informed Sherman and Porter that he intended to mount an excursion up the Arkansas River to assault Little Rock. Grant, however, was unimpressed with McClernand's victory and considered it a diversion from the real task at hand. He countermanded McClernand's plans and ordered him to rejoin the Union campaign against Vicksburg. McClernand complied and was relegated to a corps commander throughout the remainder of the campaign after Grant disbanded the Army of the Mississippi and returned its troops to the Army of the Tennessee.
