| Battle of Fort Smith | |||||||
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| Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
 Fort Smith Commissary | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States (Union) |  Confederate States | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| John M. Thayer |  Douglas H. Cooper | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| District of the Frontier | District of the Indian Territory | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 3 brigades | 2 brigades | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 4 killed 6 wounded 11 captured | 2 killed 4 wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Fort Smith was fought on July 31, 1864, in Sebastian County, Arkansas, during the American Civil War.
In the wake of the failed Camden Expedition, areas of Arkansas lay prone to cavalry raids against Union outposts. [1] One such raid occurred at Massard Prairie on July 27, 1864 where Confederate forces under Brigadier-General Richard M. Gano won a victory, encouraging further engagement. [2]
Several days later Gano's superior, Brigadier-General Douglas H. Cooper, led a Confederate division several miles north to Fort Smith. Cooper's force consisted of Gano's brigade and Watie's brigade. Gano took position along the Indian Territory side of the Poteau River while Watie moved up from the south on the Arkansas side. Brigadier-General John M. Thayer commanded the town's defenses with three brigades. Watie's men made first contact with the 6th Kansas Cavalry of Colonel William R. Judson's brigade. Judson's men fell back from Fort No. 2 along the Texas Road, alerting the rest of the Union garrison of the Confederate arrival. [3] Cooper's men began to shell the fort. Thayer responded by sending forward units from Williams' brigade, including the 6th Kansas Colored Infantry and two howitzers from the 2nd Kansas Battery. The Union artillery proved superior and soon drove off the Confederates. [3] Cooper ordered a withdrawal, leaving snipers behind to cover the retreat. [4]
Cooper took with him approximately $130,000 worth of Union arms and supplies. [4] Thayer maintained control of Fort Smith for the duration of the war. Fort Smith is preserved within Fort Smith National Historic Site.
Richard Montgomery Gano was a physician, Protestant minister, and brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War.
The Third Battle of Murfreesboro, also known as Wilkinson Pike or the Cedars, was fought December 5–7, 1864, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, as part of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of the American Civil War.
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Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid or Price's Missouri Raid, was an unsuccessful Confederate cavalry raid through Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. Led by Confederate Major General Sterling Price, the campaign aimed to recapture Missouri and renew the Confederate initiative in the larger conflict.
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The trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War was the scene of the major military operations west of the Mississippi River. The area is often thought of as excluding the states and territories bordering the Pacific Ocean, which formed the Pacific coast theater of the American Civil War (1861–1865).
The Camden Expedition was the final campaign conducted by the Union Army in south Arkansas during the Civil War. The offensive was designed to cooperate with Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks' movement against Shreveport.
The Battle of Old Fort Wayne, also known as Maysville, Beattie's Prairie, or Beaty's Prairie, was an American Civil War battle on October 22, 1862, in Delaware County in what is now eastern Oklahoma.
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During the American Civil War, most of what is now the U.S. state of Oklahoma was designated as the Indian Territory. It served as an unorganized region that had been set aside specifically for Native American tribes and was occupied mostly by tribes which had been removed from their ancestral lands in the Southeastern United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As part of the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Indian Territory was the scene of numerous skirmishes and seven officially recognized battles involving both Native American units allied with the Confederate States of America and Native Americans loyal to the United States government, as well as other Union and Confederate troops.
Sidney Drake Jackman was an American farmer, teacher, and soldier. He served as an officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, most noted for his performance in the early part of the Battle of Westport in 1864.
The Battle of Massard Prairie was fought on July 27, 1864 in Sebastian County, Arkansas during the American Civil War. Confederate troops led by Brigadier-General Richard M. Gano successfully launched a surprise attack on a Union camp held by four companies of the 6th Kansas Cavalry, capturing prisoners and equipment.
The 30th Arkansas Infantry (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. This regiment was also called the 5th Arkansas Cavalry, the 5th Trans-Mississippi Regiment or 39th Regiment after April, 1863. This regiment was converted to mounted infantry for Price's Missouri Expedition in 1864 and was known as Rogan's Arkansas Cavalry. There were two regiments officially designated as the 30th Arkansas Infantry. The other 30th Arkansas served east of the Mississippi River and was redesignated as the 25th Arkansas Infantry.
The 19th Arkansas Infantry Regiment or Dockery's Arkansas Infantry Regiment was an infantry formation of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. There were two other regiments which were designated as the 19th Arkansas. Dawson's 19th Arkansas Infantry was organized at Nashville, Arkansas, on November 21, 1861. Hardy's Arkansas Infantry, which is also occasionally referred to as the 19th Arkansas was organized in 1863 from those parts of Dawson's 19th Infantry Regiment, the 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Crawford's Arkansas Infantry Battalion, which escaped capture at the Battle of Arkansas Post.
The ambush of the steamboat J.R. Williams was a military engagement during the American Civil War. It took place on June 15, 1864, on the Arkansas River in the Choctaw Nation which became encompassed by the State of Oklahoma. It is popularly termed the "only naval battle" in that landlocked state. It was a successful Confederate attack on the Union Army's lines of supply. The Confederate forces were Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek Indians led by General Stand Watie, who was a Cherokee.
The Second Battle of Cabin Creek was part of a plan conceived by Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie, who had been promoted from colonel after the First Battle of Cabin Creek. The plan was to have a Confederate force attack central Kansas from Indian Territory, raiding Union Army facilities and encouraging Indian tribes in Western Kansas to join in an attack on the eastern part of the state. Watie presented the plan to his superior, General S. B. Maxey on February 5, 1864. Maxey approved the plan on the condition that the attack would start by October 1, to coincide with an attack on Missouri already planned by General Sterling Price.
Clark's Missouri Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
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