CAMDEN — By BRADLY GILL
Staff writer
The Civil War ended well over a century ago, but there’s a ‘battle’ that continues to be fought every two years at Poison Spring State Park.
The 154th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Poison Spring will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday - April 20-22 - at Poison Spring State Park. Kathy Boyette of the Ouachita County Historical Society was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club meeting Tuesday at Catherine’s Bistro to share details about some of the events planned for the weekend.
According to Boyette, the park will host a Union and Confederate Camp, a makeshift hospital, and an area for sutlers.
A sutler - or victualer - is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp, or in quarters, according to an internet source.
“Sutlers were actually department stores. They didn’t have the ability to get supplies like we do now. They had stores that followed them in tents. And when they set up camp they would set up tents, especially a large army. A large army, such as came here during the Civil War with 12,000 soldiers would have their own sutlers and they could buy shirts, shoes, a new canteen…things likes that,”Boyette said.
According to Encyclopedia of Arkansas.com, “Union Major General Frederick Steele moved his troops south from Little Rock on March 23, 1864, for what became known as the Camden Expedition. After battles at Elkin’s Ferry and Prairie D’Ane, Steele turned his army toward Camden (Ouachita County) on the Ouachita River, arriving there on April 15. Relatively safe within Camden’s fortifications, Steele then addressed his critical lack of supplies.
“On April 17, Steele sent a force of over 600 men and four cannon under Colonel James M. Williams with 198 wagons to seize 5,000 bushels of corn that were reportedly stored west of Camden. Marching to White Oak Creek some eighteen miles from Camden, Williams sent his troops, which included the First Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment, into the surrounding countryside to gather corn at area farms and plantations. Though Confederate cavalry had managed to destroy about half of the corn, the Yankee troops gathered the remainder, as well as other plunder, and regrouped at White Oak Creek. Williams was joined the next morning by a 501-man relief force of infantry, cavalry and two additional artillery pieces.
“Confederate Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke, meanwhile, positioned approximately 3,600 Rebel cavalrymen backed by twelve cannon between Williams’s column and Camden, blocking the Camden-Washington Road near Poison Spring. In addition to Arkansas, Missouri and Texas horsemen, his force included Colonel Tandy Walker’s Choctaw Brigade from the Indian Territory.
“Williams encountered the Confederate troops blocking the road on the morning of April 18 and established an L-shaped defense around his wagon train. The First Kansas Colored Infantry, recruited from former slaves from Arkansas and Missouri, fought off two attacks. A third, well-coordinated attack by four Confederate brigades broke the First Kansas line, and the entire Federal force retreated. Rebel troops followed them for two and one-half miles before calling off the pursuit. The Southern troops then turned their attention to the wounded and captured soldiers of the First Kansas; both Union and Confederate accounts agree that many of the black troops were killed after the battle was over. Williams lost 301 men killed, wounded and missing at Poison Spring. Of those, 117 of the dead and sixty-five of the wounded were from the First Kansas Colored Infantry. Confederate losses were incompletely recorded but are believed to be fewer than 145.”
Boyette shared that the battle is especially important, because Steele was originally planning on razing Camden and the two defeats caused him to flee the city before he could burn it to the ground. She added that the number of reenactors has doubled this year and that exhibits in artillery and ammunition making will take place with the main battle being fought Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Food vendors will be present and on Saturday night, Historic Washington Curator Josh Williams will instruct visitors about authentic dance moves.
“It’s the most fun you’ve ever had,” Boyette said.