Road to Marks' Mills
Gen. Frederick Steele's Union army set out from Little Rock on March 23, 1864, to join a second army in Louisiana and invade Texas. He made it as far as modern-day Prescott before turning toward Camden in hopes of finding supplies for his starving army. Steele lost a supply train at Poison Spring on April 18, but a wagon train from Pine Bluff arrived on April 20 with 10 days' rations. He sent it back, along with 1,400 soldiers, to get more supplies. The column took roads near today's Fordyce on the way to Pine Bluff as Confederates approached.
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Battle of Marks' Mills
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Confederate Gen. James Fagan set an ambush east of here at Marks' Mills with 4,000 cavalrymen in two divisions. On April 25, 1864, they attacked the Union column from two sides, and a desperate, five-hour battle ended with the Union losing some 1,500 men killed, wounded and captured, along with hundreds of wagons. Fagan suffered only 293 casualties in what may have been the greatest Confederate triumph west of the Mississippi. The disaster at Marks' Mills led Steele to abandon Camden and retreat to Little Rock. He lost 2,750 men in the Camden Expedition.
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