Camden Expedition Sites

Camden Expedition Sites

The last significant military action in Arkansas took place in the spring of 1864 when Union Gen. Frederick Steele moved his Union forces out of Little Rock in an effort to complete the control of Arkansas, as well as Texas and Louisiana.

This action took place in the spring of 1864 and became known as the Red River Campaign. The Arkansas phase of this campaign is known as the Camden Expedition.

Some of the sites of these Civil War battles, at Poison Springs near Camden, at Marks’ Mills near Fordyce, and at Jenkins Ferry near Sheridan, are now state parks.

The Poison Spring Battlefield site has significance for African American history, as it is a site where black Union troops suffered heavy casualties. Also, Jenkins Ferry Battlefield is where the Kansas Colored Regiments of the Civil War fought a battle against the Confederacy.

Washington, Arkansas, which served as Arkansas’s Confederate capital during this time, is now home to Historic Washington State Park and all are now part of the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark.