Today in History:

479 Series I Volume XXII-I Serial 32 - Little Rock Part I

Page 479 Chapter XXXIV. ADVANCE UPON LITTLE ROCK, ARK., ETC.


HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF ARKANSAS,
Little Rock, Ark., September 22, 1863.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following, as supplementary to my report of the 12th instant:

Soon after my arrival at Helena, I received a letter from Commander Phelps, of the Navy, offering the gunboats, under Lieutenant Bache, lying at the mouth of White River, to co-operate with me. I wrote to Lieutenant Bache, requesting him to make a reconnaissance up White River. He met General Davidson at Clarendon, and, having received a part of [G. A.] Eberhart's battalion on board, proceeded up the river, entered Little Red, and, in the face of Marmaduke's cavalry, destroyed a pontoon bridge and captured two steamers, the Kaskaskia and Sugg. Subsequently, he made an expedition from Devall's Bluff to Augusta, and captured Colonel Matlock, C. S. Army, and broke up a recruiting party at that point. Commander Phelps and Lieutenant Bache have done everything in their power to further the object of the expedition.

It is reported that the rebel force at the fight on Bayou Fourche was composed of the brigades of Tappan and Fagan and the cavalry division under Marmaduke. At the city the rebels abandoned five iron guns, including two siege pieces disabled by us at Arkansas Post, and subsequently patched up by them. At the arsenal we found a small amount of stores. There were about 3,000 pounds of powder (assorted) in the magazine in good condition. Merrill destroyed a portion of Price's train and captured some prisoners, but the pursuit was not as vigorous as it should have been.

I recommend for the favorable consideration of the Government the following-named officers: Brigadier General J. W. Davidson, U. S. Volunteers; Colonel F. H. Manter, Thirty-second Missouri Infantry; Colonel J. M. Glover, Third Missouri Cavalry; Colonel J. F. Ritter, First Missouri Cavalry, and Lieutenant Colonel H. C. Caldwell, Third Iowa Cavalry.

I am under obligations to the following officers for valuable services, viz: First Lieutenant G. O. Sokalski, Second Cavalry, U. S. Army, acting assistant adjutant-general; Captain Charles Scammon, Ninth Illinois Cavalry, aide-de camp; Captain A. H. Ryan, Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, aide-de-camp; First Lieutenant F. Summers, acting engineer, and Captain B. O. Carr, assistant quartermaster.

Very respectfully, general, your obedient servant,

FRED'K STEELE,

Major-General.

Major General JOHN M. SCHOFIELD,

Commanding Department of the Missouri.

[Indorsement.]


HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI,
Saint Louis, November 3, 1863.

Respectfully forwarded to the Adjutant-General of the Army. The officers named by Major-General Steele have done gallant and meritorious service. I concur in General Steele's recommendation.

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.


HEADQUARTERS,
l

Little Rock, Ark., September 23, 1863.

GENERAL: On being ordered from Vicksburg to Helena, for the purpose of fitting out an expedition against Little Rock, I was directed by General Grant to report for instructions to the commander of the Six-


Page 479 Chapter XXXIV. ADVANCE UPON LITTLE ROCK, ARK., ETC.