A twelve-hour battle on November 28, 1862, set the stage for the climactic fight for control of northwest Arkansas. Major General Thomas Hindman’s Confederates were based at Fort Smith when General John Sappington Marmaduke’s cavalry headed north to gather supplies from the verdant Cane Hill area.
A Union general, the pugnacious James G. Blunt, led five thousand soldiers and thirty cannon to attack the Rebel foragers, hitting them at Cane Hill on the morning of November 28. The Confederates slowly fell back into the Boston Mountains, protecting their wagon train as it carried food to Fort Smith.
A series of delaying actions covered nine miles of rugged, mountainous terrain as the Rebels would make a stand, then fall back as the Yankees approached. A final ambush ended the Union advance and Blunt made camp at Cane Hill. Hindman’s entire army would return a week later, intent on invading Missouri, and the bloody battle of Prairie Grove was fought on December 7.
To learn more, visit encyclopediaofarkansas.net.
You can read the entire Encyclopedia entry at Cane Hill, Engagement at - Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
