I. INTERPRETING THE COLBERT RAID

B. Recommendations

Historical research has been completed, and on reviewing the documented narrative several salient points emerge: (a) Colbert’s Raid on Arkansas Post brought down the curtain on one phase (the Spanish-British) in the long struggle for control of the lower Mississippi Valley; (b) the most significant moment in the April 17 engagement was Sergeant Pastor’s sortie; and (c) the site of Fort Carlos III, as well as most of the battleground, is now covered by the waters of Horseshoe Lake[Post Bend].

Although the site of the fort and engagement are within the National Memorial, they are inundated. We therefore suggest that the painting and audio-visual equipment describing the Colbert raid be incorporated into the exhibit design for the Arkansas Post Visitor Center now under contract to CPS of Little Rock. This would be in accordance with Condition 2 enumerated in the letter accompanying the check for $15,000 presented to Regional Director Rumburg on February 28.

The event to be depicted in the interpretive painting will be Sergeant Pastor’s sortie, which routed the partisans and sent them fleeing back to their boats.