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Following the
removal of the Territorial Capital to Little Rock in 1821, the
community of Arkansas Post began a slow and steady period of
decline. Visitors during the Post from the mid-1820s into the
1840s often commented on the ruinous condition of the town. This
decline was accelerated by the removal of the county seat from
the Post in 1855.
A flurry of activity returned to Arkansas Post
in the fall of 1862 when Confederate forces constructed an earthwork
fort to defend the Arkansas River and serve as a base of operations
to harass United States forces operating on the Mississippi River.
In the first week of January 1863, and combined force of United
States Army and Navy forces ascended the Arkansas River with Arkansas
Post as their intended target. A two day battle ensued, pitting
32,000 US troops and nine gunboats against 5,000-7,00 Confederate
soldiers. Outnumbered nearly five to one, the Confederate forces
surrendered on January 11, 1863, and nearly 5,000 Confederate
soldiers were taken prisoner.
Following the Civil War, the old town site
area was abandoned, and the community of Arkansas Post moved
along the river's edge about one mile north. A small river-port
town struggled to survive there in the final years on the 19th-century.
| 1822 |
- John James Audubon,
the famous naturalist-artist, visits Arkansas Post
and while there painted, and documented the Traill's
Flycatcher.
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| 1824 |
- The Quapaw Treaty was re-written by the Arkansas Territorial
Government in Little Rock. All Quapaw lands were ceded
to the Territory and the Tribe was "relocated" to northeastern
Oklahoma.
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| 1830 |
- The population of Arkansas Post had dwindled to 114.
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| 1832 |
- Washington Irving visits Arkansas Post on his return
from visiting the Indian Territory.
- An unsuccessful effort is made to establish a Catholic
Church at Arkansas Post by Father Edmond Saulnier.
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| 1837 |
- Washington Irving's Short story
based upon his visit to the Post, The Creole Village,
is first published.
- A second effort is made to establish
a Catholic Church at the Post. is made by Father Dupuy;
This effort was continued
into 1838 by Father Donnelly, Dupuy's successor. This
second effort likely failed to due the poor economic
situation in the region.
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| 1838 |
- December
24 A
branch house of the State Bank of Arkansas opened
State
Bank
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| 1839 |
- June 19 Proposals for the construction of a permanent
building to house the branch of the State Bank were solicited
in the Arkansas Gazette.
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| 1840 |
- April 4 Frederic
and Felicite Notrebe sell an 80-foot lot to the State
Bank as a site for the Arkansas Post branch bank.
Construction on the new bank building begins shortly
thereafter.
- November The
Arkansas Post Jockey Club established a racetrack
to the north of the Post on a portion of Spanish
Land Grant No. 2296. Races were held in 1840 and
1841.
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| 1841 |
- The State Bank building was completed by early February.
The total construction cost for the two-story brick structure
was $15,761.29.
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| 1842 |
- August The
Sisters of Loretto establish St. Ambrose's Female Academy
at Arkansas Post,
following the closure
of an
academy at Pine Bluff. The founder of the academy was
Sister Allodia Vessels. The academy likely only operated
for one or two years.
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| 1843 |
- January 31 The
State Legislature passed an act "to place the Bank
of the State of Arkansas in liquidation." By the
end of the year, all of the branches of the bank were
closed, including the one at Arkansas
Post.
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| 1853 |
- Three commissioners
were elected to relocate the seat of Arkansas County.
Arkansas Post had served as the county seat since
the creation of the county in 1813.
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| 1854 |
- The new county seat was named De
Witt, in honor of De Witt Clinton, former Governor
of New York.
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| 1855 |
- September The
seat of Arkansas County was officially moved from
the Post to De Witt. The removal of the county seat
was a deathblow to the community of Arkansas Post,
which had been steadily declining since 1821.
|
| 1857 |
- A visitor to the Post wrote that the old State Bank
building was being used only for "holding elections and
stabling horses.
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| 1861 |
- May Arkansas
seceds from the Union and joins the Confederacy.
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| 1862 |
- September.
Construction begins on a massive earthwork fort at
the bend of the
river near Arkansas Post. Known as Fort Hindman, it
was constructed largely by the labor of approximately
500 slaves.
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| 1863 |
- January 3 Following
a major defeat outside Vicksburg in late December,
US Army commanders McClernand and Sherman meet with
Admiral Porter to discuss an attack against the Confederate
garrison at Arkansas Post.
- January
9 The combined
US Army and Navy fleets turn up the White River,
and crossed into the Arkansas River through
a cut-off. Confederate sentries alert General
Churchill of the impending arrival of US forces
in the area. Churchill orders the garrison of
Fort Hindman to abandon their winter quarters,
and retreat behind a defense line stretching
west from the Fort to Post Bayou, approximately
one mile in length. Work is begun to strengthen
the defense line along its entire length.
- January
10 US troops
disembark from the transport fleet about six
miles down river from the Fort, and begin to
make their way towards the Fort; Confederate
outer defenses are abandoned during this time.
In the late afternoon the three ironclad gunboats
in the Naval fleet (The USS Baron de Kalb,
USS Cincinnati, and USS Louisville)
move within range of Fort Hindman and shell
the both the fort and the Confederate forces
there for two hours, before the sun sets.
- January
11 During
the morning hours Major General McClernand orders
his three corps into position north of the Confederate
defense line. Mid-day a two-hour artillery barrage
commences, including both the gunboats and field
artillery. Following this, a land assault on
the Confederate line begins. The Confederates,
including soldiers from Arkansas, Louisiana,
and Texas, hold out until about 4:30 in the
afternoon, when soldiers in the middle of the
defense line put up white flags. Nearly 5,000
Confederate soldiers are taken captive following
the surrender.
- January
12-15 United
States forces remain in the area of Arkansas
Post for several days. Organizing the nearly
5,000 prisoners, rounding up all ordinance stores
and other useable equipment, burying the fallen
US soldiers and rendering the fort non-functional
are the tasks
that occupy
the attention of the troops. A Naval reconnaissance
up the Arkansas River proves that water levels
are too low for the fleet to proceed upriver
towards Little Rock.
- January
16 The
combined US Army and Navy fleets depart Arkansas
Post,
and return to the Mississippi River. The Confederate
Prisoners were taken first to St. Louis, and later
to Camp Douglas, outside of Chicago. The Arkansas
Post area remains quiet for the remainder of the
war.
- May Most of the Confederate Prisoners
of War taken at the Battle of Arkansas Post are released,
and sent to Eastern theatres of the War.
|
| 1866 / 1868 |
- US Soldiers buried on the Battlefield
at Arkansas Post are relocated to Pine Bluff, and later
the National Cemetery
in Little Rock.
|
| 1860s to 1880s |
- Following the end of the Civil War,
southeast Arkansas, like most of the former Confederacy
is hit by a major
economic depression. During this time the community of
Arkansas Post relocated about one mile north of the historic
town site area. A small number of businesses, including
the Fogee Store, serve area farms and are located near
a steamboat landing.
- Erosion of the river bend adjacent
to Arkansas Post continues, and by the mid-1880s over
fifty percent of
Fort Hindman had fallen into the Arkansas River.
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| 1890-1891 |
- The first archeological work done
in the area of Arkansas Post occurs at the Menard mound
site. Field work was done by Edward Palmer under direction
of Cyrus Thomas for the Smithsonian Institution.
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