THE CONQUEST OF ARKANSAS.

UNION CAVALRYMAN--THE WATER-CALL.

THE CONQUEST OF ARKANSAS. #BY COLONEL THOMAS L. SNEAD.

I HAVE already sketched in this work the chief events of the war west of the Mississippi, down to the defeat of Van Dorn and Price by Curtis, in the battle of Elkhorn [see Vol. I., p. 263], and the withdrawal of the Confederate forces to Des Arc, whither boats were to be sent by Beauregard to transport them to Memphis.
Van Dorn, after issuing orders for the transfer of the army from Des Arc to Memphis, to reenforce the army of Albert Sidney Johnston, in west Tennessee, went, on March 29th, 1862, to Corinth, accompanied by Colonel Dabney H. Maury, in order to confer personally with Johnston and Beauregard as to the movement of his command. He was directed to return forthwith to Arkansas and bring every man that he could to Corinth, in all haste, so as to take part in the projected attack upon. Grant, who was then at Pittsburg Landing.

Until Van Dorn returned to Des Arc, on April 5th, it was not generally known that the Trans- Mississippi army was to be sent across the river, and that Missouri and Arkansas were to be abandoned to the enemy. The governors of both of these States protested earnestly against the movement, and the troops themselves manifested the greatest unwillingness to leave their homes in possession of the enemy, while they should go far away to fight for others. But Van Dorn assured them that they were to be brought back to Arkansas as soon as the impending battle on the Tennessee had been

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# Including the battles of Prairie Grove and the capture of Arkansas Post, Helena, and Little Rock.

See also "Naval Operations in the Vicksburg Campaign," to follow.--EDITORS.
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