Arkansas Forts

American Forts: West

ARKANSAS

Last Update: 11/JUNE/2019

Compiled by Pete Payette - Š2019 American Forts Network

Cantonment Taylor
(1821 - 1824), near Doddridge
A Federal garrison protecting a nearby government Indian trading post, or Factory, located on a bluff (Factory Bluff) on the Red River just below the mouth of the Sulphur Fork. Also known as Post at Sulphur Fork. The Sulphur Fork Trading Factory (or Caddo Indian Agency) was in operation here from 1818 to 1823. Afterwards it became a civilian trading post until abandoned in 1825. Site was excavated in 1988. See also Arkansas Archaeological Society

Fort Lynn
(unknown dates), Fort Lynn
A possible military post (?) sometime before 1903.
(thanks to Marshall Sitrin for info)

Camp Bragg
(1862 - 1863), Woodlawn
A CSA winter encampment located 17 miles southwest of Camden.

Fabre's Trading Post
(1800's), Camden
A French settlers' trading post. The town, permanently settled in 1824, was originally named Ecore a Fabre (Fabre's Bluffs) after the first settler.

Civil War Defenses of Camden
(1862 - 1865), Camden
The Confederates built a series of five earthwork defenses to defend the town. They were unmanned when Union forces captured the town in April 1864 during the Red River Campaign. After the Union troops left, the forts were regarrisoned for the duration of the war.
Fort Lookout is located on private property on Van Buren Road, on the south bank of the Ouachita River about one mile west of US 79.
Fort Pickett is located in the Greenwood Cemetery on Maul Road. Also known as Redoubt B. No remains.
Traces of earthworks still remain off Gravel Pit Road.
Fort Diamond is located on Bradley Ferry Road. Also known as Redoubt E. It was marked in error for years as Fort Southerland, but the markers were corrected in 2006.
Fort Southerland is located on California Street near Center Street. Also known as Redoubt D. No remains.
Tate's Bluff Fort (1864), built by the CSA after the town was reoccupied, located on a bluff overlooking the Ouachita and Little Missouri Rivers. Site marked in 2010.
Water Battery (1864) built by CSA troops on the Ouachita River at Sandy Beach. Site marked in 2007.

Camden CSA Ordnance Works (1862 - 1863) produced munitions until the foundry equipment was transferred to Shreveport, Louisiana in May 1863.

Of interest in town at 926 Washington Street is the 1847 McCollum-Chidester House (admission fee), which was used as Union headquarters during their brief occupation of the town.

Arkadelphia CSA Ordnance Works
(1862 - 1863), Arkadelphia
A Confederate arsenal and ordnance facility. The workers were transferred to Shreveport, Louisiana in the summer of 1863, and the equipment was transferred to Marshall, Texas. No remains.

Fort Smith (National Historic Site)
(1817 - 1834, 1838 - 1871), Fort Smith FORT WIKI
Preceding the establishment of Arkansas Territory (1819), the first fort was built to keep the peace between the Osage and the recently resettled Cherokee and Choctaw Nations in the newly formed Indian Territory. It was a simple log and stone stockade with two blockhouses, also known as Belle Point Fort or Camp Smith, and renamed in 1818. The stone foundation ruins still exist. The troops were moved to Fort Gibson, OK in 1824 before the 1820 Indian Territory boundary was shifted west in 1825 to its present alignment. The deteriorating fort was then intermittently garrisoned until 1834, the last garrison transferring west to Fort Coffee, OK. The second fort, originally planned as a large pentagonal masonry work with five bastions, was built in 1839 due to settler demands over the Indian Removals from the southeast. Camp Thomas, later renamed Camp (or Cantonment) Belknap (1838 - 1846), was built adjacent to the first fort site while the second fort was being constructed. Construction was halted in 1841, and the fort was then modified as a supply depot for the Federal forts in Indian Territory. Seized by Confederates in 1861, captured by the Union in 1863. Permanently abandoned in 1871. The Barracks (1849) then served as the U.S. District Court from 1872 - 1890, and later served as a Federal prison from 1890 to 1917. The stone walls were removed in 1897. Admission fee. The strip of land between the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers and the old 1825 state boundary, on which the first fort site is located, was known as the "Choctaw Strip" and was formally transferred from Indian Territory to Arkansas in 1905. The first fort site was excavated in 1958 - 1963. Admission fee.

Located nearby at 320 Rogers Ave. is the Fort Smith (City) Museum of History, which was once housed in the Commissary Storehouse (1846) as the "Old Fort Museum" from 1910 to 1961. Admission fee. Also in town is the Casper Reutzel Haus (1850), at 423 North Fifth Street, which features gun ports in the cellar under the front porch (private property).

Civil War Defenses of the City of Fort Smith
(1863 - 1865), Fort Smith
The Union occupied the city and built a series of blockhouses and artillery positions and rifle pits in a ring around the city. Blockhouse No. 4 (four guns, 500 men) was located at the corner of North 5th Street and H Street, which covered the approach from Van Buren. Blockhouse No. 2 was located on a hill near South 10th Street and "O" Street, which covered the Texas Road (Towson Ave.). Confederate forces attacked the city in July 1864. A marker for the Massard Prairie Battlefield (July 1864) is located on Red Pine Drive.

Camp Vine Prairie
(1862), Van Buren
A CSA camp.

Camp Babcock
(1862), near Fayetteville
A CSA camp southwest of town, established prior to the Battle of Prairie Grove (December 1862) nearby.

Camp Reagan
(1861 - 1862), near Elkins
A CSA training camp. Also refered to as Fort Reagan.
(info courtesy of Aimee Crochet)

Camp Marmaduke
(1862), Washington County
A CSA camp.

Camp Walker
(1861), Maysville
A CSA training camp located one and one-half miles northeast of town on the grounds of the Benton County Harmonial Society (marker on AR 72). The post transferred to Camp Stephens. The barracks were burned in 1864.

Camp Jackson
(1861), Maysville
A CSA camp located four miles outside town. Possibly aka Camp McCulloch ?

Camp Carr
(1862), Benton County
A Union camp located on Big Sugar Creek.

Camp at McKissick's Spring
(1862), Centerton
A Union encampment occupied before the Battle of Pea Ridge (March 1862). Site located one block south and one block west of the town hall.

Camp Stephens
(1861 - 1863), near Bentonville
A CSA camp located along Little Sugar and Brush Creeks (marker at AR 72 and Sugar Creek Road). Occupied by Union forces after the Battle of Pea Ridge (March 1862).

Camp Van Winkle
(1861 - 1862), Cross Hollow
A Confederate encampment and barracks on the west side of the White River near Lowell. The timber was contracted from Peter Van Winkle, who operated the War Eagle Mill in Van Hollow (now within Hobbs State Park) (marker located on the west-side of the White River bridge on AR 12). The mill was destroyed in March 1862, and Van Winkle fled to Texas until after the war. It is uncertain if the camp was completed, as Van Winkle never received payment for the lumber. See also Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

Camp Culloden
(1861), near Harrison
A temporary CSA cavalry camp, later moved to Camp Hardee.

Camp Hardee
(1861 - 1862), Marshall
A CSA camp. Abandoned during the 1862 Pea Ridge Campaign. The town's name was originally Burrowsville.

Camp Shelby
(1860's), Batesville
A CSA camp. Marker located at junction of AR 25 and US 167.

Camp Steele
(1864), Batesville
A Union post protecting the railroad.

Fort Douglas
(unknown dates), Fort Douglas
No information found, but apparently some kind of military post was once here.

Camp McIntosh
(1860's), Ozark
A CSA camp.

Post at Spadra Bluffs
(U.S.A.C.E. - Spadra Park)
(1818 - 1822), (Old) Spadra, near Clarksville
A Federal Indian trading post, or Factory, for the newly created Cherokee Indian Agency (West), located about three miles south of Clarksville on a bluff of Spadra Creek, less than one mile from its present confluence with Lake Dardenelle on the Arkansas River. It consisted of three log buildings, one of them two-story. No remains. The Western Cherokee Indians may have used the abandoned trading post for themselves for several years afterwards, until they signed away their Arkansas lands in 1828. A public boat launch is now located below the bluff where the original riverport town of (Old) Spadra (1828) was once located. An historical marker was erected on the bluff in 1984. The public campground near the site is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, as part of the Lake Dardenelle Project.

The post was at first temporarily located about 20 miles down the Arkansas River at the Illinois Bayou, near Russellville, before it was moved to Spadra Bluffs.

Dardanelle Stockade
(1864 - 1865), Dardanelle
A Union-built stockade surrounded the town, attacked by CSA forces in January 1865.

Cadron Settlement (Park)
(U.S.A.C.E. - Toad Suck Park)
(1780's or 1790's, 1820's), near Conway
A trading post, also known as Quadrant on some maps, operated by the local French settlers under Spanish rule. A log blockhouse was later built here by American settlers. The present blockhouse is a 1978 reproduction, rebuilt in 1998. A Trail of Tears National Historic Trail site. Site operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District, as part of Toad Suck Park in the Murray Locks and Dams Project. See also The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
Arkansas Ties.com

Little Rock Barracks
(MacArthur Park)
(1837 - 1890), Little Rock
Located at East Ninth and Commerce Streets. Originally named Post at Little Rock, or Fort Little Rock. Seized by Confederates in 1861. Recaptured by the Union in September 1863. Renamed in 1873 upon the merger with Little Rock Arsenal (see below). Abandoned in 1890, the site was given to the city in 1892 as a trade for new property in North Little Rock for Fort Roots.

Little Rock Arsenal
(MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History)
(1840 - 1873), Little Rock
Adjacent to Fort Little Rock. Originally composed of over 25 buildings. The Confederates took over the site in 1861, and tried to destroy it in September 1863 as they fled the advancing Union army. Ordnance operations were then ultimately transferred to Tyler, Texas. The Little Rock Arsenal was rebuilt after the war. Merged with Little Rock Barracks in 1873. The last remaining structure was once the home of the Arkansas Museum of Science and History from 1942 - 1997. Now home of the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History since 2001. See also Seizing the U.S. Arsenal at Little Rock from The Capitol Guards

Fort Steele
(1863), Little Rock
A temporary Union fort located a few blocks southwest of Mount Holly Cemetery.

Camp Dodge
(1898), Little Rock
A Spanish-American War muster camp for state troops, located at College Ave. and 17th Street.

Civil War Defenses of Little Rock
(1863), North Little Rock
Four CSA works protected the eastern approaches to Little Rock in advance of the Union army; one located at Woodruff's Mill; another on the Arkansas River directly across from the present-day airport; one along the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad south of Ink Bayou; and one at a road junction between Ink Bayou and Five Mile Creek.

CSA Camp Crystal Hill was located on Crystal Hill, northwest of present-day Burns Park (near the I-40 and I-430 interchange).

Fort Logan H. Roots
(1893 - 1917), North Little Rock
Little Rock Barracks was moved here in 1893, renamed in 1897. Closed in 1917 when Camp Pike was established north of the city, and converted to the present-day V.A. Hospital in 1921. Most original buildings are still extant.

Camp Joseph T. Robinson (State Military Reservation)
(1917 - present), North Little Rock
A National Army cantonment training area, infantry replacement center, and demobilization center, originally named Camp Pike, used for the 87th Division. Originally 6000 acres, reverted to the state in 1920, most of the buildings were removed by 1923. Part of the site, that located east of 6th Ave. and north of the railroad (aka Camp McRea), was thereafter used for state guard training. Name changed in 1937. Federalized again in 1940 for WWII training, with the addition of 38,000 acres and much new construction. Reverted back again to the state in 1947. The Arkansas National Guard Museum, with the history of both camps, is in Lloyd England Hall. Post still in use by the state guard and Army Reserve, now reduced in size to 32,000 acres.

Camp Nelson
(1862), Austin
A CSA staging camp. Now a Confederate Cemetery, which was established after a typhoid and measles epidemic swept through the camp in the fall of 1862.

Toltec Mounds (Archaeological State Park)
(650 - 1050), Toltec
A Woodland Period - Plum Bayou Culture Indian village, originally with 18 mounds within a six-foot high, 2700-foot diameter semi-circular earthen embankment with outer moat, along the east bank of Mound Lake, four miles southeast of Scott. Five mounds are still extant. Also known as the Knapp Site in older references. Admission fee.

Camp White Sulphur Springs
(1861 - 1863), Sulphur Springs
A CSA camp. Site is now a Confederate Cemetery.

Camp Pine Bluff
(1863 - 1869), Pine Bluff
A Union camp. Confederates attacked one month after its establishment. The camp was still in use through Reconstruction.

Arkansas Post (National Memorial)
(1686 - 1821), near Gillett ¤ National Archives MAP ¤
This is the state's first permanent white settlement. Also known as Poste de Arkansea, and Fort les Arcansas. Due to the Arkansas River's periodic flooding, this fort was relocated seven times in its history. The original French site (with only a six-man garrison) is probably underwater, located about five miles downriver of the present-day park. It was rebuilt in 1748 near Lake Dumond, and again in 1752. The Spanish took control in 1765, renamed Fort San Carlos or Fort Carlos III (1765 - 1783, rebuilt 1771, 1779). It was described as a polygonal stockade with one 3-pounder gun in each face of each bastion, manned by 30 troops. It was attacked by the British and Indians in April 1783, making this the only battle of the American Revolution to take place in Arkansas, and nearly the last battle of the entire war. A partial replica of this fort has been built near the visitors' center. Extensive flooding forced a new fort to be built named Fort San Estevan de Arkanzas (1791 - 1804, rebuilt 1796). Even though the French took control of Louisiana in 1800, the Spanish never relinquished their forts in the territory. The Americans then took over in 1804 after purchasing the territory from the French in 1803. A government Indian Factory for the Quapaw Indian Agency was located here from March 1805 - November 1810.

Confederate troops built an 11-gun earthen fort here called Fort Hindman (1861 - 1863). The Union destroyed it in January 1863 after the Confederates surrendered and evacuated. The site of the fort is now underwater. CSA rifle pits still exist in a wooded area.

Guachoya
(1542), near McArthur ?
A strongly palisaded Indian village visited by Hernando DeSoto in April 1542. Located south of the Arkansas River, probably east of town, apparently near a no longer extant channel connecting Bayou Macon with the Mississippi River. DeSoto fell ill with fever and died here on May 21, 1542 (Old Style). He was originally buried near the palisade gate, but the natives discovered the grave, and the Spanish secretly exhumed the body and cast it into the Mississippi River. Luis Moscoso de Alvarado then took command of the expedition, and in June 1542 they moved on.

DeValls Bluff Depot
(1863 - 1865), DeValls Bluff
A major Union supply depot, arsenal, and barracks during the Civil War. It was established at the furthest navigable point on the Arkansas River during periods of low water, where men and supplies could then be sent by rail to Little Rock. The arsenal building was later used as a hospital, courthouse, and opera house after the war.

St. Charles Battery
(1862), St. Charles
A Confederate shore battery that was never completed. It was abandoned on the advance of Union gunboats upriver (June 1862). Before it was abandoned, a shot was fired at the U.S.S. Mound City, hitting a steam pipe which then ruptured and killed over 150 men. Site is marked.

Aminoya
(1542 - 1543), near Old Town ?
Two large palisaded Indian villages, about half a Spanish league apart, visited by the remnants of the DeSoto Expedition in December 1542. The Spanish occupied one village for winter quarters, and tore down the other to build additional houses and seven keelboats. The Spanish finally left in July 1543 in their boats down the Mississippi River, not arriving in Veracruz, Mexico until September 1543.

Civil War Defenses of Helena
(1861 - 1864), Helena
Fort Reiter (1861 - 1862) a CSA work located on Reiter's Hill.

The city was captured by Union forces in July 1862, and held throughout the war. Union defenses included:
Fort Curtis a three-gun work protecting the river port. Reconstructed in 2011.
Fort Pinney an outpost located along the river.
Four two-gun batteries (Batteries A, B, C, D) supported the garrison, and are still extant. They are on private property, but are marked on a driving tour. Battery A is located near Adams and Columbia Streets, Battery B is located near Liberty Street and Summit Road, Battery C is located on Graveyard Hill near Clark and York Streets (now a public park with markers), and Battery D is located on Crowley's Ridge (Hindman Hill) on Military Road. The Confederates unsuccessfully attacked in July 1863.

Fort St. Francis
(1738 - 1740), near Helena
A French fort built on the St. Francis River, on Crowley's Ridge near its mouth, north of the city. It was said to be a square-bastioned palisade, with Officers' quarters, barracks, powder magazine, bakehouses, hospital, and warehouses. It was destroyed after it was no longer needed in the French campaign against the Chickasaw Indians in present Mississippi. Also known as Fort Kappa, or Kappa's Fort, a later corruption of the Quapaw Indians and their principal town of Kappa that was once in the general vicinity about 50 years earlier.

Fort Esperanza
(1797 - 1803), near West Memphis
Built by the Spanish after being forced out of Fort Barrancas in present-day Memphis, TN by the Americans. The settlement around the fort later came to be called Hopefield. The town was burned during the Civil War, and the river has since washed away all traces of the town and old fort.

Fort Rector
(1862), near St. Claire
A CSA fort located on the Mississippi River, site probably on present-day Redman Point Bar, northeast of Mound City, opposite Fort Harris in Tennessee. No remains. Abandoned before Memphis fell to the Union in June 1862.

Casqui
(Parkin Archaeological State Park)
(1000 - 1550), Parkin
A 17-acre palisaded and moated village of the Mississippian Indian Culture, with an extant mound. Visited twice by Hernando DeSoto, in June and July 1541. Admission fee.

Upper Nodena
(Hampson Archaeological Museum State Park)
(1350 - 1650), Wilson
A 15-acre palisaded and moated village of the Mississippian Indian Culture, with three extant mounds. Admission fee.

Fort Osceola
(1861 - 1862), Osceola
A CSA fort located on Plum Point.

NEED MORE INFO: CSA Fort Minor (1862) undetermined location. Federal Red Fork Fort (1834) undetermined location. CSA Camp McCulloch (1861) undetermined location. Union Camp Bowen (1862) undetermined location.
Street names: Battery Street in Little Rock.

Towns: Fort Douglas in Johnson County; Fort Lynn in Miller County.

QUESTIONS ? Please send any corrections and/or additions to this list to:
"Updates" at NorthAmericanForts.com