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Through an oversight the pontoon bridge which normally accompanied these troops had been left with General Richard Taylor in Louisiana(9). Major-General Sterling Price, in charge of the district of Arkansas, had no pontoon bridge since his command in recent months consisted primarily of cavalry who either forded or swam the rivers. Therefore, a make-shift raft bridge had to be thrown across the Ouachita River and the Confederate infantry was unable to cross until the the morning of 28 April(10). Thus, the Federals gained one full day in their race to safety. The second Confederate error, concerning General Fagan's command, would take on added significance with the passage of time. Apparently Confederate authorities had reason to believe that Fagan was operating somewhere along Steele's line of retreat. Such an assumption proved inaccurate. Fagan was out of position and could not be found until too late to give assistance(11).
On 28 April Kirby Smith began the move which he hoped would destroy Steele's army. The Confederate chief placed Churchill's and Parsons' divisions under Sterling Price but left Walker free to act independently(12). The pursuing Confederates, perhaps 8,000 strong, had no cavalry except the understrength brigade of Colonel Colton Greene. The exact location of Fagan was, of course, unknown, and Brigadier-General Samuel B. Maxey's two mounted brigades returned to Indian Territory on the same day the pursuit began(13).
- At nightfall of the 28th, Kirby Smith's column encamped only sixteen
miles from Camden on practically the same ground used by the Federals the
previous night. By 2:00 a. m. the following morning, Confederate foot-soldiers
were again moving up the Princeton road.
- _______________________
- 9. Louis Philippe d'Orleans Paris, History of the Civil War in America (Philadelphia, J. H. Coates
- and Co., 1875), 548.
- 10. Report of Major-General Sterling Price, May, 1864, Official
Records, vol. XXXIV, pt. 1, 782.
- 11. Clement A.. Evans, (ed.), Confederate Military History (13 vols., Atlanta, Confederate Publishing
- Co., 1899), X, 261.
- 12. Report of Major-General Sterling Price, May 1864, Official Records, vol. XXXIV, pt. 1, 782. Kirby
- Smith assumed direct command in Arkansas on 26 April, 1864.
- 13. Special Orders No. 1, Kirby Smith to Maxey, April 28, 1864, Ibid., 845.
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