Battle of Arkansas Post (American Revolutionary War)

Battle of Arkansas Post

Depiction of the Spanish sortie during the battle

Date	April 17, 1783 (1783-04-17)
Location	Arkansas Post
Result	Spanish victory; Attack repelled with minimal casualties, traffic on the Mississippi River largely undisturbed

Belligerents

Great Britain

Spain

Commanders and leaders

James Colbert

Jacobo Dubreuil
Luis de Villars
Alexo Pastor

Strength

82
(65 British Americans
11 Chickasaw Native Americans
5 former African American slaves
1 French American)

40
(33 Spanish Americans
4 Quapaw Native Americans
3 French Americans)

Casualties and losses

2
(1 killed
1 wounded)

11
(2 killed
1 wounded
8 taken prisoner)

The Battle of Arkansas Post (also known as the Colbert Raid or Colbert Incident) was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought at Arkansas Post on April 17, 1783. It was a part of a series of small battles fought between Spanish and British forces in the Lower Mississippi region from 1779, when Spain entered the war on the side of the United States, to the war's end. The battle consisted of an attack on the Spanish-controlled post by British partisans led by James Colbert. The battle's primary engagement was a six-hour siege of the post's fort and a subsequent sortie by the Spanish defenders, causing the British forces to rout.

The battle actually took place three months after the preliminary peace treaty between Spain and Great Britain was signed on January 20, but word of the treaty had not yet reached the Lower Mississippi region. It was the only battle of the Revolutionary War fought in what is now the state of Arkansas.

In the years prior to the battle, Spanish forces had won several victories in the Lower Mississippi region, driving out the British from Manchac and Baton Rouge and taking many British combatants prisoner. By 1783, British forces in the region were severely scattered, almost non-existent, and consisted only of small partisan groups engaged in guerrilla warfare. A former British army captain, James Colbert, was a leader of one such group, managing to rally a small number of ragtag fellow loyalists to continue the fight against the Spanish.

Colbert's primary target was Arkansas Post because of its strategic location at the confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers, and he had been planning an attack on the Spanish trading post for about a year. If the post could be captured, Colbert and his fighters could easily harass Spanish traffic on the Mississippi without consequence. The post was inhabited by a small garrison of 33 Spanish soldiers of the Louisiana Regiment and four Quapaw Native Americans in addition to the post's commander, Jacobo Dubreuil, the second-in-command, Lieutenant Luis de Villars, and Sergeant Alexo Pastor. It was guarded by a simple , Fort Carlos, half a mile upriver.

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