Battle of Chalk Bluff

Battle of Chalk Bluff
Part of the American Civil War
Date May 1, 1863 (1863-05-01)– May 2, 1863 (1863-05-02) Location Dunklin County, Missouri, and Clay County, Arkansas Result Tactical Confederate victory Strategic Union victory
Belligerents
United States	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
William Vandever	John S. Marmaduke
Units involved
2nd Division, Army of the Frontier	Marmaduke’s Cavalry Division
Strength
10,000	2,000
Casualties and losses
23 killed 44 wounded 53 captured total of 120 men	30 killed 60 wounded 120 missing total of 210 men

The Battle of Chalk Bluff was a land battle of the American Civil War that took place in Clay County, Arkansas, and Dunklin County, Missouri, on May 1 and May 2, 1863. Brig. Gen. William Vandever, commanding the 2nd Division of the Union Army of the Frontier, was repulsed in an attempt to prevent Confederate cavalry under Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke from crossing the St. Francis River. Though a tactical Confederate victory, Marmaduke suffered considerable casualties and his momentum had been checked, forcing him to abandon his second expedition into Missouri.

Marmaduke departed his camps in Arkansas in the spring of 1863 with 5,000 cavalrymen, bound for southeastern Missouri. In sharp fighting at the Battle of Cape Girardeau, Marmaduke was defeated, and he began a withdrawal on April 27 towards Helena, Arkansas. His line of march was on a road on Crowley's Ridge, a long rise that offered protection for his flanks, as the surrounding terrain was mainly marshy. Union forces under Vandever had pursued Marmaduke through Missouri to Chalk Bluff, Arkansas, where Marmaduke planned to cross the St. Francis River, whose steep chalky white clay banks made fording the river difficult for cavalry.

In an attempt to protect his men while they were crossing the river, Marmaduke set up a rear guard along the ridge that he hoped would protect his engineers and pioneers as they constructed a bridge strong enough to allow the passage of his entire division. He formed an initial defensive line at the hamlet of Four Mile, while posting his reserves in a second line a mile away at Gravel Hill, on the crest of the ridge above the river. They began digging entrenchments to forestall any Union attack.

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