Battle of Devil's Backbone

Part of the American Civil War

Date	September 1, 1863 (1863-09-01)
Location	Sebastian County, Arkansas
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States

Confederate States

Commanders and leaders

William F. Cloud
James G. Blunt

William L. Cabell

Units involved

2nd Kansas Cavalry
6th Missouri Cavalry
2nd Indiana Battery

1st Arkansas Cavalry
6th Arkansas Cavalry

Strength

1,500

1,250

Casualties and losses

The Battle of Devil's Backbone (also known as Backbone Mountain) was a battle of the American Civil War on September 1, 1863 in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Devil's Backbone is a ridge in the Ouachita Mountains about 4 miles, west southwest of Greenwood, Arkansas.

The Union victory at Devil's Backbone secured the North's capture of Fort Smith (Sebastian County) on September 1, 1863. Although fighting continued in the region, Fort Smith remained a Union base until the war's end.

After driving other Confederate forces farther south into Indian Territory in late August 1863, Union Major General James G. Blunt rapidly turned toward Fort Smith. Blunt's troops skirmished with Confederate Brigadier General William L. Cabell's brigade southwest of Fort Smith on August 31. Cabell decided to retreat southeast and sent his baggage and ordnance wagons off that evening. Discovering this Confederate retreat the next morning, Blunt took an infantry regiment and captured Fort Smith without incident, while Colonel William F. Cloud led about 1,500 Union cavalry and artillery men in pursuit of Cabell.

After retreating down the road toward Waldron, Arkansas in Scott County, Cabell turned around to buy time for his slow-moving wagons to escape. His total force numbered 1,250, but probably not all participated in the ensuing action. Morale was a problem; some of Cabell's troops were described as deserters, conscripts, and jayhawkers, with little interest in the Confederate cause. Cabell concealed a reliable cavalry regiment at the base of Devil's Backbone, a ridge crossed by the road. Three unreliable cavalry units were stationed on the hillside beside the road, with an artillery battery and an infantry regiment posted a few hundred yards up the slope behind the cavalry.

At noon, Cabell drew first blood when Cloud's advance guard blundered into the concealed cavalry regiment's ambush. The advance guard's survivors fell back in confusion as the Confederate battery began firing on the rest of Cloud's arriving command. The Union troops deployed their artillery across the road; it went into action as Cloud's cavalrymen dismounted, formed to either side of the road, advanced to the base of the ridge, and began to ascend the slope. The concealed Confederate cavalry regiment retired before this advance even though Cloud's troops had not yet opened fire.

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