Jenkins' Ferry Battlefield
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Jenkins' Ferry Battleground
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| Location | Grant County, Arkansas |
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| Nearest city | Leola, Arkansas |
| Coordinates | 34°12′47″N 92°32′51″W / 34.21306°N 92.54750°WCoordinates: 34°12′47″N 92°32′51″W / 34.21306°N 92.54750°W |
| Area | 26.35 acres (10.66 ha) |
| Built | 1864 |
| NRHP Reference # | 70000120 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 21, 1970 |
| Designated NHL | April 19, 1994 |
Jenkins Ferry State Park is a roadside state park in southwestern Grant County, Arkansas. The park encompasses a small portion of the battleground of the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, fought on April 30, 1864 during the American Civil War. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and, with other sites, is part of the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark designated in 1994, a National Historic Landmark District.
Jenkins Ferry State Park is located on the west side of Arkansas Highway 46, southwest of Sheridan and about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Leola. The park is set in a bend of the Saline River, which generally flows northwest to southeast, meandering southwest at this point. The park has picnic tables and fire pits, and a basic comfort station, as well as interpretive signs explaining the area's historical significance. The park includes a portion of the original road between Little Rock and Camden, as well as the eastern end of the Jenkins' Ferry crossing.
The 1864 Camden Expedition was part of a two-pronged strategy by the Union Army to drive Confederate resistance out of southwestern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, and pentetrated into Confederate Texas. Union Major General Frederick Steele led a Union force from Little Rock on March 23, 1864, with the objective of joining forces with Major General Nathaniel Prentice Banks at Shreveport, Louisiana. Confederate forces in Arkansas were directed from Washington, where the Confederate government of the state relocated after the fall of Little Rock. General Steele's advance was blunted at the Battle of Prairie D'Ane, and he occupied Camden while he arranged resupply for his starving forces. Resupply efforts were thwarted by the Confederates in the Battle of Poison Spring (April 18) and the Battle of Marks' Mills (April 25).
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