The Skirmish at Taylor’s Creek occurred when Federal troops numbering around 1,200 cavalry, who were always looking for hot pockets of the Confederate army and its supplies, encountered a force of some 1,400 Confederate soldiers in St. Francis County. The Confederates managed to drive the Federals back, thus keeping a foothold in the region of the military roads at Taylor’s Creek.

While headquartered at Jacksonport (Jackson County), Confederate general John Sappington Marmaduke was resting his troops after his engagement of Federal forces at Chalk Bluff (Clay County). He received word on May 9, 1863, that Union troops were on the move from Helena (Phillips County) to Cotton Plant (Woodruff County). Thinking Federal troops planned to attack Colonel Arch B. Dobbins’s Infantry Regiment west of the L’Anguille River to try to capture Dobbins or destroy supplies—which consisted of a wagon train containing grain, food, ammunition, and gunpowder—at Cotton Plant, Marmaduke dispatched a courier to Colonel George W. Carter. Carter was encamped on Crowley’s Ridge seven miles from Wittsburg (Cross County), at the farm of a Mr. Croper. He had 1,400 mounted troops consisting of Colonel George W. Carter’s Twenty-first Texas Cavalry and Colonel Colton Greene’s Brigade, as well as personnel from Colonel DeWitt C. Gidding’s Texas Regiment and Lieutenant Colonel Merritt Young’s Battalion of the Tenth Missouri Cavalry. Carter also commanded artillery from Captain J. H. Pratt’s Battery (four guns) and two howitzers attached to Greene’s Brigade. Marmaduke, accompanied by two aides, left Jacksonport to rendezvous at Carter’s camp.

With more than 500 troops under his command, Dobbins reported that the Union forces in the area had to be about 1,800 strong with six pieces of artillery. Marmaduke received this intelligence the evening of May 11 after arriving at Croper’s place near Madison (St. Francis County), northeast of Taylor’s Creek. Dobbins knew that the First Indiana Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Thomas N. Pace and Major William V. Weathers, was, on May 10, camped west of the L’Anguille River at farmer Loranzo D. Switzer’s place on the Military Road to Cotton Plant and that they moved across the river over Seaburn’s Bridge on May 11 to establish a camp at Taylor’s Creek, located at the crossroad of a north-south military road running from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Helena and an east-west military road from Memphis, Tennessee, to Little Rock (Pulaski County). That afternoon, Marmaduke ordered the Confederate troops to march south to Taylor’s Creek. He also sent orders for Dobbins to advance on Seaburn’s Bridge and prevent the Union troops from recrossing it and escaping. Dobbins was ordered to burn the bridge if necessary.

Skirmishers began to engage each other just north of Taylor’s Creek at 9:00 a.m. on May 12. Soon more troops became engaged, and the battle was a contest of “push and shove” until about 10:00 a.m. Federal troops divided their forces. One attempted the retreat across the bridge while the main body of troops fought a rearguard action as it retreated south down Old Madison Road along the high ground of Crowley’s Ridge. The Federal troops were reengaged by a portion of Marmaduke’s forces as they tried to fall back to Seaburn’s Bridge. The records are not clear, but it appears these forces fought to a draw, and Federal troops retreated across the bridge in the dark.

At the same time, Confederate troops consisting of Carter’s Twenty-first Texas Cavalry and Pratt’s Battery C pursued the retreating Federals down Old Madison Road. The two commands reengaged in combat from sundown until dark.

Pressing the issue was Carter wanting to keep Federal troops on the defense, but he eventually bowed to his staff’s advice and allowed the men and horses to rest. During the night, the Federal troops escaped south and regrouped on the L’Anguille River by crossing at Hugh’s Ferry.

Dobbins’s regiment apparently contributed little to the engagement. Carter’s report said Dobbins was in position twice to prevent Union troops from regaining the west bank of the river yet did nothing. If Dobbins had carried out his orders, Federal troops would have been trapped east of the river, with their only line of retreat down Old Madison Road. But smallpox and other diseases were rampant in the Confederate troops, and even if Dobbins had attacked, he surely would have been ineffective.

The Confederates carried the day but did not seize the moment to destroy the Federal army. Six Confederates were killed, while eight were listed as wounded. The Federals losses were greater, with thirteen killed and sixteen wounded. The Skirmish at Taylor’s Creek is only a footnote in the action that took place in the Arkansas Delta during the Civil War, and little has been written about it.

For additional information:
Bailey, Anne J. Between the Enemy and Texas: Parsons’s Texas Cavalry in the Civil War. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1989.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1, Vol. 22. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1890–1901, pp. 323–328.

W. Danny Honnoll
Jonesboro, Arkansas