National Park Preserves 300 Years Of Arkansas Post

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Arkansas Post National Memorial near Gillett records a long history: Seven posts were established here at various times, supporting the French, Spanish, American and Confederate militaries. The first European settlement in the lower Mississippi River Valley was established here, near the confluence of the Arkansas, White and Mississippi rivers. The last battle of the Revolutionary War on American soil was fought here. The area was sold as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

The site also was the location of the first seat of Arkansas government and a busy river port, with a steamboat landing, for the shipping of cotton produced in the area. Archeological digs in the 1970s uncovered remains of the Bright & Company store from the early 1800s, a location later home to Montgomery’s Tavern in the 1820s. The town of about 1,000 people boasted the first publication of a newspaper west of the Mississippi - The Arkansas Gazette.

The Battle of Arkansas Post during the Civil War was larger even than the Battle of Pea Ridge, said Park Ranger Joe Herron. “It was the largest Civil War battle in Arkansas.”

“A blaze of fire flashed like lightning from our line, sending three thousand bullets into the Federal ranks,” reads the quote of a Confederate soldier on an interpretive panel at the site of Confederate Fort Hindsman, also part of the national park.

The park Visitors Center offers a detailed overview of the history through an introductory film, a small museum and a gift shop. The park includes 3.4 miles of trails - most accessible to those with physical challenges and offering informative interpretive panels. A trail winds through the remains of the capital townsite, with locations of various businesses marked with signs, and a few foundation bricks and cisterns remain. A cross is erected at the park to commemorate the cross erected by La Salle, honoring the friendship of the French explorers and the Quapaw Indians. The site of the star-shaped Fort Hindman is marked with an interpretive panel overlooking an oxbow lake (and abandoned river channel) that encircles the park on three sides.

The long history of the site can be shown briefly in a time line:

1519 - Alonso Alvarez de Pineda was the first European to see the Mississippi River.

1541 - Hernando de Soto’s expedition crosses the Mississippi River and spends winter camped on Arkansas River.

May 15, 1674 - French explorers Jaques Marquette and Louis Joliet land their birch canoes near the Quapaw Indian village of Kappa on the Mississippi River. Before departing, Marquette erects a great cross as a symbol of friendship.

1670s - French explorer Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, dreams of a line of trading posts from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes.

1684 - La Salle’s second expedition to Arkansas Post sails by the mouth of the Mississippi, landing in what is now Texas, owned by Spain.

1686 - Henri de Tonti (with land grants from La Salle), establishes a trading post near the Quapaw Village of Osotouy on the Arkansas River. Beaver pelts, bear tallow and salted buffalo meat were in demand in New Orleans.

July 1687 - Survivors of La Salle’s failed expedition stumble on de Tonti’s post.“Looking over to the further side (of the river), we discovered a great cross … and a house, built after the French fashion,” recorded a survivor.

1689 - Trading post abandoned due to glut of beaver pelts and British competition.

1721 - Post reestablished as a French garrison, moving up river in 1749 due to flooding and Chickasaw raids.

1753 - French at war with England. Post moves to nine miles from the Mississippi to protect French river convoys.

1763 - France cedes territory to Spain after French and Indian War. Spain develops fur trade and an alliance with the Quapaw.

1779 - France moves fort back to site of first French settlement and renames the post Fort Carlos II.

1783 - James Colbert leads British loyalists and Chickasaw Indians to attack the fort of the Spanish, who had sided with the colonists. This is the last battle of the Revolutionary War and the only battle of this war fought on Arkansas soil.

1803 - The area is turned over to the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

1819 - The Arkansas Post is named as the capital of the new Arkansas Territory and a town is built. The Arkansas Gazette begins publishing.

1821 - Little Rock is named the capital of Arkansas, and most of the population of Arkansas Post moves away.

1824 - The United States forces the Quapaws to relocate.

1830s - Arkansas Post thrives as a major river port and a center of cotton production. The town declines by 1855.

May 1861 - Arkansas joins the Confederacy.

1862 - Confederate troops dig in at Fort Hindman (remains also on the site of the national park) as Union troops advance on Little Rock.

Jan. 10, 1863 - 30,000 Union gunboats attack Fort Hindman, which threatens Union supply lines. Confederates surrender the next day. The Post commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Arkansas Post last year.

Post-Civil War - The town never recovers from the damage of the war. Railroads take transportation of goods from the rivers.

1912 - The course of the Arkansas River changes, leaving the site of the posta half mile from the river. “Three hundred years of history was gone.”

1929 - Site becomes part of the Arkansas State Park system.

1960 - Arkansas Post National Memorial established with the signature of President Dwight Eisenhower.

Information from National Parks Service publications/The Arkansas Post Story

This is the second in a series of articles about traveling to historic sites in Arkansas.

Life, Pages 6 on 01/15/2014