1864 Camden Expedition Battlefield
Highway 8 at Highway 97, New Edinburg, AR
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Day-use battleground park. Free admission to interpretive exhibits and the picnic area.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Open battlefield park with paved walkways at the interpretive area and grass trails through the preserved acreage
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1864 · Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark · American Civil War Battlefield · Trans-Mississippi Theater · Action at Marks' Mills
The mill complex that gave the battlefield its name was established by John H. Marks, who in 1834 built a sawmill and flour mill at the site. The mills remained in operation through the Civil War, when their location at a road junction in then-Bradley County made them a recognizable landmark to both Union and Confederate troops moving through south Arkansas.
The Action at Marks' Mills, fought on April 25, 1864, was a key engagement of the Camden Expedition, the Trans-Mississippi component of the larger Red River Campaign. Major General Frederick Steele had advanced from Little Rock to Camden and depended on supply trains from Pine Bluff to sustain his command. On April 25, a wagon train of approximately 240 wagons under Lieutenant Colonel Francis M. Drake of the 36th Iowa, escorted by an infantry brigade, 500 cavalry, and a section of light artillery, was ambushed by Confederate Brigadier General James F. Fagan's cavalry division. The Union force was overwhelmed; reported losses included approximately 1,500 killed, wounded, or captured against 293 Confederate casualties. Among the most-cited details of the engagement is the documented killing of African American teamsters and soldiers serving with the Union force as they attempted to surrender.
The loss of the supply train, combined with rumors of approaching Confederate reinforcements, prompted Steele to abandon Camden and withdraw to Little Rock by May 3. The Camden Expedition ended without achieving its strategic objectives. In 1961 the Arkansas General Assembly established Marks' Mills Battleground State Park to preserve a portion of the battlefield. The park is one of three sites that together form the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark and is administered by Arkansas State Parks.
Sources
Marks' Mills falls into a familiar category of Civil War paranormal lore. The combination of a sudden, lopsided engagement, mass burials in the immediate vicinity, and a sparsely populated rural setting produces the conditions under which battlefield ghost stories tend to take hold. Local accounts compiled by regional ghost-story sources describe figures in period uniform seen at dusk along the wood lines of the preserved tract and isolated reports of distant voices or footsteps where no living source is present.
These accounts have not been systematically investigated, and the state park's interpretive programming concentrates on the documented military and political history of the Camden Expedition rather than on the paranormal record. Visitors who walk the battlefield often describe the atmosphere as somber, particularly along the corridor where the wagon train was caught between Confederate forces. The site's distance from major population centers, the closed canopy of the surrounding pine and hardwood forest, and the relative quiet of the access roads contribute to that quality.
Walk the preserved fragment of the battlefield at the intersection of Arkansas Highways 8 and 97. Interpretive panels cover the April 25, 1864 ambush of the Union supply train under Lieutenant Colonel Francis M. Drake by Confederate Brigadier General James F. Fagan, including the documented killings of African American Union soldiers attempting to surrender.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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