The Little Rock Campaign

The Little Rock Campaign. Reed's Bridge. , Looking northwest fifty yards to your left, the old military road crossed Bayou Meto over Reed's Bridge. Confederate troops fell back to this location from the August 25, 1863, Brownsville skirmish to establish a strong position to stop the Union advance on Little Rock. Early on the morning of August 27, Confederate skirmishers and sharpshooters engaged Union troops advancing from Brownsville along the military road until Confederate artillery opened fire on the Federals. Both sides claimed victory, with the Confederates retiring to Little Rock and the Federals to Brownsville., “...[The Yankees] pushed forward their columns impetuously until, coming upon the main body of our skirmishers, a roar of musketry sent death crippling through their ranks We continued to fall back until across the bayou... After the command was safely over, the bridge was tarred and fired. The dense cloud of smoke from the burning bridge, like sorrow's veil, hung between them and Bledsoe's battery, and when the head of their long lines had nearly reached the bridge, these noble old guns sent shell and shot, winged with fury, screaming and hissing up their lines." , -Lieutenant Colonel Frank B. Gordon , Missouri Cavalry, C.S.A., "The general commanding ... directed that the First Iowa Cavalry should charge and save the bridge, if possible. Lieutenant-Colonel [Daniel] Anderson, at the head of his regiment, led a gallant charge in the face of a terrible fire of artillery and small-arms...his command suffering considerably ... Our artillery was instantly ordered up [and] opened a tremendous fire, soon silencing the enemy's guns and driving them from their position." , -Colonel J. M. Glover , 3rd Missouri Cavalry, U.S.A. , Second Brigade Commander , Union Cavalry Division