Near Leola in Dallas County, Arkansas — The American South (West South Central)
Skirmish at Guesses Creek
Photographed by Mark Hilton, August 2, 2018
1. Skirmish at Guesses Creek Marker (front)
Gen. Frederick Steele’s Union army left Camden on April 26, 1864, starting a retreat to Little Rock. Confederate pursuers caught up with them on April 29 on the Jenkins’ Ferry Road and began skirmishing. Union gunners of the 2nd Missouri Artillery held them back as Confederate Col. W.L. Jeffers deployed his troops. Harris’s Confederate Battery was sent to his support as soldiers of Burbridge’s Missouri regiment came up. Union troops of the 40th Iowa, 43rd Illinois and 27th Wisconsin supported the Missouri battery as it held off the Confederates.
As the artillery duel continued, shells from the Confederate guns damaged a nearby home, known locally as the Cannonball House, before the Union men withdrew to the Saline River bottoms in a driving rain, knowing that Confederate troops were in pursuit and battle was likely as they tried to cross the flooded Saline River at Jenkins’ Ferry the next day. The Cannonball House was one of several local buildings used as hospitals after the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry and casualties from the battle are believed to have been buried in the yard near the house.
Erected 2015 by Arkansas
this page online
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: War, US Civil • Waterways & Vessels. In addition, it is included in the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission series list. A significant historical date for this entry is April 26, 1864.
Location. 34° 8.598′ N, 92° 36.462′ W. Marker is near Leola, Arkansas, in Dallas County. It is on County Road 409 1.6 miles south of Cunningham Street, on the left when traveling south. Located on a rough dirt road, 1.6 miles south of where the paved Grant County 1 Road ends. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Leola AR 72084, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Arkansas’ Gulf Coastal Plain. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Piney Woods. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself
Photographed by Mark Hilton, August 2, 2018
2. Skirmish at Guesses Creek Marker (rear)
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Officers Killed / Union Wounded (approx. 3 miles away); Tulip (approx. 4.8 miles away); Old Tulip School House (approx. 4.8 miles away); Arkansas Military Institute / Tulip in the Civil War (approx. 4.8 miles away); Red River Campaign (approx. 5.8 miles away); Jenkins Ferry / Pontoon Bridge (approx. 5.8 miles away); General Samuel Rice / Confederate Cannons Captured (approx. 5.8 miles away); Battle of Jenkins' Ferry (approx. 5.9 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Leola.
Another marker is no longer nearby. Confederate Headquarters / Confederate Flank Attack (was approx. 2.8 miles away but has been confirmed missing).
Photographed by Mark Hilton, August 2, 2018
3. Skirmish at Guesses Creek Marker looking east.
Note the cannon motif on the gate. Site of the Confederate hospital south of Leola that served the Jenkins' Ferry wounded. Local people called it the Cannonball house because it was hit by a cannon shell before the soldiers got into the river bottoms and caught by the Confederates. It was located about 3 to 5 miles south of where most of the fighting occurred.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 24, 2024. It was originally submitted on August 5, 2018, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama. This page has been viewed 1,440 times since then and 74 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on August 5, 2018, by Mark Hilton of Montgomery, Alabama.
