Hopefield Point, Arkansas/Chicken Island/Redman Point

Hopefield Point, Arkansas/Chicken Island/Redman Point. Mississippi River Walk. , A) Hopefield Point, Arkansas , Mile 736.8 AHP, The Spanish established "El Campo de Esperanza", Camp of Hope, on this site in 1795, during their last attempt to establish control over the lower river. Benjamin Foy, a Dutch trader under the Spanish regime, stayed to settle the site. A community grew up around his home and store, and the old Spanish name was translated to Hopefield. Foy's years as trader had given him an unequalled knowledge of the region, and the government frequently consulted him on the affairs of the rapidly growing area. Foy's settlement was widely known as one of the most interesting spots on the river. Distinguished visitors, including many from abroad, stopped there to enjoy the hospitality and cultured atmosphere. Hopefield flourished as a river port, and in 1857 it became the eastern terminal of the Memphis and Little Rock railroad. The town was burned to the ground during the Civil War, and the river later washed away its remains. The area is now part of the Arkansas floodplain. , B) Chicken Island , Mile 740.0 AHP, Chicken Island is the only survivor of what the early French explorers called the "Thousand Islands" Americans renamed them "Paddy's Hen and Chickens" for the well-known Memphis gambler and saloon-keeper Paddy Meagher, whose Bell Tavern was a favorite haunt for flatboatmen., C) Redman Point , Mile 742.0 AHP, The worst single marine disaster in U.S. history occurred off Redman Point in 1865. The Civil War had just ended, and thousands of Union soldiers freed from Confederate prisons were being sent home. The steamer Sultana was headed upriver with 2,000 ex-prisoners on board. The boat was so overloaded that the soldiers were forced to stand packed tightly together on the deck. After leaving Memphis, the Sultana's boilers exploded and the boat caught fire near Redman Point. The soldiers, weakened by long imprisonment and the overcrowded conditions on board, had little strength to battle the frigid river current, and over 1,500 died. The Sultana's burning hull drifted downstream and ran aground just above Chicken Island, where the Mississippi gradually buried the wreckage under silt and sand.