Confederate forces under Gen. Sterling Price held strong earthworks on the western edge of Prairie D’Ane when Union troops under Gen. Frederick Steele approached on April 10, 1864, and dug their own trenches. After heavy fighting on April 10, the two sides shelled each other and skirmished, while many men rested or hunted to stretch tight rations. On April 12, Steele’s men advanced and found that the Confederates had fallen back toward Washington. Steele then abandoned his advance to Shreveport, La., and turned his hungry army toward Camden, which it reached on April 15.