After Arkansas seceded from the Union in May 1861, Confederate officers began recruiting in the Wittsburg area. Companies B, D, F and K of the 5th Arkansas Infantry Regiment were organized at Wittsburg on June 12-14, 1861, and the regiment was led by David Cross, for whom Cross County is named. During the Union campaign to capture Little Rock, Union cavalry stopped here for supplies and built a fortification on the high ground above town in July 1863, and a patrol of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry skirmished here on June 6, 1864. In 1865, 2,157 Confederates were paroled here.