DeValls Bluff: A Key Union Base

On August 23, 1863, DeValls Bluff began its role as a major Union base of operations when Major General Frederick Steele chose it as the starting point for his line of operations, moved the depot and hospital there, and selected a high bluff on the river that could be defended by two gunboats and rear intrenchments. Steele’s men soon built fortifications, a hospital, and a supply depot to support the Union army’s drive to capture Little Rock. After Union troops occupied the Arkansas capital, DeValls Bluff became a crucial supply center, as army regulations called for twenty tons of rations each day and one hundred twenty tons of fodder daily for twenty-four thousand horses and mules. Supplies came most effectively by the White River, were stored in warehouses built at DeValls Bluff, and then went by railroad to Little Rock. Dozens of storehouses, hospitals, and other government buildings were constructed, some with lumber taken from buildings in Des Arc. As the war progressed, thousands of Union soldiers were stationed there to protect the supplies and the railroad and to conduct operations against Confederate troops and guerrillas in the surrounding area. Civilians also opened businesses to serve the garrison, including a photography studio opened by R.H. White in 1863 before he opened one in Little Rock in 1864.

De Valls Bluff, Arkansas · United States