Fight at the Levee

During the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863, constant fire from Union cavalry and artillery near the levee helped stall the Confederate advance on Battery A. Union Colonel Powell Clayton's 5th Kansas and 1st Indiana cavalry, aided by the 3rd Iowa Battery and two small guns manned by the Indiana cavalry, harassed Confederate General John S. Marmaduke's left flank all morning. Marmaduke finally ordered General L. Marshall Walker to clear the Federals from the levee. Walker sent several hundred men of the 5th Arkansas Cavalry, Dobbins' Arkansas Cavalry, and a four-gun battery of artillery into action against the Union line. The Confederates forced their way across the Union obstructions and deployed on the floodplain, but Clayton's forces proved very stubborn foes. Walker reported that he had hard fighting on his left flank and, when his right became exposed, he began to disengage and retired. The Confederates failed, and Walker retreated with the rest of Marmaduke's Division.

Helena-West Helena, Arkansas · United States