DeValls Bluff's excellent riverport and position at the head of the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad made it an important base for both Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War. Hoping to block Federal ships from moving up the White River, Major General Thomas C. Hindman fortified the site in June 1862 with two 8-inch guns, 1,000 infantrymen, and 250 cavalry. Union troops skirmished with Confederate horsemen near DeValls Bluff on July 6 but did not enter the town. After the battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863, a joint Army-Navy expedition went up the White River to attack Confederate positions, arrived at DeValls Bluff on January 16, captured the two 8-inch guns, 25 prisoners, dozens of new Enfield rifles, and other Confederate equipment, and burned the depot, several railroad cars, and two railroad bridges. On August 10, 1863, another Union flotilla approached DeValls Bluff and surprised 12 Confederates, who fled and left their equipment behind. Major General Frederick Steele's Union army occupied the town on August 23, and DeValls Bluff remained under Federal control for the rest of the war. Because of the concentration of Union troops there and on the adjacent prairie, Confederate cavalrymen continued to attack Union targets, including the railroad, well into 1864, while Union forces also conducted skirmishes, scouts, and expeditions from DeValls Bluff as they defended the base with strong works including three large redoubts.