In the fall of 1864, much of the Confederate infantry in Arkansas was ordered to move to Camden to protect the approaches to Texas during General Sterling Price’s transfer to the Missouri Campaign. In September 1864, Confederate troops in Arkansas under Major General J.B. Magruder faced the task of defending Camden against Union forces in the area. Magruder recognized the need for construction on the Little Missouri and Ouachita Rivers, with fortifications to be occupied by his Confederate forces and built by slaves from Texas. His forces were authorized to construct batteries and rifle pits along the west banks at Sandy Beach on the Ouachita River southeast of Camden. These close-range batteries were placed there to preserve and protect the Camden waterfront against Union threats from both north and south of Camden, with the primary objective of destroying all Union vessels moving up and down the Ouachita River. The guns in the water battery were positioned to fire broadside at vessels and other targets on the river. The ten batteries and rifle pits along the banks were completed in November 1864 but never fired a shot in combat. The remaining fortifications on the river survive as evidence of Confederate strategy in Arkansas during the waning days of the Civil War. The Camden Water Battery was never tested under combat conditions. Many Union troops were later transferred east of the Mississippi River for operations against Confederate troops in Alabama and elsewhere, and after the collapse of Confederate armies in the east, the major Confederate armies in the Trans-Mississippi laid down their arms in June 1865.