After the Battle of Prairie Grove, Brigadier General James G. Blunt and Brigadier General Francis J. Herron planned an expedition against Van Buren and Fort Smith to disrupt the Confederate logistical base there and prevent another campaign into northwest Arkansas or southwestern Missouri. On the morning of December 27, 1862, they set out with about 8,000 men and thirty cannons on a rapid march across the Boston Mountains, expecting to find a substantial portion of the Confederate army on the north side of the Arkansas River. Major General Thomas C. Hindman, however, was already moving east with Brigadier General Daniel M. Frost's Missouri Division, his force reduced to about 2,000 soldiers and suffering from severe shortages of food, blankets, shoes, and other supplies. After Union troops under Blunt surprised Lieutenant Colonel William W. Crump's Texans at Dripping Springs early on December 28, breaking their line and scattering them toward Van Buren, Hindman chose to hold the river's edge long enough to save as many guns, supplies, foodstuffs, and equipment as possible before retreating toward Lewisburg. As Union forces entered Van Buren, Confederate authorities at Fort Smith loaded available wagons with supplies, burned warehouses and foodstuffs, destroyed the transports Eva and Arkansas, and left many sick and wounded soldiers behind in the post hospital. By the waterfront at Van Buren, Herron seized the steamboat Violet and the ferry, while Blunt and Colonel William F. Cloud moved downstream against the sternwheelers Frederick Notrebe, Key West, and Rose Douglas; under fire and hampered by low water and heavy cargoes, the boats surrendered and were brought back to the wharf, where their supplies were unloaded for Union troops and then burned on Blunt's orders. Later that afternoon, Lieutenant Marcus D. Tenney's 1st Kansas Battery shelled Confederate artillery on the south side of the Arkansas River from Mount Vista, and Colonel Robert G. Shaver's Arkansas infantry responded with artillery fire from the south bank that damaged buildings in Van Buren more than it hindered the Union force.