More than three weeks of marching and fighting had depleted Steele's supplies, leaving his troops on half rations for more than two weeks and prompting widespread unauthorized foraging. Although the capture of a boatload of corn on the Ouachita River below Camden brought some relief, on April 17, 1864, Steele sent out a large foraging party of 198 wagons guarded by 875 infantry under Colonel James M. Williams to gather all the corn and foodstuffs west of Camden. Federal foragers ranged north and south of the Upper Washington Road, taking food, forage, and household possessions, and their wagons were filled to overflowing. As news of the raid spread, demands for revenge swept Confederate camps across southwest Arkansas. That night Confederate scouts found the wagon train encamped on White Oak Creek, 16 miles west of Camden. After Federal couriers informed Steele of the train's location, he sent reinforcements under Captain William M. Duncan, increasing the escort to 2,500 infantry, including the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Regiment, 90 cavalrymen, and a four-gun artillery battery. Early Confederate reports had underestimated the expedition, but later intelligence led General Marmaduke to urge General Price to concentrate troops to cut the Federals off from Camden. At sunrise on April 18, Marmaduke moved to the Upper Washington Road, where, as he positioned his men across the road at Poison Spring, reinforcements from Price arrived, including Maxey's division and Wood's 14th Missouri Battalion, and Marmaduke planned for Maxey's Division to attack the Federal right while the rest of the Confederates blocked the road to Camden.