On Sunday, December 28, 1862, Van Buren changed abruptly from an ordinary winter Sunday to a town caught up in war as Colonel Crump and his Texas 1st Partisan Rangers raced down Main Street toward the Arkansas River with Union cavalry under General Blunt and howitzers close behind. From Mount Vista, Blunt had surveyed the town and seen stern wheelers, side paddle boats, and a ferry preparing to head downriver, and he moved quickly to stop them. Townspeople, coming from church and heading home or downtown, watched in disbelief as Union troops whooped through the streets. The Federals had expected to find at least half of Hindman's forces there but instead found fewer than 2,000 men, including many who were worn out, sick, wounded, unarmed, poorly fed, short of shoes and blankets, unpaid, and only about two weeks removed from the Battle at Prairie Grove, while others fled to hide. On Monday, December 29, 1862, Blunt staged a parade to celebrate the arrival of the rest of his army and display its strength, as the whole force entered with banners and music and Blunt and Herron received each regiment's salute from the courthouse steps. Civilians and paroled Confederates watched, and Black residents responded with particular enthusiasm as they glimpsed a different future. While infantrymen rested, bathed in the river, and enjoyed the town, cavalry detachments searched Van Buren and the surrounding countryside for food, horses, cattle, and other military resources. That afternoon Blunt, Herron, Huston, and several officers crossed the Arkansas River by ferry so Blunt could confirm that Hindman had departed, and, satisfied that he had driven the Confederate army out of northwest Arkansas, he ordered the Army of the Frontier back to its camps over the Boston Mountains. On Tuesday, December 30, 1862, Blunt led the last cavalry regiments out of Van Buren, and their departure drew Crawford County's enslaved men, women, and children, carrying all their possessions, into the roads in great numbers. Hundreds more waited along Telegraph Road north of town, then joined the column and followed the soldiers across the Boston Mountains. Eight months later, Blunt returned to the Arkansas Valley, and Federal forces occupied Fort Smith until the war's end.