After the Confederate defeat at Helena, Arkansas, and the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1863, U.S. leaders decided to capture Little Rock, placing another Confederate state capital under Union control. Brig. Gen. John Wayne Davidson led 6,000 Union cavalrymen down Crowley's Ridge while Maj. Gen. Fredrick Steele marched across eastern Arkansas from Helena with 6,000 infantrymen. The two columns united at Clarendon on the White River, then the horsemen headed toward Little Rock while the infantry established a base at DeValls Bluff. Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Confederate infantry fortified the high ground on the north side of the Arkansas River across from Little Rock while his cavalry under generals Lucius Marsh and John Sappington Marmaduke fought the advancing Union forces. The Confederates were driven back from Brownsville on August 25, 18863, but successfully held the line at Bauou Meto two days later. Steele considered his options carefully, then ordered his cavalry across the Arkansas River east of Little Rock on the morning of September 10, 1863. As Confederate cavalry fought a desperate delaying action along Bayou Fourche, Price left his works north of the Arkansas to prevent his men from being isolated and captured. The Confederates retreated to southwest Arkansas, and Steele's army took control of Little Rock. Losses in the campaign were low, with the Union reporting 18 dead, 118 wounded, and 1 missing and incomplete Confederate reports showing 12 killed, 34 wounded, and 18 captured or missing. It did, however, return a fourth Confederate state capital to Union control and, with the simultaneous capture of Fort Smith to the west, established Union control of the Arkansas River Valley.