On Aug. 14, 1863, the U.S. gunboat Cricket steamed up the Little Red River hunting the Confederate steamboats Kaskaskia and Tom Sugg, captured them at Searcy Landing, and destroyed a pontoon bridge. As the flotilla moved downriver, 500 Confederate cavalrymen led by Col. G.W. Thompson attacked. The Kaskaskia's pilot was wounded, Confederate troops tried to board her but were repelled, and the Cricket fired its cannons at the attackers, with some rounds striking West Point and damaging several houses as the vessels struggled downstream. The Confederates pursued and attacked again about four miles below West Point without success. Farther downstream, the Cricket met the U.S.S. Lexington, and when the Confederates attacked once more as the fleet steamed down the Little Red, the Lexington opened fire with its 8-inch guns and Thompson called off the attack. The Confederates suffered 8 casualties, including Maj. L.A. Gilkey, who was mortally wounded, while Union forces lost 2 men killed and 6 wounded in the only naval engagement of the 1863 Little Rock Campaign.