Civil War in the West

Battles and conflicts on waterways in the trans-Mississippian Theatre led to the Union control of the Arkansas and White Rivers and in the long run the control of the Mississippi River by the Union. Naval battles in the trans-Mississippian theatre during the Civil War achieved victory in the West for the Union. Control of the Mississippi River stood crucial for both sides as it was the lifeline for materials and reinforcements for both the Confederate and Union armies. These confrontations, on and around trans-Mississippian waterways, by large forces and small guerrilla forces led to ships being ambushed and supply lines being cut. Steamers harassed along the Arkansas shores of the Mississippi River made it difficult to transport supplies south, and militia and guerrilla forces agitated ships on the Arkansas and White Rivers seizing cargo and supplies making it difficult to reach the Mississippi. In the American Civil War, names such as Vicksburg, Gettysburg, or Antietam come to mind. Battles fought on Arkansas water and west of the Mississippi River were just as intense and bloody as the ones fought east, just on a somewhat smaller scale. Naval battles along different bodies of water inside Arkansas borders can be considered as some of the most intense and important battles of the war in Arkansas. Out of these battles, the innovation of naval warfare was higher than it had ever been in the history of the United States. Tensions began to mount early in 1861, a rumor began to spread that Federal troops were on their way up the Arkansas River to reinforce the arsenal in Little Rock. The Governor of Arkansas Henry Massie Rector informed Captain James Totten and sixty-five federal soldiers who were garrisoned at the arsenal that if any destruction of arms or reinforcement of the arsenal would result in conflict. This would prove to the state that war was inevitable. On February 1, 1861, after another rumor surfaced that Federal reinforcements were being sent to