THE BATTLE OF REED'S BRIDGE August 27, 1863

PRESENT DAY JACKSONVILLE, ARKANSAS

An excerpt from THE DIVISION:

"(0500 hours, Young’s Confederate pickets, Burris Branch)

The moon had set at three o’clock, leaving a sultry blackness in its wake. Pierced by vibrant stars, the ebony ether bled into the forest and drenched the pickets in musty dew. A host of gnats probed the nostrils and ears of men who stirred the cloud to no avail. Ere long, a cadence of hoof beats sounded as a rider emerged from the night and handed a note from Major Young to the senior officer containing the order of battle for the day: Elliott and Young’s Battalion were to deploy at the “bottleneck.” The main body of skirmishers would deploy in the rifle pits at the McCraw House while the pickets would hold their position until enemy contact or further notice. As the Northerners may not have found, or chosen, the Shallow Ford axis, it was important to remain focused – and flexible. Waving away the gnats, the Rebs regained their positions and settled into a torpid vigil.

(0515 hours, Gray Settlement)

Marmaduke rode in darkness at the head of his column, past the Bell house into the valley west of the McCraw home. The woods to his left thickened into a porcupine of saplings that sprang densely from the well-nourished soil. They grew sparser to his right where the lush flood plain led south to the banks of Bayou Meto. This spring-fed meadow is where Jeffers’ had bivouacked Marmaduke’s Brigade on the night of the 25th. The site was on the right just before the road dipped into a deeper trough. At the far side of the dell, a road met Military Road that ran a little over a mile northwest to the McIntosh home. In this area were four farmhouses located on either side of Military Road, including that of Sarah and Robert Marr, who ran the stage house at the Gray Settlement. Nearby sat the McBride farm, Ulysses and Martha Ball’s home and that of William and Mary Lanier. Beyond the intersection, the gradient rose sharply into the easternmost ridgeline, upon the crest of which sat the darkened McCraw house a few yards south of the sunken road. Pleasant and Rebbecka McCraw had built the homestead, but she now lived there alone, Pleasant having passed on in 1851. Frost and Tappan had evacuated most citizens of the Gray Settlement in the weeks before and now only the occupants of the family graveyard remained.

At the crown, Marmaduke wheeled right and ascended the path to the homestead. His staff followed close behind, their somber frames silhouetted against the starry sky. Here he made his forward command post. Porter’s escort company dismounted beneath the oak that presided over the tiny dwelling and sheltered their horses on the west side of the structure, where it was relatively safe from enemy fire.

The column tapered to a halt in the valley, awaiting orders to deploy. Most of Jeffers’ three hundred men had left their horses at the bridge. However, forty men, comprising Company “D” under Captain Moses Cox, Marmaduke detailed as skirmishers, retained theirs for the sake of mobility. Also mounted, as skirmishers, were the forty men of “A” Company, Thompson’s Regiment, under Captain T. H. Lea. Elliott’s and Young’s Battalions, each numbering about eighty-five mounted men, would join them. Bell’s “Li’l Teaser” Battery would provide artillery support for the flying defense. Porter’s Company of twenty-five would protect the command staff. All told, Marmaduke had about five hundred and fifty men under his direct command east of the bridge.

As orders arrived, the units began moving again. Jeffers’ Regiment, under Major James Parrott, filed over the apex and spread out left and right. The two hundred and sixty dismounted troops would occupy the central two thirds of the fifteen-hundred yard wide line of rifle pits. These were just a few yards east of and below the crest. Bell’s Battery took up a position near the McCraw house commanding the roadway.

The two hundred and fifty mounted skirmishers continued east to the far end of South Bend. Here Military Road bent southeast before continuing a little more than two miles to the Burris Branch, where the Rebel pickets lingered. Elliott’s men took to the left of the road with Lea left of them. Young deployed to the right with Cox on his open flank. The line of mounted troopers spanned eight hundred yards of sparsely wooded plain.

Little by little, the sky lightened. Pastel hues of twilight washed away the night. Dew fell, stars faded, and dawn pierced the firmament like a scarlet dagger – leaving a gaping wound that slowly bled across the sky."

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