The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 17, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports. Page: 721
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ARKANSAS POST.
At 6.30 p. m. I ordered a return, and at 10 p. m. arrived at this place.
I have the honor of submitting the above report, and cannot pass
without expressing my admiration for the excellent discipline of the
Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteers, and particularly for the activity of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Rice, who is an excellent officer of great merit.
I have the honor to be, dear major, your obedient servant,
W. STEWART,
Colonel and Chief of Cavalry.
Maj. A. SCHWARTZ,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
No. 4.
Report of Brig. Gen. George W. Morgan, U. S. Army, commanding Thir-
teenth Army Corps.
HDQRS. THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS, U. S. FORCES,
Steamer Empress, January 17, 1863.
SIR: Post Arkansas is situated on a bluff 25 feet above the water, on
the left bank of the Arkansas and 50 miles from its mouth. Upon this
bluff was constructed a star fort, with four bastions, upon a square of
300 feet. The fort (since destroyed by order of Major-General McCler-
nand) was a little above the bend and oblique to the river, facing south-
west and northeast. On the southern face were two strongly-con-
structed casemated works, revetted with iron bars. Each casemate
contained one 9-inch gun, and both commanded the approach from down
the river. In the southwestern bastion was another 9-inch traverse
gun en barbette. Within the fort were ten other guns en barbette, and
during the action of the 11th instant seven of the thirteen guns were
entirely destroyed by the combined fire of the gunboats and four
20-pounders of Foster's battery, of Osterhaus' division, which opened
upon the fort at a range of 800 yards. Fragments of shell, both from
the gunboats and 20-pounders, were found in the casemates, and one of
the 9-inch guns bore upon its broken muzzle the impress of a 20-pounder
shot.
The field upon which the action of the 11th instant was fought is a
parallelogram, of about 1,000 yards square. The southern face rests
upon the river; the east or northeast is formed of the east face of the
fort and a broken line of rifle-pits, protected by hastily-constructed
wooden traverses, and running for 720 yards in a northwesterly direction
toward a small bayou, which, on the day of battle, was 12 feet wide and
18 inches deep, and across which were several easy fords. From the
extreme left of the enemy's line the field is bounded by this bayou,
which runs first westerly and then southerly to the river. Across the
bayou, beyond the extreme left of the enemy's line, is a forest of under-
growth, amid which is a slight elevation, which flanks the line occupied
'by the enemy. Had General Sherman succeeded in turning the en-
emy's left, as contemplated by General McClernand's original plan,
and a battery been planted upon that elevation, it would have enfiladed
the enemy's line of rifle-pits and driven him from his cover in twenty
minutes.
It is proper that I should speak of the first line of the enemy's defense.
About 1 miles below the fort is a levee, running from the river to the
bayou, and which presents a convex line to our advance. The levee
46 R R-VOL XVII721
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The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Additions and Corrections to Series 1, Volume 17. (Pamphlet)
Errata sheets for the Records of the War of the Rebellion include additions and corrections to the text and the index for Series 1, Volume 17.
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United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 17, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., book, 1886; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154626/m1/732/?q=%221862%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.