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Approaching Helena from the northwest on the Old St. Francis Road, Marmaduke dismounted his Missouri cavalrymen three miles from the city. A mile farther on, he discovered “the road and country thoroughly obstructed, the enemy having rendered almost impassable that approach to the fort [Battery A] and town.” Trudging down the Upper Little Rock Road toward the other end of Helena, the infantrymen of Fagan’s all-Arkansas brigade ran into a massive roadblock a mile distant from Battery D. Fagan told his field and staff officers to get off their horses. He did not foresee that decision would hamper his ability to control his troops during the ensuing assault, and he pushed forward without either his artillery or ammunition train. The route General Price followed to Graveyard Hill was so rough that he ordered the fieldpieces belonging to the two batteries that accompanied his division to remain behind until the sun came up. Those guns were destined never to reach the front. Ever the optimist, Price issued rifle muskets to details selected from each battery, taking the artillerymen along to man the guns he expected to seize at Battery C. “Volunteers were called for from the members of our battery to go in with the infantry and serve any guns that might be captured,” remembered Sergeant William J. Bull of Captain Charles B. Tilden’s Missouri Battery. “I was one of thirty-two volunteers.”22

Inside Helena, reveille at 2:00 a.m., July 4, brought 4,000 grumbling Federals crawling from their tents. A tap of the drum called the blue infantry into line, and the men waited and wondered what the day would bring. Sometime after 3:00 a.m. the Yankees began hearing isolated shots ringing from their picket lines. As that distant popping drifted closer, it also swelled in frequency and volume until there could be no doubt that an all-out attack was under way. Fort Curtis thundered its warning shot at 3:30 a.m., drummers sounded the long roll, and the garrison’s units hastened to their battle stations. Helena’s defenders belonged to General Salomon’s Thirteenth Division from the XIII Army Corps, and he would make most of the important tactical decisions for the Union side that day. Colonel Samuel A. Rice commanded Salo-mon’s right wing and Colonel William E. McLean his left, while General Prentiss contented himself with shouting encouragement to the troops to do their duty.23

Retiring grudgingly, Union pickets bought their comrades an hour’s time to get into position. As the Rebel skirmishers gained ground, they came across the contraband villages clustered outside Helena. Confederate soldiers regarded runaway slaves as traitors to their masters and a threat to the Southern social order. In at least two shanty towns, advancing skirmishers turned their rifles on the blacks, killing and wounding unarmed men, women, and children. Lieutenant Albert G. Foster of the 28th Wisconsin, whose company was on outpost duty that morning, later testified: “The enemy fired on us as they came, but their attention was taken for a short time with a camp of negroes . . . just inside our picket line. How many of them were killed I never heard, but their screams were terrible and the shooting by the enemy at close range soon ended the scene.” A thick fog that clung to the battlefield until 8:00 a.m. helped to conceal these atrocities from the Federals. It also provided the Confederates with welcome cover as they crept within range of the enemy’s entrenchments. Despite the haze, Fagan’s Arkansans soon realized that Helena had not been evacuated. The fortifications looming above them were teeming with Yankees, and the boys in blue were spoiling for a fight. “When we . . . saw the true state of affairs,” Lieutenant Shibley reported, “men saw that the affair has been grossly misrepresented, their courage failed and no small part of our Regt and I expect of others also failed to go into battle to any extent.”24

 



Second Lieutenant Orlo H. Lyon commanded a section of the 3rd Iowa “Du-buque” Battery that supported Batteries C and D. Lyon repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to inspire his gunners; he escaped unscathed, but his horse suffered two wounds. Courtesy Roger Davis


Sergeant John S. Morgan, 33rd Iowa, fell in with the other sick men left behind in the 33rd’s camp to form an invalid company that marched to the sound of the guns after the Confederates began their attack. Morgan joined the defenders of Battery D. Courtesy Mark A. Warren.


Brigadier General A. Rice, the former attorney general of Iowa and an ambitious Republican politician, commanded the Union right wing at Helena.  His offensive defense blunted Confederate efforts to seize Battery A.  U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle.

 

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