Iowa 33rd Volunteer Infantry (Union)

Helena

Lt. Gen. Theophilus Holmes, Confederate commander in Arkansas, sought to relieve Union pressure on Vicksburg, Mississippi as the army of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant besieged that strategic city. Holmes won approval for a plan to assault the Union-held river town of Helena, Arkansas, 170 miles north of Vicksburg, with a combined force of about 7,600 men. About 4,000 Union soldiers were in Helena under the command of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss. Four artillery batteries defended the town, surrounded on the la…READ MORE

Jenkins' Ferry

At Jenkins Ferry on April 29 and 30, 1864, Union troops fought off an attack by the Confederates and, using an inflatable pontoon bridge, crossed the flooded Saline River and retreated to Little Rock. The land where this Civil War battle took place was settled by Thomas Jenkins, who started the ferry in 1815. It was run by his sons, William and John DeKalb, until the Civil War circa 1861.READ MORE