Pine Bluff was a Civil War engagement fought in Arkansas, 1863. It was a Union victory.
At 8:00 am, October 25, Col. Powell Clayton sent a company of cavalry toward Princeton which ran into Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke's men advancing. After some fire, the Rebels, under a flag of truce, came forward demanding surrender. Lt. M.F. Clark answered that there would be no surrender. Clayton slowly retreated back into Pine Bluff. In the meantime, about 300 African-American soldiers rolled cotton bales out of the warehouses for barricades to protect court square. After failing to take the square by force, the Rebels attempted to burn out the Union forces but to no avail. The Confederate forces retired, leaving Pine Bluff to the Federals.
On October 25, 1863, Union and Confederate forces clashed at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in an engagement that would become known as the Battle of Pine Bluff. Colonel Powell Clayton led the U.S. garrison stationed at the Post of Pine Bluff, holding off assaults mounted by a Confederate cavalry division under Brigadier-General John S. Marmaduke. The struggle centered largely around the Jefferson County Courthouse, where Confederate soldiers attempted to start a fire but failed to destroy the building. Thanks to this Federal triumph, Pine Bluff remained under Union occupation for the remainder of the war.
When Little Rock fell into Federal hands on September 10, 1863, troops loyal to the Union spread out to hold a number of towns situated along the Arkansas. This state of affairs prompted Confederate Brigadier-General John S. Marmaduke, who led a division of cavalry, to probe the Federal position at Pine Bluff and gauge how well defended it was. On a Sunday, October 25, he launched his assault against the Post of Pine Bluff, a garrison under the command of Colonel Powell Clayton of the 5th Kansas Cavalry.
By eight in the morning, Marmaduke had brought some 2,000 Confederate horsemen up to Pine Bluff, closing in from three separate directions. Defending the town were 550 Union troopers and Missouri militiamen, joined by 300 freedmen, who piled cotton-bales around the court-house square to form makeshift walls and placed artillery so it could sweep the surrounding streets. Marmaduke's Division threw itself against this position more than once, and at one point tried setting fire to the county court-house itself. None of these efforts succeeded, and the Confederates eventually pulled back toward Princeton, Arkansas.
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