On September 10, 1863, Maj. Gen. Fred Steele, Army of Arkansas commander,
sent Brig. Gen. John W. Davidson's cavalry division across the Arkansas River
to move on Little Rock, while he took other troops to attack Confederates
entrenched on the north side. In his thrust toward Little Rock, Davidson ran
into Confederate troops at Bayou Fourche. Aided by Union artillery fire from
the north side of the river, Davidson forced them out of their position and
sent them fleeing back to Little Rock, which fell to Union troops that
evening. Bayou Fourche sealed Little Rock's fate. The fall of Little Rock
further helped to contain the Confederate Trans-Mississippi theater, isolating
it from the rest of the South.