Arkansas Post

Overview

Arkansas's first town

In 1686 Henri de Tonti, working for the French crown, set up a trading post near the Quapaw village of Osotouy on the lower Arkansas River. Floods and war moved it several times over the next century, and the French, then the Spanish, then the Americans ran it. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas calls it the first permanent European colony in the Mississippi River Valley.

When Congress created Arkansas Territory in 1819, the post was its biggest town and became its capital. William Woodruff printed the first Arkansas Gazette there that November. The glory lasted two years. Settlers were moving north and west, and in 1821 the capital went to Little Rock, with the newspaper close behind. The post stayed a river town through the 1840s, but by the 1850s it was shrinking, and in 1855 the county seat moved to DeWitt.

The Civil War finished it. Confederates built Fort Hindman at the post in 1862, and in January 1863 Union troops and gunboats took it. The battle destroyed the fort and the last houses from the French and Spanish years. The ground became a state park in 1929 and a national memorial in 1960. Paths now trace the old streets across a mown field by the river.

Video

A cold-day walk along the old town's paths

Two visitors tour the visitor center, then walk the paved paths across the old town site on a sunny winter day with bare trees. They stop at the small markers for the trading factory, Montgomery's Tavern, Frederick Notrebe's house and cotton gin and the state bank, look at a grated well, and trace a line of the bank's foundation in the grass. They end at the Fort Hindman overlook, where a sign says the river's shifting course swallowed the fort and a shallow oxbow lake covers the site, and go looking for the Confederate rifle pits. The narration mostly reads the park's signs aloud. The video doesn't say when it was filmed. A town-site sign read in the video puts the population at the post's height, 1820 to 1821, at 1,000, and the narrator recalls reading 1,500 elsewhere; our written sources give no figure.

Play “The Vanished City: Visiting Arkansas Post National Memorial” from YouTube

Timeline

Trading post, capital, battlefield

1. 1686Henri de Tonti sets up a French trading post near the Quapaw village of Osotouy, about 35 miles up the Arkansas from the Mississippi.
2. 1749–1779After a Chickasaw attack the post moves upriver to Écores Rouges (Red Bluff) in 1749, to a third site in 1756, and back to Red Bluff in 1779. Floods drove several of the moves.
3. 1781 and 1783The Spanish build Fort Carlos III at Red Bluff. In 1783 Colbert's Raid, the only Revolutionary War fight in Arkansas, hits the post.
4. 1804–1810The post passes to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase. A U.S. trading factory operates there from 1805 to 1810.
5. 1813Arkansas Post becomes the seat of Arkansas County.
6. 1819The post becomes the first capital of Arkansas Territory. William Woodruff prints the first Arkansas Gazette there on November 20.
7. 1821The capital moves to Little Rock, and the Gazette follows that November. The post starts to lose its importance.
8. Dec 27, 1831The community's U.S. post office is established, by Wikipedia's date.
9. 1850sThe town declines and its population shrinks. In July 1855 the county records are ordered moved to DeWitt, the new county seat.
10. Fall 1862Confederates build Fort Hindman at the post.
11. Jan 9–11, 1863Union troops under Gen. John McClernand, with ironclad gunboats, take Fort Hindman, and about 5,000 Confederates surrender. The fort and the last French- and Spanish-era houses are destroyed.
12. Feb 27, 1929The site becomes a state park, starting with 21 acres donated by Fred Quandt.
13. July 6, 1960President Eisenhower signs the bill creating Arkansas Post National Memorial.
14. 1964The National Park Service partially reconstructs colonial remains, including Fort Carlos III.
15. Oct 15, 1966The memorial is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
16. Nov 14, 1997The Osotouy Unit, with the Menard-Hodges archaeological site, is added to the memorial. It is not open to the public.
17. 2026The memorial is open daily, free, with the visitor center open Thursday to Monday, by the Park Service's listings read October 29, 2026.

Civil War

Fort Hindman

Confederate troops built Fort Hindman at the post in the fall of 1862. In January 1863 a Union force under Gen. John McClernand came up the Arkansas with ironclad gunboats. After heavy fire from the boats the fort surrendered on January 11.

Sources give different numbers. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas cites about 5,000 Confederates against 32,000 Union infantry and 1,000 cavalry. Wikipedia gives about 33,000 attackers and roughly 5,500 defenders. The county entry in the Encyclopedia says about 5,000 Confederates surrendered.

The fort itself is gone. A park sign at the Fort Hindman overlook, read aloud in the video on this page (posted July 2026), says the Arkansas River's shifting course swallowed it and a shallow oxbow lake now covers the site. Wikipedia says parts of the Confederate road, trenches and artillery positions from 1863 can still be seen in the memorial.

What's left

Walking the old streets

No original buildings survive. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the old streets and the footprints of several buildings are marked on the ground, and the Park Service describes more than three miles of paved and unpaved trails through the historic town site and a hardwood forest. Wikipedia adds that the well and cistern from the early 1800s are intact. Erosion took the old waterfront.

The visitor center has museum exhibits and a 20-minute film, "Arkansas Post: Echoes of the Past," shown on request with the last showing at 4:30 p.m. Fishing is allowed in the waters in and around the park with an Arkansas license for anyone 16 or older. The Osotouy Unit, which holds the Quapaw village site, is closed to the public.

Photos taken in August 2022 show the entrance sign on AR 169 with a notice that the memorial closes at dusk, lily-covered water around the peninsula, a log palisade and cannon by the water near the visitor center, and a field gun on a wooded trail.

• Marked street lines and building footprints
• Well and cistern from the early 1800s
• 1863 Confederate road, trenches and gun positions
• Partial reconstruction of Fort Carlos III (1964)
• Visitor center and museum

The 1935 Gillett sheet in the historic maps below shows a cluster of buildings labeled Arkansas Post above Post Bend, with the Arkansas Post and Halliburton schools to the north and the old meander line of the river to the south. The 1986 De Witt sheet marks Arkansas Post National Memorial and the Trusten Holder State Wildlife Management Area across the water.

Historic maps

Arkansas Post on USGS maps, 1935–1986

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19351:62,50019861:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Dumas is the closest town with full services. Both routes end at the visitor center on Old Post Road. The Park Service gives the same approach: the entrance is on AR 169, seven miles south of Gillett off US 165, and about 20 miles northeast of Dumas. The routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Arkansas Post in photos

The old town site: a path across the mown field, May 2014Paths across the old town site, May 2014The Main Street footbridge, on the east side of the peninsula, April 2022Footbridge on the west side of the peninsula, April 2022Split-rail fence along the trail, April 2022A field gun beside a wooded trail, August 2022Lily pads on the water around the peninsula under a storm sky, August 2022Log palisade, cannon and panels by the water near the visitor center, August 2022The water off the peninsula, covered in lily pads, August 2022Entrance sign on AR 169 with the notice "Memorial closes at dusk," August 2022The National Park Service sign at the memorial, July 2022Park Service aerial view of the memorial's peninsula; the date isn't given"Bombardment and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, Ark. Jany. 11th 1863," a Currier & Ives printGeneral Stephen G. Burbridge planting the flag on Fort Hindman, January 11, 1863, from a sketch by W. R. McComas

Visitor reports

Been to Arkansas Post?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Arkansas Post

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Arkansas index.

• Napoleon20.5 mi SE · Desha
• Eunice33.1 mi S · Chicot
• Palestine70.4 mi N · St. Francis
• Slonikers Mill72.7 mi N · St. Francis
• Old Austin75.7 mi NW · Lonoke
• Bolding82.1 mi SW · Union
• Crossroads94.9 mi NW · Pulaski
• Ledwidge95.2 mi NW · Perry

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Arkansas Post", retrieved October 2026: de Tonti and Osotouy, the moves of 1749, 1756 and 1779, Fort Carlos III, the 1813 county seat, the territorial capital, the 1850s decline, the 1863 battle and the force sizes, the 1929 state park, 1960 memorial and 1966 National Register dates, the 1964 reconstruction, the well, cistern and trenches, the lost waterfront, coordinates (GNIS).
2. Wikipedia, "Arkansas Post, Arkansas", retrieved October 2026: the post office established December 27, 1831.
3. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Arkansas Post", read October 2026: the 1805–1810 trading factory, the capital and its move in 1821, Fort Hindman and the force sizes, the houses destroyed in 1863.
4. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Arkansas Post National Memorial" by David Sesser, updated August 26, 2026: Colbert's Raid, the 1929 state park and Quandt's 21 acres, the July 6, 1960 signing, the Osotouy Unit, unit acreages, the marked streets and footprints, paved trails.
5. Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Arkansas County", updated October 21, 2026: the first Gazette on November 20, 1819, the move of records to DeWitt in July 1855, McClernand and the 5,000 who surrendered.
6. National Park Service, Arkansas Post, "Operating Hours & Seasons", with the hours as published in the Park Service's park data (developer.nps.gov), read October 29, 2026: grounds 7 a.m. to sunset daily, visitor center Thursday to Monday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., holiday closures for 2026–27; directions from Dumas and DeWitt.
7. National Park Service, Arkansas Post, "Fees & Passes", updated May 6, 2026: free, no entrance pass required.
8. National Park Service, Arkansas Post, "Things To Do", updated September 8, 2023: the film and its last showing, more than three miles of trails through the historic town site, fishing rules.
9. National Park Service, Arkansas Post, "Basic Information", updated May 6, 2026: address and phone.
10. Photos on Wikimedia Commons, dated by their camera metadata: Brandonrush, May 14, 2014; Phil Slattery, April 28, 2022; SlapTheWorld, August 20, 2022 (including the entrance sign's closing notice); Riis2602, July 20, 2022. Period prints: Harper's Weekly, February 7, 1863; Currier & Ives; W. R. McComas's 1863 sketch.
11. Mater and Tater Adventures, "The Vanished City: Visiting Arkansas Post National Memorial", YouTube, posted July 14, 2026: the town-site paths and markers, the bank foundation line, the well, the Fort Hindman overlook and its sign on the oxbow lake (the video on this page).
12. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• The old town site: a path across the mown field, May 2014: Brandonrush, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Paths across the old town site, May 2014: Brandonrush, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• The Main Street footbridge, on the east side of the peninsula, April 2022: Phil Slattery, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Footbridge on the west side of the peninsula, April 2022: Phil Slattery, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Split-rail fence along the trail, April 2022: Phil Slattery, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• A field gun beside a wooded trail, August 2022: SlapTheWorld, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• Lily pads on the water around the peninsula under a storm sky, August 2022: SlapTheWorld, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• Log palisade, cannon and panels by the water near the visitor center, August 2022: SlapTheWorld, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• The water off the peninsula, covered in lily pads, August 2022: SlapTheWorld, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• Entrance sign on AR 169 with the notice "Memorial closes at dusk," August 2022: SlapTheWorld, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
• The National Park Service sign at the memorial, July 2022: Riis2602, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Park Service aerial view of the memorial's peninsula; the date isn't given: National Park Service Digital Image Archives, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• "Bombardment and capture of Fort Hindman, Arkansas Post, Ark. Jany. 11th 1863," a Currier & Ives print: Currier & Ives., Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• General Stephen G. Burbridge planting the flag on Fort Hindman, January 11, 1863, from a sketch by W. R. McComas: W. R. McComas, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Union gunboats bombarding the fort, as Harper's Weekly pictured it on February 7, 1863: Harper's Weekly, February 7, 1863, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Gillett 1935, 1:62,500; De Witt 1986, 1:100,000.