Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 9.djvu/406

 N the 18th of March, 1863, General Holmes was relieved of the command of the Trans-Mississippi department, and Lieut.-Gen. E. Kirby Smith assumed control. At the same time General Holmes was assigned to the district of Arkansas, including Indian Territory and the State of Missouri. General Smith's headquarters were at Shreveport and General Holmes' at Little Rock. On the 1st of April General Price, having reached the Trans-Mississippi department, was assigned to the command of the infantry division commanded by General Frost, and Frost was given a brigade. The only force in north Arkansas at that time, except some unattached* companies in the northwest, was Marmaduke's division of cavalry, which was camped in and around Batesville. All the infantry had been withdrawn to Little Rock and other points of the Arkansas river. Marmaduke's division consisted of Shelby's brigade and Porter's brigade. The latter had been reorganized and was known as Greene's brigade. Early in the spring Marmaduke went to Little Rock and got permission of General Holmes to make an expedition in southeast Missouri, for the purpose of recruiting and interfering with any preparations the Federals might be making to invade Arkansas and disturb the repose of the