Doyle,

The site of present day Douglas, Auburn Township, Lincoln County, was part of Arkansas County during the war. According to the “History of Lincoln County Arkansas,” the Douglass family had settled the Auburn Township area in 1824. That same history holds an 1852 reference to “Douglass Plantation,” which was located on the river. There is an old riverbed at present day Douglas, and I wonder if this was the Douglass Plantation mentioned in the Lincoln County history source, as well as the one that played host to the expedition from Pine Bluff in 1865. If so, that plantation might have been the beginning of the present village of Douglas, and possibly the namesake of Fort Douglas.

Was the lower Pine Bluff to Arkansas Post Road north or south of the river?

Bob

Sources:

History of Lincoln County, Arkansas, 1871-1983, published by the Lincoln County Historical Committee, 1983. Page 103. “Douglass and Lees
Douglass, Arkansas – It’s Beginning, and Some Douglasses and Lees Who Lived There.”

The War of the Rebellion: Series 1 - Volume 48, Part I, page 121, Expedition to Douglas Plantation