The battle at Longview was not much of a battle. Federal forces had decoyed most of the Confederate Cav northward to a battle at Mt. Elba on the Saline River near present day Rison. Col Crawford was in command at that battle of a small brigade. However, quite a few men had been detailed to guard the wagons and supplies at Easling's Farm there at Longview Prairie. This was the real object of the Yankee raid. Destroy those supplies and wagons. ALmost all of those men were captured in the short battle there. Meanwhile, Crawford led his forces against the Union forces and Mt. Elba and eventually the Union forces counterattacked and the Confederates were forced into a rapid retreat. THis was in fact a larger screening by the Federals to keep the Conf Cav occupied while they began their major expedition out of Little Rock (The Red River or Camden Expedition. The only major force to oppose them would have been Crawford and Dockery as they left Little Rock headed south. The Missourians etc would not begin to be in place to attack this force until the area around the Little Missouri River. So there is a little more on the Longview episode. In a letter to his wife, Col Crawford requests her to send him some more clothes. After he described the battle at Mt. Elba, he mentions that all of his baggage was captured leaving him with only what he was wearing>