I have never heard one way or the other whether the eastern leg of the LR & Memphis RR was completed or not. I was pretty sure that it at least wasn't operational, because had it been, it would have aided Curtis in northeast Arkansas greatly.

Curtis was certainly there long enough for any repairs to have been made to the rails had there been any rails there in the first place. And had there been a railroad there, there would have been no need for Curtis to try to get gunboats up the White River to resupply his army, or retreat to Helena to get those supplies.

Now the interesting thing here is that since the Confederate northern Mississippi River fleet had no Ironclads that I am aware of, because the fleet that engaged the Union fleet, at the Battle of Memphis in June 1862, were all timberclads or rams, the rails taken up from the LR & Memphis RR must have been dedicated to the new construction Ironclads being built at Memphis in late 1861, early '62, which would have been the CSS ARKANSAS and her sister ship, which was abandoned when Memphis was evacuated and the ARKANSAS was moved up the Yazoo River to be completed.

Does that sound about right?