Bill

Just an educated guess given that the telegraph line would have been run the shortest distance possible, because of the need for maintainance that I spoke of before, I am almost sure that the wire would have run along the Fort Smith to Little Rock road on the south side of the Arkansas River. This would seem to be supported by the fact that Col Charles A Carrol was recieveing telegraphs at Clarksville from Hindman.

PS. Telegraph wire of the 1860's was waterproof. In was stretched copper wire coated with Gutta percha.

In fact they were laying a Trans-Atlantic telegraph cable to England in the late 1850's. The battery and telegraph wire is what was used by the Confederates to set off the Underwater Torpedos. So if you were thinking crossing the Arkansas River was a barrier that would not necessarily be a problem.