We don't often discuss things on this board, but I was sort of wondering was the Confederate Victory at Mark's Mill, April '64, a mistake? Would the Confederates have been better off not to have fought that engagement at the time they did?

There are several points as to why I ask these questions.

1). Steele and the Union VII Corp was in dire straits due to the lack of ration.

2). Banks had been defeated in Louisiana and was retreating, Thus allowing Confederate Infantry reinforcements to come north to engage Steele.

3). The Wagon Train was returning to Pine Bluff to pick up more supplies. It was supposed to return and would have had to return by the same route bringing back those supplies.

4). Given the strenght of the Union Garrison at Pine Bluff there would probably have not been additional escort for the train assigned for the return trip.

5). On the return trip the Confederates would not have had to capture the train at all. The Confederates could have simply bottled it up at the Saline River crossing at Mt Elba to insured that those supplies did not reach Camden. Even if some or all of the train did manage to get through to Camden how long would those rations have lasted? Two weeks? All the time the Confederates would have been improving their positions.

6). Without those supplies and with the Confederate Infantry then in place how long could Steele have held out? I know eat the horses. Could Steele have been relieved in time?

7). In fact it was the destruction of that train at Mark's Mill on its outbound trip which triggered Steele into ordering his retreat from Camden. Which the Confederates finally caught up with at Jenkin's Ferry.

Had the Confederate Infantry been given an additional 48 or 72 hours to get in place at Camden, while Steele waited on the return of that supply train, would Steele have been caught in Camden, surrounded, without supplies, in bad weather and with rivers swollen and the Moro Creek and Saline river bottoms flooded?

If Steele could have broke out of Camden, what would his line of retreat have been?

So in other words did the defeat at the Battle of Mark's Mill save Steele's Army? I think the answer is Yes. So should Cabell and Fagan have let the wagon train pass on April 25th?