Doyle,

Sorry to be late in joining this topic. You make some interesting points.

Personally, I don't think the Confederates could have destroyed Steele's army without many more men. When they tried at Jenkins' Ferry, where he was definitely bottled up by the flooded Saline River, they got mauled.

I'm not sure he would have changed his plans much regardless of what happened at Marks' Mill. He didn't like the strategy of the Red River Campaign from the beginning and was already acting defensively by that point. I think he would have fallen back to Pine Bluff and Little Rock, with the emphasis being on the capital.

Just thoughts, but you are right, it is interesting to think about the "what ifs" sometimes.

Dale