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Re: Little Rock Arsenal
In Response To: Re: Little Rock Arsenal ()

Mike

As usual, Bryan's articles are informative and is certainly well written.

However, there does not seem to be much information about why Captain James Totten and Company "F" of the 2nd US Artillery were needed to be sent to Little Rock in the first place. He was assigned to a frontier post at Levenworth, Kansas. There were as far as we can tell no US troops based anywhere else in Arkansas except Fort Smith, and that was for control of the Indian territories to the west. 1 out of every 8 US soldiers in November and December of 1860 were assigned to posts in Texas alone because of the frontier troubles.

Everyone, in the past, seems to assumed that his mission was the routine garrisoning of a federal installation. But that does not seem to be the case, since the Arsenal was not routinely garrisoned in the first place. The timing of this posting of Totten and his command also seems suspecious given the unrest of the Presidental elections of 1860 and throughout all the southern States including Arkansas over the election of Lincoln, who was not even on the ballot in Arkansas

I will agree that Totten and 65 men was not a large force to be stationed in Little Rock, But why were they sent in the first place? What was their mission here? Surely they could have been more useful somewhere else with the cronic shortage of manpower in the United States Army of the 1850's.

It is a historical fact that General of the Army Winfield Scott was a known political supporter, confidant and advisor in Abraham Lincoln's inner circle. So this make one wonder with no obvious mission for Totten and his command readily appearent, you have to ask what what his purpose for being in Little Rock? It wasn't the protection of the few arms in the arsenal, because just weeks before the quartermaster had sold at public auction a large quanity of those same arms as excess inventory.

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Correction!!!
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