Sorry for the delay in answering during the holiday. I do not know what reasoning that Holmes may have been applying in his delay in responding to the Telegraph of the 9th of January. There does seem to be some uncertainty about what to do. Accounts from elements of Walkers command at Pine Bluff seem to indicate that Walker's division was first started towards Arkansas Post and then recalled, and then restarted towards Arkansas Post. This seemed strange to me IF Holmes were certain that in fact an attack was taking place.

However, I am not sure that this was what Holmes was thinging. He may have been thinking that it was a faint, or a ruse. The O.R.'s indicate that there were at least two other little known attempts to assualt Arkansas Post by overland expeditions from Helena in the months of October and November of 1862. Both expeditions turned back because of the difficulty in the terrain in getting to Arkansas Post from that direction. He may also have thought that it was just a harrassment raid as the Union Navy conducted along the Mississippi River with their (what we would call today) "reaction force" of Gunboats carrying troops to run off Confederate from the shores of the Mississippi and Arkansas. It was also a customary practise of these forces to land their troops to gather provisions and raid plantations.

So the first contact report may not have been fully reconized for what it was.