The Question of how cavalry fought in Arkansas can not be answered in a single way. There were several factors that determined the engagement.

1.) most cavalry engagements were those in which one side bumped into the other.

2.) the terrain determined most engagements. Arkansas was mostly woods and hard to move horses through. Some cavalry engagements were fought in towns like Pine Bluff in which horse cavalry would have been funnelled into killing zones.

3. weapons, most confederate cavalry were armed with poor weapons,(The famous sawed off shotgun)