Guerrilla War on the Little Red

In July 1864 the war along the Little Red was fought by men who did not wear their own uniforms. A Union party sent from DeValls Bluff to find Shelby's cavalry wrecked milling machinery at West Point and Searcy. Its advance scouts stopped at a house without posting pickets, and about sixty guerrillas under Howell "Doc" Rayburn, in Federal blue, came close enough that the scouts were ordered not to fire. Rayburn's men fired first. One Union soldier was killed and eighteen men were captured. The column returned with twelve Black recruits for the U.S. Colored Troops.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Greers Ferry Dam and Lake — 25 mi
  The Corps of Engineers dam on the Little Red River that President Kennedy dedicated on October 3, 1963, with a visitor center, a trout hatchery below the dam and a lake of 340 miles of shoreline.

More markers nearby

• Searcy Landing in the Civil War — steps away
• Action at Whitney's Lane — 1.7 mi
• White County Court House — 2.4 mi
• Naval Combat at West Point — 6.1 mi