As Fall descended upon the Trans-Mississippi, Union General Samuel Curtis pursued his plans to invade northern Arkansas and capture the capitol of Little Rock.

The Confederate forces under General Thomas Hindman, having suffered the defeat at Elkhorn Tavern in March and the transferring of many regiments east of the Mississippi River to assist the Army of Tennessee, found themselves in a wheat-rich and mild climate in northwest Arkansas as they prepared for the upcoming winter.

Gen. Curtis ordered his subordinate Gen. Schofield, who’s Army of the Frontier was in position in and around Springfield, Missouri to drive out the remaining Confederates from southwest Missouri and invade into northwest Arkansas. Gen. Schofield chooses Gen. James Blunt to lead the probe into Arkansas while giving Gen. Frances J. Herron the directive to remain near Springfield in reserve.

Upon hearing of the Federal movement south, Gen. Hindman plans to mount an expedition into northwest Arkansas in the attempt to catch the Union Army while it is divided, destroy it, and clear the way for a Confederate invasion into Missouri.

As Hindman’s troops assembled near Ft. Smith, Arkansas, he sent Gen. John Marmaduke and his 2,000 cavalry troopers to harass Blunt’s federals and provide a screen for the main Confederate army. Marmaduke met Blunt’s force of 5,000 men and 30 artillery pieces and thus began a nine hour running battle known as the Battle of Cane Hill on 11/28/1862. Blunt succeeded in pushing back Marmaduke but also found himself 35 miles deeper into Arkansas than previously planned. With his force divided in a greater distance than expected from Gen Herron’s in Springfield, he telegraphs Herron to immediately come to his support.

As Gen. Hindman becomes aware of Herron’s movements, he decides to by-pass Blunt and take his command of 11,000 poorly equipped men north to interrupt Herron before he can reach reinforce Blunt. Meanwhile, Herron’s divisions had made such an amazing forced march that they encountered the leading elements of Marmaduke’s cavalry just south of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hindman, realizing that Herron’s divisions faced him to the north and Blunt’s Federals to the south, chose instead to take a defensive position atop a line of low hills near Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

The men of Mitchell’s Missouri Battalion (8th MO.) have taken possession of the heights and defiles, commanding the road through which the enemy must pass in order to approach the Missourians' camp and Hindman's army. The 20th Iowa Infantry Regiment from Colonel Daniel Huston's Federal division has been ordered to the front to clear the road of any rebels. The opposing units are only a few miles apart. Conflict is inevitable...