Arkansas Post, National Memorial in Arkansas County, Arkansas, United States
Arkansas Post is a national memorial in Arkansas County where the Arkansas River once met the Mississippi. A palisade of weathered wooden posts with sharply cut tops stands along a concrete path, fronted by four angled metal reading panels; to the right sits a small wooden cannon carriage with dark metal wheels and barrel. The historic forts lie underwater in the river channel.
Henri de Tonti founded the settlement in 1686 as the first European outpost in the Mississippi Valley under French rule. During the Civil War, the location became a battlefield in 1863 when Union forces attacked Confederate defenders, leading to the abandonment of the fortifications.
The name derives from the Quapaw, called Arkansea by the Illinois and related tribes, a term the French adopted; settlers first called the post Aux Arcs, "at the home of the Arkansas." French traders bartered goods for beaver furs with the Quapaw, Caddo and Osage, and the first documented Christian services in Arkansas were held here. The Quapaw villages and later European settlements left archaeological deposits that experts rate as the site's richest resource.
Visitors can walk through the site on their own and read panels that explain the former town structure and battle events. The terrain is mostly flat and suitable for walking, with some areas closer to the water.
The wooden palisade and cannon carriage at the memorial are modern reconstructions; the actual remains of three historic forts lie submerged in the Arkansas River channel, displaced by erosion and by dams, canals and locks built on the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers.
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