Arkansas Post National Memorial

Arkansas Post National Memorial sits 13 km southeast of Gillett where the Arkansas River meets the Mississippi lowlands, commemorating four distinct turning points in American history compressed into a single quiet site. In 1686 Henri de Tonti established the first permanent European settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley here — a French trading post built on commerce with the Quapaw people. The post changed hands between France, Spain, and the United States over the following century; in 1783 Spanish troops successfully defended it during the American Revolutionary War. From 1819 to 1821 the town served as the first capital of the newly organized Arkansas Territory before Little Rock took over. In January 1863 Union forces captured the Confederate garrison in the Battle of Arkansas Post. Today the memorial offers walking trails through bottomland forest, a small visitor center with historical exhibits, and riverside picnic areas — an under-visited site of remarkable historical depth.