Battle of Helena

The Battle of Helena was a land battle of the American Civil War fought on 4 July 1863, at Helena, Arkansas. Overshadowed by the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the Battle of Helena secured eastern Arkansas for the Union.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss, in command of the District of Eastern Arkansas, was headquartered at Helena with approximately 20,000 troops. Brig. Gen.Frederick C. Salomon had been placed in charge of the forces manning the defenses of Helena, a Mississippi River port town at the terminus of Crowley's Ridge and was ringed by steep hills cut by heavily thicketed ravines. Four artillery batteries with breastworks and rifle pits were placed in a semi-circle around the town. In addition, the USS Tyler, a "timber-clad" gunboat was assigned to support Prentiss.

The Battle of Helena left 206 Union casualties and 1,636 Confederate casualties. No longer threatened, Helena became an important Union enclave on the Mississippi River and would become the base for the successful campaign to seize Little Rock, Arkansas later in the year.

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Pickett's Charge was a infantry assault ordered by Confederate General Robert E. Lee against Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Union positions on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, 1863, the last day of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War. Its futility was predicted by the charge's commander, Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, and it was arguably an avoidable mistake from which the Southern war effort never fully recovered psychologically. The farthest point reached by the attack has been nicknamed the high-water mark of the Confederacy.

After Confederate attacks on both Union flanks had failed the day and night before, Lee was determined to strike the Union center on the third day. On the night of July 2, General Meade correctly predicted at a council of war that Lee would try an attack on his lines in the center the following morning.

The infantry assault was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment that was meant to soften up the Union defense and silence its artillery, but it was largely ineffective. Approximately 12,500 men in nine infantry brigades advanced over open fields for three quarters of a mile under heavy Union artillery and rifle fire. Although some Confederates were able to breach the stone wall that shielded many of the Union defenders, they could not maintain their hold and were repulsed with over 50% casualties, ending the battle and Lee's campaign into Pennsylvania. When asked, years afterward, why his charge at Gettysburg failed, General Pickett said: "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."

Johnny Rebel or Johnny Reb was the slang term for any Confederate soldier, or the Confederate army as a whole, during the American Civil War. In the Southern United States today, the name is occasionally used for romanticized freedom fighters in lyrics and movies. Johnny Reb's Union counterpart is Billy Yank.

Johnny Reb has also been viewed as a personification of the Confederate States of America. As the country only existed for a few years, during the American Civil War of the 1860s, the image of Johnny Reb was not as formalized and stylized as that of Uncle Sam, another well-known national personification. As some people feel that the Confederate States of America was never recognized as a legitimate country, they dispute the characterization of Johnny Reb as a "national personification".

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