Col. John M. Harrell, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 10.2, Arkansas
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

[120] been created out of the country west of the Mississippi, and that General Magruder is coming to assume command. . . I have now in camp at this place [Little Rock] and Pine Bluff, about 18,000 effective men, well armed. I have in camps of instruction between 6,000 and 8,000 men, either wholly unarmed or else armed with guns that are of little value. . . I have six batteries containing 40 brass pieces, and one battery of iron guns. . . . I have on the other side of and along White river a force of about 3,100 cavalry; near Brownsville I have 500; at and near this place, 500; south of this place and along Arkansas river, and between that and Ouachita, about 2,000. . . When I advance at all, it will be with the intention of making Arkansas river secure, and then pushing forward into Missouri. My present armed force is sufficient for the latter purpose, if the other object can be attained, which it will be if Curtis [at Helena] is crushed and destroyed.

Meanwhile, General Holmes had reached Vicksburg, where he issued a general order, July 30th, assuming command of the department of the Trans-Mississippi. On August 12th, his second general order fixed his headquarters at Little Rock, where he had arrived, and continued General Hindman in command of the troops in the neighborhood of Little Rock and on the Arkansas river. On the 20th, the new department commander divided his territory into districts, assigning Hindman to the district of Arkansas, including Arkansas, Missouri, and the Indian country west.

On July 13th, General Bragg had relieved Gen. Monroe Parsons and the men under him, at Tupelo, Miss., from further service east of the Mississippi, and ordered them to report to General Hindman. General Price was transferred later, also Generals Churchill, Tappan, Cabell, McRae and Dockery, some of whose promotions were not yet confirmed by the President, but were eventually approved. Cols. Chas. W. Adams and J. S. Marmaduke were likewise transferred. Organization went on rapidly; supplies of clothing, money and munitions were received from the East, and the spirits of the people of Arkansas