# data[].attributes.body
September 1, 1863

# data[].attributes.body
Devil's Backbone is a ridge in the Ouachita Mountains approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Greenwood, Arkansas. In Sebastian County, Arkansas.

# data[].attributes.body
Colonel William F. Cloud, Major General James G. Blunt (US);

# data[].attributes.body
William Lewis Cabell (1827–1911)

A talented and respected Confederate brigadier general, William Lewis Cabell performed most of his Civil War service in the Trans-Mississippi Department in Arkansas. He served several terms as mayor of Dallas, Texas, between the mid-1870s and mid-1880s. The exact meaning of his nickname “Old Tige” is not clear, but it may refer to his tenacity and stern discipline.

# data[].attributes.body
The battle started when, William Cloud organized a 1,500-man column of two cavalry regiments and an artillery battery and headed south. Fifteen miles south of the fort, the Rebels, commanded by Brig. Gen. William Cabell, turned on Cloud and ambushed him at the base of Devil's Backbone, an imposing east-west ridge just south of Greenwood.

# data[].attributes.body
Union victory

The Union victory at Devil’s Backbone secured the North’s capture of Fort Smith (Sebastian County) on September 1, 1863. Although fighting continued in the region, Fort Smith remained a Union base until the war’s end.

# data[].attributes.body
2 (US); 5 (CS)

# data[].attributes.headline
WHY IS THIS BATTLE IMPORTANT? (Caidence)

# data[].attributes.subject
WHY IS THIS BATTLE IMPORTANT? (Caidence)

# data[].attributes.body
The Union victory ensured the safety of the Fort Smith garrison until the end of the war.