Poison Springs Battleground State Park
| Poison Springs State Park | |
|---|---|
| Location | Ouachita County, Arkansas |
| Nearest city | Chidester, Arkansas |
| Coordinates | 33°38′20″N 93°0′16″W / 33.63889°N 93.00444°W |
| Built | 1961 |
| Official name | Poison Spring State Park |
| Designated | December 3, 1969 |
| Reference no. | 69000036 |
| Official name | Poison Spring Battlefield |
| Designated | April 19, 1994 |
| Part of | Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark |
| Reference no. | 94001182 |
Poison Springs Battleground State Park is an Arkansas state park located southeast of Bluff City. It commemorates the Battle of Poison Spring in the American Civil War, which was part of the 1864 Camden Expedition, an element of a Union Army initiative to gain control of Shreveport, Louisiana, and get a foothold in Texas.
In the battle, which was fought on April 18, 1864, Confederates and Choctaw Indians attacked and overcame a supply wagon of Union soldiers. The term "poison spring" arises from the apocryphal story that Confederate soldiers poisoned nearby springwater. The battle hastened the failure of the Camden expedition, and garnered notoriety for the slaughter of black Union soldiers from Kansas by the Confederate forces, which took no prisoners.
The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as Poison Springs State Park, and, with other sites, is part of the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark. It was declared part of the National Historic Landmark in 1994.