In 1686, Henri de Tonti established it on behalf of Louis XIV of France for the purpose of trading with the Quapaw Nation.

[2][3] The land encompassing the second (and fourth) Arkansas Post site (Red Bluff) was designated as a state park in 1929.

But the trade and friendly relations with the Quapaw and other local native peoples, such as the Caddo and Osage, were integral to the post's survival for most of its operations.

[2] The importance of the post was fully realized in 1699, when King Louis XIV of France began to invest more resources into French Louisiana.

John Law's Mississippi Company made a venture from 1717 to 1724 recruiting German settlers to develop the surrounding area as a major agricultural hub.

The French brought about 100 slaves and indentured servants to the area as workers, and offered land grants to German settlers.

But this project failed when the company withdrew from Arkansas Post, due to financial decline related to the Mississippi Bubble.

Most of the slaves and indentured servants were relocated or sold elsewhere along the Lower Mississippi River, but a few remained in or near the post, becoming hunters, farmers, and traders.

[3] In 1723, the post was garrisoned by thirteen French soldiers, and Lieutenant Avignon Guérin de La Boulaye was the commander.

Chief Payamataha of the Chickasaw attacked the rural areas of the post with 150 of his warriors, killing and capturing several settlers.

[6] As a result of the Chickasaw raid and continued threats of attack, commander Ensign Louis Xavier Martin de Lino moved the post upriver.

This was further from the Chickasaw territory east of the Mississippi, and closer to the Quapaw villages, the post's main trading partners and potential allies.

This new location, about 45 miles from the mouth of the Arkansas, was called Écores Rouges (Red Bluff), at "the heights of the Grand Prairie".

[2] In 1752, Captain Paul Augustin Le Pelletier de La Houssaye, the next commander, rebuilt the post's major structures, such as the barrack, prison, and powder magazine.

The Quapaw nearly came to blows with the Spanish, but eventually Commander Leyba conceded to previous practice and restored the goods, and conflict was avoided.

Robert Benham made a stop here while on their way to meet with Gálvez to convince him that Spain should support the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War.

This was part of a small British campaign against the Spanish on the Mississippi River during the American Revolutionary War, when power was shifting in North America.

Fort San Estevan included a commandant's house, large barracks, storehouse and kitchen, all surrounded by a stockade.

The location became a major frontier post for travelers heading west, with explorers such as Stephen Harriman Long and Thomas Nuttall passing through, althogut the government closed the federal house in 1810.

On January 9–11 of 1863, Union forces conducted an amphibious assault on the fortress backed by ironclad gunboats as part of the Vicksburg campaign.

Because the Union forces outnumbered the defenders (33,000 to 5,500), they won an easy victory and captured the post, with most of the Confederate garrison surrendering.

Parts of the Confederate road, trenches, and artillery positions built at the post during this era are still visible at the memorial site.

The Memorial commemorates the complex history of several cultures and time periods: the Quapaw, French settlers who were the first colonists to inhabit the small entrepôt, the short period of Spanish rule, an American Revolutionary War skirmish in 1783, the settlement's role as the first territorial capital of Arkansas, and as the site of an American Civil War battle in 1863.

[12] The park began with 20 acres donated by Fred Quandt, a descendant of German immigrants whose family still lives in Arkansas.

In the following years, additional acreage was acquired and numerous improvements made with the support of Civilian Conservation Corps labor.

[3] In 1964 the National Park Service undertook some partial reconstruction of colonial remains at the site, including Fort Carlos III built by the Spanish.