The battle was fought near Chalk Bluff, northwest of St. Francis (present-day Clay County, Arkansas), where U.S. Brigadier General William Vandever, commanding the Second Division of the Army of the Frontier, was repulsed in an attempt to prevent Confederate General John S. Marmaduke's Division from crossing the St. Francis River.

His line of march was on a road on Crowley's Ridge, a long rise that offered protection for his flanks, as the surrounding terrain was mainly marshy.

Gen. Thompson moved the artillery across the river by raft the first night,so while trying to take the ridges the union forces were suffering cannon fire coming over their right shoulder and continuing down the long line of their formation.

While, in some respects, Marmaduke tactically won the Battle of Chalk Bluff, the Union forces claimed a strategic victory since he had abandoned his spring offensive.

The battle is commemorated today in the small Chalk Bluff Battlefield Park, which preserves a portion of the field and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.