After driving other Confederate forces farther south into Indian Territory in late August 1863, Union Major General James G. Blunt rapidly turned toward Fort Smith.

Discovering this Confederate retreat the next morning, Blunt took an infantry regiment and captured Fort Smith without incident, while Colonel William F. Cloud led about 1,500 Union cavalry and artillery men in pursuit of Cabell.

After retreating down the road toward Waldron, Arkansas in Scott County, Cabell turned around to buy time for his slow-moving wagons to escape.

The advance guard's survivors fell back in confusion as the Confederate battery began firing on the rest of Cloud's arriving command.

By capturing Fort Smith and defeating Cabell at Devil's Backbone, the Federal forces gained a foothold in the Arkansas River Valley.

While the later Battle of Massard Prairie in July 1864 demonstrated Fort Smith's vulnerability, it nonetheless remained a U.S. garrison for the rest of the war.