 This happened after the collapse of Confederate forces east of the Mississippi.Major General Grenville M. Dodge sent Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Davis of the 51st Illinois Infantry on April 30, 1865, to Arkansas to seek the surrender of Confederate Brigadier General "Jeff" Meriwether Thompson, commander of Confederate troops in the northeast portion of Arkansas.Davis, arriving at Chalk Bluff (now non-extant) in Clay County, Arkansas, on the St. Francis River, sent communications to Thompson asking that they have a conference.