Founded as a French trading post among the Quapaw in 1686, Arkansas Post was the first European settlement in what is now the state of Arkansas. It was the setting of the only Revolutionary War battle on the soil of our future state. The US acquired it with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Post became territorial Arkansas’ first seat of government from 1819 until Little Rock was made the capital in 1821. During the Civil War, it was the site of Fort Hindman, which fell to Federal troops in the 1863 Battle of Arkansas Post, and the post settlement faded into history. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.