Throughout the war, Confederate President Jefferson Davis often found the governors of far western states critical of the Confederate war effort in general and specifically resentful of the focus given to the eastern theater of war.
On Friday April 3, 1863 Davis wrote to Arkansas Governor Harris Flanagin, attempting to reassure the governor by noting “if we lost control of the eastern side [of the Mississippi Valley], the western must almost inevitably fall into the power of the enemy.
The defense of the fortified places on the Eastern bank is therefore regarded as the defense of Arkansas quite as much as that of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana.”
Despite such reassurances, Davis’ relationship with the various governors of the Confederate states continued to be strained throughout the war.