 When they attacked Union fortifications on July 4, rebel soldiers were tormented by the heat and many collapsed when retreating from the failed assault. A month later, it was the Union Army's turn to suffer as they marched through the malarial swamps of East Arkansas, scraping green scum from shallow ponds in search of water and dropping by the score from the brutal heat. A Minnesotan spoke for many when he wrote that, "...the heat and dust added to the debilitated state of the system in this climate is as much as humanity can stand."