Napoleon was a river port and the county seat of Desha County, Arkansas, from 1838 to 1874. It was located at the confluence of the Arkansas and the Mississippi rivers. Napoleon was badly damaged during the Civil War and then finally abandoned after most of it had washed into the Mississippi River.

Desha County is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Arkansas, with its eastern border the Mississippi River. At the 2020 census, the population was 11,395. The county seat is Arkansas City.