1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
SEC. 2 . Be it further enacted, That for the purpose of arming the said battalions, the long-range muskets and rifles in the hands of the troops, may be taken for that purpose: Provided, The Government has not at its command a sufficient number of approved long-range rifles or muskets wherewith to arm said corps.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
II. Generals commanding military departments may cause to be organized within their commands battalions of sharpshooters, as provided in this act, in such numbers as they may deem necessary, not exceeding one such battalion for each brigade, and will report to the Department the organization of such corps, recommending for appointment the commissioned officers allowed by law.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
III. In organizing such battalions generals commanding may cause such details or transfers to be made as will not reduce any company or corps below the minimum number required by law, taking the men for each such battalion so far as possible from the particular brigade of which it is to form a part.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
IV. Requisitions will be made upon the Ordnance Department for the arms for such battalions, and until the said requisitions can be filled the generals commanding may cause such exchanges and transfers of long-range muskets and rifles to be made as may be necessary to arm the said battalions, returning surplus arms when such requisitions are filled to the Ordnance Department.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
V. (Supplementary to General Orders, No. 30, section VI.) The commissions of the staff officers of reorganized regiments and battalions of twelve-months' volunteers are not affected by such reorganization, except that of the adjutant, whose commission expires with that of the commanding officer, if the said officer be not re-elected.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Par XI-Each brigade commander will at once organize a company of selected sharpshooters to be attached to each battery and carefully drilled as skirmishers and armed with long range rifles.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Par VII-Williamson's Battalion is broken up-those companies designated by brigade commander are assigned to 3rd Arkansas Cavalry, one company to McCray's Battalion, and balance to Brooks' battalion.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Capt. Catterson's company of Arkansas cavalry transferred from Whitfield's Texas Legion to Brooks Battalion of Arkansas Cavalry


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
As it is at present impracticable to organize a battalion of sharpshooters for each brigade as contemplated in general order #34 from the War Dept., each division commander will designate one regiment from each brigade to act as sharpshooters. They will be particularly instructed and armed with long range arms.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
General Van Dorn dismounted much of his Cavalry. Brook's 1st Battalion of Arkansas Cavalry, Company I, 6th Texas Cavalry, Company H, 9th Texas Cavalry and Company B, 27th Texas Cavalry were among those dismounted. These companies were the basis for a future Sharpshooter Regiment.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
The designation, Sharpshooter Battalion, was a surprise, as was the addition of another company transferred in from Whitfield's Regiment, Texas Cavalry on June 4, 1862. This company was Murphy's or Catterson's Company B, Arkansas Cavalry. It was soon designated Company H.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
General Van Dorn of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate States of America, issued Special Order # 114, June 15, 1862. It read, "As it is at present impracticable to organize a battalion of sharpshooters for each brigade as contemplated in General Order # 34 from the War Department - each division commander will designate one regiment from each brigade to act as sharpshooters. They will be particularly instructed … and carry long range arms."


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
General Maury's Division sent out Special Order #59 dated August 1, 1862, stating, "Paragraph II, Major Bridges Battalion of Sharpshooters will at once be consolidated with Lieutenant Colonel Stirman's Battalion of Arkansas Cavalry (dismounted) and the whole to be under the command of Lt Col Stirman as the regiment of Sharpshooters of Phifer's Brigade."


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Captain Bridges was the commander of Company I, 6th Texas Cavalry, from his election in September, 1861, until June, 1862. In June the company was detached, and Bridges was promoted to Major in command of a sharpshooter battalion. Company H, 9th Texas Cavalry, was a second company attached to his command and Company B, Whitfield's Legion went straight to Stirman's Battalion on 4 June 1862. On August 1, 1862, Bridges was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of Sharpshooters. At the same time his companies became part of Colonel Erasmus J. Stirman's Regiment of Sharpshooters for Colonel Charles W. Phifer's Brigade. Bridges became the Deputy Commander. At this time Col. Ras Stirman commanded a ten company regiment all dressed in grey as he described it in a letter to his sister, Rebecca, in camp, August 10, 1862, near Tupelo, Mississippi.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
The battalions were encamped at Camp Maury in May–July 1862. After that, they were probably at Camp Armstrong though this is not documented at this time. In September, they were at Camp Rodgers, Mississippi, near Tupelo, Mississippi and camp Baldwin, Mississippi, on 24 September probably near Holly Springs. The men trained as sharpshooters, skirmishers, and as infantry as they moved closer to Corinth.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Early in September, Colonel Stirman led his regiment sharpshooters on a 60-mile circuitous route from Saltillo toward Iuka, Mississippi. They advanced with each company having a turn in front as skirmishers. At Iuka, they took up positions near the town, ready to fight. Captain James Bates of Company K (H/9th) says in his diary they could see the battle, which would have placed them on the northwest side of Iuka. Leading General Price's Army, the 3rd Texas Cavalry and 1st Texas Legion ran into a full Union division northwest of Iuka. After fighting all day, General Price was ready to continue, but General Van Dorn directed that they break off the battle and join his force on the way to Corinth.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Two weeks later the sharpshooters were probably spread as skirmishers across the front of Phifer's Brigade when the Battle of Corinth began on October 3, 1863. They steadily pushed the Union forces back, and at dark were only 300 yards from the main lines. During the fight, they lost Lieutenant Colonel Bridges who received a severe wound to his right arm. He had to be helped from the field and sent to the hospital in Quitman. The regiment slept on their weapons ready to fight. If they had anything they ate, water was in short supply and ammunition was scrounged from those that had fallen.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
The sharpshooters were reformed into a line infantry regiment on the left flank of Phifer's Brigade for the last day of battle, October 4. The attack kicked off at 10:30 A.M., and the regiment quickly captured the four gun 10th Ohio Artillery Battery to its front. A seam existed between the 50th Illinois Brigade of DuBois' Division and the 39th Ohio Brigade of Fuller's Division of Union forces. The regiment, receiving fire from three directions, drove toward the center of the town.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Their losses mounted, but the regiment gained the Tishomingo Hotel with Ras Stirman planting the regimental flag in front of the hotel. They had pushed General Rosecrans from his headquarters. Then came Union rallies, and the regiment weak from losses, low on ammunition and water, began to retreat. Ras Stirman and Major White were the last two to leave the hotel, located about a hundred yards behind Battery Robinett. The remnants of the regiment made it to the Confederate lines at dark.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
The following morning Stirman's Sharpshooters were third in the line of march of the Confederate Army in retreat. They made the Hatchie Bridge at Davis' farm, Tennessee, when cannon fire opened from their front and flank. Ahead, the First Texas Legion and Moore's Brigade with Adam's skirmishers and Dawson's St Louis Battery of 4 guns, were being mauled by the Union blocking force. Many were captured or killed. The rest chose to scatter and swim the river or drown trying.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Major Hawkins of the 1st Legion, was able to lead a small detachment back, but most of the Legion were captured or killed. The sharpshooters ran the gauntlet of the bridge and took up positions on the bluff above the river. The 6th Texas and Colonel Ross fought a delaying action allowing the remaining pieces of Moore's Brigade to re-cross as did Hawkins' troops. Most of a brigade and the Legion had been killed or captured.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Now it was the Confederate turn. The sharpshooters, well positioned, were pouring fire into the attacking Union regiment that had crossed the bridge. Two more regiments crossed, but had no place to maneuver. If they moved, they were fired upon. Cabel's Brigade came on line with artillery. This, added to the 6th Texas and the soldiers of Moore and Hawkins troops and the one cannon that Dawson was able to bring back, was enough to halt the Union force and to allow Van Dorn's Army to find a new crossing and escape back into Mississippi.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
For some reason, the highly successful Stirman Sharpshooter Regiment was broken up. The two Texas companies returned to their home regiments. Soldiers were returning from parole, wounded were healing, and the return of horses from Texas, they were soon able to go on the Holly Springs Raid and make the move into Tennessee in 1863 as part of the Texas Brigade and Van Dorn's Corps.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Stirman's Battalion was at Camp Donaldson, Mississippi, in January as dismounted cavalry. Company B, 27th Texas Cavalry, never returned to the Legion. It was originally an Arkansas company, so it stayed with Stirman's Battalion as Company H. The Legion never replaced the company and went the rest of the war without a Company B. Stirman's Battalion records at the National Archives are not complete for the period May through December 1862. Many of the records for Companies A through G are lost from muster to January 1863. Thus their efforts at Corinth and Hatchie Bridge go unremembered. Their dead and wounded lost in history.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Company I, 6th Texas Cavalry, continued to fight till January, 1865, when it was combined with Company K. Its officers resigned or transferred. Of its 102 men, six were killed in battle, twenty were wounded, five died of wounds, and twelve were made prisoners. Four deserted, twenty were discharged or dropped, and at parole in Jackson, Mississippi, 15 May 1865, thirteen were present and thirty-three were on leave or had deserted after returning from the Tennessee Campaign. Two were missing, and three had transferred to other units. Illness had caused eighteen deaths.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Company H, 9th Texas, had a large desertion in August–September, 1863, when it lost thirty-seven men. Only three returned. The remainder of its company was placed in support of the regimental headquarters. Four had died in battle, and three had died of wounds. One had transferred, and six had no records after 1862. Additionally, fifteen had been discharged or dropped, and eleven died of illness. Ten men were paroled at Jackson, Mississippi, and three from northern prisons. Of 106 men, nineteen had deserted or were on leave in 1865 when no record was kept.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Stirman's Battalion, 1st Battalion Arkansas Cavalry (dismounted), continued to on fight as infantry and sharpshooters with distinguished service at Vicksburg. The battalion designated Bridge's Arkansas Cavalry and listed in the Vicksburg Order of Battle was not the original Bridge's Battalion and was likely not under Pemberton's command, but instead, the ad hoc unit probably authorized by Stephen D. Lee. This was Henry W. Bridges, of the 6th Texas Cavalry, but without his Texas Cavalry companies, I/6th; H/9th. They were not in the Vicksburg siege area, and the companies may not have been from Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
On June 11, 1862, Major General Earl Van Dorn, commanding the Confederate Army of the West at Priceville, Mississippi, issued General Orders, No. 39, calling for the organization of a battalion of sharpshooters in each brigade of the army.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
These Battalions will be made up of chosen men, all of whom must be able-bodied, active and good rifle shots and of tried courage ... All of the officers of the Battalion will be carefully selected and thoroughly examined before being recommended to the President for promotion or appointment to the Battalion. It is desired to bring the effective strength of each Battalion up to seven hundred and fifty (750) rank and file, if possible, and no pains will be spared to make the Battalions the elite of the Army of the West.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
An opportunity is therefore now afforded to young men of spirit to enroll themselves in a corps which is unquestionably to become the most distinguished in our Army. It is hoped and expected that no man will offer or be accepted into this select corps who is not resolved to lead in every daring enterprise which may be undertaken. Brigade Commanders will commence enrolling the Sharpshooters at once. Every proper means will be taken to fill up the Battalions as soon as possible. The men and officers of each company will be from the same State. The Brigade ordnance officers will see that the Sharpshooters are equipped with long range guns, and if possible that the guns of each company are of uniform calibre.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
A sharpshooter battalion was not an organization of "snipers", as the word "sharpshooter" now implies. These organizations were skirmishers, scouts who operated in open, or "skirmish" order in front of the brigade or division line of battle to search out and find the enemy force, test its strength, and maintain contact so as to prevent surprise and guide the main battle line to the key spot on the field.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
General Earl Van Dorn seemed to be intent on forming sharpshooter battalions for the brigades of the Army of the West during this time period. Van Dorn issued special order #114 of June 15, 1862, as follows:


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
As it is at present impracticable to organize a battalion of sharpshooters for each brigade as contemplated in Gen Order #34 from the War Dept.-each division commander will designate one regiment from each brigade to act as sharpshooters. They will be particularly instructed...and carry long range arms.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Special Order of Maury's Division dated 1 August 1862: "Par II Major Bridges battalion of sharpshooters will at once be consolidated with LtCol Stirman's battalion of Arkansas Cavalry [dismounted] and the whole to be under the command of LtCol Stirman as the regiment of sharpshooters for Phifer's brigade."


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
1st (Stirman's) Battalion Sharpshooters, formerly Brooks' 1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion, was organized during the summer of 1862. In July Company H (Murphy's Company B) was added from Whitfield's Texas Cavalry Regiment. This Arkansas Company had been attached to the Texas unit by General McCulloch. Stirman's Battalion was assigned to Phiffer's Brigade for the Corinth Campaign. On August 1, 1862, Bridges' Battalion of Texas Sharpshooters was attached to Stirman's Battalion to make a 10 company Sharpshooter regiment. The unit was commanded by Colonel Ras.Stirman, Major Lafayette Boone and Lieutenant Colonel Henry W. Bridges.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
The Sharpshooter Regiment was created by combination of the following units:


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
The Sharpshooter Regiment trained through the Battle of Iuka without entering that battle. On October 3, 1862, the regiment was on the left flank of Phiffer's Brigade for the Battle of Corinth. Trained as skirmishers and sharpshooters, they would normally have spread out across the regimental front and preceded the regiment into battle. It is not known how they fought on the 3rd but Lt Col Henry Bridges was wounded in the arm and had to be helped from the field.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
On the 4th they were aligned as an Infantry Regiment on the left flank, and fought into the heart of Corinth. Peter Cozzens in his book on the Battle of Corinth, stated that Colonel Stirman planted the regimental flag in front of the Tishomingo Hotel which was past General Rosecran's headquarters. If this happened Stirman's unit had almost won the battle. Lack of ammunition and men soon caused Stirman to retreat. The next day, the regiment was the 4th unit to cross the Hatchie Bridge in Tennessee.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Suddenly a Union blocking force opened up and cannon and rifle fire covered the area. The regiment reversed and raced across the bridge to assume firing positions. Along with the 6th Texas Cavalry Regiment (dismounted) they formed the base for a Confederate blocking force. Several units of Van Dorn's command had been lost, and many of Stirman's men had been killed or captured, but the regiment was a great factor in saving the day.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Sirman's Arkansas Sharpshooters are listed as belonging to Brigadier General C.W. Phifer's Brigade of Brigadier General Dabney Maury's Division of Major General Sterling Price's Army of the West, during the Battle of Corinth.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
On 20 October 1862, Major General Sterling Price, commanding the Confederate Army of the West, reported Stirman's Arkansas Sharpshooters as belonging to Brigadier General Lousi Hebert's First Brigade of Brigadier General J.S. Bowen's Division.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Creation of the Sharpshooters
Stirman's Arkansas Sharpshooters were transferred to Col Cavern's Second Brigade, of Brigadier General J.S. Bowen's Division of the Confederate Army of the West on 22 October 1862.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Cavalry (dismounted)
Two weeks later the regiment was reduced to battalion size as the Texas units returned to their regiments. The unit was then attached to General M.E. Bgrann's command, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, and fought at the Battle of Port Gibson and the siege of Vicksburg.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Cavalry (dismounted)
The battalion surrendered with the Army of Mississippi at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863. General U. S. Grant initially demanded the conditional surrender of the Vicksburg garrison, but faced with the necessity of feeding 30,000 starving Confederates and having the idea that these soldiers might do more harm to the Confederate cause by being released to return home rather than being exchanged as whole units, he relented and allowed for the immediate parole of the unit. According to the Confederate War Department, Union leader encouraged the surrendered confederates to simply return home, rather than being officially paroled and exchanged. The able bodied Confederate soldiers who were released on parole walked out of Vicksburg (they were not allowed to proceed in any military formations) on July 11, 1863. Paroling of these able bodied men was completed in their respective regimental camps inside Vicksburg prior to July 11


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Cavalry (dismounted)
Confederate commanders designated Enterprise, Mississippi, as the rendezvous point (parole camp) for the Vicksburg parolees to report to after they got clear of the last Federal control point at Big Black Bridge. Most of the Arkansas units appeared to have bypassed the established parole camps, and possibly with the support or at least by the compliancy of their Union captors, simply crossed the river and returned home. Because so many of the Vicksburg parolees, especially from Arkansas, simply went home, Major General Pemberton requested Confederate President Davis to grant the men a thirty- to sixty-day furlough.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Cavalry (dismounted)
The furloughs were not strictly adhered to so long as the soldier eventually showed up at a parole camp to be declared exchanged and returned to duty. Those who went directly home were treated as if they had been home on furlough if they eventually reported into one of these two parole centers. The exchange declaration reports issued by Colonel Robert Ould in Richmond for various units in the Vicksburg and Port Hudson surrenders began in September 1863 based upon men who actually reported into one of the two parole camps. Pemberton eventually coordinated with the Confederate War Department and Confederate General Kirby Smith, commanding the Department of the Trans-Mississippi to have the Arkansas Vicksburg parolee's rendezvous point established at Camden, Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
After being exchanged, the unit returned to Arkansas and became Stirman's Arkansas Cavalry Battalion.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
After re-organizing in Arkansas the unit was assigned to Fagan's Cavalry Division during the Camden Expedition.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
Immediately following the Camden Expedition, the unit was reported near Fayetteville.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
The unit participated in Price's Missouri Raid in the fall of 1864.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
General E. Kirby Smith, C. S. Army, commanding the Army of the Trans-Mississippi Department, lists the unit on December 31, 1864, as belonging to the Second Arkansas Cavalry Brigade of Brigadier General Fagan's First Arkansas Cavalry Division.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
On 31 December 1864, General Kirby Smith listed the unit as belonging to Colonel Slemmons Brigade of Fagan's Cavlary Division of Major General Stirling Price's Cavlary Corps. It appears that the unit was soon assigned to a Cavalry Brigade under Col Brooks. The unit operated in the Arkansas River Valley, interdicting the supply route between Little Rock and Fort Smith during the winter of 1864 to 1865. The unit participated in Confederate Attacks on the Union garrison at Dardanelle Arkansas on January 14 and 17, 1865.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
No . 3. Order of Major General John B. Magruder, C. S. Army, commanding District of Arkansas, of operations January 14–17.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
GENERAL ORDERS, HEADQUARTER DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS, No. 18 Washington, January 25, 1865.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
The major-general commanding takes pleasure in announcing to the army that Colonel Brooks, commanding Brooks' brigade, composed of Brooks' men proper, Newton's regiment, and Stirman's battalion, after a long and difficult march to the Arkansas River, attacked a heavier force of the enemy near Dardanelle, drove him into his works, killing 8, wounding 19, and capturing 2; loss on our side, 1 killed and 15 wounded. Colonel Brooks, hearing of the approach of streamers from above, by a forced march, with 400 men, reached the proper point at sunrise on the 16th instant.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
Having placed a piece of artillery and his men in ambush, at 1 o'clock on the 17th, he permitted the leading boat to come well in range, when he opened upon her with his infantry and this piece. She was raked from stem to stern and soon surrendered. She proved to be the New Chippewa. The prisoners consist of 1 officer and 29 men of the Fiftieth Indiana and 40 negroes; also the captain, crew, and a large number of refugee families from Fort Smith. After removing everything valuable the boat was fired.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
The steamer Annie Jacobs next hove in sight. She was immediately attacked, and the fire was returned by the troops on board. She attempted to destroy our artillerists; our artillery, however, soon disabled her, and she grounded upon an island. Here many men [were] drowned in attempting to make their escape to the opposite bank. During the engagement with the Jacobs the Lotus came down. The troops on board were driven into the water and she to the north bank of the river, where most of them escaped, the iron axle of one piece of artillery having broken.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
Finding the boats too distant for an effective fire of musketry, Colonel Brooks returned to his camps, taking with him 82 prisoners and the refugee families captured. Federal casualties, 27 killed and wounded, besides those who were drowned; our own loss, 1 killed and 15 wounded. A large quantity of the enemy's store were Colonels Newton and Stirman and Lieutenant Lockhart are spoken of in high terms by Colonel Brooks in his report of their operations... The commanding general takes great pleasure in returning his thanks to both officers and men of the several commands for their gallant conduct on this occasion.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Service, Return to Arkansas
By command of Major General J. B. Magruder: EDMUND P. TURNER,


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Surrender
The remnants of the battalion were officially surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi on May 26, 1865.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Battalion (Stirman's), Surrender
Stirman and his battalion were camped at or near Arkadelphia when the war ended. They went to Fort Smith, where they turned over their arms to the Federal garrison there. This information is credited to a letter from Marshall Henry to his brother at Fayetteville. "We marched finely to Fort Smith. The feds seemed glad to see us."


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's)
The 1st (Dobbin's) Regiment Arkansas Cavalry (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army cavalry regiment during the American Civil War.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
The nucleus of what became Dobbins' regiment was Maj. Francis Marion Chrisman's battalion of four companies, organized on September 28, 1862. Chrisman's battalion was assigned to Parson's Cavalry Brigade, 1st Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department, from September to December 1862; after which it was reported as an unattached command in the District of Arkansas until about January 1863, when it was increased to a regiment and designated as the 1st (Dobbins') Regiment Arkansas Cavalry.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
The additional companies which were joined with Chrisman's four companies were five "partisan ranger" companies and one "spy" company. "Corley's Spies" (which became Company A, Capt. Samuel Corley commanding) was not a group of secret agents; rather, they were expert scouts who knew the bayous, forests, roads and trails of eastern Arkansas like the back of their hands. They were skilled at moving around undetected by the Yankees. I once found some correspondence regarding the resignation of Corley's first lieutenant, which revealed that "Corley's Spies" had served briefly in the Indian Territory in Albert Pike's command.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
When the regiment was organized, Captain Corley was promoted to major. Samuel Corley was one of those larger-than-life characters whose daring exploits would make a great book and movie. He was a preacher who talked about Christian love and forgiveness on Sunday, and fought Yankees like the devil during the week. He was killed in action at Fourche Bayou (Battle of Little Rock) on September 10, 1863.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
The component companies (and original captains) of Dobbins' regiment were as follows:


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
Company F was consolidated with Company A on January 3, 1864.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
Companiess D & H were consolidated with Company E on January 3, 1864.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Organization
The unit is difficult to research because not only was it a loosely organized regiment, but most of the typical paperwork generated by a regiment in the field is missing from the record. Only a handful of muster rolls, and almost no quartermaster or commissary reports, are known to exist.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Battles
When organized, Dobbins' regiment was listed as an unattached command in the District of Arkansas until May 1863. From June through September 1863 it was assigned to the Arkansas Cavalry Brigade of General Walker's Division, and in November 1863 listed as Dobbins' Cavalry Brigade, District of Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Battles
Its major engagements were the Battle of Helena (July 4, 1863), the Battle of Little Rock (September 10, 1863) and the Battle of Pine Bluff (October 25, 1863). But for most of its existence, Dobbins' regiment was engaged in numerous scouts, raids and skirmishes throughout eastern and northeastern Arkansas. The companies frequently operated independently.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Battles
Colonel Dobbins was court-martialed and dismissed from the service on November 23, 1863. The court martial resulted from Colonel Dobbins' refusal to accept orders from General John S. Marmaduke because Marmaduke had killed Brigadier General L. M. Walker in a duel just before the Battle of Little Rock. The official records indicate that the regiment was broken up about January 3, 1864, and elements of the regiment were attached to, but not formally consolidated with, Col. Thomas J. Morgan's regiment.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Flag
The flag of Dobbins' Arkansas Cavalry was captured by Indiana troops at Tulip, Arkansas in October 1863. Colonel Powell Clayton with three hundred and fifty men the 1st Indiana Cavalry and four pieces of light artillery, making a circuitous route, marching ninety miles in thirty-three hours, succeeded in surprising and completely routing Colonel Dobbins' cavalry brigade at Tulip, Arkansas, capturing one stand of colors, all his camp and garrison equipage, quartermaster and commissary stores, medical supplies, transportation, etc.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Flag
The captured flag was returned to Arkansas in 1962 by the Governor of Indiana, and is currently located in the collections of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas. This cotton flag measures 53" x 72" with a dark blue field with a red "upright" cross. The cross is 6" wide. There are 13 white, 5-pointed, 3" stars on the crossbars. The leading edge has been doubled back to form a sleeve, 2" wide when flat with pairs of ties at each end for securing the flag to its staff.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Flag
Trans-Mississippi Pattern Battle Flag of Dobbins 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment. The flag is sometimes referred to as a Polk Pattern flag after the flag used by General Leonidas Polk's Corps east of the Mississippi River, but Dobbins' unit never served in Polk's Corps and Dobbins' flag is slightly different from the Polk Pattern. The late Howard Madaus deemed Dobbins' flag a "Trans-Mississippi pattern" unique to that theater. One other flag of the same style exists in the Iowa collections captured at Helena in July 1863.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Dobbin's), Surrender
At the end of the war, most of the former companies of Dobbins' regiment were paroled (still with the designation 1st Arkansas Cavalry) at Wittsburg, Arkansas, on May 25, 1865. Two of the companies were paroled at Jacksonport on June 5, 1865. Colonel Dobbins, was paroled at Galveston, Texas, on July 13, 1865, where he signed his parole as colonel commanding 1st Brigade Arkansas Cavalry. Colonel Dobbin emigrated to Brazil after the war where died.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union)
The 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (1862–1865) was a cavalry regiment from the state of Arkansas that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Organization
Arkansas had seceded from the Union in May 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America, raising during the war a total of 48 infantry regiments, more than 30 cavalry regiments and another 25 cavalry battalions, and about 22 artillery batteries for the Confederate Army. Once Union forces had entered the state, however, pro-Union citizens (both black and white) volunteered for the Union Army to serve in 11 infantry regiments, 6 cavalry regiments and 2 artillery batteries.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Organization
The 1st Arkansas Cavalry was formed in Springfield, Missouri in July 1862.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
It almost immediately moved south to Arkansas to counter the Confederate guerrillas who were harassing Union sympathizers. After the Union victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Union forces briefly occupied parts of Northern Arkansas. When they moved their headquarters to Independence County, Arkansas, Union supporters were once again left exposed, causing many to move to Missouri.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment first saw combat in the Battle of Prairie Grove, fought on December 7, 1862. They performed very poorly. A Confederate surge sent two regiments of Missouri Union cavalry fleeing through the 1st Arkansas Cavalry. Seeing hundreds of their comrades fleeing, the Arkansas men joined in the rout. Because of its embarrassing performance, the regiment was assigned to duty in Fayetteville, Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
Confederate forces under Brigadier General William Lewis Cabell attacked the city on April 18, 1863. Both armies were composed entirely of Arkansas regiments. In three hours of fighting, the Confederates failed to break the Union lines and finally retreated. This victory boosted the 1st Arkansas's morale. For the remainder of the war they would serve on duty against guerrillas or as escort for wagon supply trains.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Service
The First Arkansas Union Cavalry played a unique role in Civil War history. The troops, especially the enlisted men, were not Yankees but Southern Unionists. They were primarily from Northwest Arkansas, and were assigned to occupy their home town and county for two and a half years. It was a very bitter war among neighbors fighting each other as Confederate guerrillas and as Union cavalrymen. After the war the First Arkansas commander, Colonel Marcus LaRue Harrison, stayed on in Fayetteville and became its post-war mayor for a time.


1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Mustered out of service
The regiment was mustered out of the army in August 1865. During their service, their casualties had been comparatively light. Out of its 1,765 men, 110 had been killed, and another 235 died from disease or accidents.


1st Arkansas Colored Light Artillery Battery
The 1st Arkansas Colored Light Artillery Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.


1st Arkansas Colored Light Artillery Battery, Organization
The 1st Arkansas Colored Light Artillery Battery was organized at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on June 4, 1864. Then unit was re-designated as Battery "H", 2nd U.S. Colored Light Artillery on December 13, 1864. Mustered out on August 10, 1865.


1st Arkansas Colored Light Artillery Battery, Service
The battery was assigned to garrison duty at Pine Bluff, Ark. 7th Army Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, till December, 1864. The battery saw action at Prior Creek on September 18, 1864. The battery was involved in the Expedition to Mount Elba, Ark., and the skirmish at Saline River, January 22-February 4, 1865.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi)
The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry (Trans-Mississippi) (1864–1865) was a Confederate States Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The regiment is separate from and has no connection with the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment which was formed in the Confederate Army of Tennessee in April 1865 and is also separate from the 1st Regiment, Arkansas State Troops, which became the 15th (Josey's) Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Fagan's 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, which was formed in 1861 and served in the Army of Tennessee.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Formation
In September 1864, the remnants of several Arkansas Infantry Regiments in the Trans-Mississippi Department were consolidated. There is some evidence that this consolidation may have occurred as a field consolidation as early as May 1864. The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi) was created by combining the following depleted regiments:


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Formation
Colonel Jordan E. Cravens was selected to command the new consolidate regiment. All of these regiments had been captured at the either the Siege of Vicksburg or Port Hudson and exchanged back in Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Formation
The consolidated regiment was assigned along with the 2nd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment and 3rd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiments to the 2nd (McNair's) Arkansas Brigade, 1st (Churchill's) Arkansas Division, 2nd Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department,


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Service
On September 30, 1864 the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry was assigned to Brigadier General Evander McNair's 2nd (Arkansas) Brigade, Acting Major General Thomas J. Churchill’s 1st (Arkansas) Division, Major General John B. Magruder’s Second Army Corps, Army of the Trans-Mississippi and remained in that assignment through December 31, 1864. In mid October, 1864, Brigadier General McNair was the Acting Division Commander, with Division headquarters at Camden, Arkansas. On 17 November 1864, a union spy reported that the McNair's Brigade and Churhill's Division was in the vicinity of Camden, in Ouachita County, Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Service
On 31 December 1864, General Kirby Smith's report on the organization of his forces lists the regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William W. Reynolds as  still belonging to Brigadier General Evander McNair's, 2nd Brigade of Acting Major General Thomas J. Churchill's 1st Arkansas Infantry Division of Major General John B. Magruder's 2nd Army Corps, Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Service
On 22 January 1865, Major General Churchill was ordered to move his division to Minden, Louisiana, and occupy winter quarters. On 23 January 1865, Major General Churchill sent a dispatch to Colonel Hawthorn at Dooley's Ferry and directed his movement to Minden, Louisiana.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Service
Union commanders in the Department of the Gulf reported on March 20, 1865 that General McNair's brigade was composed of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Consolidated Regiments, Commanded by Colonels Cravens, Ried, and Williams respectively and that the regiments were made up of paroled prisoners from Vicksburg and Port Hudson. The report provided their location as Minden, Louisiana, with the rest of Churchill's Division. In early April 1865, the division concentrated near Shreaveport Louisiana, and then moved to Marshall, Texas by mid April 1865.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Service
This regiment surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, General E. Kirby Smith commanding, May 26, 1865. When the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered, all of the Arkansas infantry regiments were encamped in and around Marshall, Texas (war-ravaged Arkansas no longer able to subsist the army). The regiments were ordered to report to Shreveport, Louisiana, to be paroled. None of them did so. Some soldiers went to Shreveport on their own to be paroled, but the regiments simply disbanded without formally surrendering. A company or two managed to keep together until they got home.


1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi), Service
For example, Company G, 35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, traveled back to Van Buren, Arkansas where they surrendered to the U.S. post commander in a formal ceremony, drawn up in front of the court-house, laying down their weapons, etc. But for the most part, the men simply went home. Many of the Arkansas Cavalry  units, which had largely been furloughed for the winter of 1864-1865 following Price's disastrous Missouri Expedition did formally surrender at Jacksonport, Wittsburg, and a few other locations.


1st Arkansas Field Battery
The 1st Arkansas Field Battery (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. Also known as: the "John D. Adams Artillery," or usually just "Adams Artillery"; Gaines' Battery; McNally's Battery. The battery made the crossing of the Mississippi River in April 1862 with Major General Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West. After being surrendered at the conclusion of the Vicksburg Campaign, the battery was reorganized in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi and served there for the remainder of the war.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Organization
The battery was organized as the "John D. Adams Artillery," and mustered into state service in April, 1861. It was later re-enlisted for Confederate service, effective December 1, 1861. The unit was named in honor of an Arkansas Veteran of the Mexican–American War. John D. Adams had served as a private in Colonel Yell's 1st Regiment of Arkansas Mounted Gunmen and suffered a wound at the Battle of Buena Vista. Following the war he became a successful merchant, planter and steamboat operation in Little Rock. John D. Adams did not serve with the battery that bore his name.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Organization
He did later obtain a commission as a Major in the Quartermaster Department under General Thomas C. Hindman. The battery officers were: Captain James J. Gaines; Captain Francis McNally; Lieutenant Frank A. Moore; Lieutenant David W. Hudgens, Second Lieutenant John P. Murphy. Unfortunately, there are no known surviving muster rolls of the Adams Artillery.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
Assigned to support Louis Hébert's brigade of Benjamin McCulloch's division in northwest Arkansas in December, 1861, the unit was stationed at the Leetown portion of the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 7–8, 1862. The battery was armed with two 12-pounder rifled guns and two M1841 12-pounder howitzers. The battery participated in the retreat to camp near Van Buren, Arkansas after Pea Ridge, and then moved with the Army of the West to Corinth, Mississippi in April, 1862.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
The battery reorganized at Corinth on May 16, 1862, as a result of the Confederate Conscription Act, and assigned to support of John Selden Roane's (later Charles W. Phifer's) brigade of Dabney H. Maury's division, Army of the West, serving in northeast Mississippi. Capt . Francis M. McNally assumed command, and it was thereafter known as McNally's Arkansas Battery.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
The battery fought at the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3–4, 1862, and at the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge on October 7. The unit served as an unattached battery of Maury's (later John Horace Forney's) division in north central Mississippi from November, 1862, to April 1863, fighting in an engagement at Oakland, Mississippi, on December 3.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
The battery, commanded by Capt. Francis McNally, was assigned to support of Brig. Gen. Francis A. Shoup’s Brigade, of Maj. Gen. Martin Luther Smith’s Division, Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton’s Army of Vicksburg, where it served during the Vicksburg campaign and in the defenses of Vicksburg during the siege. The battery's position with in the Vicksburg National military Park is marked by an iron tablet located on Confederate Avenue north of the Stockade Redan (Tour Stop #10). The battery was surrendered with the Vicksburg garrison on July 4, 1863, and was paroled there later the same month.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
When the battery was captured at Vicksburg, a section of two 3-inch brass rifle guns under First Lieut. Frank A. Moore, numbering about twenty-five officers and men, was on detached service outside the Vicksburg lines and thus escaped capture. This surviving section was attached to Brig. Gen. Matthew D. Ector's Brigade, of Maj. Gen. William H.T. Walker's Division, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Relief, Department of the West. When McNally's Battery was subsequently reformed back in Arkansas, Moore's section was stranded east of the Mississippi. It was subsequently attached to King's 2nd Missouri Battery and served east of the Mississippi to the end of the war. This section served with Cosby's brigade, Jackson's division, Lee's cavalry corps.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
General Ulysses S. Grant initially demanded the conditional surrender of the Vicksburg garrison, but faced with the necessity of feeding 30,000 starving Confederates and having the idea that these soldiers might do more harm to the Confederate cause by being released to return home rather than being exchanged as whole units, he relented and allowed for the immediate parole of the unit. According to the Confederate War Department, the Union leader encouraged the surrendered Confederates to simply return home, rather than being officially paroled and exchanged.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
The able bodied Confederate soldiers who were released on parole walked out of Vicksburg (they were not allowed to proceed in any military formations) on July 11, 1863. Paroling of these able bodied men was completed in their respective camps inside Vicksburg prior to July 11. Those who were wounded or sick in the various hospitals in Vicksburg were paroled, and were released, as soon as they could leave on their own. July 15/16 is the most common date of these Vicksburg hospital paroles. Some of the most seriously wounded and sick were sent by steamship down the Mississippi River and over to Mobile, Alabama, where they were delivered on parole to Confederate authorities.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
Confederate commanders designated Enterprise, Mississippi as the rendezvous point (parole camp) for the Vicksburg parolees to report to after they got clear of the last Federal control point at Big Black Bridge. Most of the Arkansas units, including many survivors of McNally's Battery, appear to have bypassed the established parole camps, and possibly with the support, or at least by the compliancy, of their Union captors, simply crossed the river and returned home.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
Because so many of the Vicksburg parolees, especially from Arkansas, simply went home, Major General Pemberton requested Confederate President Davis grant the men a thirty- to sixty-day furlough. The furloughs were not strictly adhered to so long as the soldier eventually showed up at a parole camp to be declared exchanged and returned to duty. Those who went directly home were treated as if they had been home on furlough if they eventually reported into one of these two parole centers.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
The exchange declaration reports issued by Colonel Robert Ould in Richmond for various units in the Vicksburg and Port Hudson surrenders began in September 1863 based upon men who actually reported to one of the two parole camps. Pemberton eventually coordinated with the Confederate War Department and Confederate General Kirby Smith, commanding the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, to have the Arkansas Vicksburg parolee's rendezvous point established at Camden, Arkansas. The battery was reorganized in Arkansas using four 6-pounder smoothbores.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
In General E. Kirby Smith's  September 30, 1864, report on the Organization of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi Department, McNally's Battery is listed as belonging to the 5th Mounted Artillery Battalion along with West's and Marshall's Arkansas Batteries. The battery supported Churchill's First Arkansas Division, and served with this division until the end of the war.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
On November 19, 1864, General E. Kirby Smith, commanding the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, issued Special Orders No. 290, re-organizing the artillery of the department and for the first time providing numerical designations to the batteries and battalions. In this reorganization, the Adams Artillery, armed with 4 guns, and commanded by Capt. Francis M. McNally was redesignated as the 1st Arkansas Field Battery and assigned to the 5th Artillery Battalion, commanded by Maj. William Durbin Blocher.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
On December 31, 1864, General E. Kirby Smith listed the battery as belonging to Blocher's Artillery Battalion of Acting Major General Churchill's First Infantry Division of Major General John B. Magruder's Second Army Corps, Army of the Trans-Mississippi.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
One of the last reports of the unit comes from the report of Union Scout C. S. Bell, who was attempting to pass through southern Arkansas when he was recognized and imprisoned. He won release, only to be conscripted into Confederate Service and assigned to McNally's Battery. Bell was sent, in leg irons, to join McNally's Battery on April 19, 1865, at Rocky Mountain, La., 30 mi (48 km) northeast of Shreveport.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Service
A few days after reaching is new command, he witnessed the reading of an order from General Kirby Smith dated the 23 April 1865 in which Smith recounted the disasters to Lee's army and bade his army to be hopeful; to not abandon their colors; that the eyes of the world were upon them; that their resources were inexhaustible, and that on them depended the fate of the Confederacy.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Surrender
When the Trans-Mississippi Army surrendered in May 1865, McNally's Battery, along with most other units, simply disbanded and never formally surrendered. The battery was officially surrendered by General E. Kirby Smith with the Trans-Mississippi Department on May 26, 1865. The date of the military convention between Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith and Union General Edward Canby for the surrender of the troops and public property in the Trans-Mississippi Department was May 26, 1865, however, it took a while for parole commissioners to be appointed and for public property to be accounted for.


1st Arkansas Field Battery, Surrender
As a result, a final report of field artillery which was part of the accounting process, was not completed until June 1, 1865. The final report lists McNally's Battery with four, six pounder smooth bore cannon being turned in at Shreveport, Louisiana. Captain McNally was paroled at Shreveport, Louisiana, on June 10, 1865.


1st Arkansas Infantry Battalion (Union)
The 1st Battalion Arkansas Volunteer Infantry (1862) was an infantry battalion that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although Arkansas joined the Confederate States of America in 1861, not all of its citizens supported secession.


1st Arkansas Infantry Battalion (Union), Organization
The unit underwent organization at Helena, Arkansas on July 21, 1862 and was mustered out on December 31 of the same year.


1st Arkansas Infantry Battalion (Union), Service
Attached to District of Eastern Arkansas and duty at Helena, Ark., till October. Moved to St. Louis, Mo., and duty at Benton Barracks, Mo., till December.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment
The 1st Arkansas Infantry (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The regiment was raised in April 1861 by Colonel Thompson B. Flournoy. It moved first to Virginia, but transferred back to Tennessee and served the rest of the war in the western theater, seeing action in the Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia campaigns. Following its depletion in numbers, the regiment was consolidated several times with other Arkansas regiments, finally merging in 1865 into the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment. There were three regiments known as "1st Arkansas" during the war.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment
The second unit with the designation of "1st Arkansas" was the 1st Infantry, Arkansas State Troops, which was mustered into Confederate service at Pitman's Ferry, Arkansas, on 23 July 1861, under the command of Colonel Patrick Cleburne; this unit was eventually redesignated as the 15th Arkansas Volunteer Infantry. The third unit bearing the title "1st Arkansas" was the 1st Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, which served with the Union Army.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
The 1st Arkansas regiment began its organization in April 1861, before Arkansas had even seceded from the Union. The first Arkansas Secession Convention had convened in March and voted against secession. On 12 April, Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter, forcing its capitulation. President Abraham Lincoln called upon the "militia of the several states" to provide 75,000 troops to put down the rebellion. Governor Henry Rector famously refused Lincoln's request for troops. Upon learning of Rector's refusal, Confederate Secretary of War, L.P. Walker, immediately wrote to Governor Rector on behalf of the Confederate Government at Montgomery and requested that the state provide a regiment for the Confederacy.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
Gov. HENRY M. RECTOR,Little Rock, Ark. :SIR:Your patriotic response to the requisition of the President of the United States for troops to coerce the Confederate States justifies the belief that your people are prepared to unite with us in repelling the common enemy of the South. Virginia needs our aid. I there- fore request you to furnish one regiment of infantry without delay, to rendezvous at Lynchburg, Va. It must consist of ten companies, of not less than sixty-four men each.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
The regiment will be entitled to one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, one adjutant from the line of lieutenants, one~ sergeant-major from the enlisted men. Each company is entitled to one captain, one first lieutenant, two second lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, and two musicians. The officers, except the staff officers, are to be appointed in the manner prescribed by the law of your State. Staff officers are appointed by the President; the term of service not less than twelve months, unless sooner discharged.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
They will be mustered into the service at Lynch- burg, but transportation and subsistence will be provided from the point of departure. They will furnish their own uniform, but will receive its value in commutation. You have arms and ammunition with which to supply them. Answer and say whether you will comply with this request, and, if so, when.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
Governor Rector initially responded that he had no power to comply with the Confederate request but he expected the state to secede when the secession convention reconvened on 6 May. He stated that after secession the state could and would aid the Confederacy. Governor Rector sent another dispatch requesting to know if the Confederacy would accept a regiment raised by T. B. Flournoy, as Colonel, John B. Thompson as Lieutenant Colonel, and W.N. Brougnah and James. B. Johnson. Further, Governor Rector agreed to arm and equip the regiment when it rendezvoused at Little Rock Arsenal. Thompson B. Flournoy was a planter from Laconia, in Desha County, and had supported the Douglas and Johnson ticket in the election of 1860.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
Colonel Flournoy began by organizing the first companies which arrived in Little Rock seeking service in the Confederate forces. Many of these initial companies had originally been organized as volunteer companies under the Arkansas Militia law which authorized each county to form, in addition to the standard militia regiment, up to four volunteer companies, one each of Rifles, Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry. Units such as the DeWitt Guards from Arkansas County and the Jackson Guards from Jackson County had organized months earlier in the state militia as sectional frictions increased.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
At the actual organization of the regiment at Little Rock on 6 May 1861, Flournoy was defeated for the colonelcy, and Captain James F. Fagan, of Saline County, was elected colonel; Capt. James C. Monroe, of Clark County, was elected lieutenant-colonel, and John Baker Thompson, major. Prof. Frank Bronaugh, of the military department of St. John's College, Little Rock, was chosen adjutant. Flournoy accepted the outcome with good grace; he was afterward promoted to brigadier-general in the Confederate service. The unit was composed of companies from the following Arkansas counties:


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Organization
The regiment was sent to Lynchburg, Virginia, for training the same month it was accepted into the Confederate ranks.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
The regiment attracted attention on the road from Arkansas to Virginia, as folks along the way learned that it contained the offspring of two famous Tennessee families. Capt . Robert Patton Crockett a son of Davy Crockett & second wife Elizabeth Patton, and Capt. Donelson McGregor, who was reared near the Hermitage, and was grand-nephew of the President Andrew Jackson. The regiment was stationed at Aquia Creek, near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the brigade of Gen. T. H. Holmes. The regiment was mustered into Confederate service on 19 May 1861, at Lynchburg, Virginia.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
It was then stationed at Evansport, where the men of the regiment, under Capt. Will H. Martin, made an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Federal gunboat Pocahontas, on the Potomac. In July 1861, Holme's Brigade served as the reserve for Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard's Confederate Army of the Potomac during the battle of First Manassas, but the 1st Arkansas never became engaged.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
In February 1862 they were transferred and attached to the Army of Mississippi under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard, and fought at the Battle of Shiloh. The 1st Arkansas was attached to Colonel Randall L. Gibson's 1st Brigade of Brigadier General Daniel Ruggles' 1st Division of Major General Braxton Bragg's II Army Corps. It was at Shiloh that they became best known, mainly due to the heavy casualties they sustained. Entering the battle with a force of just over 800, they took 364 casualties, 45 percent of their force.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
Following that battle, they were reorganized and received replacements, then were assigned to Army of Mississippi for the upcoming Kentucky Campaign, the 1st Arkansas was assigned to Colonel Samuel Powel's 3rd Brigade of Brigadier General James Patton Anderson's 2nd Division of Major General William Joseph Hardee's Corps.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
After the battle of Perryville, the Army of Mississippi and the Army of Kentucky were reorganized and renamed as the Army of Tennessee and the 1st Arkansas was assigned to Brigadier General Lucius E. Polk's Brigade of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne's Division of Lieutenant General William Joseph Hardee's Corps with whom they would remain for the rest of the war.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
The 1st Arkansas would go on to take part in the Battle of Murfreesboro, the Battle of Chickamauga, the Battles for Chattanooga, and the Siege of Atlanta. Lieutenant Colonel Donelson McGregor and fourteen others soldiers for the Battle of Murfreesboro As of result of high casualties during the Chattanooga campaign, the 1st Arkansas was consolidated with the 15th Arkansas under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William H. Martin. This consolidation united the two units that had been designated "1st Arkansas" because upon its formation, the 15th Arkansas had originally been designated by the Arkansas State Military Board as the 1st Arkansas Infantry, State Troops.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
During the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on June 27, 1864, the 1st/15th Arkansas became involved in a famous humanitarian act. At one point in the battle, not far from the position known as the "Dead Angle", the Union frontal assault had failed leaving hundreds of dead and wounded Union soldiers between the Confederate works and the Union lines. The woods and brush between the two armies caught fire because of the gunfire and artillery. The fire began to creep toward the wounded soldiers. Lt


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
. Colonel William P. Martin who was commanding the 1st and 15th combined Arkansas Regiments, jumped on the earthworks and ordered his Confederate soldiers to cease firing. He then waved a white flag of truce yelling to the Union soldiers to "come and get your wounded, they are burning to death." For a short time the Union and Confederate soldiers helped remove the wounded and put out the fires. The next day the Union generals presented Martin with two Colt Revolvers as a thank you for his humanitarian efforts. Later the opposing forces began to fire at each other again.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
The regiment and it colors were captured, along with much of Govan's Brigade at the Battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, on Sept. 1, 1864. Due to a special cartel between Union General William T. Sherman and Confederate General John B. Hood, the unit was quickly paroled and exchanged for Union prisoner held at Andersonville Prison. The regiment re-entered service approximately a month later. The 1st/15th reported 15 killed, 67 wounded, and 3 missing during the Battle of Atlanta.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
The regiment and the rest of Govan's Brigade were released and exchanged just in time to participate in General John B. Hood's disastrous Franklin-Nashville Campaign. Due to the losses suffered by Govan's Brigade during the Atlanta Campaign, the 1st/15th, 5th/13th and 2nd/24th Arkansas Regiments were consolidated into one regiment, which was commanded by Colonel Peter Green of the 5th/13th (specifically of the 5th). The other officers of the consolidated regiment were Major Alexander T. Meek, of the 2nd/24th Arkansas, Captain Mordecai P. Garrett and Sergeant Major Thomas Benton Moncrief of the 15th Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
The consolidated regiment fought under the colors of the consolidated 5th/13th Arkansas Regiment, because this was one of the few colors not captured when Govan's Brigade was overrun at the Battle of Jonesboro. The flag of the combined 5th/13th Arkansas was issued in March 1864 and was captured by Benjamin Newman of the 88th Illinois Infantry at the battle of Franklin. The consolidated regiment numbered 300 rifles and sustained 66% casualties during the Battle of Franklin.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battles
The remnants of Govan's Brigade that survived the Tennessee Campaign remained with the Army of Tennessee through its final engagements in the 1865 Carolinas Campaign. The Confederacy had only one award for valor, the Confederate Roll of Honor. Twenty-seven soldiers of the 1st Arkansas Infantry were inscribed into the roll during the war, as the Confederacy lacked the funds to manufacture medals. The 1st Arkansas Infantry took part in the following engagements:


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battle Flags
There are currently three flags associated with the 1st Arkansas known to be in existence, two 1st National Flag patterns, one issued to the Jacksonport Guards with another being made in Paraclifta, Arkansas and a Hardee Pattern Flag which was carried by the Consolidated 1st/15th Arkansas during the Atlanta Campaign.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battle Flags
On 5 May 1861, Lieutenant Sydney S. Gause, of the local volunteer militia company, the "Jackson County", received a 1st National Flag Pattern flag, bearing a blue panel on the white stripe, with the words, "LADIES OF JACKSONPORT TO THE JACKSON GUARDS". The flag measured 59" by 110", with a circle of eight stars, with a ninth star in the center of the circle. The flag was utilized as the regimental colors of the 1st Arkansas while the regiment was in Virginia in the summer of 1861. It is now in the collection of the Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battle Flags
The Hardee Pattern Flag which represented the 1st/15th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiments during the Atlanta Campaign is a cotton and wool flag with faded blue field. The central device is a white disc with black crossed cannons in the center (each 3 1/2" wool). Designation lettering is 2" Capitol Romans with red shadow: 1st ARK. REG'T. Honors lettering on the field above the disc is 2 1/2" tall Capital Romans: RICHMOND, KY, TUNNELL HILL, LIBERTY GAP, RINGGOLD GAP.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battle Flags
Honors lettering below the disc are gold, ornate, 4" letters: CHICKAMAUGA, border is white with black capitol Romans: MANASSAS, EVANSPORT, SHILOH, TUSCUMBIA CREEK, PERRYVILLE, FARMINGTON, BRIDGECREEK, MURFREESBORO. All lettering is painted. Captured by the 14th Michigan Infantry at Jonesboro, Georgia, on 1 September 1864. Returned to the State of Arkansas in 1905 by the U.S. War Department. Currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum, Little Rock, Arkansas.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Battle Flags
The final surviving battle flag of the First Arkansas includes one made in 1861 by the ladies of Paraclifta, Arkansas for a First Arkansas Company. The canton, stars and white stripe are made of cotton while the two red stripes are made of damask. The flag measures 46 x 69 inches. Like the previous 1st national pattern, this flag too was returned to the state by the government in 1905.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, Consolidation and surrender
The remnants of ten depleted Arkansas regiments, along with one mostly-Arkansas regiment, in the Army of Tennessee were consolidated into a single regiment at Smithfield, North Carolina, on 9 April 1865. The 1st Arkansas, was lumped together with the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 15th, 19th and 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiments and the 3rd Confederate Infantry Regiment as the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry on 9 April 1865. On 26 April 1865, the regiment was present with the Army of Tennessee when it surrendered in Greensboro, North Carolina.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union)
The 1st Regiment Arkansas Volunteer Infantry (1863–1865) was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although Arkansas joined the Confederate States of America in 1861, not all of its citizens supported secession. Arkansas formed some 48 infantry regiments to serve in the Confederate Army, but also formed another 11 regiments that served in the Union Army.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Organization
Because it was utterly impossible to form a Union unit in Arkansas in the first two years of the war, most Union supporters traveled elsewhere to join. However, by 1863 Union forces were knocking at the door of Arkansas, and many Arkansans still loyal to the Union flocked to them to join.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Organization
As early as the summer of 1862 bands of Union men similar to that relieved by Captain Parker had, in various portions of western Arkansas, consorted together, and, though compelled by oppression and violence to leave their homes, were accustomed to take refuge among the hills and in the woods, and no extent of persecution succeeded in driving them from the State. Commonly known as "Mountain Feds," they were true to the Union under the most discouraging circumstances, and from time to time gave valuable assistance to the organized forces operating in various portions of the State. Many of them entered various Arkansas regiments, including the 1st Arkansas Infantry.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Organization
In November 1862, Major General Schofield, then commanding the "Army of the Frontier," gave authority to Dr. James M. Johnson, of Huntsville, Madison County, Arkansas, to raise infantry troops from the State. This authority initially included only one regiment. Early in the war Dr. Johnson displayed Union sentiments, and by April 1862, he was no longer able to remain at home in safety. He left Huntsville with future Arkansas Governor Isaac Murphy and traveled to the outpost of the Army of the Southwest at Keytesville, Missouri.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Organization
He promptly reported to General Curtis, then in command and was placed on Curtis's staff as a volunteer aid. Subsequently, he rendered services to Generals Schofield, Totten, and Herron, and accompanied the "Army of the Frontier", on its march into northwestern Arkansas, in October 1862, under the command of General Schofield. Returning with this army to Elkhorn Tavern, he received the authority to raise the 1st Arkansas and marched with the army in the campaign that terminated in the Battle of Prairie Grove. Following the battle, he opened a recruiting office at Fayetteville for the 1st Arkansas infantry volunteers. Recruiting proceeded and on March 25, 1863, the regiment was organized and Dr. Johnson was enlisted into the service as its colonel. The 1st Arkansas Infantry was organized at Fayetteville, Ark., and mustered in March 25, 1863.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Organization
At the time of the muster in this regiment, it numbered thirty-six commissioned officers and eight hundred enlisted men, recruited in the previous sixty days in Madison, Washington, Newton, Benton, Searcy, and Crawford counties. The greatest aggregate was in November 1863 totalling nine hundred and seventy-nine, (979) officers and men; the lowest strength was in March 1865, when the regiment reported only seven hundred and seventy-four, (774) present aggregate, seven hundred and eighty-eight, (788,) thirty-one (31) commissioned officers and seven hundred amid fifty-seven (757) enlisted men.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Organization
The 1st Arkansas Infantry was attached to District Southwest Missouri, Dept. Missouri to December 1863. The 1st Arkansas was attached to 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, Dept. Missouri, to January 1864. The regiment was attached to 2nd Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Army Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to March 1864. The regiment was attached to 1st Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Army Corps, to February 1865. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 7th Army Corps, to August 1865.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment participated in the Battle of Fayetteville, under the immediate command of Lieutenant Colonel E. J. Searle and Major E. D. Ham, on April 18, 1863. The regiment marched to Springfield, Mo., April 25 – May 4, and was on duty there till July. On July 6, it was ordered to Cassville, Missouri, where it shortly afterwards arrived, and on the 17th day of August joined the Army of the Frontier, under command of Major General Blunt, Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, to pursue the rebels under Cooper and Stand Watie to Perryville, in the Choctaw Nation.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment was in the skirmish at Perryville August 26 and the Battle of Devil's Backbone, Back Bone Mountain, Fort Smith, September 1. The regiment participated in the capture of Fort Smith September 1, and  was the first regiment to enter the garrison, upon entering an officer of the 1st Arkansas noted "the regiment entered Fort Smith in advance of the Federal forces. The entire distance traveled 400 miles on scanty rations and poor water". The regiment remained on duty there till March 1864.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
In September 1863 it became known at Fort Smith that several hundred union men had gathered together from the surrounding country, upon and near the Magazine mountain, they were hiding for security, and though generally having arms of their own were in much need of ammunition. To relieve them, Captain William C. Parker of the 1st Arkansas infantry was directed to proceed, with sixty men, to their location which he did accomplishing the object for which he was sent.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
On his return, while crossing Haguewood prairie, in Franklin county, Captain Parker was suddenly confronted by Confederate General Shelby's command, then moving northward on a raid into Missouri. A stubborn fight ensued, Captain Parker slowly falling back until he reached the timber, where the unequal contest was still carried on until, finding himself nearly surrounded, Captain Parker directed his men to escape as best they could. In this encounter Captain Parker lost twenty-two men killed and taken prisoners, but killing and wounding nearly the same number of the enemy.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
Captain Parker himself succeeded with the rest of his men in arriving safely at Fort Smith, when measures being taken by Colonel Johnson to advise Colonel Harrison, then commanding at Fayetteville, of Shelby's march northward, the intelligence was quickly circulated through southwestern Missouri, and Shelby's movement was in a great measure frustrated.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment participated in the skirmish at Moffatt's Station, Franklin County, September 27, 1863. On October 30, 1863, while this regiment was on duty at Fort Smith, a mass meeting of Union men was held at that place, for the purpose of inaugurating measures that should lead to the restoration of civil government in the State, at which Colonel Johnson was nominated to represent the people of western Arkansas in the Congress of the United States. In November he was elected, and again in October 1865, for the third congressional district. Though thus a member-elect of the 38th and 39th Congresses, and necessarily called away from his regiment in his efforts to secure the recognition of the State government by Congress, he served with the regiment when not thus occupied.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
In November 1863, while this regiment was stationed at Fort Smith, about three hundred of its men were vaccinated with spurious vaccine matter, a large number of whom were permanently disabled, and many others, whose disability unfitted them for duty, it became necessary to discharge.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment participated in the skirmish at Mt. Ida November 13. The regiment participated in the scout from Waldron to Mt. Ida, Caddo Gap and Dallas December 2–7. Union supporters were never entirely driven from Newton county and through their resistance, which was specially organized and directed by James R. Vanderpool, of that county, captain of company C, 1st Arkansas infantry, rebel conscription therein was in a great measure defeated.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
In Yell county, William J. Heffington, well known in western Arkansas as "Wild Bill," maintained himself with a band of these men for months, when the surrounding country was held by the enemy, and repeated efforts were made by Confederate forces to capture him.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
Afterwards reporting to Colonel Johnson with a number of his men, who were organized into a company, with himself as captain, he again moved southward of the Boston mountains, and crossing the Arkansas river, was preparing to conduct other citizens to the federal lines, when he heard of the abandonment of northwestern Arkansas by the Union forces in  April 1863, and determined to remain in the State. This he did until the August 1863, when he was killed by guerillas, near the Arkansas river.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
Captain Heffington had been going northward to procure relief for a large number of the Union men who banded together in the vicinity of the Magazine, Short, and Petit Jean mountains. After the death of Heffington these men still held together, and on the occupation of Fort Smith and Little Rock by the Union forces, in the September 1863 most of them enlisted in various Arkansas regiments, including 1st Arkansas infantry.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment remained at Waldron until February 1864, when it was again ordered to report at Fort Smith, to take part in the movement southward, under Brigadier General Thayer as part of General Steele's Expedition to Camden, March 23 – May 3, 1864 The regiment left Fort Smith with the Frontier division on March 24, 1864, forming part of the first brigade, under Colonel John Edwards participated in the battle of Moscow, losing three men killed and several wounded. The regiment entered Camden on 16 April 1864. The regiment participated in the Battle of Prairie D'Ane April 9–13.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment participated in the Battle of Moscow Church April 13. The regiment participated in the Siege of Camden, April 15–18. The Regiment was engaged in a reconnaissance of the enemy after the battle of Poisoned Springs; left Camden on 6 April, as part of the right wing of the Union army. The regiment was engaged with the enemy at the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, where it repulsed a strong flanking party with considerable loss to the enemy, and losing no men itself.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
Captain John Whiteford of company I in a letter to his wife reported "We fought all day on swampy land The night before we were up all night in the rain in line of battle, and during the fight we were up to our knees in water, and when we had drove the enemy back we had to march on return four miles through mud knee deep." On May 1, 1864, the regiment arrived at Little Rock, and proceeded thence to Fort Smith, where it arrived on May 17.


1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Union), Service
The regiment marched to Fort Smith May 1–16. After returning to Fort Smith the regiment was engaged in escort and guard duty on the frontier. Detachments from the regiment were frequently sent to rescue Union men, a duty which, from their familiarity with the country, they were particularly well qualified to discharge. The regiment participated in the Skirmish, Bates Township, November 2, and Newton County, November 15, 1864.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery
The 1st Arkansas Light Artillery, originally known as the Fort Smith Artillery (1861), was an artillery battery of the Confederate States Army that served during the American Civil War. The unit was actually a pre-war volunteer militia company which was activated as part of the Arkansas State Troops and mustered out of state service following the Battle of Wilson's Creek. The unit immediately re-organized and re-enlisted for Confederate service. The unit spent the majority of the war in the western theater, fighting as part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. The unit is also known as Reid's Battery, Provence's Battery, Humphreys' Battery and finally Rivers' Battery.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Organization
Captain John G. Reid was elected as commander of a volunteer militia company of the 51st Militia Regiment, Sebastian County, Arkansas, on September 27, 1860. The battery was originally identified simply as the "Independent Artillery" but was later styled the "Fort Smith Battery" or the "Fort Smith Artillery". Commissions were issued to the following officers on October 2, 1860:


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Organization
The unit was inducted into state service for 90 days' service as part of Brigadier General Nicholas Bartlett Pearce's 1st Division (brigade), Army of Arkansas, in June 1861. The battery officers at the time of entry into state service were:


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Organization
The Fort Smith Battery was well drilled. Captain William E. Woodruff, Jr., who commanded the Pulaski Light Artillery, is said to have watched the drill of Captain Reid's Battery in order to recall the correct procedures for artillery drill. In keeping with the practice in the Confederate Army of referring to an artillery battery by the name of its current commander, the First Arkansas Light Artillery was variously known as Provence's Battery, Humphreys' Battery and Rivers' Battery. The Compiled Service Records of the men are filed under "Rivers' Battery" on Microfilm Roll #41.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Organization
Two of the guns belonging to the battery were themselves somewhat famous. During the Mexican–American War, Captain Braxton Bragg had commanded a battery of 6 pounder howitzers. While the battery was under heavy fire during the Battle of Buena Vista, on February 23, 1847, General Zachary Taylor road up to Captain Bragg's guns. When Bragg asked the General what he should do, the general allegedly replied, "A little more grape, Captain Bragg." This event first raised the young captain to national prominence.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Organization
The very guns were lying in the Little Rock Arsenal when it was seized by the Arkansas State Militia before the state seceded. Two of the guns were issued to the Crawford Artillery, a battery organized in Crawford County by James T. Stewart. The Crawford Artillery was eventually converted to infantry, and two of Bragg's guns were passed to the Fort Smith Artillery.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Wilson's Creek
The ninth day of August, 1861, found the Fort Smith Artillery, camped on Wilson's Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, in south-west Missouri, assigned to the 1st Division (Brigade) of the Provisional Army of Arkansas (State Troops) commanded by State Brigadier General Nicholas B. Pearce. Pearce's Division, comprised one part of the Southern force under the overall command of Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch. The other two components of the Southern force were McCulloch's own Western Army, consisting one Louisiana regiment, one Texas regiment, two Arkansas regiments and one battalion of Arkansas Confederate Troops, and Major General Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Wilson's Creek
When notified of the approach of General Nathaniel Lyon's Union force, General Pearce stationed the Ried's battery "on an eminence to command the approaches to our right and rear, and gave him the 5th Arkansas Infantry (Colonel T.P. Dockery) as a support." When Union General Sigel commanding the union left column of the advance from Springfield, came upon Pearce's right and established a battery, Pearce directed Reid's battery to engage. Reid succeeded in getting his range accurately, so that his shot proved very effective." Following the battle, Brigadier General Pearce Arkansas State Troops returned to northwest Arkansas and voted to be mustered out of service rather than being transferred to Confederate Service. The battery was mustered out of State service on September 17, 1861, and all of its members were discharged.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Reorganized
The battery reorganized after Wilson's Creek, but Captain Reid did not stand for re-election, having accepted a staff position. The battery elected David Provence as captain on September 17, 1861. On March 7 and 8, 1862, during the Battle of Pea Ridge, the battery was assigned to Major General Benjamin McCulloch's Division of Major General Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West. Following the Confederate defeat at Pea Ridge, Van Dorn's Army retreated first to Van Buren and then moved east before boarding river boats and beginning a move to link up with Confederate forces massing near Corinth Mississippi. The Fort Smith Battery was sent east of the Mississippi River and served there for the rest of the war. Captain Reid would later command yet another battery during the Battle of Prairie Grove, but that organization bore no relation to the Fort Smith Battery.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Reorganized
Captain David Provence was elected commander of the re-organized battery. Most of the men originally assigned to the Fort Smith Artillery subsequently reenlisted in Confederate service in Provence's Arkansas Battery (1st Arkansas Light Artillery). The battery retained the name and battery colors of the Fort Smith Artillery, but it was officially referred to as Provence's, and later Rivers', Battery Arkansas Light Artillery. A comparison of enlistment documents between the two units indicates that about three fourths of the original Fort Smith Artillery Battery continued to serve with the battery in Confederate service. The officers elected when the battery reorganized were:


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Battle of Pea Ridge
The battery fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern), Arkansas, in March 1862. The battery was assigned to Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch's Division of Major General Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West. Following the Confederate defeat at Pea Ridge, the army reconsolidated at Van Buren, Arkansas, The battery was assigned to an artillery brigade commanded by Brigadier General D.M. Frost.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, East of the Mississippi River
Then marched overland to Des Arc where the army was transported by steamboat to Memphis in an attempt to unite the Army of the West with the Confederate Army of Mississippi to attack Grant at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, but arrived too late for the Battle of Shiloh. The battery would spend the rest of the war east of the Mississippi River.>


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, East of the Mississippi River
In April and May 1862, Confederate forces underwent an army-wide reorganization due to the passage of the Conscription Act by the Confederate Congress in April 1862. All twelve-month regiments and units had to re-muster and enlist for two additional years or the duration of the war; a new election of officers was ordered; and men who were exempted from service by age or other reasons under the Conscription Act were allowed to take a discharge and go home. Officers who did not choose to stand for re-election were also offered a discharge. The reorganization was accomplished among all the Arkansas regiments and unit in and around Corinth, Mississippi, following the Battle of Shiloh. Provence's Battery re-organized on April 10, 1862, and the following officers were elected:


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, East of the Mississippi River
The battery participated in the Battle of Farmington, Mississippi, on May 9, 1862. During this engagement, Captain William Hart, of the Dallas Artillery, served one of Provence's guns as a gunner, Hart's Battery having been ordered disbanded following a poor performance at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Shortly afterward, Captain David Provence resigned to accept an appointment as colonel, 16th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. His resignation was formally approved on June 10, 1862, at which time Lieutenant John T. Humphreys was promoted to captain. The following officers were appointed on July 13, 1862:


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, East of the Mississippi River
When Lieutenant General Braxton Bragg issued his organization of the Confederate Army of the Mississippi, on June 30, 1862, Provence's Battery, now commanded by Humphrey's was assigned to Brigadier General Thomas J. Churchill's 2nd Brigade of Major General J.P. McCown's 2nd Division of the Confederate Army of the West.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, East of the Mississippi River
During the Kentucky Campaign of 1862, the battery was assigned to Colonel Evander McNair's 2nd Brigade, of Brigadier General Thomas James Churchill's 3rd Division of Edmund Kirby Smith's Confederate Army of Kentucky. The battery participated in the Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, on August 29–30, 1862. On November 18, 1862, the battery received a large number of transfers and details from the Arkansas regiments and battalions of McNair's Brigade. Many of these men are later listed on the battery's rolls as deserters; however, many, if not most of them simply returned to their original regiments.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
During the Stones River Campaign, the battery was assigned to Brigadier General Evander McNair's 3rd Brigade of Major General J.P. McCown's Division of Lieutenant General William Hardee's Corps of the Army of Tennessee. Captain John T. Humphreys described the roll played by the battery in the Battle of Stone's River:


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
... taking position near Mr. Cowan's house, some 3 miles from and northwest of our original lines, opened fire upon the enemy's batteries, some 500 yards distant, in position on an elevation equal to our own and partially concealed by a narrow skirt of timber intervening between our position and his. The enemy's guns (supposed to have been sixteen in number), then firing upon our infantry and other troops in his front, were immediately turned upon us with great precision and rapidity.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
We responded as fast as our guns could be served, and for more than half an hour drew the entire tire of all the guns on the opposite hill. Two of my guns were rendered useless by ammunition too large, and two others were, during the action, disabled by the enemy's shot, one having a wheel shot off and otherwise injured, and the cannoneers of the other being in the same way disabled. Five horses were killed by an exploding shell. With two pieces (a 3-inch rifle and 6-pounder gnn) we maintained the fight until our advancing lines were charging the enemy's guns, when we were ordered to fall back, which we did, to a point some 300 yards in rear of that position. Eight men were disabled by wounds.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
During the engagement there were many acts of individual gallantry displayed, some of which I beg leave to mention. Lieut. John W. Rivers, when the cannoneers at a piece were disabled, seized the sponge staff, and, calling others to his aid, filled the post of No. 1 with energy and determination.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
First Lieut. William H. Gore was acting as gunner when he was knocked down and wounded by a shell. He immediately rallied and called upon the men, wounded like himself, to rally to their work.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
Lieut. Oliver P. Richardson, whose gallantry on the field of Richmond, Ky., attracted the attention of General Churchill, commanded his section with ability.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
Lieut. Henry C. Riggin, after Lieutenant Gore was wounded, was entrusted with the command of that officer's section, and rendered efficient service through the day.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
All the above-named officers in this engagement behaved with a gallantry and displayed a devotion to cause and country which should entitle them to the favorable consideration of the commanding general.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
First Sergt. William Shea was fearless and efficient. Ensign Cameron, when a part of the flag-staff was shot down, observed coolly that they were "shooting a little close."


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
Private Samuel M. Tucker had a sponge-staff shot out of his hand, and by the same force he was knocked over, but immediately returned to duty. Private Joseph W. Adams was wounded in the foot and had his pantaloons torn off by an exploding shell. Dennis Corcoran was severely wounded in the neck by splinters from a shell, and reluctantly was compelled to leave the field.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
Duty Sergeants Thompson, Casey, Greer, Long, Brewer, and Burket are all deserving of favorable mention for high courage and efficiency. In fact, to do ample and full justice I should have to mention every name on the company rolls. . All were in trying positions, and suffice it to say that no men could have behaved better while subjected to a terrific tire of shot and shell which tore down trees like the whirlwind and scattered them like the lightning.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Stones River
According to the consolidated casualty report for the Battle of Stones River, the battery suffered six wounded, including one officer and five enlisted men. However, according to the report of Captain Humphreys, the battery suffered eight wounded.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Tullahoma Campaign
After the Battle of Stones River, the Confederate Army of Tennessee occupied strong defensive position near Tullahoma Tennessee. On January 31, 1863, and again February 28, 1863, the battery in included in the abstract of the tri-monthly return of Major General John P. Smith's 2nd Division of Smith's Corps, Army of Tennessee, and had a total of four officers and 103 enlisted men present for duty. The battery was assigned to Brigadier General R. W. Harper's 3rd Brigade of Smith's Division.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Tullahoma Campaign
In a May 19, 1863, report on the artillery of Lieutenant General Polk's army corps, Humphreys battery is listed as having two 6-pounder guns, two 12-pounder howitzers, and 64 horses, 14 of which were deemed unserviceable. On the June 10, 1863, abstract of the return of the Army of Tennessee, a note indicates that Humphreys Arkansas Battery has been transferred to Lieutenant General William E. Hardee's Corps of the Army of Tennessee.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Tullahoma Campaign
The Tullahoma Campaign was fought between June 24 and July 3, 1863. The Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, outmaneuvered the Confederate Army of Tennessee, commanded by General Braxton Bragg, from a strong defensive position, driving the Confederates from Middle Tennessee and threatening Chattanooga. Stewarts Division, to which Humphreys Arkansas Battery was assigned, defended Hover Gap, but the battery was not engaged in the June 23, 1863, Battle of Hoover's Gap.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Tullahoma Campaign
By July 31, 1863, Lieutenant General D.H. Hill had replaced Lieutenant General Hardee as commander and Humphreys battery had been assigned to brigadier General H.D. Clayton's Brigade of Major General Alexander P. Stewarts Division.


1st Arkansas Light Artillery, Service, Chickamauga Campaign
During the Chickamauga Campaign of 1863 the battery was assigned to Major John W. Eldridge's Artillery Battalion of Major General  Alexander P. Stewart's Division of Major General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr.'s Corps of General Braxton Bragg's Confederate Army of Tennessee. During the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19–20, 1863, the battery supported Clayton's Brigade of Alexander's Division. The battery had two of its guns disabled by enemy counter-battery fire. The battery had two killed and one wounded. It managed to save all of its guns but lost twelve of the battery horses. Following the Battle of Chickamauga, Captain Humphreys resigned on October 15, 1863. Lieutenant John W. Rivers, who had risen from the ranks, was promoted captain, effective October 15, 1863, and commanded the battery to the end of the war.