The 950 men of the 6th regiment arrived in Helena, Arkansas, on June 23, 1864, spending the next four months in what Private Charles W. Johnson of Company D described as "a series of swamps, bayous and flat lands, overflowed from the Mississippi in high water, reeking with miasma and covered with green scum in dry weather." On September 30, 1864, 654 members of the 6th regiment were reported as sick; by then, 461 men had been sent to hospitals in the North.
In June 1864, 950 soldiers from the 6th regiment arrived in Helena, Arkansas, and endured four months in a swampy environment with poor sanitation. By September 30, 1864, over half of the regiment was sick, with 461 men sent to hospitals in the North.