Arkansas in the American Civil War: Difference between revisions

State of Arkansas
National Flag (1861–1863) Great Seal (1864–1865) Map of the Confederate States
Capital	1861–1863  Little Rock 1863–1865  Washington
Largest city	Little Rock
Admitted to the Confederacy	May 18, 1861 (9th)
Population	435,450 total  • 324,335 free  • 111,115 slave
Forces supplied	total
Major garrisons/armories	Fort Smith Little Rock Arsenal
Governor	1861–1862  Henry M. Rector 1862–1865  Harris Flanagin
Senators	1862–1865  Robert W. Johnson 1862–1864  Charles B. Mitchel 1864-1865  Augustus H. Garland
Representatives	List
Restored to the Union	June 22, 1868

During the American Civil War, Arkansas was a Confederate state, though it had initially voted to remain in the Union. Following the capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Abraham Lincoln called for troops from every Union state to put down the rebellion, and Arkansas and several other states seceded. For the rest of the war, Arkansas played a major role in controlling the vital Mississippi River and neighboring states, including Tennessee and Missouri.

It raised 48 infantry regiments, 20 artillery batteries, and over 20 cavalry regiments for the Confederacy, mostly serving in the Western Theater, though the 3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment served with distinction in the Army of Northern Virginia. Major General Patrick Cleburne was the state's most notable military leader. The state also raised 4 infantry regiments, 4 cavalry regiments and one artillery battery for the Union. Finally there were 6 infantry regiments and one artillery battery of United States Colored Troops raised in Arkansas.

Numerous skirmishes as well as several significant battles were fought in Arkansas, including the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, a decisive one for the Trans-Mississippi Theater which ensured Union control of northern Arkansas. The state capitol at Little Rock was captured in 1863. By the end of the war, programs such as the draft, high taxes, and martial law had led to a decline in enthusiasm for the Confederate cause. Arkansas was officially readmitted to the Union in 1868.

Background

The state of Arkansas was a member of the Confederacy during the war, and provided troops, supplies, and military and political leaders. Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States on June 15, 1836, entering as a slave state. Some of Antebellum Arkansas was still a wilderness in most areas, rural and sparsely populated. Slavery had existed in the area since French/Spanish colonial times, but had been limited in scale until after statehood. Plantation style agriculture had taken hold in the areas of the state that had easy access to water transportation for moving cash crops, like cotton to market. Counties boarding the Mississippi, Arkansas, White, Saline, and Ouachita rivers had the highest slave populations. Slavery existed but on a much smaller scale in the mountainous northwest and north central parts of the state. The 1850's had seen rapid economic growth in the state.

News of John Brown's Raid in Virginia in 1859 had spurred a renewed interest in the states militia system which had been virtually dormant since the end of the War with Mexico. Like most of the United States, Arkansas had an organized militia system before the Civil War. State law required military service of most male inhabitants of a certain age. By August 1860 the state's militia consisted of 62 regiments divided into eight brigades, which comprised an eastern division and a western division. New regiments were added as the militia organization developed. Additionally, many counties and cities raised uniformed volunteer companies, which drilled more often and were better equipped than the un-uniformed militia. These volunteer companies were instrumental in the seizure of federal installations at Little Rock and Fort Smith, beginning in February 1861 before Arkansas actually seceded.

At the beginning of 1861, the population of Arkansas, like several states of the Upper South, was not keen to secede on average, but it was also opposed to Federal coercion of seceding states. This was shown by the results of a state convention referendum in February 1861. The referendum passed, but the majority of the delegates elected were conditional Unionists in sympathy rather than outright secessionist. This changed after the Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina and President Abraham Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion. The move toward open war shifted public opinion into the secessionist camp. Arkansas declared its secession from the Union on May 6, 1861, as the ninth of the eleven slave states to join the Confederacy.

Secession

At the state secession convention in March 1861, Governor Rector addressed the convention in an oratory urging the extension of slavery:

The area of slavery must be extended correlative with its antagonism, or it will be put speedily in the 'course of ultimate extinction.'... The extension of slavery is the vital point of the whole controversy between the North and the South... Amendments to the federal constitution are urged by some as a panacea for all the ills that beset us. That instrument is amply sufficient as it now stands, for the protection of Southern rights, if it was only enforced. The South wants practical evidence of good faith from the North, not mere paper agreements and compromises. They believe slavery a sin, we do not, and there lies the trouble.

— (March 2, 1861).

The Arkansas secession convention adopted several resolutions explaining why the state was declaring secession. They stated that the primary reason for Arkansas' secession was "hostility to the institution of African slavery" from the free states. The free states' support for "equality with negroes" was another reason. Three years later, one Arkansas man, supporting the view of the secession convention regarding slavery, stated that if the Union were to win the war, his "sister, wife, and mother are to be given up to the embraces of their present dusky male servitors."

Confederate units

Main articles: Book:Arkansas Confederate Infantry Units, Book:Arkansas Confederate Cavalry Units, and Book:Arkansas Confederate Artillery Units

Arkansas formed 48 infantry regiments and over 20 cavalry regiments and 15 artillery batteries for the Confederate States Army. Most of the troops raised in Arkansas before May of 1862 were transferred east of the Mississippi River and would eventually comprised a division in the Confederate Army of Tennessee. All but one infantry regiment and all of the cavalry and artillery units served most of the war in what was known as the "Western Theater", where there were few battles that were on the scale of those in "Eastern Theater". Beginning in 1862, the Confederate States west of the Mississippi River were assigned to the Department of the Trans-Mississippi. All of the new unit raised and organized after May 1862 would remain in the Trans-Mississippi for the remainder of the war. One infantry regiment, the "Third Arkansas", served in the eastern theater for the duration of the war, thus making it the state's most celebrated Confederate military unit. Attached to General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the "Third Arkansas" would take part in almost every major Eastern battle, including the Battle of Seven Pines, Seven Days Battle, Battle of Harper's Ferry, Battle of Antietam, Battle of Fredericksburg, Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Chickamauga, Battle of the Wilderness, and the Appomattox Campaign.

Arkansas Unionist

Although Arkansas sided with the Confederacy, not all Arkansans supported the Confederate cause. Beginning with the fall of Little Rock to Union forces in 1863, Arkansans supporting the Union formed four infantry regiments, four cavalry regiments, and an artillery batteries to serve in the United States Army. Additionally, six infantry regiments and one artillery battery of African Descent were attributed to the state. Later this units that were originally designated as the 1st-6th Arkansas Volunteers of African Descent were later re-designated as the 46th, 54th, 56th, 57th, 112th and 113th United States Colored Troops. They served mostly as anti-guerrilla forces, patrolling areas that had heavy Confederate guerrilla activity.

Notable Union leaders from Arkansas

• 
  Colonel
  Elisha Baxter
• 
  Adjutant General
  Albert W. Bishop
• 
  Brigadier General
  Powell F. Clayton
• 
  Colonel
  William M. Fishback
• 
  Governor
  Isaac Murphy
• 
  Colonel
  John E. Phelps
• 
  Military Governor
  John S. Phelps

Notable Confederate leaders from Arkansas

Arkansans of note during the American Civil War include Confederate Major-General Patrick Cleburne. Considered by many to be one of the most brilliant Confederate division commanders of the war, Cleburne is often referred to as "The Stonewall of the West." Also of note is Major-Geneal Thomas C. Hindman, a former United States Representative, who commanded Confederate forces at the Battle of Cane Hill and Battle of Prairie Grove. Albert Rust, through his political influence, helped to form the 3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment, and until his promotion to Brigadier-General, commanded that regiment. He later commanded forces at the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Battle of Shiloh, ultimately serving under Major-General Sterling Price. Colonel Van H. Manning took over command of the "Third Arkansas" following Rust's promotion and was subsequently commended for bravery in several engagements, most notably at the Devil's Den during the Battle of Gettysburg.

• 
  Brigadier General
  William L. Cabell
• 
  Major General
  Thomas J. Churchill
• 
  Major General
  Patrick Cleburne
• 
  Brigadier General
  Thomas P, Dockery
• 
  Major General
  James F. Fagan
• 
  Governor
  Harris Flanagin
• 
  Brigadier General
  Daniel C. Govan
• 
  Brigadier General
  Alexander T. Hawthorn
• 
  Major General
  Thomas C. Hindman
• 
  Brigadier General
  Evander McNair
• 
  Brigadier General
  Dandridge McRae
• 
  Brigadier General
  Nicholas B. Pearce
• 
  Brigadier General
  Albert Pike
• 
  Brigadier General
  Lucius E. Polk
• 
  Governor
  Henry M. Rector
• 
  Brigadier General
  Daniel H. Reynolds
• 
  Brigadier General
  John S. Roane
• 
  Brigadier General
  Albert Rust
• 
  Brigadier General
  James C. Tappan

Major campaigns

1861

Once Arkansas left the Union in May 1861, the existing volunteer militia companies were among the first mustered into state service and be formed into new volunteer infantry regiments, also referred to as "State Troops". These new regiments comprised the Provisional Army of Arkansas. In July 1861 and agreement was reached to transfer the existing state forces into the Confederate army. The Second Division of the Army of Arkansas was transferred to the Confederate Army under the command of General William E. Hardee, but before the First Division of the Army of Arkansas could be transferred, it participated in the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri, in August 1861. Following the battle of Wilson's Creek, the First Division voted to disband rather than enter Confederate Service. The Arkansas Secession Convention directed each county to organize a Home Guard organization, which was intended to include old men and boys who were otherwise disqualified from active service. The Home Guard were later commissioned to begin guerrilla operations against occupying Union forces.

In November 1861, Colonel Solon S. Borland, commanding Confederate forces at Pittman's Ferry received information regarding an Intimate invasion of Northeast Arkansas and issued an immediate call for Militia forces to re-enforce his position. The State Military Board authorized the activation of Eighth Brigade of Militia, and one company from the militia regiments of Prairie, Monroe, Poinsett, Saint Francis, and Craighead counties. The units that responded to this call were formed into three regiments of 30 Day Volunteers. Some of these companies later enrolled in regular Confederate service.

Arkansas state troops provided the bulk of forces for the second major battle of the war on August 10, 1861, the Battle of Wilson's Creek in southwestern Missouri. Although the battle was a victory for the Confederacy, the Arkansas forces moved back to Arkansas and, after a dispute over transfer to Confederate authority, were disbanded. Remaining Confederate forces in Arkansas were transferred east of the Mississippi River in the fall of 1861 and spent the remainder of the war serving in that theater.

1862

In the spring of 1862 a Union invasion of Northwest Arkansas necessitated an activation of parts of the state militia. In February 1862, General McCulloch issued a proclamation from Fayetteville requesting that "every man turn out and form companies, and rally to meet the advancing enemy". Brigadier General N. B. Burrow, commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Arkansas State Militia reacted by activating his entire brigade consisting of six regiments for approximately three weeks. Later in the Summer of 1862, when Major General Hindman assumed command of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, the militia regiments were required to provide volunteers for new Confederate regiments or face conscription.

Many of the Arkansas regiments organized in the summer of 1861 would serve under General Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862 and would eventually be assigned to Patrick Cleburne's division of the Army of Tennessee, and the remnants would surrender with that army in North Carolina at the close of the war.

Major General Earl Van Dorn was dispatched to Arkansas early in 1862 to build a new force. After a call for the raising of additional companies by Governor Rector, Van Dorn led his new Army of the West into the Battle of Pea Ridge, March 6–8, 1862. The battle was a major defeat for Southern forces in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and led to the loss of northwest Arkansas. Immediately following the battle of Pea Ridge, Van Dorn was ordered to transfer his forces east of the Mississippi River to reinforce Confederate forces in northern Mississippi, near Corinth. Van Dorn's forces were heavily engaged in operations around Corinth in the summer and fall of 1862. Brigadier General Evander McNair's Arkansas brigade of the Army of the West would eventually find itself assigned to the Army of Tennessee, and its remnants would finally surrender with that army in North Carolina at the close of the war. Other parts of the Army of the West and several Arkansas regiments which had previously served at Fort Donaldson and Island No. 10 would find themselves trapped in the Siege of Vicksburg and the Siege of Port Hudson in the summer of 1863. As Van Dorn was leaving the state, Major General Samuel Curtis, the victor of the battle of Pea Ridge, began an invasion of Arkansas in early April. He moved his 17,000-man army back into Missouri to take advantage of better transportation routes and headed east. He established his base of supply at Rolla, Missouri. Curtis reached West Plains, Missouri on April 29 and turned southwards into Arkansas. During the first part of May, Curtis and Steele encountered numerous logistical difficulties. Poor weather, difficult terrain, and lack of consistent resupply slowed their progress. But by May 9, Curtis' large, but ill-supplied, force had emerged from the Ozark foothills onto flat ground at Searcy. It was poised to strike deep into central Arkansas and seize Little Rock itself as soon as supplies were gathered.

Major General Van Dorn left the state, Brigadier General John S. Roane refused to go with him, declaring that Arkansas troops should be left to defend their state. Van Dorn detached Roane and left him in command of the Arkansas military, but with virtually no organized forces for the defense of the state. Roane approached Governor Rector for assistance in raising new forces. Rector told Roane to stop any troops passing through the state and use them for the state's defense. General Roane Confederate General Roane set to work immediately in cobbling together a defense to meet the approaching Union Army. Roane stopped elements of the 12th Texas Cavalry that were bound for the eastern theaters and ordered troops who had made it as far as Memphis, Tennessee to turn around. Some attempts at recruiting local volunteers were made, but with little success. On May 10, Roane sent Texas cavalry as scouts to determine the federal position. The scouts encountered numerous refugees fleeing the Union Army. The refugees reported that the Union forces numbered about 30,000, mostly German immigrants. Hindman had approximately 1,200 Texas horsemen to confront this force. He ordered cotton stores near Searcy destroyed, and Governor Henry Massey Rector prepared government offices for evacuation. Meanwhile, small advance parties from the Union Army clashed with the Texas scouts between Searcy and Little Rock. On May 19, several companies of the Texas cavalry and a few local Arkansas companies achieved a small, but psychologically important victory over General Curtis's foraging parties at the Battle of Whitney's Lane.

On May 1, 1862, Governor Rector, realizing that Major General Samuel Curtis' army was on the way to capture Little Rock, abandoned the city and moved the state government to Hot Springs, Arkansas. For the first three weeks of May 1862, there was no military or state government in Little Rock. Roane traveled to Pine Bluff and enlisted the help of Arkansas Militia Major General James Yell in recruiting a new Army of the Southwest in the Department of Arkansas. Yell was a "States Defense first" advocate and lent his power to aiding Roane along with Senator Robert W. Johnson, also of Pine Bluff. These three men were the backbone of the newly reconstituted army of the Trans-Mississippi Department. In the meantime, Governor Rector sent dispatches to President Jefferson Davis threatening to secede from the Confederacy unless Davis sent some sort of support. Davis' answer came in the form of the CSS Pontchartrain and CSS Maurepas, which were dispatched to Little Rock. The state government did not return to Little Rock until the Pontchartrain arrived. A week later, on May 31, 1862, Major General Thomas C. Hindman arrived to take command from Roane and ordered all troops in Pine Bluff to Little Rock.

Hindman was dispatched to take command of what had been designated as the Confederate Department of the Trans-Mississippi. When Hindman arrived, Union forces were still moving south from Batesville and threatening the state capitol of Little Rock. Hindman found that his command was "bare of soldiers, penniless, defenseless, and dreadfully exposed" to the Federal Army that was approaching dangerously from the northwest. He set to work and issued a series of harsh military edicts, instituting conscription, authorizing guerrilla warfare and requisitioning supplies for the defense of the State. With the assistance of the Texas troops diverted by General Roane, Hindman commenced a campaign of misinformation designed to mislead Federal authorities about the strength of the state's defenses. Hindman sent a combined force of Texas troops and newly formed and hastily cobbled together Arkansas units to confront Curtis at the Battle of Cotton Plant, on July 7, 1862. This series of events, combined with harassing tactics, confused the Federal authorities, causing them to fear that they did not have an adequate supply line to conquer the state and they soon diverted from a course towards the capital and instead moved to Helena to reestablish a solid supply line.

Through rigorous enforcement of new Confederate conscription laws, Hindman was able to raise a new army in Arkansas in the summer of 1862. Hindman's tactics had questionable legal authority. The Confederate Conscription Act of April 1862 had expressly forbid the rasing of new units through conscription. The intent of the law had been to provide replacements to the existing Confederate regiments in the field for the losses that they had already experienced through disease, desertion and battle field loss. Hindman's problem was that General Van Dorn had taken virtually every organized regiment in the state with him to Mississippi. Hindman turned a blind eye to this legal challenge and began aggressively recruiting. To encourage volunteers, Hindman announced that volunteer companies raised before a certain date would be allowed to elect their own officers, as was the custom, while conscript companies would have their officers appointed. Hindman did have a ready supply of experience officers to help him in his reorganization. In early May 1862, Confederate forces in northern Mississippi, underwent an army-wide reorganization due to the passage of the Conscription Act by the Confederate Congress in April 1862. All twelve-month regiments 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 in and around Corinth, Mississippi, following the Battle of Shiloh. During its reorganization, a number of senior officers from the Arkansas regiments east of the Mississippi, such as Colonels James Fleming Fagan, Robert G. Shaver, and Alexander Travis Hawthorn resigned their original commands and returned to Arkansas and assisted Hindman in organizing new units in the summer of 1862.

Hindman sent numerous requests for arms back across the Mississippi River. Many weapons were transferred to the Trans Mississippi District from Vicksburg in what became known as the "Fairplay Affair." A shipment of 18,000 arms were dispatched to Pine Bluff from Vicksburg, MIss. by way of Monroe, La., but 5,000 of those 18,000 were captured on the steamer Fair Play by Union forces, and 2,500 arms were redirected to Major-General Richard Taylor's army in Louisiana. Only 11,000 arms made it to Pine Bluff. These weapons had come from the arsenal of eastern Confederate states that had been returned to the state arsenals as the Confederates had re-equipped themselves with the better captured Union arms. Most of the guns were castoffs and unusable weapons from the various state armories which had been returned to the armories after the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi had been re-equipped from the "Battlefield Quartermaster" of Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas and Harper Ferry.

Hindman's aggressive tactics caused complaints that he was ruling by martial law, which led the Confederate government to send Lieutenant-General Theophilus H. Holmes to assume command of the new Department of the Trans-Mississippi. Hindman was retained as commander of the I Corps of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi. Hindman led this new force, composed largely of conscripts, in an attempt to clear northwest Arkansas of Union forces. The offensive ended in defeat at the Battle of Prairie Grove in Northwest Arkansas on December 7, 1862.

1863

The new year did not bring good new to Confedates in Arkansas. When the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, Union forces occupied northwestern Arkansas. Local Union commanders, who had been aggressively enforcing the Confiscation Acts to grant freedom to slaves of rebel owners, put the Proclamation into effect immediately, freeing many slaves in the area. In 1862, the Confederate Army had constructed a massive defensive earthwork at Arkansas Post, on the Mississippi River, known as Fort Hindman. It was located on a bluff 25 feet above the river on the north bank, with a mile view up and downriver. It was designed to prevent Union forces from going upriver to Little Rock, and to disrupt Union movement on the Mississippi. On January 9–11 of 1863, Union forces conducted an amphibious assault on the fortress backed by ironclad gunboats as part of the Vicksburg Campaign. Union forces outnumbered the defenders (33,000 to 5,500) and won an easy victory and capturing the post, with most of the Confederate garrison surrendering.

General Hindman was transferred to a new command back east of the Mississippi in the Army of the Tennessee, leaving Holmes and Major General Sterling Price, of Missouri in command in Arkansas. Arkansas troops spend much of the winter and spring in camp near Little Rock. Under pressure from Richmond to attempt to relieve federal pressure on Vicksburg, Mississippi, General Holmes moved his army across the state and attacked the Union supply depot at Helena. The Confederate attack was repulsed at the Battle of Helena on July 3, 1863, which is the same day that Vicksburg fell to Union forces.

With the Union base at Helena now secure, Major-General Frederick Steele decided it was time to seize the state capitol at Little Rock. Price, commanding the District of Arkansas in place of Holmes, opposed Steele's advance with his cavalry forces while strengthening the northern approaches to the city. Clashes occurred at Brownsville, West Point, Harrison's Landing, Reed's Bridge, and Ashley's Mills (or Ferry Landing). Steele ultimately outflanked Price's defensive preparations by crossing the Arkansas River and attacking from the south side of the river. Confederate forces opposed this attack at the Battle of Bayou Fourche, near the current Bill and Hillary Clinton International Airport. Ultimately, Price decided to abandon the city rather than risk being trapped in a siege operation. Confederate forces retreated to southwestern Arkansas, establishing a new Confederate state capitol at Washington in Hempstead County. After the fall of Little Rock to Union forces in September 1863, Governor Harris Flanagin ordered out the militia regiments of Clark, Hempstead, Sevier, Pike, Polk, Montgomery, La Fayette, Ouachita, Union, and Columbia counties and directed them to supply mounted companies for new regiments of State Troops. This recruiting method succeeded in supplying several new mounted companies which participated in resisting Union General Steele's Camden Expedition in the spring of 1864. Sporadic recruiting of new volunteer companies from the Militia continued until March 1865.

1864

The next major action in Arkansas was the Camden Expedition (March 23 – May 2, 1864). Steele and his United States Army troops stationed at Little Rock and Fort Smith were ordered to march to Shreveport, Louisiana. There, Steele was supposed to link up with a separate Federal amphibious expedition which was advancing up the Red River Valley. The combined Union force was then to strike into Texas. However, the two pincers never converged, and Steele's columns suffered terrible losses in a series of battles with Confederates led by Sterling Price and General E. Kirby Smith at the Battle of Marks' Mills, Battle of Poison Spring and the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry. Ultimately Union forces managed to escape back to Little Rock where they basically remained for the duration of the war.

The victory by Confederates in the Red River Campaign and its Arkansas segment, the Camden Expedition, opened a brief window of opportunity for Arkansas Confederates. Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby was dispatched to northeast Arkansas with his cavalry brigade and began recruiting anew. Throughout the summer of 1864, Confederate strength in northeast Arkansas steadily grew with many men who had either deserted or become separated from their previous commands returning to Confederate service. The last formation of new Confederate units occurred during this time with the formation of the 45th through the 48th Arkansas Mounted Infantry units. Several existing Arkansas units were converted to mounted infantry and dispatched to northeast Arkansas.

With these strengthened units, Shelby was able to seriously threaten vital Union lines of communication along the Arkansas River between Helena and Little Rock, and for a time it appeared that the Confederates would mount a serious attempt to retake the capitol in Little Rock. However, Confederate authorities in Richmond pressured Smith to dispatch some of his infantry to reinforce Confederate armies east of the Mississippi. This caused an uproar with the Arkansas confederate infantry units and, as a compromise, Smith approved a plan by Price to organize a large-scale raid into Missouri that would coincide with the November 1864 presidential election. Many Arkansas troops participated in the last Confederate offensive operation in the Trans-Mississippi Department, when Price led a large cavalry raid into Missouri in the fall of 1864. Following Price's defeat at the Battle of Westport on October 23, most of the Arkansas cavalry units returned to the state and were furloughed for the remainder of the war.

1865

On April 9, 1865, the 3d Arkansas was among the regiments that surrendered with the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. The remnants of Patrick Cleburne's division of Arkansas troops surrendered with the Army of Tennessee at Bennett Place near Durham Station, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. The Jackson Light Artillery was among the last of the Confederate troops east of the Mississippi to surrender. The remnants of the Jackson Light Artillery aided in the defense of Mobile and surrendered with the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. The battery spiked its guns and surrendered at Meridian, Mississippi on May 11, 1865.

The Arkansas infantry regiments assigned to the Department of the Trans-Mississippi were surrendered on May 26, 1865. When the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered, all of the Arkansas infantry regiments were encamped in and around Marshall, Texas, since war-ravaged Arkansas was no longer able to provide adequate sustenance to 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.

Most of the Arkansas cavalry units were surrendered by Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson, Commander of the Army of the Northern Sub-District of Arkansas. General Thompson agreed to surrender his command at Chalk Bluff, Arkansas on May 11, 1865 and agreed to have his men assemble at Wittsburg and Jacksonport, Arkansas to lay down their arms and receive their paroles. The cavalry units formally surrendered and were paroled at either Wittsburg on May 25 or at Jacksonport on June 5. Ultimately Thompson surrendered about seventy-five hundred men all total that were under his command consisting of 1,964 enlisted men with 193 officers paroled at Wittsburg in May 1865 and 4,854 enlisted men with 443 officers paroled at Jacksonport on June 6, 1865.Many smaller commands surrendered at various Union posts, including Fort Smith, Pine Bluff and Little Rock in May and June 1865.

The United States government organized the Fort Smith Council at Fort Smith, Arkansas in September 1865. The purpose of the series of meetings was to discuss the future treaties and land allocations following the close of the American Civil War and involved Indian tribes east of the Rockies. Under the Military Reconstruction Act, Congress readmitted Arkansas to the Union in June 1868.

Battles in Arkansas

The following is a list of American Civil War engagements fought in Arkansas between 1862 and 1865:

Battle	Start	End
Battle of Arkansas Post	January 9, 1863	January 11, 1863
Action at Ashley's Station	August 24, 1864	August 24, 1864
Battle of Bayou Fourche	September 10, 1863	September 10, 1863
Skirmish at Brownsville	August 25, 1863	August 25, 1863
Battle of Cane Hill	November 28, 1862	November 28, 1862
Battle of Chalk Bluff	May 1, 1863	May 2, 1863
Battle of Dardanelle	January 14, 1865	January 14, 1865
Battle of Devil's Backbone	September 1, 1863	September 1, 1863
Battle of Dunagin's Farm	February 17, 1862	February 17, 1862
Battle of Elkin's Ferry	April 3, 1864	April 4, 1864
Action at Fayetteville	April 18, 1863	April 18, 1863
Action at Fitzhugh's Woods	April 1, 1864	April 1, 1864
Action at Fort Smith	July 31, 1864	July 31, 1864
Battle of Helena	July 4, 1863	July 4, 1863
Battle of Hill's Plantation	July 7, 1862	July 7, 1862
Battle of Ivey's Ford	January 17, 1865	January 17, 1865
Battle of Jenkins' Ferry	April 30, 1864	April 30, 1864
Skirmish at Jonesboro	August 2, 1862	August 2, 1862
Skirmish at L' Anguille Ferry	August 3, 1862	August 3, 1862
Battle of Marks' Mills	April 25, 1864	April 25, 1864
Action at Massard Prairie	July 27, 1864	July 27, 1864
Battle of Mount Elba	March 30, 1864	March 30, 1864
Battle of Old River Lake	June 5, 1864	June 6, 1864
Battle of Pea Ridge	March 6, 1862	March 8, 1862
Battle of Pine Bluff	October 25, 1863	October 25, 1863
Skirmish at Pitman's Ferry	October 27, 1862	October 27, 1862
Battle of Poison Spring	April 18, 1864	April 18, 1864
Action at Pott's Hill	February 16, 1862	February 16, 1862
Battle of Prairie D' Ane	April 9, 1864	April 14, 1864
Battle of Prairie Grove	December 7, 1862	December 7, 1862
Battle of Reed's Bridge	August 27, 1863	August 27, 1863
Battle of Saint Charles	June 17, 1862	June 17, 1862
Battle of Salem	March 13, 1862	March 13, 1862
Skirmishes at Taylor's Creek and Mount Vernon	May 11, 1863	May 11, 1863
Action at Wallace's Ferry	July 26, 1864	July 26, 1864
Battle of Whitney's Lane	May 19, 1862	May 19, 1862

See also

• Arkansas Civil War Confederate Units
• Arkansas Militia in the Civil War
• Confederate States of America - animated map of state secession and confederacy
• List of Arkansas Union Civil War Units

References

• Cannon, Jr., Devereaux D. (1994) [1st pub. St. Luke's Press:1988]. The Flags of the Confederacy: An Illustrated History. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-565-54109-2.
• Christ, Mark K., ed. (2002). Getting Used to Being Shot At: The Spence Family Civil War Letters. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-726-0.
• Christ, Mark K., and Patrick G. Williams, eds. I Do Wish This Cruel War Was Over: First Person Accounts of Civil War Arkansas from the Arkansas Historical Quarterly (University of Arkansas Press, 2014)
• Gigantino, James J. ed. Slavery and Secession in Arkansas: A Documentary History (2015)

Further reading

• Bearss, Edwin C. (1967). Steele's Retreat from Camden and the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry. Little Rock, Ark.: Pioneer Press. ISBN 0960225-5-1-X. LCCN 67-18271.

• Edward C. Bearss and James H. Charleton (November 29, 1993). "National Historic Landmark Nomination: Camden Expedition Sites" (Document). National Park Service. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help) and Accompanying 62 photos, from 1992-1993: Old U.S. Arsenal (6 photos), Confederate State Capitol (5 photos), Prairie de Ann Battlefield (7 photos), Jenkins' Ferry Battlefield (4 photos), Marks' Mills Battlefield (10 photos), Fort Southerland (5 photos), Poison Spring Battlefield (7 photos), Fort Lookout (9 photos), Elkin's Ferry Battlefield (9 photos) (16.2 MB)

• Barnes, Kenneth C. "The Williams Clan: Mountain Farmers and Union Fighters in North Central Arkansas." Arkansas Historical Quarterly (1993): 286-317. in JSTOR

• Baxter, William. Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000. ISBN 978-1-55728-591-1.

• Bradbury, John F. "Buckwheat Cake Philanthropy": Refugees and the Union Army in the Ozarks." Arkansas Historical Quarterly (1998): 233-254. in JSTOR

• Burford, Timothy Wayne, and Stephanie Gail McBride. The Division: Defending Little Rock, August 25–September 10, 1863. Jacksonville, AR: WireStorm Publishing, 1999.
• Castel, Albert (1993) [1st pub. 1968]. General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West (Louisiana pbk. ed.). Baton Rouge; London: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-1854-0. LCCN 68-21804.
• Christ, Mark K. (2010). Urwin, Gregory J. W. (ed.). Civil War Arkansas, 1863: The Battle for a State. Campaigns & Commanders. Vol. 23. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-4087-2.
• Christ, Mark K., ed. (1994). Rugged and Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-356-7.
• Christ, Mark K., ed. (March 2010). The Die is Cast: Arkansas Goes to War, 1861. Little Rock, Arkansas: Butler Center Books. ISBN 978-1-935106-15-9.
• Confederate Women of Arkansas in the Civil War 1861-'65: Memorial Reminiscences. United Confederate Veterans of Arkansas. November 1907 – via H. G. Pugh Ptg. Co., Little Rock, Ark.

• DeBlack, Thomas A. With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861–1874. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2003.
• Dedmondt, Glenn (2009). The Flags of Civil War Arkansas. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-58980-190-5.
• Dougan, Michael B. (1976). Confederate Arkansas: The People and Policies of a Frontier State in Wartime. Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-8173-0522-X.
• Harper, Stephanie. "Snapshot Within a Portrait: The Civil War in Clark County, Arkansas, 1861–1865." (2001). online
• Huff, Leo E. "The Memphis and Little Rock Railroad during the Civil War," Arkansas Historical Quarterly (1964) 23#3 pp. 260–270 in JSTOR

• Joslyn, Mauriel. A Meteor Shining Brightly: Essays on the Life and Career of Major General Patrick R. Cleburne. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-86554-693-2.

• Lovett, Bobby L. "African Americans, Civil War, and Aftermath in Arkansas." Arkansas Historical Quarterly (1995): 304-358. in JSTOR
• Moneyhon, Carl H. (2002) [1st pub. Louisiana State University Press:1994]. The Impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Arkansas: Persistence in the Midst of Ruin. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-735-X.

• Neal, Diane (1997). The Lion of the South: General Thomas C. Hindman. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press. p. 216. ISBN 0-86554-556-1.
• O'Donnell, William W. (1987). The Civil War Quadrennium: A Narrative History of Day-to-Day Life in Little Rock, Arkansas During the American War Between Northern and Southern States 1861-1865 (2nd ed.). Little Rock, Ark.: Civil War Round Table of Arkansas. LCCN 85-72643 – via Horton Brothers Printing Company.

• Shea, William L.; Hess, Earl J. (June 8, 2011). Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West. UNC Press Books. ISBN 978-0-8078-6976-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Shea, William L (2009). Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-3315-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)

• Thomas, Ph. D., David Y. (1926). Arkansas in War and Reconstruction 1861-1874. Little Rock: Arkansas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy – via Central Printing Company, Little Rock, Ark.
• Woods, James M. (1987). Rebellion and Realignment: Arkansas's Road to Secession. Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 0-938626-59-0.

External links

Government

• Civil War Collection at Arkansas Digital Ark-ives
• Civil War sites in Arkansas at the American Battlefield Protection Program
• Civil War trails in Arkansas at Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism

General information

• Arkansas battlefields at Civil War Landscapes Association
• Arkansas Civil War flags at the C-SPAN Video Library
• Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission historical markers at The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org)
• Civil War Arkansas 1863 at the C-SPAN Video Library
• Civil War battle flags at the C-SPAN Video Library
• Civil War timeline at Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture