The 15th Arkansas Infantry (Est. May, 1861) was a regiment of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.
The regiment was first formed by Colonel Patrick Ronayne Cleburne in Camden, Arkansas. The regiment consisted primarily of recruits from Ouachita County, Hempstead County, Columbia County, Union County and Lafayette County, Arkansas. Initially the regiment was known as Cleburne's 1st Rifles, but soon the Confederate States of America War Department renamed them the 15th Arkansas Infantry.
The regiment was commanded by Col. James M. Gee and Lt. Col. John C. Wright. During the Battle of Fort Henry the regiment took heavy losses but was able to retreat to Fort Donelson where the fighting lasted through February 16th, 1862. Of the 15th Infantry soldiers captured at Fort Donelson, most were transferred to a prison camp near Springfield, Illinois. The regiment did not have its entire number engaged at Fort Henry or Fort Donelson, with 4 companies having been previously assigned elsewhere.
Prior to the Battle of Perryville many of the remaining remnants of the 15th Infantry were merged with the 13th Arkansas Infantry which had also taken heavy casualties. Other remnants of the regiment would go on to take part in several smaller engagements with their ranks being boosted by soldiers taken from other decimated regiments. The regiment did take part in what was known as the Battle of Plain's Store, an engagement during the Siege of Port Hudson where they were commanded by Col. Benjamin Johnson. The regiment would also fight during the Battle of Chickamauga where they were coupled with the 2nd Arkansas Infantry.
Eventually consolidated into other units, the 15th Arkansas Infantry records become somewhat difficult to follow after that battle. Many are believed to have eventually fallen under the command of Col. John R. Hardy in a unit known as Dawson-Hardy Consolidated Infantry with whom they took part in the Red River Campaign of 1864. By the end of 1863 the 15th Arkansas Infantry had for all practical purposes ceased to exist as its own regiment.