4th Arkansas Infantry Regiment

4th Arkansas Infantry (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment from the state of Arkansas during the American Civil War. There was also a 4th Regiment, Arkansas State Troops which participated in the Battle of Wilson's Creek, but was never transferred to Confederate Service. There is no connection between the two units.

Organization

Originally known as the "Southwestern Arkansas Regiment", the 4th Arkansas was organized at Mount Vernon, Missouri, from volunteer companies from the southwestern part of Arkansas, which arrived in Missouri just after the Battle of Wilson's Creek. The original eight companies which were mustered into service at Miller's Springs, Missouri, on August 17, 1861, were:^[1]

• Company A, the "Calhoun Escopets" (Calhoun County) ^[2]
• Company B, the "Hempstead Hornets" (Hempstead County)^[3]
• Company C, the "Caddo Rifles" (Montgomery County)^[4]
• Company D, the "Bright Star Rifles" (Lafayette County)^[5]
• Company E, the "Confederate Guards" (Hempstead County)^[6]
• Company F, the "Montgomery Hunters" (Montgomery County)^[7]
• Company G, the "Pike County Blues" (Pike County)^[8]
• Company H, the "Polk County Invincibles" (Polk County)^[9]

Two additional companies were added on October 26, 1861 at Fort Smith, Arkansas:

• Company I, the "Polk Rifles" (Polk County)^[10]
• Company K, the "Calhoun Invincibles" (Calhoun County)^[11]

An eleventh company was temporarily attached—Kelley's Company, the "Pike County Rangers" (Pike County)^[1]

Battles

They were initially placed under the command of Colonel Evander McNair, who would lead them during the Battle of Pea Ridge, and who would later become Brigadier General, after which the 4th Arkansas became a part of his brigade.

For a time they were attached to the forces of General Sterling Price, then later fell under General Kirby Smith. In early 1862 they took part in the First Battle of Chattanooga, then would go on the offensive with the forces of General Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee during the Kentucky Campaign, and would fight in the Battle of Richmond, immediately following that with fighting at the Battle of Murfreesboro. In September, 1863, they were fighting under the direction of General James Longstreet during the Battle of Chickamauga. McNair was badly wounded during the battle, and the brigade as a whole suffered heavy casualties.

Through most of 1864 the regiment and the rest of their brigade were in Georgia as a part of the force attempting to stop Sherman's March, seeing sporadic action during this period, mostly in hit-and-run skirmishes. By November of that year they had been sent back to Tennessee, where they fought at the Battle of Franklin. It was their last major action. The unit fought in small skirmishes and minor actions between the months of December, 1864, and March, 1865.

The 4th Arkansas Infantry Regiment was consolidated with the 1st and 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles, 4th Arkansas Infantry Battalion, 9th and the 25th Arkansas Infantry Regiments and designated as the 1st Mounted Rifles Consolidated at Smithfield, North Carolina on April 9, 1865.^[12]

The unit is entitled to the following Campaign Participation Credits:^[12]

• Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, 1862.
• Siege of Corinth, April to June 1862.
• Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, August 29–30, 1862.
• Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862.
• Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 to January 3, 1863.
• Tullahoma Campaign, June 1863.
• Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19–20, 1863.
• Siege of Chattanooga, September to November 1863.
• Atlanta Campaign, May to September 1864.
• Battle of Dug Gap, Georgia,
• Battle of Resaca, Georgia, May 14–15, 1864.
• Battle of New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25 - June 4, 1864.
• Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864.
• Battle of Moore's Hill, Georgia,
• Battle of Peachtree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864.
• Siege of Atlanta, Georgia, July 22, 1864.
• Battle of Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, August 20, 1864
• Battle of Moon's Station, Georgia,
• Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864.
• Battle of Nashville, Tennessee, December 15–16, 1864.
• Battle of Sugar Creek
• Carolinas Campaign, February to April 1865.

Consolidation and Surrender

On April 9, 1865, the depleted Arkansas regiments of D. H. Reynolds' Brigade, Walthall's Division, Confederate Army of Tennessee, were consolidated into a single regiment the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Rifles, at Smithfield, North Carolina. The companies of the consolidated regiment were consolidated from the following Arkansas regiments:^[13]

• Company A—1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles.
• Company B—1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles.
• Company C—2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles.
• Company D—2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles.
• Company E—4th Arkansas Infantry.
• Company F—4th Arkansas Infantry.
• Company G—31st Arkansas Infantry.
• Company H—9th Arkansas Infantry.
• Company I—9th Arkansas Infantry.
• Company K—25th Arkansas Infantry.

The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Rifles surrendered with the Army of Tennessee at Greensboro, North Carolina, April 26, 1865. The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Rifles was paroled on May 1, 1865, at Jamestown, North Carolina.^[13]

See also

• List of Arkansas Civil War Confederate units
• Lists of American Civil War Regiments by State
• Confederate Units by State
• Arkansas in the American Civil War
• Arkansas Militia in the Civil War

Sources

• Battle Actions and History of the 4th Arkansas Infantry, CSA
• Arkansas Confederate Regimental Histories
• Gammage,Washington L., The Camp, the Bivouac, and the Battlefield, Being a History of the Fourth Arkansas Regiment, from its First Organization Down to the Present Date.
• Lavendar, Captain John W. 1837-1921. The War Memoirs of Captain John W. Lavender, CSA The Southern Press, 1956. Sub title:
• Lavender, John. They Never Came Back: The Story of Co. F. Fourth Arkansas Infantry, C.S.A. (Pine Bluff, AR: The Southern Press, 1956).

External links

• Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Home Page
• Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
• The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
• The Arkansas History Commission, State Archives, Civil War in Arkansas
• Fourth Arkansas Infantry

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service".