| 6th Arkansas Infantry (Confederate) | |
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The 6th Arkansas Infantry used a variant of Hardee's moon flag (above) as its battle flag |
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| Active | June 10, 1861 - April 26, 1865 |
| Country | Confederate States of America |
| Allegiance | Confederate States |
| Branch | Infantry |
| Engagements | Battle of Shiloh Battle of Perryville Battle of Murfreesboro Tullahoma Campaign Battle of Liberty Gap Battle of Chickamauga Battle of Chattanooga Battle of Dalton Battle of Resaca Battle of New Hope Church Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Battle of Atlanta Siege of Atlanta Battle of Jonesboro Battle of Franklin Battle of Nashville Battle of Bentonville |
| Arkansas Confederate Infantry Regiments | |
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| 5th Arkansas Infantry Regiment | 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment |
6th Arkansas Infantry (June 10, 1861 - April 26, 1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. Organized mainly from Volunteer Companies raised in the southern half of Arkansas, the regiment was among the first transferred to Confederate Service, and virtually the entire war serving in Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River. After the unit sustained heavy casualties during the Battle of Shiloh and Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, the unit spent most of the rest of the war field consolidated with the 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, to form the 6th/7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.
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The 6th Infantry was mustered into state service in Little Rock, Arkansas on June 10, 1861, a little less than a month after the state first began raising infantry regiments.[1] The 6th Arkansas, also known as the 6th Arkansas, State Troops and the 6th Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, was made up of volunteer companies[2][3][4] from the following counties:[1]
The regiment's first commander was Colonel Richard Lyon.[1] The other regimental officers were:[8]
Initially poorly armed with outdated weapons, some of which were Flintlock rifles, as well as having mixed uniforms, they were by the end of 1861 given matching uniforms from the Little Rock supply depot, and later received better weapons. Prior to that, though, they were marched to Pocahontas, Arkansas where they were to be attached to the 2nd Division of the Provisional Army of Arkansas under command of Major General James Yell.[9] While there, the Measles broke out in the camp, and many of their soldiers died. When the units were offered the opportunity to vote on whether to accept transfer from state service to Confederate service, one full company, the B company, which originated in Calhoun County, declined to re-enlist. A few other soldiers from other companies also declined extended enlistments. The remainder of the regiment was mustered in to Confederate service on July 26, 1861 at Pittman's Ferry, Arkansas.[7] The 6th Arkansas, along with the 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 8th Arkansas Infantry units was initially assigned to a brigade under the command of Brigadier General William J. Hardee.[1]
The regiment saw no action in the coming months, taking part in a small raid in Missouri, and by October 1861 had been sent to Columbus, Kentucky. When their Colonel Lyon was killed during a river crossing, they fell under the command of Alexander T. Hawthorn.[10] They experienced their first real combat while supporting Terry's Texas Rangers near Woodsonville, Kentucky.[1]
The regiment saw its first true battle action during the Battle of Shiloh, where it performed extremely well. Sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee following the evacuation by Confederate forces of Corinth, Mississippi, the 6th Arkansas became a part of the Army of Tennessee under Major General Braxton Bragg.[11] It would be with the Army of Tennessee that the 6th Arkansas began to become involved in regular battle actions.
During the Battle of Perryville, the 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment had taken devastating casualties, leaving that regiment all but ineffective. The 6th Arkansas had also suffered heavy casualties in that same battle, so the 7th Arkansas' remaining soldiers were augmented into the 6th.[11] The 6th and 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiments were combined December 22, 1862, and remained conslideated for the remainer of the war. The rolls of each company were, however, continued as though no consolidation had ever been made. The following consoldiations also occurred among the companies of the 6th Arkansas:[7]
From December 31, 1862 through January 2, 1863 the 6th and 7th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiment was heavily engaged during the Battle of Murfreesboro, and would later fight in the Battle of Chickamauga and the Battle of Chattanooga. The entire regiment was captured along with several other regiments during the Battle of Jonesboro, which was part of the Atlanta Campaign, but were released several weeks later in a prisoner exchange.".[12] Returning to the Army of Tennessee, they took part in the final charge of the army during the Battle of Bentonville.
At least six flags attributed to the 6th Arkansas Infantry or the 6th & 7th Consolidated Infantry Regiments are known to exist.[13]
| The earliest flag known for the 6th Arkansas is a 1st pattern Hardee (Buckner) battle flag- 28" x 38", no white border on three sides, only 2" white border on staff edge. (See Battle Flags of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, p. 55) This flag is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; accession no. 18342. This flag (according to its file card) "was made by a soldier of the Sixth Arkansas, from remnants of blue and white shirts." The blue field is extensively pieced.[14] | 1st Pattern Hardee | |
| This is a 2nd pattern, Hardee battle flag, 31" x 43 1/2", with white border all around and inscription "6th Arks/Shiloh" on elliptical central disc in black paint or ink. (See Battle Flags of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, pp. 55–56.) This flag presumably was used by the 6th Arkansas as its battle flag from sometime in early 1862 until the flag was too worn for further use. (Note: 1/3d of the fly portion of the blue field is replaced, presumably a repair, but the date of the repair is uncertain.)This flag is currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. Dimensions: 31.5" x 43.5"; blue wool bunting, white cotton, with black painted letters.[14] | 2nd pattern Hardee | |
| A silk Confederate 1st national flag of the 6th Arkansas Infantry with battle honor "PERRYVILLE" attached by means of a rectangular applique on the reverse; 55" x 84 1/2" (exclusive of fringe), badly faded. (See Battle Flags of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, pp. 54–56.) It was captured when found in an abandoned railroad car at Macon, Georgia on 20 May 1865 by Sergt. John W. Deen, 17th Indiana Mounted. Infantry; and is War Department capture no. 500. According to a 1907 letter, this flag was only used at Perryville, then retired before Murfreesboro. It is currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock.[14] | 1st National Flag Pattern | |
| A Confederate 2nd national flag of the combined 6th & 7th Arkansas Infantry. (Mentioned in The Battle Flags of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, p. 98) -- currently in the Missouri State archives in Columbia, Missouri. When examined in 1978, it consisted of a 40 1/2" x 76 1/2" white bunting field with a red canton bearing an unedged 3 1/2" wide St. Andrew's cross bearing thirteen white cotton stars, those on the arms 3 1/2" across their points, the center 5" across its points, applied to the reverse and cut away on the obverse (reverse side accordingly 1/2" larger in diameter.) The white field bears the following inscriptions: (upper- in outline scrolls) "6th and 7th/ARK/REG'T" (middle) "God & Our Country"; (lower) "SHILOH. PERRYVILLE. MURFREESBORO.", all in red painted lettering. This flag dates no earlier than May 1863 and was probably a "parade" flag used briefly between May and June 1863, however no firm history survives regarding it.[14] | 2nd National Flag Pattern | |
| This is a 2nd pattern Hardee battle flag, originally of the 7th Arkansas, but modified for the combined 6th & 7th Arkansas; 30" x 37 1/4"; captured at Jonesboro, Georgia on 1 September 1864 by Private Henry B. Mattingly, 10th Kentucky Infantry; War Department capture no. 531. This flag bears the embroidered battle honor "SHILOH" in the center of the elliptical disc, over embroidered "Down with the Tyrant", and with "7TH ARK." above it in paint, with "6TH &" added in front of it, both in black. Similarly, three battle honors, "PERRYVILLE." "MURFREESBORO." and "CHICKAMAUGA" painted in black on the white border. Also painted in white on blue field, "LIBERTY GAP", "RINGGOLD GAP", and "TUNNEL HILL, Tenn." This is the flag that the combined 6th and 7th Arkansas carried from their consolidation in November, 1862 until its loss in September 1864. This flag was captured, along with the regiment, when Govan's Arkansas Brigade was overrun and captured by a Federal charge on their position at Jonesboro, Georgia on September 1, 1864. Private Henry B. Mattingly of Co. B, 10th Kentucky Infantry (U.S.) won the Medal of Honor for the capture of this flag. This flag is in the collection of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dimensions: 28.5" x 37.5"; blue wool bunting, white cotton, silk embroidery, with blue, black, and white painted letters.[14] | 2nd pattern Hardee | |
| This is a small (23 1/2" x 28 1/8") flag, most likely a camp color or flag marker, in the form of the 2nd pattern Hardee battle flag, with the Arkansas coat-of-arms painted on the elliptical disc and the designation "6TH and 7TH ARK. REG." painted on the upper border in black. It was acquired in 1976 by the National Park Service, and is on display at the Stone's River National Battlefield visitor's center in Murfreesboro, TN. Dimensions: 28" x 38"; blue wool bunting, white cotton, with black painted letters.[14] | 2nd pattern Hardee |
By the close of the war many of the Arkansas regiments assigned to the Army of Tennessee had suffered heavy casualties, so the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 15th, 19th, 24th and the 3rd Confederate Infantry Regiments were consolidated into the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry.[12] Accourding to the Muster rolls of the 1st Arkansas Consolidated, an attempt was made to maintain unit cohesion by allowing each of the orgional regiments to form one or two complete companies for the new unit. The following list indicates the regiment of origin for the companies of the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment:
Organized in Smithfield, North Carolina, the 1st Arkansas Consolidated was combat ready by April 9, 1865, the very day General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia. The regiment was surrendered with the rest of the Army of Tennessee on April 26, 1865, in Durham Station, North Carolina.[12]
Collier, Calvin L. First In - Last Out, the Capitol Guards, Arkansas Brigade. (Little Rock, AR: Pioneer Press, 1961).
Thomasson, Bryan. "We Have Drunk From the Same Canteen: Company H, Sixth Arkansas Regiment; the Camden City Guards." Master's thesis, University of Arkansas, 1995.
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