| 7th Arkansas Infantry (Confederate) | |
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The Original 7th Arkansas Infantry Flag was modified to become the flag of the consolidated 6th & 7th Arkansas Infantry |
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| Active | 1861 — 1865 |
| Country | Confederate States of America |
| Allegiance | CSA |
| Branch | Infantry |
| Arkansas Confederate Infantry Regiments | |
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| Previous | Next |
| 6th Arkansas Infantry Regiment | 8th Arkansas Infantry Regiment |
The 7th Arkansas Volunteer Infantry (1861−1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War composed of troops from northeast Arkansas.
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The 7th Arkansas was mustered into State service on June 16, 1861 at Smithville in Lawrence County, Arkansas.[1] The unit was inducted into Confederate Service in July 1861 at Camp Shaver, near Pocahontas, Arkansas.[1][2]
The regimental staff at the time of organization of the 7th Arkansas were:[3]
The company officers at the time of organization were:
*Note: Capt. James Archer, Co. C, resigned before the company was mustered into service and was succeeded by Capt. William M. Blackburn, whose date of rank was July 26, 1861, the date of muster.[4]
Lt. Col. Cain resigned at Camp Shaver because of failing health, and was replaced by John M. Dean as lieutenant colonel and Jack Horne as adjutant. Commissary Shaver resigned at about the same time, and John D. Sprigg replaced him.[4]
The unit's field officers were Colonels D. A. Gillespie and Robert G. Shaver; Lieutenant Colonels W. R. Cain, John M. Dean, James Rutherford, and Peter Snyder; and Majors John A. Hill, James T. Martin, and John C. McCauley.[2]
During the Battle of Shiloh, General Hardee nicknamed this unit "The Bloody Seventh." The 7th Arkansas had been formed with 905 officers and men, but after the conflict at Shiloh there were only 380 present. After participating in the Kentucky Campaign, it was brigaded under Generals Liddell and Govan, Army of Tennessee.
During the Battle of Perryville, the 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment took 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.[5] The 6th and 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiments were combined December 22, 1862, and remained consolidated for the remainder of the war. The rolls of each company were, however, continued as though no consolidation had ever been made.[5]
From December 31, 1862 through January 2, 1863 the 6th and 7th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiment was heavily engaged during the Battle of Murfreesboro, losing a total of 29 killed and 140 wounded.[2] The unit was engaged in the Battle of Chickamauga and the Battle of Chattanooga. The combined regiment had 16 disabled at the Battle of Ringgold Gap, totalled 314 men and 265 arms in December, 1863, and sustained 66 casualties at the Battle of Atlanta.[2] 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.".[6] Returning to the Army of Tennessee, they took part in the final charge of the army during the Battle of Bentonville.
The 6th - 7th Arkansas actively took part in the following battles, skirmishes and/or campaigns:
Toward the end of the war, ten depleted Arkansas regiments, including the 7th Arkansas, were lumped together as the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry, April 9, 1865.
At least three (3) flags attributed to the 6th & 7th Consolidated Infantry Regiment are known to exist.[7]
| 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.[8] | 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.[8] | 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.[8] | 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 2nd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 15th, 19th, and 24th and the 3rd Confederate Infantry Regiments were consolidated into the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry.[6] According to the Muster rolls of the 1st Arkansas Consolidated, an attempt was made to maintain unit cohesion by allowing each of the original 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.[6]
Allen, Desmond Walls. The Seventh Arkansas Confederate Infantry. (Conway, AR: Arkansas Research, 1988) ISBN 0-941765-28-8
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