19th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Dockery's)

19th Arkansas Infantry (Confederate)
Arkansas state flag
Active	April 2, 1862–May 26, 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Engagements	American Civil War Iuka-Corinth Campaign Second Battle of Corinth Battle of Hatchie's Bridge Vicksburg Campaign Battle of Port Gibson, Battle of Champion's Hill Battle of Big Black River Bridge Siege of Vicksburg. Camden Expedition Expedition to Mount Elba[1] Battle of Prairie D'Ane Battle of Marks' Mills Battle of Jenkins Ferry
Disbanded	May 26, 1865

The 19th (Dockery's) Arkansas Infantry (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. There were two other Arkansas units which were designated as the 19th Arkansas. Dawson's 19th Arkansas Infantry was organized at Nashville, Arkansas, on November 21, 1861. Hardy's Arkansas Infantry Regiment, which is also occasionally referred to as the 19th Arkansas was organized in 1863 from those parts of Dawson's 19th Infantry Regiment, the 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Crawford's Arkansas Infantry Battalion, which escaped capture at the Battle of Arkansas Post.

Organization

Dockery's 19th Arkansas Regiment was organized on April 2, 1862, at DeValls Bluff, with Col. Hamilton P. Smead in command.^[2] The regimental quartermaster was Capt. Thomas P. Dockery, future brigadier-general. The regiment comprised ten companies from Columbia, Hot Spring, Lafayette, Ouachita and Union counties. The unit was composed of volunteer companies from the following counties:

• Company A – commanded by Captain Jame G. Johson, and organized in Lewisbury, Arkansas on February 25, 1862;^[3]
• Company B – commanded by Captain Dave Dixon and organized in Columbia County, Arkansas on February 26, 1862;^[4]
• Company C – commanded by Captain Wiley H. Buffington and organized in Columbia County, Arkansas on February 27, 1862;^[5]
• Company D/E – the "Mountain Minute Men" – commanded by Captain R. S. Clayton and organized as a volunteer company in the 47th Regiment, Arkansas State Militia, Hot Springs County, Arkansas on December 25, 1861. The unit was sworn in to Confederate service on March 1, 1862;^[6][7]
• Company F – commanded by Captain W. C. Langford, and organized at El Dorado, Arkansas on March 1, 1862;^[8]
• Company G – commanded by Captain John A. Meek, and organized in Union County, Arkansas on March 1, 1862;^[9]
• Company H – commanded by Captain John Cook, and organized at Caney, Arkansas on March 3, 1862;^[10]
  

  Colonel Tom P. Dockery
• Company I – commanded by Captain B. R. Mathews, and organized in Union County, Arkansas on March 3, 1862;^[11] and
• Company K – commanded by Captain H. K. Perry, and organized in Columbia County, Arkansas on March 8, 1862.^[12]

Battles

Soon after being organized, the regiment was ordered to Mississippi, along with the rest of General Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West.^[13] The unit boarded a steamer and moved down White River, out at its mouth, then up the Mississippi River and landed at Memphis, Tennessee. The Confederate commander at Memphis reported on April 7 that Colonel Smead's command with a total of 762 soldiers (of which 560 were fit for duty) was present but armed with double barrel shotguns and inferior rifles.^[14] The unit was assigned to the Brigadier General Albert Rust's brigade. The regiment was immediately ordered to move via paddle steamer to Fort Pillow, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of Memphis, along with the remainder of Rust's Brigade.^[15] At Fort Pillow, during a bombardment by Union gunboats, the regiment saw their first enemy fire.^[16]

The unit remained at Fort Pillow for about two weeks.^[14] The unit experienced few casualties in the bombardment of Fort Pillow, but many of the soldiers became sick, and several died due to the very muddy conditions and poor water supply at the fort.^[16] The unit left Fort Pillow on April 26 moved back to Memphis and then on to Camp Churchill Clark, near Corinth, Mississippi.^[14]

In early May 1862 the Confederate Army underwent an army-wide reorganization due to the passage of the Conscription Act by the Confederate Congress in April 1862.^[17] 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. After settling in at Camp Churchill Clark, near Corinth, Mississippi, the 19th Arkansas was reorganized for the war and new officers were elected. All of the original field officers were thrown out in the election of May 12, 1862, and in their place the men elected Colonel Thomas P. Dockery, Lieutenant Colonel William H. Dismukes, and Major Horatio G. P. Williams. On June 2, 1862, the two Hot Spring County companies were consolidated. Company D (from Rockport) was merged into Company E (from Hot Springs).^[2]

During the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, the 20th Arkansas was assigned to Brigadier General William L. Cabell's brigade of Brigadier General Dabney H. Maury's Division of Major General Sterling Price's 1st Corps the Confederate (Army of the West). The unit participated in the Battle of Corinth and the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge, and reported 129 casualties.^[18]

The regiment was assigned to Brigadier General Martin E. Green's brigade of Major General John S. Bowen's Division, of Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's Army of Mississippi for the Vicksburg Campaign. When General Green was killed on June 27, 1863, Colonel Dockery was placed in command of Second Brigade, Bowen's Division, and so actual field command of the 19th Arkansas Regiment devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Dismukes, who led the regiment through the terrible battles that preceded the Siege of Vicksburg. The 19th Arkansas fought at Battle of Port Gibson, Battle of Champion's Hill,^[19] and the Battle of Big Black River Bridge,^[18] where Lieutenant-Colonel Dismukes was mortally wounded and most of the regiment was captured.^[20] Major Horatio Gates Perry Williamson was promoted to lieutenant-colonel after Dismukes' death, and the uncaptured remnant of the 19th Arkansas fell back to Vicksburg, where it endured the forty day siege.^[2]

This regiment surrendered with the Army of Mississippi at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863.^[18] General U. S. Grant initially demanded the conditional surrender of the Vicksburg garrison, but faced with the necessity of feeding 30,000 starving Confederates and having the idea that these soldiers might do more harm to the Confederate cause by being released to return home rather than being exchanged as whole units, he relented and allowed for the immediate parole of the unit. According to the Confederate War Department, Union leader encouraged the surrendered confederates to simply return home, rather than being officially paroled and exchanged. The able bodied Confederate soldiers who were released on parole walked out of Vicksburg (they were not allowed to proceed in any military formations) on July 11, 1863. Paroling of these able bodied men was completed in their respective regimental camps inside Vicksburg prior to July 11. The soldiers of the 15th Northwest Arkansas were paroled on July 8 and 9, 1863. Those who were wounded or sick in the various hospitals in Vicksburg were paroled, and were released as soon as they could leave on their own. July 15/16 is the most common date of these Vicksburg hospital paroles. Some of the most seriously wounded and sick were sent by steamship down the Mississippi River and over to Mobile, Alabama, where they were delivered on parole to Confederate authorities.^[21]

Confederate commanders designated Enterprise, Mississippi, as the rendezvous point (parole camp) for the Vicksburg parolees to report to after they got clear of the last Federal control point at Big Black Bridge. Most of the Arkansas units appeared to have bypassed the established parole camps, and possibly with the support or at least by the compliancy of their Union captors, simply crossed the river and returned home. Because so many of the Vicksburg parolees, especially from Arkansas, simply went home, Major General Pemberton requested Confederate President Davis to grant the men a thirty to sixty day furlough.^[22] The furloughs were not strictly adhered to so long as the soldier eventually showed up at a parole camp to be declared exchanged and returned to duty. Those who went directly home were treated as if they had been home on furlough if they eventually reported into one of these two parole centers. The exchange declaration reports issued by Colonel Robert Ould in Richmond for various units in the Vicksburg and Port Hudson surrenders began in September 1863 based upon men who actually reported into one of the two parole camps.^[21] Pemberton eventually coordinated with the Confederate War Department and Confederate General Kirby Smith, commanding the Department of the Trans-Mississippi to have the Arkansas Vicksburg parolee's rendezvous point established at Camden, Arkansas.^[23]

The regiment was exchanged back in Arkansas and, when Colonel Dockery was appointed brigadier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Williamson was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the regiment. After being exchanged, the regiment was reorganized and mounted. It was placed in Dockery's and Roane's Brigade, Trans-Mississippi Department, and saw action during the Camden Expedition^[24] at the Battles of Prairie D'Ane,^[25] Marks' Mills,^[26] and Jenkins Ferry.^[18][27] The 19th Arkansas was then consolidated with other depleted Arkansas regiments to form the 3rd Consolidated Arkansas Infantry. The consolidated regiment was assigned along with the 1st and 2nd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiments to the 2nd (McNair’s) Arkansas Brigade, 1st (Churchill’s) Arkansas Division, 2nd Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department, from September 1864 to May 1865.^[28][29]

Surrender

The 3rd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment was stationed at Marshall, Texas, when the war ended,^[2] and was officially surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi by Major General E. Kirby Smith on May 26, 1865.^[2]

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

References

Footnotes

Citations

External links

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

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