During the American Civil War, Arkansas was a Confederate state, though it had initially voted to remain in the Union. Following the capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861, Abraham Lincoln called for troops from every Union state to put down the rebellion, and Arkansas along with several other southern states seceded. For the rest of the civil war, Arkansas played a major role in controlling the Mississippi River, a major waterway.
Arkansas raised 48 infantry regiments, 20 artillery batteries, and over 20 cavalry regiments for the Confederacy, mostly serving in the Western Theater, though the Third Arkansas served with distinction in the Army of Northern Virginia. Major-General Patrick Cleburne was the state's most notable military leader. The state also supplied four infantry regiments, four cavalry regiments and one artillery battery of white troops for the Union and six infantry regiments and one artillery battery of "U.S. Colored Troops."
Numerous skirmishes as well as several significant battles were fought in Arkansas, including the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern in March 1862, a decisive one for the Trans-Mississippi Theater which ensured Union control of northern Arkansas. The state capitol at Little Rock was captured in 1863. By the end of the war, programs such as the draft, high taxes, and martial law had led to a decline in enthusiasm for the Confederate cause. Arkansas was officially readmitted to the Union in 1865.
Background Arkansas was a member of the Confederacy during the war, and provided troops, supplies, and military and political leaders. Arkansas became the 25th state of the United States on June 15, 1836, entering as a slave state.
Antebellum Arkansas was still a wilderness in most areas, rural and sparsely populated. Slavery had existed in the area since French/Spanish colonial times, but had been limited in scale until after statehood. Plantation style agriculture had taken hold in the areas of the state that had easy access to water transportation for moving cash crops, like cotton, to market. Counties bordering the Mississippi, Arkansas, White, Saline, and Ouachita rivers had the highest slave populations. Slavery existed but on a much smaller scale in the mountainous northwest and north central parts of the state. The 1850s had seen rapid economic growth in the state.
News of John Brown's Raid in Virginia in 1859 had spurred a renewed interest in the state's militia system which had been virtually dormant since the end of the War with Mexico. Like most of the United States, Arkansas had an organized militia system before the Civil War. State law required military service of most male inhabitants of a certain age. By August 1860 the state's militia consisted of 62 regiments divided into eight brigades, which comprised an eastern division and a western division. New regiments were added as the militia organization developed. Additionally, many counties and cities raised uniformed volunteer companies, which drilled more often and were better equipped than the un-uniformed militia. These volunteer companies were instrumental in the seizure of federal installations at Little Rock and Fort Smith, beginning in February 1861 before Arkansas actually seceded.
During the Presidential Election of 1860, the state voted for Southern Democratic Party candidate John C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky.
The secession crisis
Abraham Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860 triggered South Carolina's declaration of secession from the Union. By February 1861, six more Southern states made similar declarations. On February 7, the seven states adopted a provisional constitution and established their temporary capital at Montgomery, Alabama. A pre-war February Peace Conference of 1861 met in Washington in a failed attempt at resolving the crisis.
As the secession movement grew, people in Arkansas became greatly concerned. In January 1861 the General Assembly called an election for the people to vote on whether Arkansas should hold a convention to consider secession. At the same time the voters were to elect delegates to the convention in case the vote should be favorable. Shortly before the vote, a rump element of the Arkansas militia insubordinately and pre-emptively demanded surrender of the Federal Arsenal in Little Rock on February 8, 1861.The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series 1 – Volume 1, p. 644, Accessed December 14, 2010, https://dlxs2.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moawar;cc=moawar;idno=waro0001;node=waro0001%3A3;frm=frameset;view=image;seq=660;page=root;size=s On February 18, 1861, Arkansans voted to call a secession convention, but elected mostly Unionist delegates.Arkansas Civil War Chronicles – 1861, Accessed January 11, 2011,
The March 1861 meeting held a strong union sentiment and voted to adjourn, subject to recall by the president of the convention, until after the people had voted on the secession question at a special election to be held in August.Dougan, Confederate Arkansas, pp. 35–36. But attitudes changed toward secession following President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops to put down the rebellion at Fort Sumter. Governor Rector sensed that the move toward open war would shift public opinion into the secessionist camp and he quickly organized a militia battalion to seize the Federal Arsenal at Fort Smith on April 23, 1861.Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Borlands Regiment, accessed October 1, 2010, . Now faced with President Lincoln's demand for troops, the convention reconvened in Little Rock and, on May 6, 1861, passed the ordinance of secessionUnited States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 4, Volume 1., Book, 1900; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139260/ : accessed January 08, 2016), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department, Denton, Texas. by a vote of 69 to 1.Wooster, Ralph. "The Arkansas Secession Convention." Arkansas Historical Quarterly 13 (Autumn 1954): 172–195
Organizing for war
The Secession Convention continued to meet and began the process of drafting a new state constitution and ordering the state's military affairs. Many in the convention were angry with the way Governor Rector utilized the militia to move the state closer to war by seizing Federal installations. As a result, the constitution sought to limit the power of the Governor by limiting his term to two years, rather than four, and vesting authority for military matters in a three-person board chaired by the Governor. The Military Board was to oversee the organization of a state army; to arm, feed, and clothe the troops; and to call out the forces for such military expeditions as might be necessary to defend the state.
The Secession Convention also adopted an ordinance providing for the organization of an "Army of Arkansas".Huff, Col. Leo E., The Military Board in Confederate Arkansas, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, p. 76 The Army was to consist of two divisions: the 1st Division in the western portion of the state and the 2nd Division in the eastern portion of the state. Each division was to be commanded by a brigadier general.A thorough analysis of the Military Board may be found in Leo E. Huff, "The Military Board in Confederate Arkansas", Arkansas Historical Quarterly, XXVI (Spring 1967), pp. 75–95.
The Convention elected three of its members as commanders of the new army: Major General James Yell of Jefferson County (overall commander) Nicholas B. Pearce, a graduate of West Point and resident of Benton County (commander of the First Division), and Thomas H. Bradley of Crittenden County (commander of the Second Division).Thomas H. Bradley Papers, 1836–1847, Tennessee Department of State, Accessed January 24, 2011, http://www.tn.gov/tsla/history/manuscripts/mguidea.htm Huff, Leo E., "The Military Board in Confederate Arkansas", Arkansas Historical Quarterly, XXVI (Spring 1967), p. 79
The Secession Convention enacted an ordinance on May 30, 1861, that called upon all the counties in the State to appoint a "home guard of minute men" for local defense, until regular military regiments could be raised and deployed. These Home Guard units were made up of old men and boys who were not eligible for normal military service. Like the militia, the Home Guard units were organized at the county level, with companies being supplied by each township.Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Independence County Home Guard – 1861, Accessed, November 1, 2010, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/indhomgd.html
Confederate units
Arkansas formed 48 infantry regiments and over 20 cavalry regiments and 20 artillery batteries for the Confederate States Army. Most of the troops raised in Arkansas before May 1862 were transferred east of the Mississippi River and would eventually comprise a division in the Army of Tennessee. All but one infantry regiment and all of the cavalry and artillery units served most of the war in what was known as the "Western Theater", where there were few battles that were on the scale of those in the "Eastern Theater". Beginning in 1862, the Confederate States west of the Mississippi River were assigned to the Department of the Trans-Mississippi. All of the new units raised and organized after May 1862 would remain in the Trans-Mississippi for the remainder of the war.
One infantry regiment, the Third Arkansas, served in the eastern theater for the duration of the war, thus making it the state's most celebrated Confederate military unit. Attached to General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the Third Arkansas would take part in almost every major Eastern battle, including the Seven Pines, Seven Days, Harper's Ferry, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Wilderness, and the Appomattox Campaign.Brigadier-General J. B. Robertson's Official Report (OR) For The Battle Of Gettysburg
1861
Once Arkansas left the Union in May 1861, the existing volunteer militia companies were among the first mustered into state service and formed into new volunteer infantry regiments, also referred to as "State Troops". These new regiments comprised the Provisional Army of Arkansas. In July 1861 an agreement was reached to transfer the existing state forces into the Confederate army. The Second Division of the Army of Arkansas was transferred to the Confederate Army under the command of General William J. Hardee, but before the First Division of the Army of Arkansas could be transferred, it participated in the second major battle of the war near Springfield, Missouri, in August 1861. Arkansas "State Troops" provided the bulk of forces for the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Although the battle was a victory for the Confederacy, the Arkansas State Troops moved back to Arkansas and, after a dispute over transfer to Confederate authority, were disbanded. Most remaining Confederate forces in Arkansas were transferred east of the Mississippi River in the fall of 1861 and spent the remainder of the war serving in that theater.