22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment: Difference between revisions

22nd Arkansas Infantry (Confederate)
Flag of the 22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Possibly Post-War)
Active	1862 to 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Infantry
Engagements	Battle of Pea Ridge Battle of Prairie Grove Battle of Helena Red River Campaign, Battle of Pleasant Hill, Battle of Jenkins Ferry,

Template:Infobox Arkansas Confederate Infantry Regiments

The 22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War (1862–1865). This was the second regiment to be officially designated as the 22nd Arkansas. The first was mustered in at DeValls Bluff, Arkansas, on April 9, 1862, and later reorganized as the 20th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. The unit was sometimes referred to as King's Arkansas Infantry or McCord's Arkansas Infantry.^[1]

The second regiment designated as the 22nd Arkansas Infantry was the unit originally known as the 17th (Rector's) Infantry Regiment, which was organized at Fort Smith, Arkansas, November 17, 1861.^[2] Its commanding officers were Colonels Frank Rector, James P. King and Henry J. McCord, Lieutenant Colonel John W. Wallace, and Majors John J. Dillard and Mark T. Tatum.^[3] The regiment was originally composed of eight companies mostly from Sebastian County and the surrounding area.^[4]

The 17th Arkansas Infantry was originally composed of volunteer companies from the following counties:^[5]

• Company A—Sebastian County
• Company B—Sebastian County
• Company C—Sebastian County
• Company D—Washington County
• Company E—Washington County
• Company F—Sebastian County
• Company G—Madison County
• Company H—Hempstead County (Hempstead Rifles Number 2) (Originally in 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops)

The regiment's first major action was the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862 where, from some accounts, Rector's regiment did not acquit itself well. A Missouri (Confederate) artillery battery allegedly found the regiment's colors lying on the field, and for a time refused to return the flag to Rector, saying that a regiment that would abandon its colors in battle had no right to carry them after the battle.^[4] Another account of the 17th Arkansas's conduct at the Battle of Pea Ridge was given in 1895 in a letter from former Captain Ben B. Chism to Mrs. Harlow Bishop of Junction City, Texas:

"The 17th Arks. Infty [sic] Regt. was organized at Cross Hollows, Arks. in Washington County I believe in Fall of 1861. Frank Rector was elected Col. John Griffith Lt. Col. Matheson Major. The Regt. went into Winter quarters at Bentonville, Arks. and left there a short time before the battle of Elk Horn (Pea Ridge) in which battle the Regt. participated on both 7th & 8th March 1862. You had [a] brother either killed or wounded in this battle.

The Regt. was hard pressed and retired [on the] 8th for want of ammunition, it seemed the Confederate Army had pretty well all left the battlefield before the 17th retreated. The enemy pressed us hard. I remember this incident we had little or no ammunition, and were retreating slowly when an artillery officer galloped up to Col. Griffith who was commanding (Col. Rector, owing to a severe cold could not be heard to give a command) and said to him, "For God's sake, save my battery!". Three or four pieces of artillery were coming down a hill side Col. Griffith answered, "Captain, I have no ammunition, but I can use the bayonet!". The command was given "By [?] Regiment into line, guard against cavalry". In this position we stood in line, until the Federal Cavalry had flanked us pretty well on the left, getting into our rear, at this juncture a Missouri (Confd.) Regt. passed near to us, making its way after our retreating army.

When it was found the enemy was in or nearly in our rear, the command was given to move, and we started at a double quick, but we could not follow the army. my recollection is we moved North pursued by the Federal Cavalry. we were cut off from the main army and the pursuit of us by the enemies' cavalry continued till late in the evening. When traveling in the mountains we [returned to?] the army. At this time Genl. Pike was seen making his way from the direction of the battlefield accompanied by two or three aids [sic]. He was hailed by Col. Griffith and asked what should [be] done. Genl. Van Dorn had retreated to the Northeast and we were making our way in a South or Southwestern direction [here Chism inserts 'North or Northeast' as an apparent afterthought/correction]. Genl. Pike told Col. Griffith to disband his Regt. and let them go in squads of five or six men and make their way to Van Buren, [to] fall in with the Army there. This was [the] cause of the 17th Ark. breakup, for not more than half of the Regt. reported at Van Buren to go on East of the Miss. river, the Regt. numbering some 200 went with Genl. Van Dorn to Corinth, Miss. reaching that point some time in April 62. Here the Regt. was reorganized, John Griffith elected Col., Joseph Dodson Lt. Col., B.P. Jett Major.^[6]

Whatever the truth behind the regiment's retreat and break up following the Battle of Pea Ridge, by early May 1862, portions of Companies A, B, C, and G were still in Arkansas with Colonel Rector, and the remaining companies were at Corinth, Mississippi, with the Army of the West. Lieutenant Colonel John Griffith commanded a battalion-sized 17th Arkansas at the battle of Corinth, and this portion of the regiment would go on to form the famous 11th/17th Consolidated Mounted Infantry.^[7]

Meanwhile, back in Arkansas, Governor Henry Massey Rector issued an address on May 5, 1862 calling for the formation of 30 new infantry companies and 20 new cavalry companies. Most of the states' militia regiments had conducted their final recorded militia muster during the last week of February and the first week of March 1862. Rector indicated that if there were insufficient volunteers to fill these new companies, a draft would be made upon the militia regiments and brigades. As a further enticement, Rector also indicated that these regiments were for home defense and that they would not be transferred to Confederate Service without their consent.^[8] During the spring and summer following this final muster, many former militiamen joined one of the newly formed Volunteer Regiments. It may be that the militiamen decided it was better to enlist and remain together than to wait for forced conscription under new Confederate Conscription laws, which were being strictly enforced during the summer of 1862. Rector's much reduced former regiment, the remaining portions of Companies A, B, C, and G, were reinforced with troops, many of whom were came from the from the 58th Regiment Arkansas Militia regiment of Franklin County, the 15th Regiment Arkansas Militia of Pope County, and the 10th Militia Regiment of Johnson County.^[9]

Colonel Rector's new reinforced regiment, in accordance with Governor Rector's plan of maintaining the organization as a regiment of state troops, was initially organized at Camp Johnson, on July 11, 1862,^[9] near Fort Smith, Arkansas as the "1st Regiment, Northwest Division, Trans-Mississippi Department" with 1037 men. They were also called Rector's War Regiment, 1st Arkansas Volunteers.^[10]

The reorganized regiment consisted of the following companies:^[11]

• Company A – Sebastian County (included men from Griffith's 17th Arkansas)
• Company B – Sebastian County
• Company C – Sebastian County
• Company D – Sebastian County
• Company E – Franklin County (Men from the 58th Regiment Militia of Franklin County)^[12]
• Company F – Benton County (this is the new Co. F)
• Company G – Crawford County
• Company H – Pope County (men from 15th Arkansas Militia Regiment of Pope County)^[13]
• Company I – Johnson County (men from 10th Arkansas militia of Johnson County)^[14]
• Company K – Madison County (men from 16th, 17th and Stirman's Battalion)

Two other new regiments were raised under Governor Rector's plan, Brooks' 2nd Arkansas and Adams' 3rd Arkansas. These Regiments participated in the Battle of Prairie Grove under these state designations. When finally inducted into State Service, these regiments would become Rector's 35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Brook's 34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.^[10] Adams' 3rd Arkansas, after breaking under fire at the Battle of Prairie Grove and being ordered broken up, never assumed its intended Confederate designation of 36th Arkansas Infantry and that designation eventually went to McRae's old 28th Arkansas Infantry Regiment in the reorganization of the Confederate Army following the Battle of Prairie Grove.^[9] The regiment was consolidated into four companies after the Little Rock campaign.^[15]

The Arkansas State Military Board was responsible for authorizing and designating regiments of volunteers. The board did a reasonably good job of sequencing the unit designations through much of the war; however the Confederate War Department at Richmond tended to designate new regiments based upon when the muster rolls were received. Another reason for dual designations was administrative. In the case of the 35th Arkansas, it is a little more convoluted. Earlier, Col. George W. King's south Arkansas regiment had been designated by the State Military Board as the 22nd Arkansas. Since the rolls for the 20th Arkansas had not yet arrived at Richmond, the War Department assumed that Arkansas had skipped that number, so G. W. King's 22nd Arkansas was designated by the Confederate War Department as the 20th Arkansas. By the time the reorganized muster rolls of Col. James P. King's 35th Arkansas hit town, the War Department noticed that the designation 22nd Arkansas wasn't being used (due to their previous error), so J. P. King's regiment was redesignated at the 22nd Arkansas.^[16]

The 35th/22nd Arkansas Infantry was involved in the following engagements:^[15]

• Battle of Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863
• Battle of Little Rock, Arkansas, September 10, 1863
• Red River Campaign, Arkansas March–May, 1864

• Battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864
• Battle of Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas April 30, 1864

A flag attributed to the 22nd Arkansas is currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum Collection in Little Rock Arkansas. The flag is made of wool and cotton flag with a field of five red and white horizontal bars of varying widths. Canton is light blue 11 1/2" on the staff by 11 1/2" on the fly. There are 13 5-pointed stars that are white with gold edges each 1 1/2. Set in an "X" shape. Unit designation is embroidered in white chain stitch Roman unical and miniscule figure and letters: 22nd Regt. Battle honors are embroidered in contrasting red or white block letters on the red and white bars: OAK HILLS, ELK HORN, PRARIE GROVE, HELENA, JENKINS FERRY. The curators of the Old State House Museum believe that the flag was actually carried by the 22nd Arkansas during the war up until the unit surrender at Shreveport, Louisiana May 25, 1865. The flag is believed to have been returned to the State of Arkansas in 1905 by the U.S. War Department.^[17] Other historians believe that the flag may be a post war flag created by the veterans of the unit for use during a Reunion.

This regiment surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, General E. Kirby Smith commanding, May 26, 1865.^[18][19] With few exceptions, the Arkansas Infantry regiments in the Trans-Mississippi simply disbanded without formally surrendering. When the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered, all of the Arkansas infantry regiments were encamped in and around Marshall, Texas (war-ravaged Arkansas no longer able to subsist the army). The regiments were ordered to report to Shreveport, Louisiana, to be paroled but none of them did so. Some individual soldiers went to Shreveport on their own to be paroled, others reported to Union garrisons at Fort Smith, Pine Bluff or Little Rock to recieve their paroles, but for the most part, the men simply went home. ^[20]

Banasik, Michael E. Embattled Arkansas: The Prairie Grove Campaign of 1862. Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Company, 1996.

Baxter, William. Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove: Scenes and Incidents of the War in Arkansas. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000.

Bears, Edwin C. “The Battle of Helena, July 4, 1863.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 20 (Autumn 1961): 256–297.

Christ, Mark K. Civil War Arkansas, 1863: The Battle for a State. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010.

Christ, Mark K., ed. Rugged and Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1994.

Christ, Mark K. “‘We Were Badly Whipped’: A Confederate Account of the Battle of Helena, July 4, 1863.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 69 (Spring 2010): 44–53.

DeBlack, Thomas A. With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861–1874. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2003.

Hess. Earl J.; Shea, William L.; Piston, William G.; Hatcher, Richard W.: Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, and Prairie Grove: A Battlefield Guide, with a Section on Wire Road, Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.A. Bison Books 2006, ISBN 978-0-8032-7366-5

Montgomery, Don, ed. The Battle of Prairie Grove. Prairie Grove, AR: Prairie Grove Battlefield Historic State Park, 1996.

Sallee, Scott E. “The Battle of Prairie Grove: War in the Ozarks, April ’62–January ’63.” Blue & Gray Magazine 21 (Fall 2004): 6–23, 45–50.

Schieffler, George David. “Too Little, Too Late to Save Vicksburg: The Battle of Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863.” MA thesis, University of Arkansas, 2005

Shea, William L. War in the West: Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. Abilene, TX: McWhiney Foundation Press, 2001.

Shea, William L. Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8078-3315-5

• 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

• 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 text from this source, which is in the public domain: Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service