11th and 17th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiment

11th/17th Arkansas Infantry (Confederate)
Arkansas state flag
Active	March 1863–May 13, 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Engagements	American Civil War Siege of Port Hudson Battle of Natchez Meridian Campaign Battle of Concord Church
Disbanded	May 13, 1865

American Civil War

The 11th/17th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The unit is also known as the 11th/17th Arkansas Mounted Infantry or the 11th/17th Arkansas Cavalry. At various times after the consolidation, members of the unit who were captured gave their unit as either the 11th Arkansas Cavalry or the 17th Arkansas Cavalry.

In March 1863, the 11th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and the 17th (Griffith's) Arkansas Infantry Regiment were consolidated to bring the strength of each unit to an acceptable number. Col. John L. Logan assumed command, since he was the senior Colonel superseding Col. John Griffith of the 17th Arkansas Infantry. Companies H and I of the Eleventh Arkansas were combined with Company C while the remaining companies remained the same. The companies of the Seventeenth Arkansas were combined into 3 companies, H, I, and K of the new consolidated regiment. Almost immediately the Confederate War Department ordered the unit mounted, with plans for it to serve as a mounted infantry rather than as Cavalry. The "footsore" troops gladly accepted their mounts and spent long hours drilling in this new branch of service.

The men of the 11th/17th Infantry would spend the remainder of the war in Louisiana and Mississippi. The men still carried long muskets but were not issued sabers and when in battle still operated on foot but only traveled from place to place on horseback. This decreased travel time by a large margin. Although the two regiments were from different parts of the State (the 11th Arkansas was mostly from Saline County and a few other southern counties), with different battle histories, the merger clicked. The first duties of the 11th/17th Infantry was to travel to Southeast Louisiana to slow Union advance while preparations were made upstream to meet the enemy.

The 11th & 17th Arkansas spent the rest of the war as the Confederate Army's 'fire brigade' in southern Mississippi. As Union columns made repeated incursions into the area over the next couple of years, the South's counter-moves invariably involved the 11th/17th Arkansas. General Benjamin Grierson's raid is a classic example of the duties of the 11/17th Arkansas.