1st Arkansas Infantry (Confederate) | |
---|---|
1st Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Hardee Pattern
|
|
Active | April 1861–April 26, 1865 |
Country | Confederate States of America |
Allegiance | CSA |
Branch | Infantry |
Size | Regiment |
Engagements | |
Battle honours | Southern Cross of Honor Lieutenant Colonel Donelson McGregor and fourteen others soldiers for the Battle of Murfreesboro |
Disbanded | April 26, 1865 |
Commanders | |
Colonel | James F. Fagan |
Lieutenant Colonel | James C. Monroe |
Major | John Baker Thompson |
Adjutant General | Prof. Frank Bronaugh |
Arkansas Confederate Infantry Regiments | |
---|---|
Previous | Next |
5th Regiment, Arkansas State Troops | 1st Arkansas 30 Day Volunteer Regiment |
The 1st Arkansas Infantry (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The regiment was raised in April 1861 by Colonel Thompson B. Flournoy. It moved first to Virginia, but transferred back to Tennessee and served the rest of the war in the western theater, seeing action in the Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia campaigns. Following its depletion in numbers, the regiment was consolidated several times with other Arkansas regiments, finally merging in 1865 into the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment. There were three regiments known as "1st Arkansas" during the war. The second unit with the designation of "1st Arkansas" was the 1st Infantry, Arkansas State Troops, which was mustered into Confederate service at Pitman's Ferry, Arkansas, on 23 July 1861, under the command of Colonel Patrick Cleburne; this unit was eventually redesignated as the 15th Arkansas Volunteer Infantry. The third unit bearing the title "1st Arkansas" was the 1st Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, which served with the Union Army.
The 1st Arkansas regiment began its organization in April 1861, before Arkansas had even seceded from the Union. The first Arkansas Secession Convention had convened in March and voted against secession. On 12 April, Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter, forcing its capitulation. President Abraham Lincoln called upon the "militia of the several states" to provide 75,000 troops to put down the rebellion. Governor Henry Rector famously refused Lincoln's request for troops. Upon learning of Rector's refusal, Confederate Secretary of War, L.P. Walker, immediately wrote to Governor Rector on behalf of the Confederate Government at Montgomery and requested that the state provide a regiment for the Confederacy.