7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment

7th Arkansas Infantry (Confederate)
The Original 7th Arkansas Infantry Flag was modified to become the flag of the consolidated 6th & 7th Arkansas Infantry
Active	June 16, 1861 – April 26, 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Infantry
Engagements	American Civil War Battle of Shiloh Iuka-Corinth Campaign Second Battle of Corinth Kentucky Campaign Battle of Perryville Battle of Murfreesboro Tullahoma Campaign Battle of Liberty Gap Chickamauga Campaign Battle of Chickamauga Chattanooga Campaign Battle of Missionary Ridge Battle of Ringgold Gap Atlanta Campaign Battle of Rocky Face Ridge Battle of Resaca Battle of New Hope Church Battle of Pickett's Mill Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Battle of Peachtree Creek Battle of Atlanta Siege of Atlanta Battle of Jonesboro Franklin–Nashville Campaign Battle of Franklin Battle of Nashville Carolinas Campaign Battle of Bentonville

American Civil War

The 7th Arkansas Volunteer Infantry (1861−1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War composed of troops from northeast Arkansas. Organized mainly from companies, including several preware volunteer militia companies, raised in northeastern Arkansas, the regiment was among the first transferred to Confederate Service, and spent virtually the entire war serving in Confederate forces east of the Mississippi River. After the unit sustained heavy casualties during the Battle of Shiloh and Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, the unit spent most of the rest of the war field consolidated with the 6th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, to form the 6th/7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.

The 7th Arkansas was mustered into State service on June 16, 1861, at Smithville in Lawrence County, Arkansas. The unit was inducted into Confederate Service in July 1861 at Camp Shaver, near Pocahontas, Arkansas.

The regimental staff at the time of organization of the 7th Arkansas were:

The company officers at the time of organization were:

^*Note: Capt. James Archer, Co. C, resigned before the company was mustered into service and was succeeded by Capt. William M. Blackburn, whose date of rank was July 26, 1861, the date of muster.

Lieutenant Colonel Cain resigned at Camp Shaver because of failing health, and was replaced by John M. Dean as lieutenant colonel and Jack Horne as adjutant. Commissary Shaver resigned at about the same time, and John D. Sprigg replaced him.

The unit's field officers were Colonels Robert G. Shaver and D. A. Gillespie; Lieutenant Colonels W. R. Cain, John M. Dean, James Rutherford, and Peter Snyder; and Majors John A. Hill, James T. Martin, and John C. McCauley.

The regiment was armed with weapons which the state confiscated when the Federal Arsenal at Little Rock was seized by Arkanssas State Militia troops in February 1861. Disposition of the weapons found in the Arsenal is somewhat sketchy, but from various records it can be surmised that the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Arkansas Infantry Regiments, mustered in June, 1861, were issued M1816/M1822 .69 caliber flintlocks. They retained these weapons until April, 1862 when they were able to exchange them for better weapons scavenged from the battlefield at Shiloh.