9th Arkansas Infantry Regiment

9th Arkansas Infantry (Confederate)
Flag of the 9th Arkansas, courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy
Active	July 20, 1861 – April 26, 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Infantry
Engagements	American Civil War Siege of Corinth Vicksburg Bombardments Iuka-Corinth Campaign Second Battle of Corinth Battle of Coffeeville Vicksburg Campaign Battle of Champion Hill Siege of Jackson Meridian Campaign Atlanta Campaign Battle of Resaca Battle of New Hope Church Battle of Pickett's Mill Battle of Kennesaw Mountain Battle of Dug Gap Battle of Peachtree Creek Battle of Atlanta Battle of Ezra Church Siege of Atlanta Battle of Lovejoy's Station Battle of Jonesboro Franklin–Nashville Campaign Battle of Franklin Battle of Nashville Battle of Sugar Creek Carolinas Campaign Battle of Bentonville
Disbanded	April 26, 1865

American Civil War

The 9th Arkansas Infantry (July 20, 1861 – April 26, 1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. It served throughout the war in the western theater, seeing action in the Vicksburg, 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 Mounted Rifles.

9th Infantry Regiment was organized at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, July 20, 1861, and was known as the "Parson's Regiment" because it contained forty-two ministers. Its companies were recruited in the following counties: The unit contained four companies (A, G, H, and I) which were originally oganized as volunteer companies in the 24th Regiment, Arkansas State Militia.

The field officers were Colonels John M. Bradley and Isaac L. Dunlop; Lieutenant Colonels W. Y. McCammon, R. W. Millsap, and Jefferson W. Rogers; and Majors John C. Bratton and William J. Wallace.

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 The 9th and 10th Arkansas, Kelly's 9th Arkansas Battalion, and the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry were issued flintlock Hall's Rifles from the Arsenal.

The 9th Arkansas marched to Pocahontas, Arkansas, in July 1861 and later was initially assigned to Pillow's Division. Like all the other Arkansas regiments raised in the first wave of recruiting in 1861, they were taken into Confederate armies east of the Mississippi River, and only the few survivors made it back home after the war. The 9th was present, across the river at Columbus Kentucky during the Battle of Belmont, Missouri and was subsequently retained at Bowling Green, Kentucky for the defense of that post during the winter of 1861-1862. The regiment was assigned to General Bowen's Brigade, consisting of the 9th and 10th Arkansas, 5th Missouri and 10th Mississippi Infantry Regiments before they were moved to Kentucky. They remained at Bowling Green, Kentucky, until the evacuation of that place when they were placed to guard the rear on the retreat. After the losses of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February 1862, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston withdrew his forces into western Tennessee, northern Mississippi, and Alabama to reorganize. and then retreated through western Tennessee to Corinth, Mississippi. On March 29, 1862, the Army of Central Kentucky was merged into the Army of Mississippi in preparation for the Battle of Shiloh. Bowen's Brigade, including the 9th and 10th Arkansas Infantry Regiments, was then placed in General Brigadier General John C. Breckinridge's Reserve Corps as part of the Army of Mississippi. It fought gallantly at Shiloh, charging repeatedly upon the "Hornet's Nest" where it lost Lieutenant Colonel Dunlop. It was through this regiment that General Albert Sidney Johnston rode from the rear to the front, with a tin cup he had appropriated earlier that morning, saying "Men of Arkansas, the enemy is stubborn. I want you to show General Beauregard and General Bragg what you can do with your bayonets and toothpicks!" The regiment went forward with a cheer and passed him at a run; in five minutes 130 men of their ranks were killed or wounded, but they did not falter. Lieutenant Duckworth was killed at the head of his company, and Captain Wallace was wounded. It closed up and disappeared into the thicket in front, followed by the whole Confederate line, and the enemy was silenced in twenty minutes. General Johnston, however, received a mortal wound while leading this charge, and shortly thereafter bled to death. The unit reported 17 killed and 115 wounded at Shiloh.