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Arkansas in the American Civil War | HearLore
— Ch. 1 · A Wilderness Divided —
Arkansas in the American Civil War.
~8 min read · Ch. 1 of 7
On the 15th of June 1836, Arkansas entered the Union as its twenty-fifth state. It arrived as a slaveholding territory where most land remained wild and sparsely populated. Slavery had existed since French and Spanish colonial times but grew only after statehood took hold in areas with easy water access to markets. Counties along the Mississippi, Arkansas, White, Saline, and Ouachita rivers held the highest concentrations of enslaved people. The mountainous northwest and north central regions kept slavery on a much smaller scale. By the 1850s, rapid economic growth transformed parts of the state into plantation agriculture zones focused on cotton exports.
News of John Brown's Raid in Virginia during 1859 sparked renewed activity in the state militia system. This force had been dormant since the end of the War with Mexico. State law required military service from most male inhabitants within a certain age range. By August 1860, the militia consisted of sixty-two regiments divided into eight brigades. These units formed an eastern division and a western division. New regiments were added as the organization developed further. Many counties and cities raised uniformed volunteer companies that drilled more often than un-uniformed groups. These volunteers proved instrumental in seizing federal installations at Little Rock and Fort Smith starting in February 1861 before official secession occurred.
The Secession Vote
Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860 without appearing on the ballot in Arkansas. Voters chose Southern Democratic Party candidate John C. Breckinridge instead. His victory triggered South Carolina's declaration of secession from the Union by early 1861. Six additional southern states followed suit quickly. On February 7, these seven states adopted a provisional constitution and established their temporary capital at Montgomery, Alabama. A pre-war Peace Conference met in Washington to resolve the crisis but failed.
In January 1861, the General Assembly called for an election to decide whether Arkansas should hold a convention to consider secession. Voters also elected delegates to this convention if the vote favored it. Shortly before the vote, a rump element of the Arkansas militia demanded surrender of the Federal Arsenal in Little Rock on the 8th of February 1861. On February 18, Arkansans voted to call a secession convention while electing mostly Unionist delegates. The March meeting held strong union sentiment and voted to adjourn until after a special election on the secession question scheduled for August.
Attitudes shifted dramatically following President Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand troops to put down the rebellion at Fort Sumter. Governor Rector sensed open war would shift public opinion toward secessionists. He organized a militia battalion to seize the Federal Arsenal at Fort Smith on the 23rd of April 1861. Facing Lincoln's demand for troops, the convention reconvened in Little Rock. On the 6th of May 1861, they passed the ordinance of secession by a vote of sixty-nine to one.
The Army Of Arkansas
The Secession Convention began drafting a new state constitution while ordering military affairs. Many members were angry with how Governor Rector used the militia to move the state closer to war. They seized federal installations without authorization. The resulting constitution limited the governor's term from four years to two years. It vested authority over military matters in a three-person board chaired by the governor. This Military Board oversaw organization of a state army. It armed, fed, and clothed troops. It called out forces for necessary expeditions to defend the state.
The convention adopted an ordinance providing for an "Army of Arkansas." This force consisted of two divisions: the First Division in western portions and the Second Division in eastern parts. Each division commanded by a brigadier general. The convention elected three members as commanders. Major General James Yell of Jefferson County served overall. Nicholas B. Pearce, a West Point graduate from Benton County, led the First Division. Thomas H. Bradley of Crittenden County commanded the Second Division. An ordinance enacted on the 30th of May 1861, called upon all counties to appoint a home guard of minute men for local defense until regular regiments could be raised.
These Home Guard units comprised old men and boys ineligible for normal service. Like the militia, they organized at county levels. Companies supplied each township. Once Arkansas left the Union in May 1861, existing volunteer militia companies formed new infantry regiments known as State Troops. These became part of the Provisional Army of Arkansas. By July 1861, an agreement transferred existing state forces into the Confederate army.
Battles In The Wilderness
Major General Earl Van Dorn arrived in January 1862 to build a new force. He issued a call to Governor Rector for additional companies. A proclamation dated the 31st of January 1862, ordered formation of one hundred new companies and four batteries. Van Dorn led his Army of the West into the Battle of Pea Ridge between March 6 and 8, 1862. This battle proved a major defeat for Southern forces in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. It resulted in loss of northwest Arkansas.
Immediately after Pea Ridge, Van Dorn received orders to transfer forces east of the Mississippi River. His goal was reinforcing Confederate positions near Corinth, Mississippi. Forces engaged heavily around Corinth during summer and fall 1862. Brigadier General Evander McNair's Arkansas brigade eventually joined the Army of Tennessee. Its remnants surrendered with that army in North Carolina at war's end. Other parts of the Army of the West and several Arkansas regiments trapped themselves in sieges at Vicksburg and Port Hudson during summer 1863.
As Van Dorn departed, Major General Samuel Curtis began an invasion of Arkansas in early April 1862. Curtis moved his seventeen thousand man army back into Missouri to utilize better transportation routes. He established supply bases at Rolla, Missouri. By May 9, Curtis' large but ill-supplied force emerged from Ozark foothills onto flat ground at Searcy. It poised itself to strike deep into central Arkansas and seize Little Rock once supplies gathered.
Martial Law And Hunger
Hindman turned a blind eye to this challenge. He aggressively recruited volunteers while announcing that volunteer companies raised before a certain date could elect their own officers. Conscript companies received appointed officers instead. Many senior officers resigned commands east of Mississippi and returned to assist Hindman organizing new units. Hindman sent numerous requests for arms back across the river. A shipment of eighteen thousand weapons dispatched to Pine Bluff from Vicksburg saw five thousand captured by Union forces on steamer Fair Play. Only eleven thousand reached destination.
The Arkansas secession convention shortened governor terms to two years necessitating an election in fall 1862. Colonel Harris Flanagin won election as governor after being recalled from active duty. His administration dealt primarily with war measures maintaining order during invasion. Shortages of critical items plagued daily life alongside rising prices and care for fallen soldiers' families.
When Emancipation Proclamation took effect the 1st of January 1863, Union forces occupied northwestern Arkansas. Local commanders enforced Confiscation Acts granting freedom to slaves owned by rebels. They freed many enslaved people immediately. In 1862, Confederate Army constructed massive defensive earthwork at Arkansas Post known as Fort Hindman. Located twenty-five feet above river on north bank, it offered mile views up and downriver. Designed to prevent Union movement upriver toward Little Rock, it disrupted Mississippi River traffic.
Union forces conducted amphibious assault on
Black Soldiers And White Resistance
fortress the 9th of January 11, 1863 backed by ironclad gunboats. Union outnumbered defenders thirty-three thousand to five thousand winning easy victory capturing post. Most Confederate garrison surrendered. After Little Rock fell the 10th of September 1863, Governor Flanagin ordered militia regiments from Clark, Hempstead, Sevier, Pike, Polk, Montgomery, La Fayette, Ouachita, Union, and Columbia counties supply mounted companies forming new state troops. These participated resisting Union General Steele's Camden Expedition spring 1864.
Arkansas Unionists formed four infantry regiments, four cavalry regiments, and one artillery battery serving United States Army after Little Rock fall. Six infantry regiments and one artillery battery of African Descent attributed to state later redesignated as 46th, 54th, 56th, 57th, 112th, and 113th United States Colored Troops.
On the 9th of April 1865, Third Arkansas surrendered with Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox. Remnants of Patrick Cleburne's division surrendered the 26th of April 1865 near Durham Station, North Carolina. Jackson Light Artillery among last Confederate troops east of Mississippi surrendering the 11th of May 1865 at Meridian, Mississippi. Battery spiked guns before formal capitulation.
Trans-Mississippi Department infantry regiments surrendered the 26th of May 1865. All encamped around Marshall, Texas since war-ravaged Arkansas could no longer provide sustenance. Regiments ordered report
The Final Surrender
Shreveport Louisiana for parole but none complied formally. Some soldiers went alone receiving paroles while others disbanded without official ceremony. Most cavalry units surrendered by Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson agreeing the 11th of May 1865 at Chalk Bluff. Men assembled Wittsburg and Jacksonport laying down arms receiving paroles.
Thompson surrendered about seventy-five hundred men total including nineteen hundred sixty-four enlisted men plus one hundred ninety-three officers paroled Wittsburg May 1865. Four thousand eight hundred fifty-four enlisted men plus four hundred forty-three officers paroled Jacksonport the 6th of June 1865. Smaller commands surrendered various Union posts including Fort Smith, Pine Bluff, Little Rock during May and June 1865. Congress readmitted Arkansas to Union the 22nd of June 1868 making it second former Confederate state restored after Tennessee July 1866.
Arkansas entered the Union on the 15th of June 1836 as its twenty-fifth state. It arrived as a slaveholding territory where most land remained wild and sparsely populated.
What date did Arkansas pass the ordinance of secession from the Union?
The convention passed the ordinance of secession on the 6th of May 1861 by a vote of sixty-nine to one. This action followed President Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion at Fort Sumter.
Who commanded the Army of Arkansas during the Civil War?
Major General James Yell of Jefferson County served overall commander of the Army of Arkansas. Nicholas B. Pearce led the First Division while Thomas H. Bradley commanded the Second Division.
When did Union forces capture Fort Hindman in Arkansas?
Union forces conducted an amphibious assault on the fortress on the 9th of January 1863 backed by ironclad gunboats. They outnumbered defenders thirty-three thousand to five thousand winning easy victory capturing post.
On what dates did Confederate forces surrender in Arkansas during 1865?
Trans-Mississippi Department infantry regiments surrendered the 26th of May 1865 near Marshall Texas. Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson paroled about seventy-five hundred men total including nineteen hundred sixty-four enlisted men plus one hundred ninety-three officers at Wittsburg and Jacksonport between the 11th of May 1865 and the 6th of June 1865.