The Tenth Arkansas Infantry Regiment was organized at Springfield in Conway County in July 1861. This is where many volunteers from Van Buren County (Eastern Van Buren County later became Cleburne) were mustered into the Confederate Army.

Company “A,” known as “Quitman Rifles,” was headed by Captain A. R. Witt. Other officers were First Lt. W. W. Martin, Second Lt. C. M. Cargile, Third Lt. Israel Davis, and First Sergeant W. R. Corbin. The company had eight non-commissioned officers and 94 men in all.

Company “G” was called “Red River Riflemen.” Officers were Captain John B. Miller, First Lt. James E. Lockard, Second Lt. Henry J. Gatton, Third Lt. Edwin Ellis, and First Sergeant Daniel Johnson. This company with ten non-commissioned officers had 91 men.

Other companies in the regiment were the “Randy Rifles,” the “Choctaw Riflemen” from Conway County, “Pemberton’s Company,” “Muddy Bayou Heroes,” “Perry County Mountaineers”, “Conway Tigers,” and “Springfield Sharpshooters.”

Field and staff officers for the Tenth were Colonel T. D. Merrick, Lt. Col. S. S. Ford, Major Obed Patty, and Adjutant Robert C. Bertrand.

 

The Tenth Arkansas Regiment was assigned to General Bowen’s Brigade, consisting of the Ninth and Tenth Arkansas, Fifth Missouri and Tenth Mississippi regiments before they were moved to Kentucky. They remained at Bowling Green until the evacuation of that place when they were placed to guard the rear on the retreat. They were then placed in Hardee’s Corps and marched to Corinth. Here the Ninth Arkansas was put in Breckenridge’s Reserve Corps and marched to Shiloh. In this battle they lost about 160 men.

After the Battle of Shiloh the regiment, as part of Beauregard’s CSA Army, withdrew back to Corinth, where they reorganized. Formal charges related to the disorganized condition of his regiment were brought against Col. Merrick. He resigned and on May 27, 1862 Captain A. R. Witt of Company “A,” “The Quitman Rifles,” was promoted to colonel and became commander of the regiment. Here their brigade was broken up.

They were moved first back of Vicksburg, where they stayed some time on the Yazoo River, at Camp Price. Then they were moved to Vicksburg, where they stayed a short while. They were placed in a brigade commanded by General Jeff Thompson and moved to Louisiana, 30 or 40 miles above New Orleans, where they spent the winter of 1862-63 guarding the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railway.

By the early spring of 1863, Beauregard’s Army, with the Tenth Arkansas was sent again to Baton Rouge where they were to prepare defenses against the approaching General N. P. Banks. This they did by felling large numbers of trees to block the roadways leading to Baton Rouge, digging trenches and mounting siege guns around the city.

By the first of March, 1863, the Tenth Arkansas Infantry was at Port Hudson, Louisiana above New Orleans and during March 7-27 as part of a CSA force under General Franklin Gardner, they were in operations against Federal forces at Port Hudson. After a series of engagements lasting into July, 1863, the Tenth Arkansas Infantry, was part of a Conderate force surrendered by Gen Gardner to Union General N. P. Banks, a surrender that was apparently helped along by internal dissension within the regiment. Certain officers of the Tenth Arkansas seemingly were able to influence some enlisted men to desert and refuse to alternate duties with their fellow companies. By July 7, just two days before the regiment capitulated, there was practically open mutiny.

On July 9, 1863 the entire regiment surrendered and became prisoners of war. The men were paroled until exchanged, with the officers imprisoned at Johnson’s Island, Ohio, in Lake Erie. The unit was eventually exchanged and returned to Arkansas. Col. A. R. Witt reorganized the unit, including some newly recruited members to form Witt’s Cavalry.

John F. Walter in his Capsule History of Arkansas Military Units gives additional information on the Tenth Arkansas Infantry and Witt’s Arkansas Cavalry.

This unit [the Tenth Arkansas Infantry] served east of the Mississippi River throughout its career. Listed below are the higher command

Oct. 31, 1861, Sixth Brigade, First Division, Western Department.

Nov. 30, 1861, Second Brigade, Fourth Division, Western Department.

Jan. 31, 1862, Bowen’s Brigade, Floyd’s Division, Central Army of Kentucky.

Feb. 22, 1862, Second Brigade, Third Division, Central Army of Kentucky, Western Department.

April 6, 1862, Second Brigade, Reserve Corps, Army of the Mississippi.

March 31, 1863, Buford’s Brigade, Third Military District, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana.

April 30, 1863, Maxey’s Brigade, Third Military District, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana.

Like almost all Civil War units, the regiment was frequently known by an alternate designation derived from the name of the unit’s commanding officer. Names of this type identified as having been used by or for the Tenth Arkansas Infantry are listed below.

A. R. Witt’s Infantry

C. M. Cargile’s Infantry

E. L. Vaughan’s Infantry

Thomas D. Merrick’s Infantry

S. S. Ford’s Infantry

Obed Patty’s Infantry

George A. Merrick’s Infantry

Zebulon Venable’s Infantry

Robert C. Bertrand’s Infantry

The regiment participated in the following engagements during its career:

Battle, Pittsburg Landing, Shiloh, Tenn. – April 6-7, 1862

Engagement, Baton Rouge, La. – Aug. 5, 1862

Operations against expedition from Pass Manchac and Ponchatuoula, La. – Sept. 13-15, 1862

Skirmish, Bayou Bonfonca, La. – Nov. 21, 1862

Operations against Port Hudson, La. – Mar. 7-27, 1863

Action, Plain’s Store, La. May 21, 1863

Siege, Port Hudson, La. May 24-July 9, 1863

Assault, Port Hudson, La. – May 27, 1863

Assault, Port Hudson, La. – June 14, 1863

Surrender, Port Hudson, La. – July 9, 1863

At its organization the Tenth Arkansas Infantry numbered 1000 men; yet at the close of the war there were not more than 200 men surviving.

Witt’s 10th Arkansas Cavalry

Witt’s Arkansas Cavalry, commanded by Colonel A. R. Witt, was composed primarily of men who had served with the Tenth Arkansas Infantry, been captured at Port Hudson, Louisiana, and after being exchanged, returned to Arkansas.

On numerous occasions, the unit served behind Federal lines. A Federal report indicated that it often employed female sympathizers to spy on Federal installations and troop movements, reporting the information obtained back to the command. One of these spies was reported to be operating in Little Rock in mid-November, 1864.

The unit served unattached throughout its career, with the exception of Price’s Missouri Expedition in late 1864. During this time it appears to have been attached to Fagan’s forces.

Below are the engagements in which the unit took part.

Skirmishes, Clear Creek and Tomahawk, Ark. – Jan. 22, 1864

Skirmish, Rolling Prairie, Ark. – Jan. 23, 1864

Skirmish, Sylamore Creek, Ark. – Jan. 23, 1864

Skirmishes near Burrowsville, Ark. – Jan. 23, 1864

Skirmish, Crooked Creek, Ark. – Feb. 5, 1864

Skirmish, Bayou Des Arc, Ark. – July 13-16, 1864

Skirmish, Gum Swamp, Ark. – July 17, 1864

Skirmish, Austin, Ark. – July 17, 1864

Operations against Expedition from Little Rock to the Little Red River, Ark. – Aug. 6-16, 1864

Price’s Missouri Expedition – Aug. 29-Dec. 2, 1864

Skirmish near Quitman, Ark. (detachment) – Sept. 2, 1864

Skirmish, Ironton, Mo. – Sept. 26, 1864

Skirmishes, Arcadia and Ironton, Mo. – Sept. 27, 1864

Battle, Marmiton (Charlot), Mo. – Oct. 25, 1864

Engagement, Mine Creek, Little Osage River, Marias des Cygnes, Kan. – Oct. 25, 1864

Skirmish near Lewisburg, Ark. – Feb. 12, 1865

Unlike most of the units which accompanied Price after the Missouri expedition, Witt’s Cavalry did not retreat all the way to northeastern Texas. The command remained, instead, in Arkansas, probably in order to continue its spying operations. The Third Arkansas (United States) Cavalry met and destroyed Witt’s command at the Lewisburg engagement.

The Tenth Arkansas Infantry Regiment was not the only unit which recruited men of Cleburne County. At least seven companies were raised in White County during 1861 and 1862 and others in Independence County.

A summary of some of the members of the 10th (Merrick’s) Arkansas Infantry Regiment, CSA, believed to have been from southern Van Buren County (later Cleburne), Arkansas

Name	Dates	Comments
Officers
*Witt, A.R.
*Cargile, C.M.
*Cargile, C.W.
Martin, W.W.
Mitchell, R.D.
Stokely, D.S.
Enlisted
Bailey, H.J		Discharged at Camp Price, Miss., Jul. 15, 1862.
Bailey, James
*Bean, George W.
*Bittle, Joseph
Bray, Isaac Thomas		Died, Atlanta, Ga., Mar 18, 1862.
*Brown, George W.
Brown, John L.		Discharged, Corinth, Miss., May 22, 1862. Pension 1904
*Brown, Matthew Madison
*Holliman, James		d: 8/1/1902 Pension 1904
Edwards, William A.		Pension 1901
*Jackson, B.F.:		Furlough to Quitman, Ark. from Nashville; Never returned.
Jackson, Hiram:		Wounded at Shiloh; furlough to Ark.; Never returned. d: 9/7/1914 Pension 1915
Jackson, James:		Died, 1862.
Menees, W.E.		Killed at Shiloh, Apr. 6, 1862.
New, F.M.
*Scarlett, Minor
*Stark, C.M.B.
*Stark, John Whit
*Stark, T.M.
*Stark, William V
*Turney, Peter Gid
*Turney, Russell
*Turney, William Allen
*Turney, William
*Witt, Jerry
*Witt, Jesse G.
*Witt, Milton K.

Name	Dates	Comments
OFFICERS
*Venable, J.B
ENLISTED MEN
Aldridge, Joseph C.		Discharged Jan. 20, 1862; diseased.
Cargile, B.F.		d:2/2/1900 Pension 1903
Cargile, C.J.
*Cargile, D.S.		d:3/10/1923 Pension: 1915
Goff, H.H.

 

 

Name	Dates	Comments
OFFICERS
Sobaugh, J.J.
Wills, W.G.		Resigned, July 16, 1862, Camp Price, Miss
ENLISTED MEN
Parrish William		Died at Camp Beauregard, Ky.
*Trawick, George W.
* Trawick, J.G.
*Turney, Joseph

COMPANY "D"

Name	Dates	Comments
OFFICERS
*Vaughan, Edwin L.
*Vaughan, M.H.
ENLISTED MEN
*Cargile, W.S.
*Ligon, G.W.

COMPANY "F"

Name Dates Comments

ENLISTED MEN    

Bailey, John C.    

Bean, Samuel H.   Died, 21 Feb., 1862.

 

Name	Dates	Comments
OFFICERS
Goff, John H.
*Merrick, George A.
ENLISTED MEN
*Bean, J.M.
*Bean, William
*Bean, J.M.C.
*Bittle, J.J.
*Bittle, J.P.
*Bittle, L.H.
*Holliman, E.P.
Lafferty, J.L.		Discharged on account of disability, April 19, 1862.
Pankey, J.J.		Pension 1913
Pankey, W.T.
*Poff, Charles
Ramer, James T.
Ramer, P.M.		Died, 25 Mar., 1862
Ramer, W.A.
*Turney, John W.

Name	Dates	Comments
ENLISTED MEN
*Clark, T.J.
Metchell, James
Mitchell, Milton
Mitchell, A.J.
Moore, H.W.
Moore, J.L.
Moore, Riley

 

Name	Dates	Comments
OFFICERS
*Barnes, James Calvin
ENLISTED MEN
*Cargile, J.F.
*Cargile, J.H.
*Cargile, J.T.
*Cargile, M.A.
*Rollow, P.J..		Died, 25 Mar., 1862

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From Cleburne County Pension Roles

Finch, William		d:3/8/1901 Pension 1903
Harris, Nick O.	Co A	d:11/10/1923 Pension 1918
Holmes, William D	Co B or C	Pension 1918
Hunt, George	Co A	d:8/20/1912 Pension 1916
Lockard, James E.	Co G	d:7/11/1901 Pension 1902
Love, W. B.	10th AR ??	Pension 1911 Assisant Surgeon
McCallister, William L.	Co G	d:4/26/1863 Pension 1913
McClure, Stephen	Co A	Pension 1901
Potter, T. C.	Co G	Pension 1902
Richards, F. W.	Co E	Pension 1907
Shearer, James A	Co G	Pension 1901
Sparkman, H.	Co G	d: bef 1865 Pension 1901
Stark, J. W.	Co A	d;2/18/1919 Pension 1919
Thompson, John C		Pension 1915
Trawick, G. W.	Co C	d;1/20/1927 Pension 1927
Turney, P. G.	Co A	d:9/26/1926 Pension 1915 and 1927
Turney W. A.	Co A	d:2/12/1918 Pension 1915
Williams, D. R.	10th Cav	d:2/4/1900 Pension 1902

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This is only a partial list of members of the 10th Ark. Inf. Reg. believed to have been from southern Van Buren County. There are probably mistakes in both directions, some names were omitted; others were added that should not have been.

Those soldiers whose names are preceded by an asterisk(*) later in 1863 or in the spring of 1864 were organized into the 10th (Witt) Arkansas Cavalry Regiment. Again, this is only a partial list.

In the beginning of the conflict between the states most of the people in this area went about their business as usual. Since most of them had migrated from southern states they were in touch with relatives "back home" where the war was more active and news of the fighting filtered into the area and interest began to build as the war effort moved on.

Reprinted from Wolf Bayou and Healing Springs Township by Louie Clark, with permission

When the call for volunteers came in 1861 several young men from our area answered by going to Batesville or Jacksonport to enlist. They felt they had a duty to protect Arkansas from the invading "Yankees" as the threat of attack seemed imminent. Sometimes a group of men in a community would enlist a whole company. One of these men was E.N. Floyd who lived down toward the Floral community (the post office was then Pleasant Plains) some twelve miles from Wolf Bayou. He traveled throughout our area enlisting men to serve. On July 17, 1861 he took his company to Jacksonport and it became official . Many thought a few months would finish this war for good and everyone would be home to harvest the crops they had planted earlier.

NOTE: This unit probably joined the 1st Arkansas Infantry which was formed at Jacksonport. Jacksonport no longer exists, the closes town is now Newport.

Not everyone in this company was from our community but many of them are relatives so I have listed them. They are:

• E.N. Floyd, Captain
• J.H. Moore, 1st Lt.
• H.L. Ward, 2nd Lt.
• Thos. A.M. Ellis, 3rd Lt.
• A.J. Chilcutt, lst Sgt.
• John R. Berry, 2nd Sgt.
• Thos. G. Sharp, 3rd Sgt.
• J.A. Blount, 4^th Sgt.
• Samuel Johnson, lst Cpt.
• S.A. Floyd, 2^nd Cpl.
• Howell H. Moore, 3^rd Cpl.
• Joshua T. Patton, 4^th Cpl.

• William Barker
• Berry E. Benson
• Moses J. Berry
• Helick Bohannon
• William B. Carter
• Alexander Carroll
• Jonathan Coleman
• Wesley A. Curtis
• William S. Curtis
• Thos. R. Davis
• T.G. Gilmore
• S.H. Glenn
• William T. Glenn
• William Gillam
• Silas G. Grooms
• William G. Griffin
• John R. Hammett
• Jas A. Herron
• Jas. R. Herron
• Marcus G. Herron
• F.B. Higginbotham
• Brance Hutson
• Elmore D. Jeffrey
• John W. Kennedy
• Robert M. Kingston
• John L. Lacy
• F.D. Lewis
• Steven C. Mann
• James Matherly
• Eli B. Matthews
• Jesse A. Mauldin
• H.T. Mauldin
• Samuel W. McBride
• Isaac McCarver
• John McCormick
• Nicholas Mize
• Jas. A. Moody
• John W. Murphy
• John Myers
• A.M. Neeld
• Robert E. Neeld
• Geo. T. Pearce
• Chas. B. Perry
• Wilson H. Rackley
• Joseph Reed
• Mitchell Reed
• Samuel Richards
• James L. Roach
• John Roach
• B.G. Sherman
• E. Shewmake
• Thos. J. Shewmake
• Eli W. Stone
• James B. Taylor
• Frank Tidwell
• John Tidwell
• H.C. Ward
• H.N. Webb
• John C. Williams
• Jas. R. Wright

Illness killed more than the fighting did and when a company was reduced drastically in number the remaining men were sent to new companies. You will find many of them serving in several different regiments throughout the war. I could not determine how many lost their lives either to illness or injury. Only their families would know after all these years. some just never returned.

A number of people felt loyal to the Union although Confederate sympathy was by far the majority. Slavery was not the real reason for our participation in the war because most of the families had never had a slave. Most just felt a southern government could rule on southern interests , mostly agriculture, far better than a government so far away as to be almost foreign who had northern industrial interests uppermost in mind. There were many politicians who encouraged this way of thinking and used it to their advantage as well as stirring up a rebellion. Most Southerners felt they were more capable of making decisions than they were given credit for. We know now that this country could not have survived separation but the idea had appealed to many at that time.

Records of this War, especially in Arkansas, are very sketchy and details of companies, where they went, who was injured or killed are almost impossible to find. Most of what we know has been handed down through stories from one generation to the next. We all remember someone who had a story about the Civil War.

As the companies were organized and filled the young men and a few older ones left home with anticipation and excitement at the thought of real combat. They felt they would soon put an end to Yankee interference for good.

As the war went on it became more difficult to raise the needed volunteers for additional companies. By now the enlisted men who had left home for just a short time had been gone far longer than they intended and had been sent to faraway places like Tennessee where very intense fighting was going on. Supplies were not as plentiful as they should be and most were getting very homesick. Some deserted after awhile and refused to go back. Some families in our area hid their young men so they wouldn’t have to go.

In June of 1862 the conscription Act was put into force saying all able-bodied men had to serve in military duty either for the Confederate or Union army. A number of men volunteered along with their neighbors for the time had come when you didn’t have a choice. If you didn’t join and were found at home you were put into a company not of your choosing and more than likely a Union company. If you resisted you could be shot on the spot.

At this time Batesville was occupied by the Union Army and a number of people switched heir loyalty to the Union thinking they would fare better by being sympathetic to them. Many thought they could remain neutral and after the Conscription Act began to panic. Some slipped into Missouri early and others were turned back at the state line by Confederate picket lines. (A few from our area did go to Missouri for a short time.) Several Wolf Bayou men served in the Union Army and it is thought that they were forced to since many of them deserted at the first chance and joined Confederate forces.

Wolf Bayou was on the main road between Batesville and Clinton and about twenty five miles from Batesville. The road was widely used by military personnel of both sides so skirmishes were almost certain to happen and people living along this road were getting very edgy. Almost all the families had half-grown boys at home and occasionally a boy of fourteen would be pressed into service.

Foraging parties of both armies scoured the countryside for about sixty-five miles radius from Batesville searching for forage for animals and foodstuff for soldiers. People in our area tried to hide livestock and supplies in the woods for safekeeping but with little success. There were soldiers who knew the area, even the most remote spots.

In 1863 bands of guerilla soldiers began to form, mostly to protect the people left at home from foraging soldiers, mostly Union. The Conscription Act was not being enforced effectively and leaders from both sides recruited men from each community to report all those who were not serving. The guerilla bands took exception to this also vowing to protect their communities. A small skirmish near Crossroads, now Drasco, and another one near Devil’s Fork involved soldiers and guerillas. They were effective in getting the Union Army out of Batesville by raiding the foraging parties so often that supplies got critically short and the army was forced to move on.

In the summer of 1864 some 4,000 soldiers, both Union and confederate, occupied Batesville which was again under the Union forces. Foraging practices were again the prime concern of the people living in our area. Guerilla bands had also recruited undesirable members and they had sometimes turned to stealing supplies from their neighbors selling them to the armies for enormous profits. They also turned in information on injured soldiers at home and any other information that could earn them profit. Many times they worked both sides of the war. They began to make their own rules and some communities really were terrorized by them. Wolf Bayou had an incident or two, very minor compared to other areas in the county.

Other soldiers serving military duty were:

• Abner Chastain
• Joseph Chastain
• G.W. Cannon
• John A. Knight
• Leroy F. Knight
• Martin V. Knight
• John R. Lacy
• W.C. Lindsey
• Calvin Chastain
• W.J. Cannon
• G.W. Davis
• J. Martin
• W.C. Lindsey
• Daniel S. Martin
• J.T. Parten
• J. Stewart
• Wyatt Davis
• Calvin J. Fuller
• David Glenn
• Sam Stewart
• James A. Stone
• A.H.S. Tidwell
• James A. West
• R.D. West

In an interview with Calvin Chastain in 1908 a Newport reporter asked him to relate an experience he remembered during the Civil War and he told them that he was in General Price’s raid through Missouri, and in a battle near Kansas City he says the federals were getting the best of them when they got orders to retreat. He had been detailed to supply ammunition and was riding a small animal, and had it pretty well loaded down, and was riding behind the company, presenting a clear target for the enemy. The bullets whistled by him like hail. When the battle was over he was asked what he thought while he was being shot at and he replied, "I thought if my time had come to die I would be killed, if not, I would live".

Another interesting story that has been handed down about the war is of another native son, Isaac Cannon. He was twenty-two years old when the Conscription Act forced able bodied men to take one side or the other and serve in the army. Isaac was determined he would not be forced to take either side. He was an accomplished hunter and woodsman, and decided to hide in the remote and unsettled area on the forks of Big Creek just a few miles from his home. He, like many other people in the area, thought the War would only last a few months at the most. He loaded a few provisions, his dog, a hunting knife and a gun and went into hiding. He knew the country well and figured he could survive quite well for a long time if he had to.

One day when Isaac and his dog were hunting squirrel a big bear surprised him. The dog jumped the bear and the fight was on. Isaac could tell the bear was winning the fight and about to kill his dog so he took his knife and jumped onto the bear’s back while the dog held its attention . He stuck the knife in the bears neck cutting the jugular vein then jumped off and ran as fast as he could. The fight stopped and the bear lumbered down the hill a few hundred yards and then stopped in his tracks. He was dead. 25

The man and his dog enjoyed that bear meat. It was a welcome change from the squirrel and rabbit they had been living on. No one remembers how long Isaac Cannon stayed in the woods . One member of his family says he did fight in the war.

In May 1865 a surrender of all Confederate forces in Arkansas was effected and in June 1865 all Confederate soldiers, considered to be prisoners of war, were to be paroled at Jacksonport. A parole was a necessary end or the soldier would be forever considered an enemy of the united States. Col. C.W. Davis of the United States Army paroled the prisoners and supplied enough rations of sugar, salt, coffee, vinegar and hard bread to last each man a day and a half.

At Jacksonport that day the last organized force of the Confederacy was disbanded and many were paroled. A large number of men refused to surrender and many were never paroled. The War was discussed and replayed for several decades and for some it never ended.

Now the ragged remnants of humanity were free to go back to their homes and families. our area had been devastated not by fighting but by foraging and the lack of manpower to make crops. Farms had been neglected and everything was in very short supply. There was no other choice but to start over.

The South had been beaten, the economy was in shambles but we were not in the condition that our friends and relatives in Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas were and the people here began to tell of all that was available here to anyone who needed a new start. Good land was cheap and a hardworking family could get back on their feet in no time at all.