2nd Arkansas Field Battery

The 2nd Arkansas Field Battery (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. Also known as: Second Arkansas Artillery; Dallas Artillery, Hart's Battery. Note that the records of Hart’s Dallas (Arkansas) Artillery are sometimes confused with those of Good’s Dallas (Texas) Light Artillery. The battery served its entire existence in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi The battery went throgh two re-organizations. Following a charge of cowardice during Battle of Pea Ridge, the battery was ordere to be broken up. After being cleared of that charge the battery was reorganized and served until captured at the Battle of Arkansas Post. After being exchanged and organized for the thrird and final time, it served until the final surrender of Confederate forces.

Organization
The Dallas Artillery was organized at Dallas, Polk County, Arkansas, in the late Spring of 1861, and enlisted in Confederate service at Fayetteville on August 1, 1861, with 75 officers and men on the rolls. The original officers included Captain William Hart, First Lieutenant J. W. Thomas, and Second Lieutenant Charles Ringer. The battery was equipped with four 6-pounder guns. No muster rolls for this first organization have been discovered. Officers: Captain William Hart; Lieutenant D. O’Connell; Lieutenant G. W. McIntosh; Second Lieutenant E. A. Dubose; Second Lieutenant James Nolan.

Battles
In January 1962, Hart’s Battery was assigned to Colonel Louis Herbert's 2nd Brigade of a division commanded by Colonel James Mcintosh in northwest Arkansas and the Indian Territory. It was still assigned to the Second Brigade when it fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern) in Benton County, Arkansas, March 7–8, 1862.

During the Battle of Pea Ridge, Union forces captured two of the battery’s guns, along with its colors. According to William Shea and Earl Hess in "Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West," on the second day of the battle General Earl Van Dorn ordered Hart's Battery and Clark's Missouri Battery from reserve into the front line. Hart's Battery arrived first and unlimbered but came under converging fire from twenty-one Federal guns. His men, who were green and untried, became unnerved by the enemy fire and within minutes limbered to the rear. On reaching Elkhorn Tavern, Hart complained to Van Dorn that the fire had been too hot for them. In anger Van Dorn placed him under arrest for cowardice, redistributed his ammunition to Clark's Battery and ordered Hart's guns to the rear.

In the reorganization of the Confederate Army of the West that took place after the defeat at Pea Ridge, Hart's unit was initially assigned to Brigadier General D. M. Frost's artillery brigade of Major General Sterling Price's Division.

The general commanding the Trans-Mississippi District issued General Orders No. 10, dated March 22, 1862, which censured several members of Hart’s Battery, and disbanded the battery “for shameful conduct in the presence of the enemy.” According to General Orders No. 15, July 17, 1862 Hart's Battery was disbanded after the Battle of Pea Ridge for "shameful conduct in the presence of the enemy." Its four 6-pounder guns were reassigned to MacDonald's St. Louis Battery.

Captain Hart continued to serve with the Army of the West, attaching himself to Captain David Provence's Battery. The Provence's battery participated in the Battle of Farmington, Mississippi, on May 9, 1862. During this engagement, Capatin William Hart, of the Dallas Artillery, served one of Provence's guns as a gunner. Over the next few months, a court of inquiry into the allegations against Hart's Battery was convened, which resulted in the following action:

While Captain Hart and others had managed by July 1862 to clear their names of the censure from the Battle of Pea Ridge and begin the process or reorganization, other members of the battery were apparently condemned for desertion.

With the censure lifted, at least officially, Hart’s Battery was reconstituted on August 1, 1862, at Camp White Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. Few of the members of the original Dallas Artillery rejoined the second organization. The battery was augmented with a large number of unassigned recruits from depots at Monticello and Little Rock, and transfers from several Arkansas regiments, especially the 24th Arkansas Infantry.

On July 21, 1862, Special Orders Army of the South West #40, ordered Major Rundell to assume command of a battalion of artillery composed of Woodruff's battery, Pratt's battery Daniels' battery and Hart's battery..... and set up camp of instruction

On September 28th 1862, the battery was assigned to Colonel Robert R. Garland's brigade of Texas troops.

Hart’s star-crossed battery reorganized just in time to be part of another disaster. Colonel Garland’s Texas Brigade, with Hart's Battery was stationed at Battle of Fort Hindman (Arkansas Post). The Confederate forces at Arkansas Post consisted of the Second Division, Second Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department, commanded by Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill. He styled his command the "Army of Lower Arkansas and White Rivers". Hart's battery with 83 officers and men and four guns was captured with the rest of the garrison when Confederate forces surrendered on January 11, 1863. The surrender is still a subject of controversy today, and the Arkansas Post troops were forced to live under a cloud of suspicion; however, from all accounts, Hart’s Battery served their guns professionally and courageously during the siege. The battery suffered three killed, thirteen wounded and twenty two wounded during the Battle of Arkansas Post.

After being exchanged in April 1863, Hart’s Battery was again reconstituted, and spent the remainder of the war in the Trans-Mississippi Army. There are few references to Hart’s Battery during the last year of the war. A report of the organization of the army on September 30, 1864, shows Hart’s Battery in the army siege train, manning large siege guns, presumably around Alexandria, Louisiana. On November 19, 1864, Hart’s Battery was redesignated as the Second Arkansas Field Battery. At this time, it was assigned to the reserve artillery battalion, equipped with four mounted guns. No later reference has been found, nor has any record of the paroles of the men of Hart’s Battery been located.

Surrender
At the end of the war the battery was with the Reserve Battalion at Marshall, Texas and Captain William Hart was still in command. The battery surrendered with General E. Kirby Smith on May 26, 1865.5. The date of the military convention between Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith and Union General Edward Canby for the surrender of the troops and public property in the Trans-Mississippi Department was May 26, 1865, however, it took awhile for parole commissioners to be appointed and for public property to be accounted for. As a result, a final report of field artillery which was part of the accounting process, was not completed until June 1, 1865. According to the final accounting, at the time of the surrender, the battery was with Reserve Battalion at Marshall, Texas but had no guns.