1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi)

1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry (Trans-Mississippi) (Confederate)
Colonel, later Congressman, Jordan E. Cravens
Active	September 1864–May 26, 1865
Disbanded	May 26, 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	CSA
Branch	Infantry
Size	Regiment
Engagements	American Civil War

Arkansas Confederate Infantry Regiments
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The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry (Trans-Mississippi) (1864–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The regiment is separate from and has no connection with the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment which was formed in the Confederate Army of Tennessee in April 1865 and is also separate from the 1st Regiment, Arkansas State Troops, which became the 15th (Josey's) Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Fagan's 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment, which was formed in 1861 and served in the Army of Tennessee.

Organization

In September 1864, the remnants of several Arkansas Infantry Regiments in the Trans-Mississippi Department were consolidated. There is some evidence that this consolidation may have occurred as a field consolidation as early as May 1864. The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment (Trans-Mississippi) was created by combining the following depleted regiments:

• 14th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (Powers').
• 15th (Northwest) Arkansas Infantry Regiment.
• 16th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.
• 21st Arkansas Infantry Regiment.

Col. Jordan E. Cravens was selected to command the new consolidate regiment. All of these regiments had been captured at the either the Siege of Vicksburg or Port Hudson and exchanged back in Arkansas.

The consolidated regiment was assigned along with the 2nd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment and 3rd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiments to the 2nd (McNair's) Arkansas Brigade, 1st (Churchill's) Arkansas Division, 2nd Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department, from September 1864 to May 1865. Because of the lack of subsistence or forage in the devastated State, all of the infantry brigades were moved to camps around Marshall, Texas, where they remained inactive for the rest of the war.

Surrender

This regiment surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, General E. Kirby Smith commanding, May 26, 1865. When the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered, all of the Arkansas infantry regiments were encamped in and around Marshall, Texas (war-ravaged Arkansas no longer able to subsist the army). The regiments were ordered to report to Shreveport, Louisiana, to be paroled. None of them did so. Some soldiers went to Shreveport on their own to be paroled, but the regiments simply disbanded without formally surrendering. A company or two managed to keep together until they got home. For example, Company G, 35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, traveled back to Van Buren, Arkansas where they surrendered to the U.S. post commander in a formal ceremony, drawn up in front of the court-house, laying down their weapons, etc. But for the most part, the men simply went home. Many of the Arkansas Cavalry units, which had largely been furloughed for the winter of 1864-1865 following Price's disastrous Missouri Expedition did formally surrender at Jacksonport, Wittsburg, and a few other locations.

See also

• List of Arkansas Civil War Confederate units
• Lists of American Civil War Regiments by State
• Confederate Units by State
• Arkansas in the American Civil War
• Arkansas Militia in the Civil War

External links

• Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Home Page
• The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture
• The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
• The Arkansas History Commission, State Archives, Civil War in Arkansas
•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service".