6th-7th Arkansas Infantry

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6th and 7th Arkansas Infantry.jpg

The 1864 Hardee pattern of the 6th & 7th Arkansas Infantry (consolidated) in Govan's Arkansas Brigade, Cleburne's Division, Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee. This flag was carried throughout the Atlanta Campaign until captured in the battle of Jonesboro, Ga, Sept. 1, 1864.

6th Arkansas Infantry
Company A - "Capital Guards" of Little Rock, in Pulaski County, Capt. Gordon N. Peay. One of the oldest militia organizations in the state. Its officers were first elected in 1858. They played a prominent role in the seizure of the Little Rock Arsenal.
Major Calvin L. Collier's history of the Company A, First In--Last Out, can be read online here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89077210516;view=2up;seq=8

Company B - "Yellow Jackets", Calhoun County, Capt. P.H. Echols.

Company C - "Dallas Rifles", Dallas County, Capt. F.J. Cameron.

Company D - "Ouachita Voyageurs", or "Ouachita Voltiquers", Ouachita County, Capt. J.W. Kingswell.

Company E - "Dixie Grays", Arkansas County, Capt. Sam G. Smith.

Company F - "Lafayette Guards", Lafayette County, Capt. Sam H. Dill.

Company G - "Columbia Guards" of Magnolia, in Columbia County, Captain J.W. Austin.

Company H - "City Guards" of Camden, in Ouachita County, Capt. S. H. Southerland.

Company I - "Lisbon Invincibles", Union County, Capt. Sam Turner.

Company K - "Ouachita Grays", Ouachita County, Capt. Hope T. Hodnett.

6th Arkansas rosters can be viewed here: http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/6thinff&s.html


7th Arkansas Infantry
Company A - Randolph County, Capt. Joseph C. Martin.

Company B - "Glaize Rifles", Jackson County, Capt. George E. Orme.

Company C - Marion County, Capt. James Archer.

Company D - "Dick Johnson Guards", Lawrence County, Capt. Carney C. Straughan.

Company E - "Pike Guards", Independence County, Capt. John H. Dye

Company F - Randolph county, Capt. Thomas J. Mellon

Company G - Independence County, Capt. Ganum Brightwell

Company H - Izard County, Capt. D. G. Deason

Company I - Fulton County, Capt. Michael V. Shaver

Company K - "Arkansas Guards", White County, Capt. John C. McCauley.

7th Arkansas rosters here: http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/shaverdx.htm


Both the 6th and 7th Arkansas Infantry regiments followed an almost identical timeline throughout the war, having been organized around the same time and serving in the same brigade, being consolidated after suffering heavy losses at Shiloh and Perryville. The Sixth was mainly recruited from southern Arkansas and the Seventh from northern Arkansas.

The 6th and 7th Arkansas mustered into state service in June of 1861 and were armed with M1816/M1822 .69 caliber flintlock muskets confiscated from the Little Rock Arsenal. They were transferred to Confederate service soon after, in July 1861, and placed in William J. Hardee's brigade. After having been drilled by Gen. Hardee himself at Pittman's Ferry, Ark., they were moved to Columbus, Ky., in fall of 1861, where they joined the Army of Central Kentucky which later merged into Gen. A. S. Johnson's Army of the Mississippi.

In early 1862, Col. Robert G. Shaver of the 7th Arkansas commanded a brigade (Hindman's) consisting of the 2nd, 6th, and 7th Arkansas, and 3rd Confederate Infantry in Hindman's Division, Hardee's Corps. Shaver's brigade formed the nucleus of what later became Liddell's/Govan's Arkansas Brigade in Patrick Cleburne's Division.

They were heavily engaged at Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, fighting mainly on the Confederate left. Marching into battle to the tune "Granny, Does Your Dog Bite?", Shaver's men charged into Col. Everett Peabody's camp on the morning of the 6th and routed his brigade. The Arkansans were able to rearm themselves with a captured supply of rifles to replace their old smoothbore flintlock muskets. Shaver's brigade would turn back another Federal line at the Review Field and attack the Hornet's Nest. In the latter, Lt. Col. John M. Dean of the 7th Arkansas was shot through the neck and mortally wounded; Capt. Warren C. Jones of the 14th Iowa ran out between the lines to comfort Dean, crossing his arms and placing a handkerchief over his face after he died. Both the 6th and 7th Arkansas had suffered severe losses in the first day's fighting (it was said that during the battle Gen. Hardee gave the 7th the nickname "the Bloody Seventh"); however, with the Federal counter-attack the following day, they were forced to give up all the ground they had fought so hard over. The worn-out survivors marched back to Corinth.

After the passage of the Conscription Act both regiments reenlisted for two more years or the duration of the war. They also underwent a reorganization, with a reelection of regimental and company commanders. With a reorganization of the army prior to the Kentucky Campaign, Brig. Gen. St. John R. Liddell took command of what was formerly Col. Shaver's brigade (Daniel C. Govan later assumed command of the brigade in 1863 and replaced Liddell after he was transferred).

Seeing action at Perryville, October 8, 1862, and sustaining additional losses, the two under-strength regiments were later consolidated on December 22, 1862, while at Triune, Tenn.

The 6-7th Arkansas was in Maj. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne's Division, Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee, by December of 1862. As part of that famous organization, they would go on to play a significant role in the following battles and campaigns: Murfreesboro/Stones River; the Tullahoma Campaign; Chickamauga and Chattanooga; Ringgold Gap; the Atlanta Campaign, particularly at Pickett's Mill, Kennesaw Mountain, Atlanta, and Jonesboro; Franklin and Nashville; the Carolinas Campaign, including Bentonville; finally surrendering with the remnants of the Army of Tennessee at Bennett Place, NC.

At the battle of Murfreesboro the 6th-7th Arkansas again suffered heavy losses with 29 killed, 150 wounded and 8 missing. At Chickamauga the regiment had 388 men present for duty and lost 165, or 43%. In December 1863 it numbered 314 men and 265 arms. After passing through the Atlanta Campaign (losing 66 men in the battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864) only a fraction of those men remained. Govan's Arkansas Brigade was all but decimated in the charge at Franklin; what few troops in the 6-7th Arkansas made the charge, only a handful came out unscathed.

The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry was formed in April 1865 from the remnants of the regiments in Govan's Brigade. To maintain unit cohesion, each of the regiments was to form one company of the new consolidated regiment, the 6th-7th Arkansas forming Company D. In the surrender at Bennett Place the consolidated regiment contained 635 officers and men.
 
Robert_F_Shaver.jpg

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/media-detail.aspx?mediaID=3819

Colonel Robert F. Shaver, first colonel of the 7th Arkansas Infantry. This is a postwar photo, ca. 1911.
Shaver moved to Arkansas with his parents from Sullivan County, East Tennessee, in 1850. Settling in Batesville, he was married to Miss Adelaide Louise Ringgold in 1856. Later moving to Lawrence County, he joined the Arkansas State Militia and was elected colonel of Lawrence County's 60th Arkansas Militia Regiment on July 23, 1860. Shaver recruited and organized the 7th Arkansas Infantry in spring of 1861. By early 1862, as senior colonel he took command of the Hindman's brigade, leading it into action at Shiloh. In the battle he had two horses shot from under him, but Shaver emerged unscathed. His conduct at Shiloh gained favorable mention in General William J. Hardee's official report. In June 1862, Shaver was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department; and on September 8, 1862, he organized the 38th Arkansas Infantry at Jacksonport, Arkansas, and was elected colonel. He served in the Trans-Mississippi throughout the remainder of the war.

Here's his Find A Grave memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/...el=all&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=24213195&df=all&
 
gallery_273_14_3663.jpg

http://shilohdiscussiongroup.com/index.php?/gallery/image/72-cpt-j-m-dean-7th-arkansas-infantry/

Lt. Col. John Mills Dean, 7th Arkansas Infantry. He was shot through the neck and mortally wounded in the attack on the Hornet's Nest while commanding the regiment at Shiloh. Capt. Warren C. Jones of the 14th Iowa ran out between the lines to comfort Dean, crossing his arms and placing a handkerchief over his face after he died. Dean was a Citadel (South Carolina Military Academy) graduate and is wearing his cadet uniform in the photograph.

More info on him here: https://sites.google.com/site/valen...ily-history/colonel-john-mills-dean-1835-1862

The Arkansas Monument at Shiloh, erected September 6, 1910, now stands at the spot where Lt. Col. Dean fell.
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/whsieh78/6490188461/
 
First_Lieutenant_Daniel_W._Melton%2C_Company_B%2C_7th_Arkansas_Infantry_Regiment.jpg

First Lieutenant Daniel W. Melton, Company B, 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. Enlistment 26 July 1861 Camp Shaver, Pocahontas Arkansas. Active during all engagements from Shiloh to Franklin

Govan's Brigade, Cleburne's Division, Cheatham's Corps, Army of Tennessee. Captured 30th November 1864 Battle of Franklin TN. Oath of Allegiance 17th June 1865 Johnson Island Prison OH at the age of 27 years. Release orders from Johnson Island state he was provided passage by rail or steam boat back to the point closest to his home, which was his father's in Poole's Mill KY. (Henderson County)

He married and moved after the war, back to Arkansas, settling the family in southern Yell County. Enterment Mt. Zion Cemetery Briggsville, Arkansas.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28595719@N08/2662444859/

His Find A Grave memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/...GSst=4&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=83149987&df=all&
 
Capt. Gordon Neill Peay.jpg

Gordon Neill Peay, originally commanded Company A, "Capitol Guards" of the 6th Arkansas Infantry. Peay would later serve as Adjutant General to Governor Harris Flanagin, 1863-65.

Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/...rel=all&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=7421603&df=all&

Capt. John Fletcher.jpg

Capt. John Fletcher, second commanding officer of the Capitol Guards. Enlisted June 3, 1861 at age 30. Elected May 8, 1862. Wounded and captured at the battle of Murfreesboro.

Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/...&GSst=4&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=7517921&df=all&
 
Flag_of_the_6th_Arkansas%2C_%28Hardee_Pattern%29.gif

An earlier 2nd pattern Hardee battle flag that belonged to the 6th Arkansas. This flag is believed to have seen use from sometime in early 1862 until it was too worn for further use. One third of the fly portion of the blue field is replaced, presumably a repair, but the date of the repair is uncertain. This flag is currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum in Little Rock. Dimensions: 31.5" x 43.5"; blue wool bunting, white cotton, with black painted letters.

1200px-6th_%26_7th_Arkansas_Infantry_Flag.jpg

A Confederate 2nd National flag of the 6th & 7th Arkansas Infantry. Currently in the Missouri State archives in Columbia, Missouri. This flag dates no earlier than May 1863 and was probably a "parade" flag used briefly between May and June 1863, however no firm history survives regarding it.
 
Outstanding thread. Thoroughly enjoyable read. The Old State House Museum in Little Rock is now on my list.
 
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For further reading.

Collier, Calvin L. First In – Last Out, the Capitol Guards, Arkansas Brigade. (Little Rock, AR: Pioneer Press, 1961).

Thomasson, Bryan. "We Have Drunk From the Same Canteen: Company H, Sixth Arkansas Regiment; the Camden City Guards." Master's thesis, University of Arkansas, 1995.


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Private William Shores, (Co. H, 6th Arkansas.Infantry). Aged 17 at the time of this picture, Shores was mortally wounded at the battle of Murfreesboro.

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Corporal William A. Halliburton of Co. G, 7th Arkansas Infantry. Halliburton finished the War as a private in the 6th & 7th Arkansas, Consolidated. Wounded at Murfreesboro, Halliburton recovered and was was captured along with the rest of the regiment at Jonesboro, GA in September 1864. Note that the cuff trim on this jacket has a slight chevron shape.

Above images from this excellent webpage on the early war frock coats produced by the Arkansas State Penitentiary in Little Rock: http://web.archive.org/web/20091029033536/http://geocities.com/capitalguards/LRfrock.html


A few other photos here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Arkansa...76/photos/?tab=album&album_id=208118243400282
 
Here is an account of the battle of Ringgold Gap in the Confederate Veteran (Vol. 12., p. 526-27) by William W. Gibson of Co. G, 7th Arkansas and later Co. D, 6th-7th Arkansas.

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Gibson's obituary in the Confederate Veteran, Vol. 22, p. 567-68.

William W. Gibson 1.jpg

William W. Gibson 2.jpg
 
Picture of flag(not the flag itself) at Stones River NMP Visitor Center:

2017-06-06 09.25.12.jpg
 
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Ran across these letters on Heritage Auctions written by a member of the 6th Arkansas Infantry during the Atlanta Campaign.

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[Battle of Atlanta] A. W. Thompson of Co. C, 6th Arkansas Infantry Regiment: Letters to His Family with a Letter from a Volunteer Chaplain Announcing the Critical Nature of His Wound. Thompson served in Cleburne's Division, I Corps, Army of Tennessee and received a mortal wound during the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864, dying three weeks later. Two letters written by him from the battle line near Atlanta in the days leading up to his injury, as follows:

First Letter: A. W. Thompson Jr. to A. W. Thompson & N. Thompson

Line of Battle Ten Miles from Atlanta July 7th 1864


Father & Mother

This short Epistle will inform you that I received yours of the 25th in due time & was read with great pleasure, my health is very good except a bad cold & cough, my leg has been a great deal of pain to me for the last week. Father, we are in ten miles of Atlanta. The two armies are close fronting each other. I have had some fighting to do since the date of my last letter. I spent the fourth of July on the skirmishing line and the Yankees advanced in seventy-five feet of our line when they received a brisk fire from our lines which made them skedaddle back. I ran a very nary escape, we was behind very inferior works of old rails & some dirt thrown on them when a ball passed through them with full force passing so near my head that I did not know which side it went. Father, I was struck the other day side of my head right in my left ear, but being a spent ball it did not hurt me very bad, had one ball shot threw my oil cloth wounding me wounding a member of my company in the leg. Father I feel that GOD is with me, if not I could not be able to pen out this letter to you knowing what I went through since I left Dalton, the casualties of my company since we left Dalton is three killed, six wounded, one lost his right arm. Mother, I often think of your table. Our rations are bacon & cornbread. We have to fry it in our plates. I have got so I cannot eat it fried any longer. I boil some in my cup and eat but I am getting very puny as I cannot change my diet, the soldiers are using pea vines, parsley, kernels of wheat, briar leaves & many other weeds for salad. My company uses the above named for salad, the boys are nearly starved out for vegetables but they are like me, cannot help themselves, answer in haste, give me all the news from JP & CS. Let them hear from me, I have not time to write to them as there is fighting all the time on our front.



Second Letter (His Last): A. W. Thompson to H. F. Thompson

Line of Battle in Front of Atlanta July 15th, 1864


Dear Sister,

I received your benevolent and favorable letter of the 1st & the 2nd in due time. It was received with great pleasure. I have no news to communicate to you that will interest you, only that I am well. Hoping you may receive this short epistle enjoying health and pleasure. We are in four miles of Atlanta. The Yankees are fronting our line of battle but have not advanced any for several days. They know that General Johnston will not retreat any further & they are come to a halt. When they try to advance on Atlanta the bloodiest battle of the war will take place. Most of the citizens have left the city. The soldiers are in good spirits & we all think that Johnston will hold Atlanta. Gen. Bragg arrived here yesterday from Richmond.


You spoke something about the apples getting ripe. It would be a great pleasure to me if I could spend one week at home to get some fruit and vegetables though I would be satisfied if I could get a few onions to eat with my bacon, but alas I will have to do the best I can during the war. I should be satisfied that I am living. I am in hopes that Charles Norton's wound is slight. When you get the correct news for I would be very sorry to hear of his death. Let me hear from John and Henry Knight also from the 6th, 8th, & the 26 Regiments. I got a mess of Irish potatoes the other day which pleased me, the best of anything I have met up with in several days. Onions are selling at one dollar a pound and they are very scarce. It is the most impossible to get any vegetables about the army. I must close, answer in haste, fail not, give me all the news as all you write to me interests me.



On August 11, 1864, Thompson's father was sent a two page letter from Griffin, Georgia, from a volunteer Army missionary imparting grave news regarding the condition of his son.

Third Letter (from Chaplain): William H. Pearson to A. W. Thompson

Griffin Geo Aug 11 1864


Dear Sir:

I drop you these lines to inform you of the condition of your son, A. W. Thompson, Co. C, 6th Ark. Regt.


He was wounded on the 22nd July in the left arm. It was broken just above the elbow and is now at the S. P. Moore Hospital in this place. He is very anxious to see you. He begged me to write to you which I do with pleasure. To be candid I cannot think from what the Dr. told me that you son will survive unless a change in his present condition.


He was thought to be doing well till yesterday but since then he is growing weaker. I will write you in a day or so again & will telegraph you tomorrow or next day how your son is doing.


In the meantime I hope you will be submissive to the will of Providence, whatever that may be. We are doing all for him that can be done & the ladies are untiring in their attentions to the soldier's wants.

I remain respectfully yours

Wm. H. Pearson

Missionary to the Army


https://historical.ha.com/itm/milit...ly-with-a-letter-from-a-volunt/a/6141-47626.s


Thompson died of his wounds on August 25, 1864. He is buried in the Stonewall Confederate Cemetery in Griffin, GA.

Here's his memorial on Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/...Sst=12&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=91188378&df=all&


Thompson was actually a member of Company G, 6th Arkansas, though when the 6th was consolidated with the 7th companies C and G of the 6th were consolidated and became Company E of the 6th-7th Arkansas. So Thompson was a member of Company E, 6th-7th Arkansas at Atlanta.

From the Company G roster:
THOMPSON, A.W. Pvt - Enl 19 Sep 1861 at Pitman's Ferry, AR. Wounded at Chickamauga, GA and in Columbia, SC in hospital 9 Feb 1864. Wounded 22 Jul 1864 and died 25 Aug 1864. Age 27.
 
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