Soon after being organized, the regiment was ordered to Mississippi, along with the rest of
Van Dorn's
Army of the West. The unit boarded a steamer and moved down White River, out at its mouth, then up the Mississippi River and landed at Memphis, Tennessee. The Confederate commander at Memphis reported on April 7 that Colonel Smead's command with a total of 762 soldiers (of which 560 were fit for duty) was present but armed with double barrel shotguns and inferior rifles. The unit was assigned to the Brigadier General Albert Rust's brigade. The regiment was immediately ordered to move via paddle steamer to Fort Pillow, approximately north of Memphis, along with the remainder of Rust's Brigade. At Fort Pillow, during a bombardment by Union gunboats, the regiment saw their first enemy fire. The unit remained at Fort Pillow for about two weeks. All twelve-month regiments had to re-muster and enlist for two additional years or the duration of the war; a new election of officers was ordered; and men who were exempted from service by age or other reasons under the Conscription Act were allowed to take a discharge and go home. Officers who did not choose to stand for re-election were also offered a discharge. The reorganization was accomplished among all the Arkansas regiments in and around Corinth, Mississippi, following the Battle of Shiloh. After settling in at Camp Churchill Clark, near Corinth, Mississippi, the 19th Arkansas was reorganized for the war and new officers were elected. All of the original field officers were thrown out in the election of May 12, 1862, and in their place the men elected Colonel Thomas P. Dockery, Lieutenant Colonel William H. Dismukes, and Major Horatio G. P. Williams. On June 2, 1862, the two Hot Spring County companies were consolidated. Company D (from Rockport) was merged into Company E (from Hot Springs). and the
Battle of Big Black River Bridge, Major Horatio Gates Perry Williamson was promoted to lieutenant-colonel after Dismukes' death, and the uncaptured remnant of the 19th Arkansas fell back to Vicksburg, where it endured the forty-day siege. Confederate commanders designated
Enterprise, Mississippi as the rendezvous point (parole camp) for the Vicksburg parolees to report to after they got clear of the last Federal control point at Big Black Bridge. By August 3, 1864 it was apparent that most of the Arkansas units had bypassed the established parole camps, and with the assistance of their Union captors, simply crossed the river and returned home. On August 3, 1863 it was reported that only a very small number of the paroled Arkansas troops had reported to parole camps east of the Mississippi River. On August 8, 1863, General Pemberton, wrote to Adjutant General and Inspector General of the Confederate Army, Brigadier General Samuel Cooper to report that the troops from Trans-Mississippi Department (including Arkansas) had abandoned the Army of Mississippi before permission was obtained to furlough them. The troops were ordered to rendezvous at Camden, Arkansas. General Pemberton also requested to send Arkansas troops paroled at after the surrender of Port Hudson to that Camden as well. Because so many of the Vicksburg parolees, especially from Arkansas, simply went home, Major General Pemberton requested Confederate President Davis to grant the men a thirty furlough beginning on July 21. Soldiers who did not report to the parole camp with in the time limits of the furlough were not punished as deserters as long as the soldier eventually showed up at a parole camp to be declared exchanged and returned to duty. On August 9, 1863, Confederate Secretary of War James A. Seddon wrote to General Kirby Smith, Commanding the
Department of the Trans-Mississippi, informing him that Colonel T. P. Dockery of the 19th Arkansas had been ordered to cross the Mississippi River and reassemble the men of his former brigade at Camden Arkansas. Dockery was to arm, recruit, and return to active service the men of his brigade as quickly as they were exchanged. Seddon opined that prisoners who, with the connivance and instigation of the enemy, left Vicksburg before being properly accounted for by their officers, were not properly listed a prisoners, and therefore were free to re-enter service immediately. Seddon also indicated that it might be advisable to distribute these men to other commands rather than keeping them together, but he left that matter up to General Smith. Seddon's letter included Colonel Dockery's commission as a Brigadier General. On August 10, 1863, Colonel Dockery received the following orders from the Confederate Secretary of War: The exchange declaration reports issued by Colonel Robert Ould in Richmond for various units in the Vicksburg and Port Hudson surrenders began in September 1863 based upon men who actually reported into one of the two parole camps. When Colonel Dockery was appointed brigadier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Williamson was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the 19th Arkansas. On December 5, 1863, General Kirby Smith wrote to Lieutenant General Holmes, commanding the District of Arkansas that he was expecting the arrival of 1,200 weapons which were to be sent to Dockery's brigade. Smith indicated that Dockery's Brigade was to be returned to service as Infantry (as opposed to mounted). On December 5, 1863, General Kirby Smith ordered Brigadier General Dockery, to "quietly, but promptly, draw in and prepare for the field all the men of your command." General Smith indicated that Dockery would be supplied with arms and they Dockery's Brigade would serve as infantry, even if some of Dockery's men had been mounted. By December 23, 1863, General Smith was still attempting to secure weapons for General Dockery's men. General smith ordered General Dockery with "900 unarmed men" to move to Monroe, LA on or before 1 January 1864 to receive weapons from Brigadier General Alfred Mouton. On February 27, 1864 Confederate General Richard Taylor reported to Major General W.R. Boggs, Chief of Staff to General Kirby Smith, that during the month of January 1864, "1,400 stand of arms were crossed (over the Mississippi River) and distributed among General Dockery's unarmed brigade." The mounted portion under Colonel Dockery consisted of: :
20th Arkansas Mounted Infantry Regiment (Jones) :
12th Arkansas Mounted Infantry Battalion (Sharpshooters) The infantry portion of Dockery's brigade was a regimental size (approximately 400 man) organization and was commanded by Lieut. Col. Horatio G. P. Williams. This organization is occasionally referred to as the 19th Arkansas Infantry, but was actually composed of dismounted company size elements of:
Marks' Mills, and
Jenkins Ferry.
The Expedition to Mount Elba The 1864
Camden Expedition was part of a two-pronged strategy by the
Union Army to drive
Confederate resistance out of southwestern Arkansas and northern
Louisiana, and to penetrate into Confederate
Texas. Union Major General
Frederick Steele led a Union force from
Little Rock on March 23, 1864, with the objective of joining forces with Major General
Nathaniel Prentice Banks at
Shreveport, Louisiana. Confederate forces in Arkansas were directed from
Washington, where the Confederate government of the state relocated after the fall of Little Rock. Colonel Clayton's force consisted of elements of Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, Twenty-eighth Wisconsin Infantry, Fifth Kansas Cavalry, First Indiana Cavalry, Seventh Missouri Cavalry (US), totaling approximately 237 men. "Unfortunately," Price reported, "before Brigadier-General Dockery could execute this order he was on March 29 attacked at Mount Elba by a party of the enemy from Pine Bluff and completely routed. They at the same time captured at Long View his entire train (twenty-six wagons) and about 200 prisoners." "Col. Clayton, commanding the expedition from Pine Bluff, destroyed the pontoon bridge at Longview—burned a train of thirty-five wagons loaded with camp and garrison equipage, ammunition, quartermaster's stores, etc., and captured over three hundred prisoners ... .He engaged Dockery's division, of about 1200 men, from Monticello, on the morning of the 30th ult., routed and pursued him ten miles, with a loss on his side of over one hundred killed and wounded—capturing a large quantity of small arms and two stands of colors. Our loss did not exceed fifteen in killed, wounded and missing ... .Three hundred horses and mules and many wagons were captured. Col. Clayton by this expedition has added fresh laurels to his brow. He is worthy of all honor, and deserving the highest reward at the hands of the government. He has been in every instance successful and will be promoted to the rank of Brigadier General for valiant service to the Union cause. He justly deserves the honor."
Battle of Prairie D'Ane Confederate Major General
Sterling Price ordered Brigadier General
John S. Marmaduke to harry the Union column and to prevent it from crossing the
Little Missouri River as it moved toward Washington. Advance Union forces clashed with Confederate defenders in the
Battle of Elkin's Ferry on April 3. The outnumbered Confederates were forced to withdraw, and General Marmaduke established a defensive position, lightly fortified by earthworks, on the road between Elkin's Ferry and Washington at the western edge of the sparsely populated Prairie d'Ane, a roughly circular area of prairie surrounded by woodlands. After waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, General Steele advanced on April 9, but was stopped in the
Battle of Prairie D'Ane, a series of encounters that ended on April 12. General Dockery's Brigade assisted Marmaduke's division in
Prairie D'Ane, April 9–12. After making a feint in the direction of the Confederate state capital at Washington, Arkansas, Steele then turned and occupied
Camden, on April 15, in order to resupply his army, which was then on half-rations. Price had stripped Camden of personnel in order to defend Washington, and the Union forces occupied the city against no significant opposition. On June 25, 1864, a Union intelligence report placed Dockery's Brigade including 900 paroled and exchanged prisoners at Washington, Arkansas.
Last Year of the war The remnants of Dockery's 19th Arkansas were consolidated with the 15th and 20th Arkansas Infantry on November 29, 1864, and the consolidated unit renamed as the
3rd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment. The consolidated regiment was assigned along with the
1st and
2nd 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. On 22 January 1865, Major General Churchill was ordered to move his division to Minden, Louisiana, and occupy winter quarters. Union commanders in the Department of the Gulf reported on March 20, 1865 that General McNair's brigade was located at Minden, Louisiana, with the rest of Churchill's Division. In early April 1865, the division concentrated near Shreaveport Louisiana, and then moved to Marshall, Texas, by mid-April 1865.
Surrender The
3rd Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment was stationed at
Marshall, Texas, when the war ended, and was officially surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi by Major General
E. Kirby Smith on May 26, 1865. == See also ==