1862 Two other new regiments were raised under Governor Rector's plan, Brooks' 2nd Arkansas and Adams' 3rd Arkansas. On May 31, 1862, Major General Thomas Hindman was assigned as the Commander of the District of the Trans-Mississippi. General Hindman found that Major General Van Dorn had stripped the state of almost all organized forces and immediately began organizing a new Confederate Army in Arkansas, by vigorously enforcing the new Confederate Conscription Act. General Hindman also demanded that Governor Rector cease organizing State Troops and transfer all unit to the Confederate Army. This ultimately resulted in the three new regiments that Governor Rector had intended to be State Troops, being enrolled as new Confederate Regiments and numbered accordingly. These regiments would become Rector's
35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and Brook's
34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. At Elm Springs the 35th along with the other units in training were ordered to turn over their weapons to the ordnance department. The purpose would have been to convert as many of the weapons as possible to standard percussion cap weapons. In this unarmed state the regiments drilled. Supplies and clothing dribbled through and the men began to rely less and less on homemade knapsacks and haversacks. In mid-September the unit was ordered to Elkhorn. Soon they retraced their path back to Elm Springs. At this time the Federals advanced toward the southwestern part of Missouri. General Holmes summoned General Hindman to Little Rock. Federal cavalry was reported to be marching with all speed to capture the three unarmed regiments. Under orders from General Rains the regiments marched south heading to Judge Walker's farm in southern Washington County. The march was hampered by torrential rains and took two days to cover . Captain Fontaine Richard Earle of Company B, 34th Arkansas said “it seemed as if the heavens had been overcrowded with water and that the flood-gates had been opened for relief.” Fagan's Brigade was assigned to Major General
Sterling Price's Division of Lieutenant General
Theophilus H. Holmes's army during the attack on Union forces at Helena Arkansas on July 4, 1863. General Fagan's 1,300 men were assigned to capture Hindman's Hill southwest of the city. Generals Fagan and Price failed to coordinate their attacks due to General Holmes' vague order to "attack at daylight." Price interpreted this order to mean an attack at sunrise and Fagan interpreted it to mean an attack at first light. The result was that Fagan was surprised to find his attack on Hindman Hill was opposed by artillery fire from Graveyard Hill, which was General Price's objective. General Fagan had expected Price to be engaged already with that battery. Fagan's artillery had not been able to reach the battlefield because of felled trees blocking the road. Fagan had no artillery available to silence the Federal guns and had no choice but to order his troops to try to take the hill while under artillery fire. Fagan's men reached the summit of the hill and managed to seize the outer fortifications but were pinned down just short of the summit by the two Union batteries. The exposed Confederates were targeted by every remaining gun on the battlefield as well as the heavy guns of the USS
Tyler. By 10:30 Holmes realized that his position had deteriorated and that he could make no further headway. A general retreat was ordered, and the attack on the Union base had failed. The regiment reported 75 casualties during the Battle of Helena, including 16 Killed, 44 wounded and 15 missing. The 22nd Arkansas subsequently served in the defense of Little Rock in September, 1863, with Fagan's Brigade. The Union advance upon Little Rock was opposed mainly by the Confederate cavalry divisions of Generals Marmaduke and Walker. The Confederate infantry brigades were dug in on the north side of the Arkansas River. According to Captain Ethan Allen Pinnell of the Eighth Missouri Infantry, "Our works extend from the
Arkansas river two miles below the city. to the eastern part of Crystal Hill, a distance of 6 miles. Gen'l Fagan's Brig. is on the extreme right, Parson's on Fagan's left, Frost in the center and McRea's on the left." The Union forces established a pontoon bridge near Bayou Fourche, and crossed to the south side of the very low Arkansas River. With his works on the north side of the river now flanked, Major General Price was forced to abandon the city on September 10, after a brief
engagement at Bayou Fourche. Price's Army withdrew in the direction of Rockport. Colonel
Alexander T. Hawthorn took command of the brigade in the fall of 1863. The regiment spent the winter of 1863-64 in Camden,
Ouachita County. Colonel Henry J McCord assumed command of the 35th Arkansas Infantry on December 2, 1863, the re-designation of the 35th Arkansas to the 22nd Arkansas appears to have been effective at the same time that Colonel McCord assumed command.
1864 The brigade was assigned to Churchill's Arkansas Division during the
Red River Campaign. On 17 November 1864, a union spy reported that the Hawthorn's Brigade and Churchill's Division was in the vicinity of Camden, in Ouachita County, Arkansas. On 31 December 1864, General Kirby Smith's report on the organization of his forces lists the 35th Arkansas, under the command of Colonel Henry J. McCord as belonging to Brigadier General Alexander T. Hawthorne's, 4th Brigade of Acting Major General Thomas J. Churchill's 1st Arkansas Infantry Division of Major General John B. Magruder's 2nd Army Corps, Confederate
Army of the Trans-Mississippi. On 22 January 1865, Major General Churchill was ordered to move his division to Minden, Louisiana, and occupy winter quarters. On 23 January 1865, Major General Churchill sent a dispatch to Colonel Hawthorn at Dooley's Ferry and directed his movement to Minden, Louisiana. In early April 1865, the division concentrated near Shreveport, Louisiana, and then moved to Marshall, Texas, by mid-April 1865. 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 but none of them did so. Company G of the 22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment along with members of the
34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment decided that rather than march to Shreveport, Louisiana, they would to march to Fort Smith and surrendered to General Bussey at that location on June 9, 1865. == Campaign credit ==