Sherry, he appears on the rolls of the famous 3rd Arkansas Infantry as E. McClenen, occasionally as Eli T. McClendon and Tom McClendon. His Confederate pension application was filed as Eli McClendon.

He enlisted in Co. F, 3rd Arkansas Infantry, at Rockport, Arkansas, on June 20, 1861; age 20; and was mustered into Confederate service at Lynchburg, Virginia, on July 5, 1861, for three years or the war. He served with this command until he was captured at Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 20, 1863. He was sent as a prisoner of war to Camp Douglas, near Chicago, Illinois; and was exchanged at New Orleans, Louisiana, on May 23, 1865.

He applied for a Confederate pension from Garland County in 1901 (Pension File No. 18035).