Here's an interesting article from the "The Daily Dispatch," Richmond, Virginia, issue of June 24, 1861. I'm pretty familiar with most of the Arkansas volunteer companies, including the one raised by Capt. Dandridge McRae at Searcy in June 1861, but this is a new one on me.
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Arkansas Travelers on the Road.
We learn that Capt. McCrea has raised a company of 200 men in the wilds of Arkansas, for the purpose of tendering their services to Ben McCullough. One of the conditions of their enlistment is, that each recruit shall be a single man. Another, and the prime condition is, that each man must be able to prove, by two disinterested witnesses, that he has killed a bear with his knife. The company was very anxious to go to Cairo and “clean out” the place, but the authorities would not consent. It would be rare fun to see these bear-hunters get after a Yankee regiment—how they would make the fur fly?