There's no evidence that Hindman had a policy of leavening conscript outfits with a cadre of veterans. It was just a result of his policy of dismounting resource-hungry mounted units. Van Dorn took all of the veteran infantry with him when he cleaned out the store and went to Mississippi. All that was left were a few mounted units operating in northern Arkansas. Hindman relied almost entirely on conscripts, along with the soldiers home on furlough from east of the Mississippi, whom he routinely "detained and attached" as a matter of policy.

The quality of these early 1862 mounted units varied greatly. The bunch that were dismounted to form the 27th Arkansas seems to have been a pretty ineffective bunch, partly due to the large number of men who were disabled by disease (they left sick men all over northern Arkansas). The bunch that went to form the 32nd Arkansas were about the most effective group I know of. If they had been allowed to remain mounted, they would probably have made quite a name for themselves. As it was, in the short time they were mounted they gave the Yankees fits.