Vernon,

Capt. James P. Stanley's company was organized in Drew County (including some men from Desha County) and mustered into service at Selma, Arkansas, on May 12, 1862. It was assigned to Lieut. Col. Asa S. Morgan's battalion of infantry as Company E on June 14, 1862. Morgan's battalion was increased to a regiment a month later on July 23, 1862, and designated as the 26th Regiment Arkansas Infantry. For a time, it was also known as the 3rd Regiment Trans-Mississippi Rifles.

Pvt. B. F. James enlisted in Captain Stanley's company at Selma on May 12, 1862, for a term of service of "three years or the [duration of] the war." He was marked as present, sick in camp, on the June 30, 1862, muster roll. He was sent home on sick furlough for ten days on September 1, 1862, after which he returned to duty and remained with the company through February 29, 1864, the date of the last surviving muster roll. There are no muster rolls on record after that date.

Several years ago a gentleman named Mark Miller was working on a regimental history of the 26th Arkansas, but as far as I know it has not yet been published.