I posted this information two or three years back & never got any replies to it. It may or may not be related to your Beam's but since it happeded in the viscinity of Ft. Smith I wanted to let you know about it. From the diary of a Union cavalryman who was escorting a wagon train to Fort Smith in 1864:
"Nov. 6th Sunday. Cloudy morning. Rose at 4 O'clock, Company D was in the rear guard. The advance guard run on some bushwhackers & killed the captain by name Beam. He shot 9 shots at the guards but he recieved a deadly shot. We reached within 20 miles from Ft. Smith. Camped on Badger Creek."