Usually you find new Civil War information through diligent research and hard work. Sometimes you find it by pure, dumb luck. I just found something new (to me) in the latter category. While doing some research on a completely unrelated matter, I found an obscure reference that got me curious about Co. A, 17th Battalion Tennessee Cavalry, so I went trailing off to take a look and found a company of Arkansas troops that I had never heard of before. According to "Tennesseans in the Civil War," the 17th Battalion was comprised of one Tennessee company and two Mississippi companies. It turns out that the Tennessee company is actually an Arkansas company, or at least composed mostly of Arkansas men from Phillips and St. Francis counties who were mustered into service at Memphis. It's Capt. Edward J. Sanders' "Confederate Guards." The battalion was later consolidated ca. 1864 into the 9th Regiment Mississippi Cavalry.

I'm tied up with other research at the moment, so I've put this new information on my ever-growing "to-do" list. As soon as I get the time, I'll do some research on this outfit and post a roster here on the Arkansas board. In the meantime, if you're looking for a missing Phillips/St. Francis county man, you can check the NPS Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System to see if he is in this company.