The Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board

Re: State Troops
In Response To: State Troops ()

Damon, the Arkansas State Troops (aka Provisional Army of Arkansas), as established by the State Military Board, was to consist of eight regiments and four batteries, all organized into two "divisions" (actually brigades). Researchers trying to work out the organizations and composition of the State Troops have been stymied over the years because of the unconventional administrative actions of Brig. Gen. Nathaniel B. Pearce, commanding the First (Northwest) Division. Instead of utilizing the regimental designations set up by the State Military Board, Pearce assigned his own designations based, apparently, on the order in which the regiments reported to his command. Since only the most obscure documents refer to the State Troops regiments by their authorized designations, historians generally follow the naming conventions that were actually used in the field (a la General Pearce). So with that caveat, here are the Arkansas State Troops, as I understand it --

Northeast Division.
1st Regiment (Cleburne)
5th Regiment (Cross)
6th Regiment (Lyon)
7th Regiment (Shaver)
Helena Artillery (Key)
McCown Artillery (McCown) -- redesignated Jackson Light Artillery

Northwest Division
1st Regiment (Carroll) -- designated 3rd Regiment by State Military Board
3rd Regiment (Gratiot) -- designated 2nd Regiment by State Military Board
4th Regiment (Walker)
5th Regiment (Dockery) -- see note below
Fort Smith Artillery (Reid)
Pulaski Light Artillery (Woodruff)

Note: Col. Thomas P. Dockery's regiment is an enigma. Designated as the 5th Regiment by Pearce, it is not mentioned as an authorized State regiment in the Articles of Transfer of Arkansas Volunteers to the Confederate States, July 15, 1861. The State Military Board had already assigned the 5th Regiment designation to the regiment of Col. David C. Cross in the Northeast Division.

A number of regiments bypassed the Arkansas State Troops organization altogether and enlisted directly into the Provisional Army of the Confederate States -- the 1st (Fagan) and 3rd (Rust) Regiments Arkansas Infantry at Lynchburg, Virginia, and the 1st (Churchill) and 2nd (McIntosh) Regiments Arkansas Mounted Rifles at Fort Smith, Arkansas.

In addition to the above State and Confederate regiments, there were a number of smaller organizations which were mustered into either State and Confederate service --

Borland's 1st Battalion Cavalry -- the nucleus of the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry
McRae's 3rd Battalion Infantry -- the nucleus of the 15th Northwest Arkansas Infantry
Roberts' Battery (Clark County Artillery)
Trigg's Battery
Horner's Company Infantry (Independent Blues)
Rieff's Company Cavalry

The 8th Arkansas Regiment (Patterson) was still organizing when the State Troops were transferred to Confederate service, and in fact was not mustered into service until September 10, 1861.

This is a brief overview which I'm sure needs more input from other researchers who follow this board.

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Militia Operations after the fall of Little Rock
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