In November, 1863, authority was given by General Steele, commanding the army of Arkansas, to Elisha Baxter, of Batesville, to raise a regiment of infantry for twelve months. Shortly afterwards verbal permission was given to mount it, and recruiting was immediately proceeded with, especially at Batesville, where the regimental headquarters were established. Company A, organized and commanded by Captain T. A. Baxter, reported for duty on the 1st day of January, 1864, to Colonel Livingston, 1st Nebraska Infantry, commanding district of northeastern Arkansas, at Batesville, and continued to do duty under him until the company was was disbanded. Company B, partially organized January 30, 1864, with forty-two men, by the selection of George W. Robertson as first lieutenant, was also, to the time of its disbandment, engaged in active service with the 1st Nebraska Infantry and the 3rd Missouri Cavalry in the same section of country. The rolls of no other companies have been received at this office, and not even these organizations were ever mustered into service, owing to the interruption of communication between Batesville and the department headquarters. In the month of May, 1864, the command of all recruits for the regiment was transferred to Captain T. A. Baxter, for the reason that Elisha Baxter, recruiting officer for the 4th Arkansas Mounted Infantry, had been elected to the Senate of the United States from the State of Arkansas. While Hon. Elisha Baxter was in command of the regiment nearly four hundred recruits were enlisted, and after his relief other accessions were made, but the War Department refusing to confirm the authority for raising the regiment as a twelve-months organization, the regiment was accordingly disbanded.
Here's the order disbanding the regiment --
Headquarters Department of Arkansas,
Little Rock, Arkansas, June 2, 1864.
Special Orders, No. 121.
I.—The authority heretofore granted for the enlistment for one year of a regiment of Arkansas troops, to be designated the 4th Arkansas mounted infantry, not having been confirmed by the War Department, the organization is hereby disbanded. All quartermasters’ property and ordnance stores in the possession of the battalion will be turned over to the proper staff officers at DeValls Bluff.
By order of Major-General F. Steele:
W. D. GREEN,
Assistant Adjutant-General.