The Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board - Archive
Re: Jacksonport 1865 surrender list?
Posted By: Bryan Howerton
Date: Thursday, 1 January 2004, at 9:38 a.m.
In Response To: Re: Jacksonport 1865 surrender list? (Raymond Gross)
Here's the best I can do with a confusing surrender.
The surrender involved the troops under command of Brig. Gen. M. Jeff. Thompson. He surrendered his command at Chalk Bluff on May 11, 1865, and agreed to have his men assemble at Wittsburg and Jacksonport to lay down their arms and receive their paroles. Thompson's command was widely dispersed throughout northeast Arkansas, more for reasons of available forage than anything else.
About a third of his men refused to surrender. Shelby's Missouri Brigade, along with elements of Green's and Jackman's Missouri Brigades, lit out for Mexico. Some Missouri units disbanded rather than surrender their colors. Many men simply went home. Therefore, it's difficult to come up with a comprehensive list of units which actually surrendered more or less intact. To add to the confusion, individual paroles were given to men from just about every Arkansas and Missouri regiment in the service, including those east of the Mississippi River. There were even a handful of Tennesseeans and Texans who were paroled at Jacksonport and Wittsburg. These individual parolees were mostly men who were home on furlough.
Anyway, here's a list I developed of units with intact command structures which were paroled at Jacksonport on June 5 and Wittsburg on May 25 (remember, the Missouri unit list is problematic) --
Military Sub-District of Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri—Brig. Gen. M. Jeff. Thompson (Jacksonport).
Dobbin’s Brigade—Col. J. M. McGehee (Wittsburg) --Don't know who this man is. Col. James H. McGehee was paroled at Jacksonport, so this is someone else.
Freeman’s Brigade—Col. Thomas R. Freeman (Jacksonport).
Kitchen’s Legion—Col. Solomon G. Kitchen (Wittsburg).
McCray’s Brigade—Col. Thomas H. McCray (Jacksonport).
Reves’ Command—Col. Timothy Reves (Jacksonport).
1st Arkansas Cavalry—Capt. Rufus D. Anderson (Wittsburg).
8th Arkansas Cavalry—Col. Thomas J. Morgan (Jacksonport).
10th Arkansas Mounted Infantry—Col. Allen R. Witt (Jacksonport).
23rd Arkansas Mounted Infantry—Col. Oliver P. Lyles (Wittsburg).
44th Arkansas Mounted Infantry—Col. James H. McGehee (Jacksonport).
45th Arkansas Mounted Infantry—Col. James W. Clark (Jacksonport).
46th Arkansas Mounted Infantry—Col. William O. Coleman (Jacksonport).
47th Arkansas Mounted Infantry—Lieut. Col. Richard M. Davis (Jacksonport).
Nave’s Arkansas Battalion—Maj. R. H. Nave (Jacksonport).
7th Missouri Cavalry—Maj. James A. Walker (Wittsburg).
Davis’ Missouri Battalion—Lieut. Col. J. F. Davis (Wittsburg).
Ford’s Missouri Battalion—Lieut. Col. Barney Ford (Jacksonport).
Freeman’s Missouri Cavalry—Maj. Martin V. Shaver (Jacksonport).
Fristoe’s Missouri Cavalry—Col. Edward T. Fristoe (Jacksonport).
Hilderbrand’s Missouri Battalion—Maj. Samuel Hilderbrand (Jacksonport).
Schnabel’s Missouri Battalion—Lieut. Col. John A. Schnabel (Jacksonport).
In addition, large elements of the 15th Missouri Cavalry and Clardy’s and Slayback’s Missouri Battalions were paroled, but no commanding officers of these units were present.