The identity of this unit has been the subject of much speculation.

CWSS lists a total of only nine names(excluding dupicates)in the 48th Arkansas Cavalry. A look through the CSR records of these men shows them all to have been POW's and belonging to the 48th Arkansas Cavalry with no further info on the unit. However, the records for one man does provide a clue. A record for Pvt. Smiley P. Query, while at the General Hospital, Howard's Grove, Richmond, states him to be in Company G, 48th Arkansas Cavalry and a member of McCray's Brigade under a Captain Bolton. A Captain B. W. Bolton is listed in CSR as being captain of Company G, Coleman's/Crabtree's 46th Arkansas Cavalry. This may provide a link between the two units. A check through the other eight men of the 48th shows one more, Pvt. Thomas L. Jones who was in Company B, 48th Arkansas Cavalry. There is also a Pvt. T. L. Jones in Company B of the 46th Arkansas Cavalry. Unfortunately the other names do not double up. Is it feasible that the nine men listed as being in the 48th were actually in the 46th and that the 48th never existed? There is no 49th so the 47th could have been the highest number given to a unit.

Has anybody any thoughts?