My great-great grandfather is William Roland Williams of Van Buren County, Arkansas. It is known by our family lore that he served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. According to records that I have found, a W.R. Williams, age 25, enlisted into the Confederate 36th Infantry Regiment, Company D, as a private on June 16, 1862, and was mustered in on June 30, in Clinton, Van Buren County, Arkansas. I presume that this is my ancestor.

Private W.R. Williams of 36th Inf. Co. D was on a list of prisoners captured at Helena, Arkansas, on July 4, 1863, and sent to military prison at Alton, Illinois, on July 14, 1863 (listed with Co. D, Glenn’s Ark. Inf.). Another record for W.R. Williams, 36th Inf. Co. D, is that he was detailed at a military hospital at Helena on July 5 (after he was captured). Speculate, perhaps drafted to help the wounded after he was captured? A William Williams of Van Buren County, Arkansas, was released by the Union Army on July 25, 1863, upon swearing allegiance to the United States.

I can make sense out of most of this except for one record, which lists a W.R. Williams among those captured on July 4, 1863, at Helena, but this W.R. Williams is listed with Company K of Glenn’s Regiment, McRae’s Brigade. Place and date of this record is Camden, Arkansas, February 10, 1864. I cannot find a W.R. Williams listed on the roster of Company K. I know that the 36th Inf. reorganized after Helena, and was located at Camden. However, the best that I can determine, Co. D merged with Co. E, not Co. K. Perhaps in the confusion of the times, Private Williams may have eventually regrouped with Company K rather than with his old re-organized company after his release from military prison.

Can anyone shed light on the Arkansas 36th Infantry during this time (after Battle of Helena), and Company D in particular?