The Indian Territory in the Civil War Message Board

Re: J.M. Bryan's Rangers & Benton County, Arkansas

Mark,
There is nothing in the compiled service record for Frank M. Davis to indicate that he served in Bryan's 1st Cherokee Partisan Rangers or in the 2nd Cherokee Mounted Vols. Bryan's five companies were consolidated with five extra companies of Watie's 1st Cher. Mounted Vols. to form the 2nd Cherokee Regt. on Feb. 3, 1863. The records for Bryan's Battalion are fairly complete. But, the records for the 2nd Cherokee Regt. are very much incomplete. Anybody that joined any of the indian units after July 63 would likely not have a record of their enlistment or any other record for that matter. My guess is that Davis joined the 2nd Cherokee Regt. sometime after July 63. There were litterly hundreds of men from the border counties of Arkansas (especially Benton and Washington) that joined the Indian Regiments and those numbers increased as the war drug on.
One thing you might do is check the service records of the witnesses who signed his "Proof of Service" affidavit on the pension application. They could be a key to where Davis really served.
The Benton County Historical Society published a "100th Anniversary of the Battle of Pea Ridge" in their March 1962 issue of the "Benton County Pioneer" (Vol, 7, No. 3). In that issue was a "List of Soldiers under Stand Watie, at Pea Ridge." No author or source was given for the listing but it is believed to have been develped by Alvin Seamster who was "Mr. Benton County History" from the 40's up to the 1970's. Of interest to you on page 10 column B is the name "Frank Davis." Interestingly, there are also no records in Watie's 1st Cherokee Regt. of a Frank Davis. I probably have created more questions here than I have answered.
Hugh Keen

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J.M. Bryan's Rangers & Benton County, Arkansas
Re: J.M. Bryan's Rangers & Benton County, Arkansas
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Re: J.M. Bryan's Rangers & Benton County, Arkansas
Re: J.M. Bryan's Rangers & Benton County, Arkansas
Re: J.M. Bryan's Rangers & Benton County, Arkansas