Follow
The 1st Cavalry Regiment, Arkansas State Troops (1861) was an Arkansas State infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized at Camp Walker, near Harmony Springs, Benton County, Arkansas. The regiment was officially designated as the Third Regiment (Cavalry), Arkansas State Troops by the State Military Board, but was designated as the 1st Arkansas Cavalry by Brigadier General Nicholas Bartlett Pearce, Commander, 1st Division, Provisional Army of Arkansas. The regiment is referred to as the "Carroll's Regiment" in contemporary accounts.
Organization
At the beginning of the war, the Arkansas Succession Convention created the Provisional Army of Arkansas. The Provisional Army was to consist of two divisions, the 1st Division in the western part of the state was to be commanded by Brigadier General Pearce, and the 2nd Division in the eastern half of the state, commanded by Major General James Yell. The intent of the Secession Convention was to transfer these state troop regiments into Confederate service as quickly as possible, to avoid the cost of paying for a large state army. The troops of the eastern division were transferred to the command of Brigadier General Hardee in July 1861, but the troops of the western division under Brigadier General Pearce were not transferred to Confederate service before they became engaged in the Battle of Wilson's Creek. The regiment was composed of the following companies:
- Company A, "Pope Walker Guards" of Crawford County, commanded by Captain Charles Arthur Carroll
- Company B, "Sebastian County Cavalry" of Sebastian County, commanded by Captain Lewis
- Company B, Captain Armstrong's Company of Johnson County
- Company G, Captain Walkers company of Franklin County
- Captain Parks company
- Captain Withers company
- Captain Perkins company
- Captain McKissicks company
- Captain Kellys company
Battles
Under the command of Colonel DeRosey Carroll, the 1st Cavalry Regiment, Arkansas State Troops was present engaged at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri on August 10, 1861. Unit suffered a total of five killed and 20 wounded in the battle. Following the battle, the regiment, with the rest of the Arkansas troops, was marched back to Arkansas and given the opportunity to vote on the issue of being transferred into Confederate service. The regiment, along with the rest of the 1st Division voted to disband rather than be transferred to Confederate service. Many veterans of the regiments joined other Confederate units later in the war.
Sources
References
- [http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/item-detail.aspx?typ...|The G. Gerdes Civil War Home Page]