Tenth Arkansas Infantry, Confederate
by Charles David Parsons
   
Editor's Note: This issue of Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings contains two articles on a group of Confederate soldiers from the Mount Vernon-Enola-Holland area during the Civil War . The first article, below, concentrates on events from May 1861 to July 1863 while the men were members of a regular Confederate Army regiment. The second article, which follows, emphasizes the history of an irregular regiment which engaged in a form of guerrilla warfare in Arkansas from the summer of 1363 to the end of the war in the spring of 1865.
Charles D. Parsons wrote this article in 1992 as a paper for a Civil War and Reconstruction class at the University of Central Arkansas .He is a native of the Holland community and a descendant of several members of the 10th Arkansas Infantry. Parsons received a BSE from U.C.A. in 1993, has compiled a history of the Oakland United Methodist Church, and is a member of the board of directors of the Faulkner County Historical Society.
The paper has been edited for Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings, and information in brackets [] has been added.
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  The sounds of local farm boys learning to become soldiers could be heard through the woods in what is now Faulkner County in the summer of 1861. The Civil War was barely begun, and the men who would make up the companies of the 10th Arkansas Infantry, Confederate, were arriving daily, filling makeshift camps near towns in then Conway County such as Springfield and Quitman.
 
The 10th Arkansas Infantry was commanded by Colonel Thomas D. Merrick, 47 years old and a merchant, Mason, and politician who had served in the 1850s as mayor and alderman of Little Rock.l Merrick's troops trained with enthusiasm but with inadequate equipment. Most of the men entered the service with just their shotguns, squirrel rifles, and muskets from horne.2 Dressed mainly in homespun, the would-be soldiers prepared for anticipated service, electing officers from among their ranks, and waiting for orders to join with their fellow Confederates. In the months to come, they would see action and would know both the heights and depths of war .
 
The men of the 10th Arkansas were primarily farmers from Conway, Perry, and Van Buren counties. Many men in Company "E" in particular came from what is now central Faulkner County near the Holland and Enola communities. [See the roster of Company "E" on pages 61-62 of this issue of Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings.] One family in the area gave four members to the company: Thomas Allen Mabry, 43; his brother James Eaton Mabry, 23; their nephew Hartwell B.Mabry, 18; and Thomas' son-in-law John Lee Smith, 21. Other sons and brothers from this family would serve in other Confederate regiments. The other companies in the 10th Arkansas could list brothers and in-laws within their ranks as well.3
 
   The 10th Arkansas was ordered east of the Mississippi River, where in October 1861 they were listed as part of a brigade commanded by Brigadier General John S. Bowen,4 which also included the 9th Arkansas, 5th Missouri, and 10th Mississippi regiments. The 10th Arkansas eventually arrived at Bowling Green, Kentucky, where it spent the fall drilling and on guard duty, with no active campaigning.5
 
Miseries of Camp Life
 
During the fall and winter of 1861 the dread disease of the day, measles, broke out among the troops. Many of the men died and were buried around Bowling Green without ever seeing action. One of these soldiers seems to have anticipated his death as he made out a will shortly before leaving his home in Conway County in August. Thomas Allen Mabry's daughter re- remembered her father's departure from home: "I heard Father crying -went out to him -heard him tell that he wanted Mother to live on the place ... and on that same day [August 4, 1861] Father started from home, he said to rejoin Colonel Merrick's regiment of volunteers On the 29th day of November, Mother received a letter ...stating that father Thomas A. Mabry died on the 18th."6
Many of the farmers from central Arkansas must have wondered when they left to join the army if they would return. Just as many may never have given the chance of their death a passing thought. If any during the winter of 1861- 62 began to doubt whether they would make it through the war, the events of 1862 would certainly cause more of them to do so.
Following the capture in February 1862 of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson by forces commanded by Union General Ulysses S. Grant, Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston decided to give up Kentucky and most of Tennessee and retreat into north Mississippi and Alabama. The Confederate army left Bowling Green and marched southward through Nashville, eventually arriving at Corinth, Mississippi on March 23 with nearly 40,000 men.7 The 10th Arkansas was assigned with the rest of Bowen's brigade to the army’s Reserve Corps commanded by Brigadier General John C. Breckinridge, a former (1857-1861) Vice President of the United States.8 It was with this corps that the 10th Arkansas would see its first and finest battlefield action during the war.
The Union Army of the Tennessee under Grant was encamped at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River. Here Grant awaited the arrival of reinforcements from the Army of the Ohio commanded by Major General Don Carlos Buell. At Corinth, Johnston decided to seize the initiative and attack Grant before Buell's troops could arrive. The result was the Battle of Shiloh on April 6-7, 1862, which would have the greatest number of casualties of the war to that time.
 
Battle of Shiloh
 
As part of the Reserve Corps, the 10th Arkansas was stationed near the crossroads of the Corinth and Bark roads at the rear of the Confederate forces. Here the troops waited while listening to the sounds of battle to the front. Anxious to join their comrades, the men received orders to march at 8:30 in the morning, arriving on the Confederate right around 11 o'clock.9 This Sabbath Day was to be an unforgettable one for the 10th Arkansas.
The men of the 10th Arkansas made their way clear of thick woods and encountered the enemy first-hand, delivering round after round into the Union forces. Albert Sidney Johnston was in the thick of the fighting for much of the time, being near the center of where the 10th Arkansas was fighting shortly before noon.10 The Rebel forces had to cross several ravines in order to reach the Union lines, but were able eventually to form for a massed attack against the Union center. As one of his last orders before being fatally wounded, Johnston called for a bayonet attack against the Union forces, exclaiming to an Arkansas regiment: "They say you boast of your prowess with the Bowie knife. Today you wield a nobler weapon-the bayonet. Use it well." Shouting wildly, the Confederates moved forward. "The Rebels came on us before we knew it ...the undergrowth so thick we could not see them until they got within twenty yards of us," a member of an Illinois regiment recalled. Johnston died around 2:30 p.m. from a wound received only yards from where the 10th Arkansas was engaged during this encounter .11
The 10th Arkansas fought valiantly on the first day of the battle of Shiloh. Courageously charging around the front lines of other Rebel units as they paused to return fire, the 10th Arkansas under Colonel Merrick and the 9th Arkansas under Colonel Isaac L. Dunlop drove the Federals back.12 During the day, Bowen 's brigade lost a total of 98 killed, 498 wounded, and 28 missing,13 with the 10th Arkansas losing more than 100 killed or wounded out of a total of about 500 men engaged.14
In this condition, the 10th Arkansas faced the rain and miserable conditions during the night on the battlefield. While the contending armies rested, the tide was turning against the Confederates as Buell's army began arriving at Pittsburg Landing to reinforce Grant's weary and battered troops. The next day the Union forces went on the offensive against half their number, and the Confederates were soon withdrawing back to Corinth. The men of the 10th Arkansas assisted in holding off Federal assaults for a few hours, but their subsequent retreat proved demoralizing for soldiers who had so proven themselves the day before.15
 
Trouble Within the Regiment
 
One aspect of the 10th Arkansas' service to this point proved much less creditable than their bravery at Shiloh. The regiment was plagued with strife between the junior officers and their superiors. Charges of misconduct and incompetence were raised against Colonel Merrick by his subordinates, and the accusations were returned. Prior to the fighting at Shiloh, Merrick had been accused of acting abusively toward the soldiers and being drunk on duty. Denying these charges, he claimed that the officers were not worthy of their positions, being too easy on the troops and not enforcing discipline in the ranks.16 Tensions flared following Shiloh. His authority weakened, Merrick resigned his command on May 14 and several officers left with him. This departure led to the appointment of Captain Allen R. Witt of the "Quitman Rifles" to the position of Colonel of the regiment.17 The 37-year old farmer could not immediately take effective command as he was recovering from a wound received at Shiloh.
During the months following the battle, the 10th Arkansas fell into a state of disorganization that plagued it for the remainder of its service as an active unit. The retreat to Corinth was demoralizing, food and equipment were inadequate, and desertions ran high. Not until Witt was able to assume full command did the 10th Arkansas begin to pull itself into some semblance of order .18
During the summer and fall of 1862 the 10th Arkansas was involved in a few minor engagements in Louisiana around Baton Rouge.19 As 1863 began, the main focus of the Confederates was on maintaining control of the Mississippi River against onslaughts by Union armies and gunboats. The northern anchor of the Confederate defenses was at Vicksburg, Mississippi; the 10th Arkansas would be assigned to the lesser-known bastion 150 miles by river to the south -Port Hudson, Louisiana.
 
Siege of Port Hudson
 
The fighting the 10th Arkansas saw at Port Hudson was not done in a matter of hours as it had been at Shiloh. Weeks of siege faced the less than enthusiastic troops as they occupied the trenches around Port Hudson through the spring rains and summer heat. The problems of command did not improve. Colonel Witt was captured early in the siege and the morale of the 10th Arkansas declined. The Official Records show the command changed several times in a period of only a few months, adding to the disorganization of the regiment. The 10th Arkansas became a nightmare to Colonel I. G. W. Steedman, who was in command of the northern breastworks defending Port Hudson.20
The Confederates dug some six miles of trenches and gun positions in a 7 -mile arc on the east bank of the Mississippi River, enclosing the village and dock at Port Hudson. These works were under attack from May 23 to July 9, a period of 48 days, which makes the siege of Port Hudson the longest in American military history. It is estimated that there were some 30,000 Union troops pitted against 6,800 Confederates.21 The 10th Arkansas was positioned north of the town, along with the l5th and l8th Arkansas, 39th

 
Photo: R.W.M. A section of the original breastworks at "Bennett's
Redoubt," where the 10th Arkansas Infantry Regiment drove back two
at tacks by a total of seven Federal regiments on May 27, 1863, during
the siege of Port Hudson.

Mississippi, and 1st Alabama, on a farm near the house, barn, and bull pens.22 The 10th Arkansas saw action during an assault on May 27 when their losses totaled 83.23 Although their courage and fighting ability were not questioned, their unruliness was a constant problem. On June 11, Colonel Steedman wrote: "My only uneasiness is from an unreliable regiment It is the Tenth Arkansas. I have had to conciliate them I am afraid I will have a mutinous
regiment."24
 
Surrender
 
There were rumors that the regiment would attempt to surrender as a group.
Its officers continued to be the apparent root of the problem. After Witt's capture the commander was Colonel E. L. Vaughn. Vaughn was later charged with neglect of duty and suspected of fostering rebellion among his men - he was arrested in June.25 Even though the men proved to be ill-disciplined toward their officers in several instances, Colonel Steedman wrote: "It is not the men of the regiment who are troublesome -they have no officers."26 The lack of discipline, coupled with the nearly unbearable conditions in the field, could have no other effect than lowering the morale of the 10th Arkansas to unbelievable levels.
Time was against the Confederates entrenched at Port Hudson. As the siege continued into July, the Confederates had nearly exhausted their ammunition and were reduced to eating mules, horses, and rats. With the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863, Port Hudson had little recourse than to surrender as well on July 9.27 While most of the officers of the 10th Arkansas were kept as prisoners of war, the enlisted men were paroled and sent back to their farms and families in Arkansas.28 The futures of these men varied. Some returned to find that Colonel Witt had somehow escaped and was waiting for them, forming a cavalry regiment that operated more as a guerrilla unit.29 A few of the men joined the Union army. John Lee Smith, wounded at Shiloh and captured at Port Hudson, joined the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry, Union, in February 1864 and served for a short period of time. His widow tried in the 1890s to acquire a Union pension, claiming that when Smith died in 1882 it was from pneumonia contracted while in the service of the Union army. She was unsuccessful.30
The men of the 10th Arkansas were much like thousands of others who entered both the Confederate and Union regiments. They may not have fully understood the principles behind the war, but were willing to fight for what they understood to be their rights. They began as little more than untrained farmers and woodsmen, but by the end of the conflict they had experienced the grueling realities of combat. They had their shining moments and their dark days, but each man who survived could say that he had contributed to the efforts of this side's fight. Their participation in America 's most fascinating chapter of history requires and secures the recognition of their service.
 
Footnotes:
1Brian Dirck, "Untempered Steel," Civil War, XXV, p. 13. [One of the training sites was
evidently at "Camp Merrick" on the Old Springfield Road between Enders and Rosebud. A
number of Confederate soldiers are allegedly buried in the area.]
2John H. Moore, A School History of Arkansas (Little Rock: Democrat Printing &
Lithography Co., 1927), p. 155.
3Service Records of the Tenth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry, CSA. Arkansas History
Commission, Little Rock. [Men from the area which later became Faulkner County were
enlisted in at least six companies of the 10th Arkansas, including one raised by Capt. R. S.
Fears in the vicinity of Mount Vernon. Historical and Biographical Memoirs of Central
Arkansas (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1889), p.7ll.]
4Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Florida and Arkansas (New
York: Facts on File, Inc., 1992), p. 89.
5Confederate Military History (Atlanta: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899), p.306.
6"LastWill of Thomas Allen Mabry (3 Feb 1818- 18 Nov 1861)," recorded on pages 159-160,
Conway County Court records, Morrilton.
7David G. Martin, The Shiloh Campaign (New York: Fairfax Press, 1987), pp. 53- 60.
8[The rest of Bowen’s Second Brigade consisted of the 9th Arkansas, 2nd Confederate, and
1st Missouri regiments, "Flying Artillery" units from Mississippi and Louisiana, and a
Kentucky Cavalry unit. James Lee McDonough, Shiloh - in Hell before Night (Knoxville:
the University of Tennessee Press, 1977), p. 246.]
9Wiley Sword, Shiloh: Bloody April (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1974), pp.257-258.
10McDonough, p. 133.
11Sword, pp. 263-270; McDonough, p. 152. 12Dirck, p. 14.
13Official Records, Series I, Volume 10, Part I, p. 385.
14Dirck, p. 14.
15Ibid.
16Ibid.
17Service Records of the Tenth Arkansas Infantry.
18Dirck, pp. 14-15.
19John F. Walter, Capsule Histories of Arkansas Military Units. Arkansas History
Commission. [In his compendium, Stewart Sifakis, p. 90, lists the Corinth Campaign
(April-June 1862) and the Vicksburg Bombardments (May 18.July 17, 1862) as "battles" in
which the 10th Arkansas participated.]
20Lawrence Lee Hewitt, Port Hudson: Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi (Baton
Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987), p. 132.
21Ibid., pp. 9-17; [Pamphlet prepared by Louisiana Office of State Parks, "Longest Civil War
Battle Was Fought At Port Hudson" (Baton Rouge: March 1994).].
22David C. Edmonds, The Guns of Port Hudson (Lafayette, La.: The Acadiana Press,
1983-84), map on p. 294.
23Ibid., p. 104.
240fficial Records, Series I, Volume 26, Part 1, pp. 158-159.
25Ibid., p. 163.
26Dirck, p. 70.
27Southern casualty figures are incomplete, but the siege had cost the Confederacy at least
380 deaths. Almost 2,500 other soldiers were listed as sick and wounded when the garrison
surrendered. The siege had cost the Union 4,363 casualties, including at least 708 deaths."
Carl Moneyhon and Bobby Roberts, Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of
Louisiana in the Civil War (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1990), p. 245.]
28Louisiana Office of State Parks pamphlet; Service Records of the Tenth Arkansas Infantry.
[Among the many Arkansas officers captured at Port Hudson who were sent to Federal
military prison camps was Captain William W. Martin, who later became a prominent
businessman and civic leader in Faulkner County .]
29[Any Confederate soldier who violated the terms of his parole by joining the cavalry unit
faced dire consequences if captured by Federal troops. See the article on ..Witt's Cavalry"
which follows in this issue of Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings.]
30John Lee Smith Pension Files -Company “G", Third Arkansas Cavalry, USA. National
Archives, Washington, D.C. [The Union 3rd Arkansas was organized at Little Rock in
February 1864 and was composed of recruits primarily from Conway , Yell, and Pulaski
counties. It served in north and central Arkansas and participated in the disastrous (for the
Union forces) Camden campaign in the spring of 1864. The regiment was mustered out on
August 20, 1865. Desmond Walls Allen, Arkansas. Damned Yankees: An Index to Union
Soldiers in Arkansas Regiments.(Conway, Ark.: 1987), p. 5.]

Tenth Arkansas Infantry, Confederate
Charles David Parsons
Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings, Fall and Winter, 1994, Nos. 3-4, pp. 53-60