Allegiance CSA Size Regiment | Branch Infantry | |
Active July 1862– May 26, 1865 Engagements American Civil WarBattle of Little RockRed River CampaignBattle of Pleasant HillBattle of Jenkins' Ferry | ||
The 27th Arkansas Infantry Regiment (1862–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The unit served entirely in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi and surrendered at Marshall, Texas at the war's end.
Contents
Organization
27th Infantry Regiment was organized at Yellville, Arkansas, in July 1862, composed of a number of companies of mounted volunteers, who were dismounted and reinforced with several companies of conscripts. James R. Shaler, a Missourian who had previously served in the Missouri State Guard, was appointed colonel. The field officers were Colonels Beal Gaither and James R. Shaler, and Lieutenant Colonels A. J. Magenis and James M. Riggs. The unit was composed of companies from the following counties:
Service
The 27th Arkansas took part in most of the major battles fought in the Trans-Mississippi Department after September 1862, including the Battle of Prairie Grove, the Battle of Bayou Fourche, the Battle of Pleasant Hill, and the Battle of Jenkins Ferry.
Prairie Grove Campaign
The 27th Arkansas was initially assigned to Colonel Robert G. Shaver's 2nd Brigade of Daniel M. Frost's 3rd Division of Major General Thomas C. Hindman's 1st Corps of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi for the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7, 1862. The other regiments in the brigade were the 27th, 38th, and Adams' Arkansas Infantry Regiments. According to Colonel Robert G. Shaver's report on the Battle of Prairie Grove, the 27th did not become actively engaged in the fighting at Prairie Grove because the regiment was without arms.
Summer 1863
After Prairie Grove, the regiment retreated to Van Buren, with the rest of Hindman's Army. On February 28, 1862, Brigadier General J. C. Tappan, commander of the 13th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, was ordered to assume command of Shaver's brigade, composed of the 38th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel Robert G. Shaver, the 27th Arkansas Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel James R. Shaler, and the 33rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment commanded by Colonel Hiram L. Grinstead. They remained with Tappan's Brigade through the remainder of the war. General Tappan was ordered to move his brigade to Louisiana to support General Richard Taylor's operations against General Grant's forces laying siege to Vicksburg Mississippi. The 33rd spent the month of July 1863 in the vicinity of Delhi, Louisiana where they conducted raids on Federal interests between Delhi and the Mississippi River. Tappan's brigade was ordered to return to Arkansas, via Pine Bluff, in August 1863. The Tappan's Brigade and the 33rd Arkansas missed the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863, because of its operations in Louisiana.
The 27th returned to Arkansas in August 1863, and was involved in the defense of Little Rock. In the first weeks of September, 1863, the 27th served in the Little Rock defenses near present-day North Little Rock. After General Price abandoned Little Rock on September 10, 1863, the 27th retreated down the Southwest Trail to Benton and on to the vicinity of Arkadelphia, while they spent the winter of 1863.
Colonel Shaler proved to be unpopular with his men and junior officers. Shaler was a Missourian and made several attempts to have the 27th added to a brigade of Missouri Troops. The regiment was eventually consolidated with Colonel Robert G. Shaver's 38th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. Because of this consolidation, and because of the similarities between the names Shaver and Shaler, several historian's have mistakenly reported that Colonel Robert Shaver was elected as commander of both regiments.
Red River Campaign
Upon the launch of the Union Army’s Red River Campaign, seizing Alexandria, Louisiana and moving on Natchitoches and Shreveport, General Kirby Smith ordered Churchill's Arkansas Division, which had most of his infantry (including Tappan's and Gause's brigades), south to Shreveport, Louisiana in early March, 1864 to assist in countering Union General Nathaniel Banks' advance along the Red River. Churchill’s division reached Keatchie, Louisiana in time to support Richard Taylor’s main force, that routed Banks’ army in the Battle of Mansfield (Sabine Crossroads) on April 8, 1864. The next day, the Confederate forces united to attack the Union rear guard at Pleasant Hill on the afternoon of April 9. The Confederates had endured a long forced march from south central Arkansas to Mansfield, and another of ten hours to Pleasant Hill that day with only two hours’ rest. The Union troops held a formidable position, and although the Arkansans and Missourians fought valiantly, they were repulsed and retreated six miles to the nearest water.
After the battle of Pleasant Hill, Churchill's Division made a hasty return with General Kirby Smith back to Arkansas to assist General Price in dealing with the other half of the Red River campaign, Union General Frederick Steele's Camden Expedition moving southwest from Little Rock. The Division and Tappan’s Brigade arrived just in time to join the pursuit of Steele's army as it retreated from Camden, and join in the attack on Steele as he tried to cross the Saline River at Jenkins' Ferry on April 30, 1864. After an all-night march through a rainstorm and ankle-deep mud, Tappan’s Brigade reinforced Gause's Brigade, and personally led by General Churchill, the Confederate force made repeated attacks on the Union federals attempting to cross the river. During the Battle of Jenkins Ferry, the consolidated command reported 4 killed and 22 wounded. Tappan's Brigade and the 27th Arkansas returned to the vicinity of Camden following Jenkins' Ferry, and saw no substantial combat for the remainder of the war.
Close of war
On 30 September 1864, General Kirby Smith's report on the organization of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi lists the 27th Arkansas, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James M. Riggs, as belonging to Brigadier General James C. Tappan's, 3rd Brigade of Acting Major General Thomas J. Churchill's 1st Arkansas Infantry Division of Major General John B. Magruder's 2nd Army Corps. On 17 November 1864, a union spy reported that the Tampan's Brigade and Churhill's Division was in the vicinity of Camden, in Ouachita County, Arkansas. On 31 December 1864, General Kirby Smith's report on the organization of his forces lists the 27th Arkansas, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James M. Riggs as belonging to Brigadier General James C. Tappan's, 3rd Brigade of Acting Major General Thomas J. Churchill's 1st Arkansas Infantry Division of Major General John B. Magruder's 2nd Army Corps, Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi. In late January, 1865, Churchill's Division moved to Minden, Louisiana, where they established winter quarters. In early April 1865, the division concentrated near Shreveport Louisiana, and then moved to Marshall, Texas by mid April 1865.
Campaign Credit
The regiment participated in the following battles:
Surrender
This regiment surrendered with the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, General E. Kirby Smith commanding, May 26, 1865. With few exceptions, the Arkansas Infantry regiments in the Trans-Mississippi simply disbanded without formally surrendering. When the Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered, all of the Arkansas infantry regiments were encamped in and around Marshall, Texas (war-ravaged Arkansas no longer able to subsist the army). The regiments were ordered to report to Shreveport, Louisiana, to be paroled, but none of them did so. Some individual soldiers went to Shreveport on their own to be paroled, others reported to Union garrisons at Fort Smith, Pine Bluff or Little Rock to receive their paroles, but for the most part, the men simply went home.