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| From: The Arkansas Post Story Arkansas Post National Memorial by Roger E. Coleman Published by the Southwest Cultural Resources Center/Professional Paprs No. 12: Union casualties numbered 134 killed, 898 wounded, and 29 missing. Among the Confederates, 60 were killed, 80 wounded, and 4,800 taken prisoners. No mention as to where the prisoners were taken.
From: Confederate losses were 60 killed, 80 wounded and 4,791 captured "Those prisoners were sent north to Illinois prison camps in violation of the Dix-Hill cartel of 1862, under which they should have been exchanged for Federal prisoners at Vicksburg. Thus, the South was deprived of a large number of able-bodied fighting men in its effort to hold Vickburg, which was the Confederacy's last avenue to the Western states". Have researched that Battle to the max. for that is where my g. grandfather (Harvey Marion Andrews from DeWitt Co., Tx) died - It literally was a blood bath! Very controversial surrender! McClermand steamed up the Miss. River w/32,000 men - divided his men into two corps - 1/2 went with Sherman and the other half 16,000 men stayed with McClemand who turned command over to Gen. Morgan. The river fleet under Porter consised of three ironclads, six gunboats and more than 70 troop transports. Gen. Thos Churchill had just recently been put in command of Arkansas Post (renamed Fort Hindman) - Churchill had about 4,000 men against "an approaching blue horde almost 10 times that number".When most Texas cavalry units were "dismounted" - they were an unhappy bunch - they all were fighters, most of them had been born and raised in Texas or there at an early age - they knew how to fight, they'd done it all of their lives. Churchill didn't particularly like the Texans: "To further complicate his situation, Churchill was not sure how some of the more undisciplined units, particularly those from Texas would react. He decided to position them in rifle pits more than a mile outside the fort"! Sherman and Morgan couldn't make headway against the Texans in the rifle pits - The Union finally had four guns positioned across the river to open fire, raking the men Texans within the "pits" - the Conf. were taking fire from the front, back and one side with all the positioning the Union troops, guns & boats had now made! The Conf. infantrymen in the rifle pits were losing heart - Anyone would after the guns had their position and they couldn't get out! Somewhere along due to the low morale, the blood bath, the slaughter, someone in the ditch cried, "Hoist the white flag, pass the word down the line." The writer of the article stated: "Churchill's distrust of the undisciplined Texans had proved to be valid - their unauthorized action turn a defeat into a rout." Churchill reprimanded one of his officers, Col. Garland for letting his men surrender - Garland told him something to the effect "I received the order from one of your own staff"! which Churchill denied. Harvey was in the 24th {Texas] Cavalry Regiment [2nd Texas Lancers] dismounted - Can't find the info I'm looking for, but the prisoners were finally exchanged but had a problem - negative word had gotten out about the surrender and no one wanted "those Texas boys" - one Conf. Gen took 'em and they did themselves proud through the remainder of the war! Peggy Fox at Hillsboro worked with me trying to find out what happened to the 24th - which unit was it attached to - we had an extremely hard time - she referred me to a man in New York - called him and he first said "You have the best Confederate library in the South at your back door - I helped set it up" - told him our problem and he was most gracious to help both of us - THEN I wanted more! Where was Harvey buried? Called the Texas Archives told them my story - they connected me with someone there that was well versed with civil war material - told me to call Arkansas Archives and ask for particular person - and they would set up conference call - and for me to contact the National Parks "whatever" in Little Rock and tell them the story - a conference relay was established with all four of us, giving the other three time to dig a little - none had EVER been ask the question - Come to find out, "more than likely" the bodies were buried within the rifle pits. Arkansas Post was a dirt fort which was mashed to a good garden spot. The Arkansas River has since changed it's course to where it now flows over where the pits were located - Poor ole Harvey's bones are probably in the Gulf of Mexico by now! It was a hoot - but all were extremely helpful as well as interested. They could see I had done my homework and couldn't go any further - thanks to Peggy Fox at Hillsboro!
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| My Great Grandfather was William M. Green, and I have not been able to
identify his military record because there were so many William M. Greens, but
he did survive, and served on the Texas coast in 1865 after being exchanged.
We have several letter saved by the family that document his service and some
muster records, and his grave has been marked in the Edom, Texas cemetery in
Van Zandt county. The Battle of Arkansas Post was a preliminary battle before the siege on Vicksburg started. Admiral Porter took his 35 gun boats up the Arkansas River and destroyed Fort Hinman with his gun boats. The Union Army put some 50,000 troops ashore, and the battle did not last too long since the South only had about 3,000 troops. The men were taken to a prison camp in Illinois called Camp Douglas. They men were next taken to Fort Deleware where my William M. Green was exchanged and sent home. He joined up again when Galveston was attacked, and was assigned to guard the Texas coast at Velasca. He was assigned to the Ordinance Factory in Tyler, Texas when the war ended, and could have been helping his father-in-law, James Calthorp, who has written to Jefferson Davis asking that his son, Bruce Coltharp, and his son-iin-law, William M. Green be released from the army to help him operate his grist mill and saw mill located near Edom, Texas.
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Below we give the names of those in Pender County who will most likely be called for im�mediate
service in Uncle Sam's new Army. These names are published in the order of liability in which the numbers were drawn at Washington. We do not publish all the names that were drawn, as we have not the space; but we will publish the balance next week. As interest mainly attaches at this time to those who will likely be called in the first draft, we give a list twice as large as the number which this County will be required to furnish. 258 Paul Cephus Fisher, 458 Albert Sidney Johnson, 854 Joseph Utley Shepard, 837 Howard Ernest Sherman, 337 Dan Humphrey, 676 M. E. Newkirk, 275 Herbert Fennell, 509 A. E. Kelly, 564 D. 3. Murray, 945 R. W. Woodcock, 596 M. P Malpass, 536 J. J. Loucks, 548 D. W. Lewis, 126 Jeff Bland, 784 Charlie Robinson, 755 Joe S. Peterson, 107 J. J. Bowen, 616 S. J. Morgan, 373 Jack Hanchey, 775 Jim Piner, 496 Arnold Johnson, 692 Pearly Newton, 600 Ivie Messick, 810 S.C. Rivenbark, 507 Livingston Keith, 309 R. R. Garriss, 436 Clement Hall, 604 P. D. Mobley, 43 Chancy Bannerman, 824 Jessie Tate, 420 J. L. Hickson, 514 A. S. King, 433 J. B. Harper, 10 Stacy Alkerman, 487 John G. Johnson, 797 E. L. Richards, 140 G. R. Corbett, 432 Albert Herring, 18 J. A. Barnhill, 652 Willie McKoy, 927 J. E. Vernon, 739 Austin Pigford, 601 W. H. Moore, 606 Elisha Malpass, 182 Luther R. Casteen, 5l3 Henry Kenan, 46 Demps Batts, 223 Fred Dees, 117 Anthony Bordeaux, 602 Albert Morris, 390 R. V. Hardison, 75 L. M. Bell, 772 W. F. Powers, 721 J. W. Padgett, 786 Arthur Robinson, 280 W. H. Farrior, 972 Roy Whitfield, 983 Tom Williams, 757 A. C. Peterson, 966, A. J. Watkins, 869 Morton Sidburv, 332 C. C. Hines, 379 C. P. Herrring, 542 John Larkins, 194 Quincy Crews, 874 I.E. Sholar, 552, C. S. Lane, 298 Willie Grady, 675 Willie McAlaster, 343 A. A. Hodges, 982 Mallard Williams, 726, W. G. Pridgen, Derry Armstrong, P. Smith, R. D. Whaley, 452 Joseph Jacobs, 355 Lacy Holmes, 530 G. O. Lee, 89, Stewart Rivenbark, 645 John Moody, 218 P. H. Duncan, 620 Buck Morgan, 550 W. K. Lanier, 574 James T. Murray, 31, R. E. Barnhill, 981 Alonzo Williams, 770 K D. Pigford, 882 D. F. Sidbury, 677 J. T. Newton, 525 Fitzhugh Lee, 760 Edgar Page 183 J. C. Carr, 56 Guy Buzton, 792 I.E. Raynor, 5 Athur Anderson, 54 Claud Buxton, 870 T. A Sidbury, 549 George Lee, 440 Dock Jones, 741 Albert H. Page, 711 J. W. Powell, 841 P. R. Stringfield, 638 Neal Graham Moore, 623 J. R. Miller, 269 James Fennell, 685 Herbert Nixon, 335 Fred Henry, 493 Archie Jones, 923 Ransom Tate, 341 Joseph Hines, 391 I. V. Hardison. 353 J. B. Holt, 970 William Faison, 637 Edgar Moore, 360 Amos Howard, 571 Neal B. Murray, 488 Quincy Jones, 904 J.D. Newkirk, 72 H.P. Bell, 356 Arthur Hall ,112 Arthur Brown, 128 H.J. Brunson, 11 L L. Andrews, 900 W. R. Shiver, 363 C. T. Howard 5 L. S. Avery, 327 Charlie Holmes, 665 John McIntyre, 93 C. L. Bailey, 957 CalvinWooten.345 R. R. Henry, 103 A. B. Brown, 556 Willie Lewis, 154 B. L. Croom. Blake. 717 W. J. Pridgen, 30 C. E. Bell, 199 W. M. Chadwick, 388 E. F. Hardison, 773 O. R. Padgett, 608 Geoge E. Marshburn, 406 Gus Hill, 519 W. B. Keith, 25 W. H. Blanton, 392 Matthew Hardlson, 889 L. C. Sidbury, 383 McKinly Herring. 588 J. A. Murray, 856 Augusta Herring, 705 W. H. Newkirk, 576 Bradly Mott, 844 O. S. Wood- �cock, 122 Charlie Bannerman, 642 Blame Morris, 939 A. W. Wright, 222 Charlie Durham, 906 Robert Street, 700 Tom Newton, 297 Bryant Gurganous, 321 John Garrison, 736 Sam Pigford, 707 W. J. B. Orr, 368 James Howard, 974 Henry Williams, 320 Joseph Garrison, 950 R. H. Williams, 926 John Bargo, 919 R. W. Thigpen, 656 B. 3. McClammy. 814 Richard R. Rivenbark, 738 R. L. Petet, 848 Euley Shepard, 121 Alec Bannerman, 221 J. H. Dorgan, 292 Marion Giddens, 822 3. A. Riven- bark, 504 O. W. Ken, 470 Alec Garrison, 312 Walter Graham, 90 A. J. Bannerrnan, 191 Edward Cowan, 477 L. N. Johnson, 753 Wooten Parker, 130 Jacob Carr, 858 E. N. Sidbury, 168 Jessie Costin, 424 Joe Highsmith. |