David-Thank-you so much for your excellent reply/links. The image of the "tattered rebel" I think has long ago been disproved and the evidence would suggest that Arkansas troops were indeed well uniformed until the close of the war. My g-g grandfather served in "Hardy's regiment" Churchills division and from the article it appears that the division had new uniforms courtsey of Shreveport just prior to the battles of Pleasant Hill and Jenkins Ferry. In all my reading on the Red River campaign I don't think I had ever seen that and gives me an excellent picture of what these troops may have looked like. Just a couple of follow-ups: Can we also dismiss the idea of the "butternut rebel" at least in Arkansas? Was a "butternut" uniform actually kinda rare? It appears that most of the Arkansas troops were indeed regularly clad in grey. And a general question on the "SouthArk" link-is it regularly available online for reading online? I found it very interesting reading on a number of topics pertaining to southern Arknsas-very excellent.
Thanx again for providing very interesting reading.