His name is spelled at least three different ways in the various records. He enlisted in Co. D, 5th (aka 8th) Arkansas Cavalry, at Evening Shade, Arkansas, on November 1, 1862, for three years or the war. He was reported as present for duty on the August 31, 1863, muster roll; then reportedly deserted on the retreat from Little Rock on September 13, 1863. Sometime between September 1863 and July 1864 he enlisted or attached himself to Co. D, Ford's Battalion Arkansas Cavalry. He served with this command to the end of the war. He was paroled at Jacksonport on June 5, 1865.

Ford's battalion is credited to Missouri, despite the fact that the vast majority of the men were from northern Arkansas.