By:Bryan Howerton
Date: Friday, 10 October 2003, 1:18 pm
In Response To: Re: 15th N/W Ark. Inf. Regt. (Danny Odom)

Danny, I found part of the information I was looking for. Still have a couple of loose ends I'm trying to find. Here's what I have so far --
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Arkansas Consolidated Regiments were organized, as near as I can figure, about May 17, 1864, as follows:
1st Consolidated Regiment -- 14th (Powers'), 15th (Northwest), 16th, 21st Arkansas Regiments.
2nd Consolidated Regiment -- 12th, 18th (Carroll's), 23rd Arkansas Regiments, and 8th (Jones') and 12th Arkansas Battalions.
3rd Consolidated Regiment -- 15th (Gee's), 19th (Dockery's), 20th Arkansas Regiments.
Note that the consolidations were finalized after the Camden Expedition. Dockery's Brigade had elements of some of the above, operationally but not officially consolidated, during the battles of April 1864.

Autumn, 1947 issue of The Arkansas Historical Quarterly
The Escape of Captain Joe and Lieutenant Dock Daniel
By Glenn G. Martel
Magnolia, Arkansas
[excerpted]
…The heavy loss of men sustained by the 19th Arkansas Regiment which was surrendered at Vicksburg and the 15th Arkansas Regiment which was surrendered at Port Hudson made it necessary to consolidate these two regiments. But because of the enviable records both had made, each was permitted to retain its number; and the new regiment was known as the Consolidated 15th and 19th Arkansas Regiment. All of the regimental officers of the 15th Regiment being held prisoners, Captain Joe, as senior captain, took command of the 15th Regiment, and Colonel Williams of the 19th was placed in command of the Consolidated Regiment. Captain Joe was second in command because of his seniority and the fact that the others were in prison. Colonel T. P. Dockery of the 19th Regiment was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and placed in command of all the troops from Vicksburg and Port Hudson. A portion of the brigade was mounted, and General Dockery took command of this part; and Colonel Williams commanded the infantry portion of the brigade. This left the infantry portion of the 15th and 19th under the command of Captain Joe until the 23rd of May, 1864, when he resigned upon a surgeon's certificate, because of wounds received at Port Hudson. This left Lieutenant Dock in command of company B in the Consolidated Regiment. This Consolidated Regiment was in the Battle of Poison Springs and Jenkins' Ferry, after which it was ordered into Texas, where it remained until the surrender.

Compiled Service Records:
3/6/64 LtCol H G P Williams cdg camp exchanged and paroled prisoners-to Gen Drayton commanding division Springfield, Ar- F. Findley of 15th Ark, company C, I understand is under arrest in your command. Will you be so kind as to deliver him to bearer of this note that he may be brought to his command at this camp
[Johnson’s 15th Ark]

4/26/64 HQ Dockery’s bgde-Camp Buena Vista-Capt Poyner 16th Ark tenders resignation-appd H G P Williams cdg infantry bgde [of Dockery’s bgde] appd Churchill Div
5/6/64 Camden- Lawson of 16th Ark resignation-appd D Boone Capt cdg 16th Ark-appd Dockery bgde-appd Churchill Div-Reason is that my company is too small and must be consolidated making me supernumerary
5/6/64 Capt Wilson 16th Ark tenders resignation- Reason is that my company is invisible in the consolidation

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~arcivwar/BAILEY.htm
Joseph M. Bailey Memoirs of the Civil War
[16th Ark]
After a few days rest I reported to my command at Camden, Arkansas, two days after the battle of Jenkins Ferry. My old regiment, the sixteenth Arkansas Infantry, had been consolidated with other Arkansas regiments. I was immediately put in charge of a detail of six men, with thirty of forty head of horses belonging to dismounted men of the command, with orders to proceed to Southern Arkansas or Eastern Texas, and sell for the benefit of the owners. This duty performed I reported back to my regiment at Camden. Under reorganization of the command, I was assigned to duty as first lieutenant of the fourth company, first consolidated regiment company, Colonel Cravens in command. My Captain was J. B. Cloud of my old regiment. For some time we remained in the vicinity of Camden; later moving to Monticello some fifty miles east, where we spent the remainder of the summer. The latter part of September, as well as I remember, while at Monticello, I received orders to proceed to North Arkansas for the purpose of recruiting for my company and regiment. This order was very gratifying to me, as I had grown somewhat weary of the monotony of camp life, and longed for the more exciting life that I knew awaited me on the border.