The Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Col George W. Carter's Brigade
In Response To: Col George W. Carter's Brigade ()

Based on the following history of Parson's Brigade, it looks like Carter had the 21st Texas Cavalry, Morgan's Texas Cavalry Battalion and one section of Pratt's Texas Battery...

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qkp01

PARSONS'S BRIGADE. Parsons's Brigade, a Confederate brigade during the Civil War, was organized in the autumn of 1862 to serve as cavalry for the Army of the Trans-Mississippi then forming in Arkansas. For much of the war the brigade was commanded by Col. William Henry Parsons, who had raised the Twelfth Texas Cavalry Regiment in the summer of 1861. In late 1862, however, Brig. Gen. James M. Hayes briefly commanded the brigade, in 1863 Col. George W. Carter led part of the regiments, in 1864 Brig. Gen. William Steele assumed command, and in 1865 Parsons regained total control. Because the force had been organized under Colonel Parsons, served under him in 1863, and was again under him at the end of the war, it was generally known as Parsons's Brigade. The permanent components of the brigade were Parsons's Twelfth Texas Cavalry Regiment, Nathaniel Macon Burford's Nineteenth Texas Cavalry Regiment, George Washington Carter's Twenty-first Texas Cavalry Regiment, Charles Leroy Morgan's Texas Battalion, and Joseph H. Pratt's Tenth Texas Field Battery.

In fall 1862 the brigade served as the cavalry for the Army of the Trans-Mississippi in eastern Arkansas and monitored Union troop movements around the federal fort at Helena. In July 1862, before formation of the brigade, Parsons's Twelfth engaged federal troops near Cotton Plant, Arkansas, as Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis's Army of the Southwest marched through Arkansas. As a result of the fine leadership qualities Parsons displayed during this campaign, he received authorization to organize a brigade. By October the brigade consisted of the Twelfth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-first Texas Cavalry regiments along with an Arkansas battalion (later replaced by Morgan's Texas Battalion) and Pratt's Battery. Early in 1863 the Confederate hierarchy at Little Rock detached part of the regiments and placed Colonel Carter over the Nineteenth Texas, Twenty-first Texas, Morgan's Battalion, and Pratt's Battery. These Texans, designated Carter's Brigade, joined Maj. Gen. John S. Marmaduke on his second raid into Missouri in April. Carter, a former Methodist preacher, had originally organized a brigade of Texas Lancers (his own Twenty-first, Franklin C. Wilkes's Twenty-fourth, and Clayton C. Gillespie's Twenty-fifth Texas Cavalry regiments). But Carter's Lancers broke up after reaching Arkansas, and the Twenty-first Texas joined Parsons's Brigade. Colonel Carter's desire to regain command of a brigade, however, caused problems throughout the war.

In June 1863 Parsons took the Twelfth Texas to Louisiana, where he was joined by the Nineteenth Texas and part of the Pratt's Battery under Isaac R. Clare. Parsons's men raided Union positions along the west bank of the Mississippi during the federal campaign against Vicksburg. Although Confederate efforts to aid the Vicksburg defenders from the Louisiana shore failed, Parsons's raid did result in the destruction or capture of numerous federal supplies. While Parsons was in Louisiana with part of the brigade, Colonel Carter remained in command of the rest in Arkansas. Some troops from Carter's Brigade took part in the battle for Little Rock in September 1863 and an attack upon Pine Bluff in October. When all of the regiments were reunited in Arkansas in late 1863, there was a problem over which man should command. To avoid a disagreement and to subsist men and horses, the government assigned the force to the Confederate Bureau of Conscription. Each company was ordered to its home county in Texas to arrest deserters and draft evaders.

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Order of Battle for Little Rock Campaign
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Col George W. Carter's Brigade
Re: Col George W. Carter's Brigade
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Walker Cavalry Command?
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