31st Arkansas

Company I was organized at Batesville, Independence County, Arkansas, on March 23, 1862, Captain Ebenezer H. Howser commanding. The company was assigned to McCray’s Battalion as Company I. The company retained this designation when McCray’s Battalion was reorganized as the 31st Arkansas Infantry on May 27, 1862. A total of 43 men are known to have served with Company I. Nearly forty percent of them died of disease during the war; only one of them was left at the surrender in April 1865. One member, Sergeant George W. Williams, was awarded the Confederate equivalent of the Medal of Honor for his heroism at the Battle of Chickamauga.