35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment 54 Enlistments

The nucleus of this regiment was formed from portions of Companies A, B, C, and G, of the 17th (Rector’s-Griffith’s) Arkansas Infantry Regiment which had been left behind in Arkansas when the unit was transferred east of the Mississippi River in April 1862. Colonel Frank A. Rector collected the men and combined them with newly forming companies to form a new regiment. The men from the 17th Arkansas were primarily enlisted in Companies A and K of the new regiment.
By June 1862, the various companies were mustered into service and concentrated near Fort Smith. It was accepted into service on 11 Jul 1862 at Camp Johnson, Sebastian County, as the 1st Regiment, Northwest Division, Trans-Mississippi Department. It was shortly thereafter officially designated as the 35th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. On 27 September 1864 it was redesignated again as the 22nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment (the regiment originally bearing that designation became the 20th Arkansas Infantry).

Companies with county of primary enlistment. (Johnson County men are listed in parenthesis)

Company A Sebastian County
Company B Sebastian County (3)
Company C Sebastian, Crawford and Johnson Counties (19)
Company D Sebastian County (4)
Company E Franklin County (4)
Company F (1st) Became Co. H, 11th Missouri Infantry 27 Aug 1862
Company F (2nd) Benton County
Company G Crawford County
Company H Pope County (9)
Company I Pope County (8)
Company K Madison County (7)

The regiment was almost immediately moved to the Indian Territory to reinforce Confederate forces near Fort Davis and Fort Gibson and were reported south of Tallequah on 14 Jul 1862. The unit spent the next several weeks at Fort Smith and in the Indian Territory before Fort Smith was abandoned on 18 Aug 1863. The regiment moved south and by November was brigaded with three other Arkansas regiments in Fagan’s Brigade, Shoup’s Division, First Corps (Hindman’s), Trans-Mississippi Army. In this brigade they participated in the fighting at Prairie Grove on 7 December 1862. The regiment saw severe fighting at the southwest angle of the Borden Orchard and at the Borden house during the battle.
The next major engagement for the regiment occurred at Helena, Arkansas on 4 July 1863. The regiment was ordered, with it’s brigade, to assemble at Clarendon, Arkansas on 26 Jan 1863. At 11 p.m. on 3 Jul 1863 it was ordered to march to Helena. Arriving in the early morning of the 4th, the regiment, with difficulty, passed through the timber obstructions on the Hindman Hill road and commenced an attack on the Federal troops stationed in rifle pits between Hindman house and Graveyard Hill. By 11 a.m., their attack was spent, having taken the outer two lines of defenses. The casualties for the regiment were 12 killed, 46 wounded and 20 missing.
The regiment participated in the fighting around Little Rock on 10 September 1863, and the subsequent withdrawal south. The men were moved to Louisiana in spring of 1864 to add to the forces opposing Banks’ Red River Campaign. On 8 April, the regiment marched 22 miles from Keachie to Mansfield, Louisiana. At 2 a.m. on April 9th they were again put in motion toward Sabine’s Crossroads, 19 miles distant. After arriving at the Pleasant Hill battlefield, they were allowed to rest for two hours before being called upon to join with the rest of Hawthorne’s Brigade, of Churchill’s Division to attack the Federal left. For two hours, the 35th Arkansas participated in the attack which overran the Union positions before being forced to withdraw. The Federal army withdrew during the night.
With the retirement of Banks’ army back down the Red River, Churchill’s Division was ordered to Camden, Arkansas to help contend with another Union Army commanded by Maj. General Frederick Steele. Arriving later that month at Camden, the 35th Arkansas joined the pursuit of Steele, culminating in the battle of Jenkins’ Ferry, on 30 April 1864, during which the regiment was heavily engaged.
For the remainder of the war, the regiment was posted to various points in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. From Jan-Mar 1865 it occupied the fortifications at Dooley’s Ferry, in Miller County, Arkansas. The regiment was surrendered at Marshall, Texas in May 1865. Although ordered to Shreveport to be paroled, very few of the men did so—most returning singly and in groups to their homes. An exception was Company G, of the 35th Arkansas who surrendered to the post commander at Van Buren, Crawford County in June 1865.

BATTLES

Prairie Grove, AR 7 Dec 1862
Helena, AR 4 Jul 1863
Little Rock, AR 10 Sep 1863
Red River Campaign Mar-Apr 1864

Pleasant Hill, LA 9 Apr 1864

Jenkins’ Ferry, AR 30 Apr 1864

FIELD ASSIGNMENTS

Jul-Nov 1862: District of the Indian Territory, Department of the Trans-Mississippi
Dec 1862-Feb 1863: Fagan’s Brigade, Shoup’s Division, 1st Corps, Army of Trans-Mississippi Department
Mar-Nov 1863: 2nd Brigade (Fagan’s), Price’s Division, District of Arkansas, Trans-Mississippi Department
Dec 1863-Apr 1864: Fagan’s-Hawthorn’s Brigade, District of Arkansas, Trans-Mississippi Department.
Apr 1864: Hawthorn’s Brigade, Arkansas Division (Churchill’s-Tappan’s), Trans-Mississippi Department
Sep 1864-May 1865: 4th (Hawthorne’s) Arkansas Brigade, 1st (Churchill’s) Arkansas Division, 2nd Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department.