17th (LeMoyne’s) Arkansas Infantry Regiment 66 Enlistments

Company C, of this unit, was mustered into service 18 Nov 1861 at Clarksville, Johnson, Arkansas. The 10 companies required to form a regiment had not been raised by the time the Pea Ridge campaign commenced in February 1862. The regiment was ordered to Jacksonport, Arkansas and was transported across the White River on 23 Feb 1862. The understrength unit was then ordered to accompany the army of Maj. General Earl Van Dorn in its movement across the Mississippi River to Memphis and, ultimately, Corinth.

By early May, 1862, the officers and men were at Corinth, Mississippi and were consolidated into six companies which were joined by the 14th (McCarver’s) Arkansas Infantry and redesignated at the 21st Arkansas Infantry Regiment. The Johnson County men remained in Company C of the new regiment, which was commanded by Colonel Jordan E. Cravens, of Johnson County.

The summer of 1862 was spent in various camps along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad in central Mississippi. Disease haunted the various camps. In a requisition for garrison and camp equipage for Company C, Captain Andrew J. Meers ordered the usual assortment of shoes, clothing, and cooking equipment. At the bottom of the list were “Sixty-five feet of Planks for Coffins” and “One pound nails for Coffins.”

The unit was present, but not engaged at the battle of Iuka, Mississippi on 19 Sep 1862. In the battles of Corinth and Hatchie River Bridge 3-5 Oct, 1862, the 21st Arkansas reported 126 casualties (27 k, 41 w, 58 missing), the majority of the losses coming in the charge of October 4.

By April 1863, the men were part of the garrison at Grand Gulf, Mississippi where they were bombarded (on the 29th), and their position made untenable by Union Maj. General Ulysses Grant’s crossing of the river below them at Bruinsburg. The regiment joined their brigade in marching to Port Gibson, Mississippi where they fought on 1 May 1863, incurring 37 casualties. The regiment next battled at Champion Hill on 16 May and Big Black River Bridge on 17 May, 1863. Colonel Cravens, and Captain A. J. Meers of Company C were both captured at Big Black River Bridge. The remanants of the regiment withdrew to Vicksburg where they endured the siege from 19 May-4 Jul 1863.

With the surrender of the garrison, the officers were sent to military prisons in the North while the men were paroled. Most of the men bypassed the parole camp at Enterprise, Mississippi and simply went home. An undetermined number joined their consolidated command, 1st Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiment Trans-Mississippi Department. This unit was surrendered while encamped near Marshall, Texas on 26 May 1865. Many surviving members of Company C enlisted in other Union and Confederate units, raised in and around Johnson County, in the 6 months following the surrender at Vicksburg.