The military history of Arkansas begins with the Native American nations and the conflicts that arose among them. By the time colonial powers staked their claims in the region, they had made allies of the Indian Nations there. The English stood with the Chickasaws in Mississippi while the French (and later the Spanish) supported the Quapaw. The last gasp of the Revolutionary War took place in 1783, after the peace accords were signed in Paris, when a British-led force attacked the Spanish fort at Arkansas Post. The Spanish and their Quapaw allies prevailed.
While Arkansas was still a part of Missouri Territory, the United States Army established an important outpost at Fort Smith. Among a number of important figures who served at the Fort was Zachary Taylor, who was later elected president of the United States. While the perceived threat from Indians helped to keep the territorial militia active, the first significant military action in the region took place in the Texas Revolution. It was said that Sam Houston did much of the planning for the Revolution in Washington, Arkansas, and some Arkansas citizens joined the effort. In the Mexican War, Arkansas troops were active in the fighting, though not without some controversy. After the War, accusations about the quality of fighting led to a duel between John S. Roane and Albert Pike, though neither was injured in the duel.
The Civil War pulled about 70,000 Arkansas men into military service, with close to 9,000 of them fighting for the Union. Confederate soldiers from Arkansas fought for the Army of Northern Virginia and in the Army of Tennessee in some of the major battles of the War, but significant action took place in Arkansas as well. The Battle of Pea Ridge, called the "Gettysburg of the West," opened the trans-Mississippi area to Union advances. By 1863, Union forces had taken Little Rock. The War did not bring the wholesale destruction visited upon some regions in the east, but significant property and lives were lost.
Arkansas soldiers fought with distinction in both World Wars, but in World War II the most important contribution from the state came not in men but in the aluminum made from Arkansas bauxite. The military airplanes needed for modern warfare were made of aluminum, and with external supplies of aluminum blocked off, Arkansas bauxite became crucial to the war effort.
The
Arkansas History Commission maintains the finest collection of
records pertaining to Arkansas military men and service. Included
are microfilmed indexes to many of the National Archives compiled
service records, such as those for the Revolutionary War, War
of 1812, and various Indian Wars. The Commission also has compiled
service records for Arkansas men for the Mexican War, Civil War
(both Union and Confederate), and Spanish-American War; returns
from United States Military Posts, 1800–1916, including reports,
rosters, and related papers; Confederate States Army Casualties:
Lists and Narrative Reports, 1861–65; Register of Confederate
Soldiers, Sailors, and Citizens Who Died in Federal Prisons and
Military Hospitals in the North, 1861–65; and Registers of
Confederate Prisoners Held in the Military Prison at Little Rock,
Arkansas, 1863–65.
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Although
a slave state, Arkansas did not secede from the Union until May
1861—five months after South Carolina did so. Arkansas took
this action only after the Confederate capture of Fort Sumter
and President Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers. Union sentiment
was strong in northern Arkansas; about 6,000 Arkansans joined
the Federal forces. About 58,000, however, fought for the Confederacy.
Little Rock fell to Federal troops in 1863, and for a decade the
state was a legislative battleground between secessionist supporters
and the imposed Republican government. Arkansas was readmitted
to the Union in 1868, but internal strife approached open warfare.
In 1874 the state returned to the fold of the Democratic Party,
and remained there until Winthrop Rockefeller, a Republican, was
elected governor in 1966.
The
Civil War's chief long-range effects on Arkansas, as on most of
the other former Confederate States, were a crop-lien sharecropping
system, a race problem of new and formidable dimensions, a one-party
(Democratic) political system, and widespread poverty.
The commission has the state's Confederate veteran or widow's
pension applications and indexes to Confederate pension records
for Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. In 1911 the Public
Acts of Arkansas, Number 353, provided that an enumeration of
Confederate veterans residing in the state be made by each county's
tax assessor. Records are available for forty-four of the counties,
but there are no extant records for thirty-one counties. There
are 1,751 questionnaires that usually include the following information:
full name of veteran; his address; date and place of birth; date,
state, and county of enlistment; full name and place of birth
of veteran's parents, grandparents; maiden name of wife, with
date and place of marriage; names of her parents; and full list
of children with spouses.
The Arkansas History Commission has the actual 1911 Confederate
veterans census for Arkansas and copies of Confederate Veteran
magazine for the period 1893 through 1932.
Confederate veteran or widow pension applications, not
just those for veterans living in 1911, contain valuable information
such as name, rank, unit, length of time of service, veteran's
wife's name, widow's birth date, veteran's death date, veteran
or widow's residence at time of application, and the amount of
the approved pension.
Below is a list of online resources for Kentucky in the Civil War. Email us with websites containing information on Kentucky in the Civil War by clicking the link below:
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Arkansas (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Military and pension records are among the most useful sources available to genealogists because of the detail they offer. These records are important because they may provide an ancestor’s date of birth, place of residence, the names and addresses of family members, and other details that can round out a picture of his or her life. Judith Prowse Reid,
Head, Local History and Genealogy, Library of Congress
Military records have originated at the federal, state, and local levels. Whether created in time of war or in time of peace, these records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served in the military forces of the United States. Almost every American family, in one generation or another, has seen one or more of its members serve in America’s armed forces. From regimental histories, which provide blow-by-blow accounts of a unit’s participation in military actions, to the personal details contained in the service and pension files of individual men and women, military records provide valuable information concerning a large and significant portion of the American population. And because military records have been preserved and made available at and through a number of research institutions, much information awaits the well-prepared researcher.
How to Find Military Records
To locate military records for any individual, it is essential to know when and where in the armed forces he or she served and whether that person served in the enlisted ranks or was an officer. (If you don’t have that identifying information, some potential solutions are discussed below.)
As in any research project, it is important to study carefully whatever is already known about the subject of interest. Families and communities frequently pass down stories of military heroes from generation to generation. In most cases, these stories retain some fact, but, with the passage of years and in the process of retelling, accuracy fades. At any rate, family stories should not be overlooked for clues at the start of a military search.
When and where did the individual live? Did the family keep evidence of military service? Certificates, letters, journals, diaries, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs, medals, swords, and other memorabilia kept in private collections may provide the basic facts needed to begin searching in military record collections.
Military Time Lines
Creating a historical time line can be especially useful for determining if and when the subject might have served in the military. By compiling a chronological list of the known dates and places of residence of an individual from birth through adulthood, it is frequently easy to discover the possibility of military service. Was the individual the right age to be eligible for the draft or to serve voluntarily in the Civil War? Is it likely that the person served on the Northern rather than the Southern side, or vice versa? For records from the colonial period to more recent military engagements, the place of residence is key to finding an individual’s records.
Evidence of Military Service in Hometown Records
There are a number of public records that are potentially valuable in discovering the military history of a veteran. It has been a long-standing American tradition to foster patriotism by honoring local sons and daughters who have defended the ideals of their country. Hometown military heroes are frequently noted on public monuments, and local newspaper files may yield surprisingly detailed accounts of a community’s well-known and less-famous military personnel.
Military History
Commercial enterprises and historically oriented groups and institutions have regularly published local histories. As a rule, these histories will include glowing accounts of the area’s involvement in military activities. Some volumes provide biographical sketches of military leaders, while others attempt to list all of the community’s participants in various military conflicts. Locally focused histories have been published at various times for virtually every state and county in the United States. Do not overlook them as an important research aid. P. William Filby’s A Bibliography of American County Histories is a list of five thousand such sources.
In addition to the standard histories, local public libraries and historical societies usually preserve and make available other types of publications that document the military history of the geographical areas they serve. Historical agencies collect biographies, letters, diaries, journals, and all sorts of memorabilia from military units and servicemen and -women. The personal accounts found in some collections are a fascinating means of stepping back in time. Firsthand accounts afford a better understanding of the day-to-day drudgery, loneliness, fears, and satisfactions of military life.
Evidence of Military Service in Cemeteries
Cemeteries provide yet another local source of information regarding individuals who served in the armed forces. Almost every cemetery in the United States contains some evidence of military events and veterans. Cemetery records and grave markers frequently identify military dead by name, rank, and unit designation. If a man or woman died elsewhere while in the service, the body was frequently brought home for burial; cemetery records often note the place and date of death.
Evidence of Military Service in Court Records
Court records are yet another potential source for identifying those who served in the military. Most counties formally recorded and indexed the names of their citizens who were discharged from the military. In some local courts, “military discharges” will be found indexed separately, and in others the military records may be oddly interspersed with deeds, naturalizations, or other categories of documents. The contents of military records may vary greatly from one courthouse to another. Some will provide biographical information, while others may simply list names and the event or names and date of certificate issue.
Military Records in the National Archives
Federal military documents that have been classified as archival material are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration. Not all records created by military agencies are judged to be permanently valuable. Generally, only records of historical or administrative importance are kept.
A wonderful array of federal military records are available in major libraries and archives and through microfilm rental programs. (Heritage Quest, a division of AGLL, Inc., PO Box 329, Bountiful, UT 84011-0329, is a source of rental microfilms.) With sufficient identifying information, you may request a search of the registers of enlistments or the compiled military service records. The minimum information required for a search is (1) the soldier’s full name, (2) the war in which he or she served or period of service, and (3) the state from which he or she served. For the Civil War, you must also indicate whether the person served in Union or Confederate forces. A separate copy of the form must be used for military service, pension, and bounty-land warrant applications. Submit requests for information about individuals who served in the military before World War I on NATF form 80 (Order for Copies of Veterans Records). Write to the National Archives and Records Administration, General Reference Branch, Washington, DC 20408 to obtain copies of NATF form 80. Always ask for “all records” for an individual.
Make requests for information about U.S. Army officers separated from the service after 1912 on standard form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records) and send it to the Military Personnel Records Center, 9700 Page Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63132.
U.S. Military Records
By far the most comprehensive study of military records and how to use them is found in James C. Neagles’s U.S. Military Records: A Guide to Federal and State Sources, Colonial America to the Present. Neagles’s guide addresses primary and secondary military sources and accessibility, including the following information-rich sources:
Records of state militias and the National Guard
Records of the army, navy, and other branches of the U.S. military
Records of the military academies
Post-service records
Pensions
Bounty-land grants
Bonuses and family assistance
Soldier’s homes
Military burials
Military installations
Censuses of veterans
Conscription
Civilian affairs
