5th Arkansas Cavalry Regiment The 5th Arkansas Cavalry Regiment ( 1863 – 1865 ) was a Confederate Army cavalry regiment during the American Civil War . The regiment was designated at various times as Newton ' s Regiment Arkansas Cavalry , Morgan ' s Regiment Arkansas Cavalry , 2nd Regiment Arkansas Cavalry , and the 8th Regiment Arkansas Cavalry . This regiment should not be confused with a later regiment commanded by Col . Robert Crittenden Newton , which was a regiment of Arkansas State Troops usually referred to as Newton ' s 10th Arkansas Cavalry Regiment . Organization . Organized with 12 companies at Little Rock , Arkansas in April , 1863 under the command of Colonel Robert C . Newton . The unit was composed of companies from the following counties : The regiment went by a variety of unofficial names during its existence . When Colonel Robert Crittenden Newton was in command , it went by its official title of 5th Arkansas Cavalry . Colonel Newton was succeeded in December 1863 by Col . Thomas J . Morgan , formerly captain of Company C . Under Colonel Morgan ' s command , the regiment went by the designation 8th Arkansas Cavalry ; but it was also known on occasion as the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry . The Compiled Service Records are filed under the designation 8th Arkansas Cavalry . The commanders of the 5th / 2nd / 8th Cavalry include Colonels Robert C . Newton , Thomas J . Morgan , and W . A . Bevens . Battles . As the 5th Arkansas under Colonel Newton , the unit served in General J . G . Walker ' s ( later Dobbins ' ) Division , Trans - Mississippi Department , and fought in the following engagements : The unit had several members captured in the Battle of Bayou Fourche ( Little Rock ) in September 1863 . These prisoners were sent to Camp Morton , near Indianapolis , Indiana . A few died in prison , a few joined the U . S . Army frontier service , but most were exchanged in March 1864 . Many of these men were back in Arkansas in time to be paroled at Jacksonport , Arkansas , on June 5 , 1865 , at the end of the war . The unit designation changed to the 2nd ( Morgan ' s ) Cavalry Regiment effective December 24 , 1863 . As the 8th / 2nd Arkansas under Colonel Morgan , the unit served in General Cabell ' s Brigade , Trans - Mississippi Department , and fought in the following engagements : Surrender . This regiment actually disbanded prior to the formal surrendered and the men were paroled at various places , but primarily at Jacksonport , Arkansas . Bibliography . Bears , Edwin C . “ The Battle of Helena , July 4 , 1863 . ” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 20 ( Autumn 1961 ) : 256 – 297 . Christ , Mark K . Civil War Arkansas , 1863 : The Battle for a State . Norman : University of Oklahoma Press , 2010 . Christ , Mark K . , ed . Rugged and Sublime : The Civil War in Arkansas . Fayetteville : University of Arkansas Press , 1994 . Christ , Mark K . “ ‘ We Were Badly Whipped ’ : A Confederate Account of the Battle of Helena , July 4 , 1863 . ” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 69 ( Spring 2010 ) : 44 – 53 . Schieffler , George David . “ Too Little , Too Late to Save Vicksburg : The Battle of Helena , Arkansas , July 4 , 1863 . ” MA thesis , University of Arkansas , 2005