Nicholas Bartlett Pearce Nicholas Bartlett Pearce ( commonly known as N . Bart Pearce ) ( July 20 , 1828 – March 8 , 1894 ) was a brigadier general in the Arkansas State Troops during the American Civil War . He led a brigade of infantry in one of the war ' s earliest battles in the Trans - Mississippi Theater before serving as a commissary office in the Confederate States Army for the rest of the war . Early life and career . Pearce was born in Caldwell County , Kentucky , to Allen and Mary ( Polly ) Morse Pearce . He studied at Cumberland College in Kentucky before appointment to the United States Military Academy . He graduated from West Point in 1850 , twenty - sixth in a class of forty - four . He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 7th U . S . Infantry and stationed in Arkansas and the Indian Territory for most of his United States Army career . In March 1858 he resigned to join his father - in - law ' s mercantile in Osage Mills , Arkansas . Pearce was elected and briefly served as the Colonel of the Benton County Militia Regiment . Civil War service . Despite Pearce ' s vocal opposition to secession , in May 1861 the Arkansas Secession Convention appointed Pearce as a brigadier general and assigned him command of the state militia ' s 1st ( Western ) Division . He took command of Fort Smith in June after the Confederate recommissioned the abandoned U . S . Army post . Brigadier General Pearce assumed command of the 1st ( Western ) Division and had the following units under his direct command : Brigadier General Pearce , who lived in Benton County , established the headquarters , 1st Division , Provisional Army of Arkansas at Camp Walker at Maysville . Thus when a Union army began operating around Springfield in Southwest Missouri , Pearce ' s state troops were nearby . Pearce ' s troops , which are referred to as a brigade of State Troops in the official accounts of the battle , numbered 2 , 234 troops . Pearce agreed to co - operate with Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and his force of about 8 , 000 other soldiers from several commands , to form a sizable force and immediately marched toward Springfield . On August 10 , 1861 , Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon , the forceful commander of Union troops in Missouri , attacked the Confederates . The Battle of Wilson ' s Creek came to an abrupt and inglorious halt when the Union commander was killed . Leaderless and outnumbered five - to - one , the bluecoats fled the battlefield . The Arkansas troops played a role in winning the battle , but paid a heavy price for victory . Two Arkansas units suffered particularly heavy casualties . Colonel Thomas J . Churchill ' s 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles counted 42 killed and 155 wounded out of 600 men . Colonel John Gratiot ' s 3rd Arkansas Infantry , State Troops suffered 109 casualties , including 25 killed , out of a force of 500 men . Pearce ' s brief and controversial command ended shortly after the battle when in August , Arkansas authorities attempted to transfer his brigade to Confederate service . Pearce ' s troops were polled as to whether they wanted to be transferred to Confederate command as had been arranged prior to the battle . Brig . Gen . Pearce actively campaigned against joining the Confederate States Army . Sources differ as to how many of these Arkansas state troops agreed to the transfer . It appears that few were willing to continue in either service . Several units signed petitions requesting that General Pearce be allowed to remain in command . By the end of September 1861 , all organized state troops had either been transferred to Confederate command or mustered out of state service . From December 13 , 1861 , to the end of the war , Pearce served as a major in the Confederate Commissary Department in Arkansas , the Indian Territory , and Texas . On June 21 , 1865 , he was paroled in Houston , Texas . He then went to Washington , D . C . and secured a pardon from President Andrew Johnson . Post - war career . Pearce returned to Osage Mills in 1867 to rebuild his home , mill , and store . In 1872 he left to teach mathematics at the University of Arkansas , resigning this position in 1874 and returning to Osage Mills . From 1870 to 1884 he was employed by a Kansas City wholesale house . Later he moved to Texas for his wife ' s health and worked as a land examiner . N . Bart Pearce died in Dallas , Texas , on March 8 , 1894 , at the home of his daughter - in - law . He is buried in Whitesboro , Texas .