9th Arkansas Infantry Regiment The 9th Arkansas Infantry ( July 20 , 1861 – April 26 , 1865 ) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War . It served throughout the war in the western theater , seeing action in the Vicksburg , Tennessee and Georgia campaigns . Following its depletion in numbers the regiment was consolidated several times with other Arkansas regiments , finally merging in 1865 into the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Rifles . Organization . 9th Infantry Regiment was organized at Pine Bluff , Arkansas , July 20 , 1861 , and was known as the " Parson ' s Regiment " because it contained forty - two ministers . Its companies were recruited in the following counties : The unit contained four companies ( A , G , H , and I ) which were orgionally oganized as volunteer companies in the 24th Regiment , Arkansas State Militia . The field officers were Colonels John M . Bradley and Isaac L . Dunlop ; Lieutenant Colonels W . Y . McCammon , R . W . Millsap , and Jefferson W . Rogers ; and Majors John C . Bratton and William J . Wallace . The regiment was armed with weapons which the state confiscated when the Federal Arsenal at Little Rock was seized by Arkanssas State Militia troops in February 1861 . Disposition of the weapons found in the Arsenal is somewhat sketchy , but from various records it can be surmised The 9th and 10th Arkansas , Kelly ' s 9th Arkansas Battalion , and the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry were issued flintlock Hall ' s Rifles from the Arsenal . Battles . The 9th Arkansas marched to Pocahontas , Arkansas , in July 1861 and later was initially assigned to Pillow ' s Division . Like all the other Arkansas regiments raised in the first wave of recruiting in 1861 , they were taken into Confederate armies east of the Mississippi River , and only the few survivors made it back home after the war . The 9th was present , across the river at Columbus Kentucky during the Battle of Belmont , Missouri and was subsequently retained at Bowling Green , Kentucky for the defense of that post during the winter of 1861 - 1862 . The regiment served in Shaver ' s Brigade , covering the retreat out of Kentucky to Corinth . It fought gallantly at Shiloh , charging repeatedly upon the " Hornet ' s Nest " where it lost Lieutenant Colonel Dunlop . It was through this regiment that General Albert Sidney Johnston rode from the rear to the front , with a tin cup he had appropriated earlier that morning , saying " Men of Arkansas , the enemy is stubborn . I want you to show General Beauregard and General Bragg what you can do with your bayonets and toothpicks ! " The regiment went forward with a cheer and passed him at a run ; in five minutes 130 men of their ranks were killed or wounded , but they did not falter . Lieutenant Duckworth was killed at the head of his company , and Captain Wallace was wounded . It closed up and disappeared into the thicket in front , followed by the whole Confederate line , and the enemy was silenced in twenty minutes . General Johnston , however , received a mortal wound while leading this charge , and shortly thereafter bled to death . The unit reported 17 killed and 115 wounded at Shiloh . After the retreat from Shiloh , the 9th Arkansas returned to Corinth , Mississippi and participated in the Iuka - Corinth Campaign , in the battles of Corinth , and Iuka , Mississippi . They served at the Battle of Coffeeville , where the unit reported 16 casualties . The unit was assigned under Generals Rust , Buford , and Beall in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana and in the Vicksburg Campaign in the spring and summer of 1863 , where they served briefly in the garrisons of Port Hudson , Louisiana , and Jackson , Mississippi , then fought in the Battle of Champion Hill on May 15 , 1863 . The 9th served in Brigadier General Abraham Buford ' s brigade of Major General William W . Loring ' s division of Lieutenant General John C . Pemberton ' s Confederate Army at at Champion Hill , and following that battle , Loring retreated north to join General Joseph E . Johnston ' s army near Jackson rather than being trapped with the rest of Pemberton ' s army in the Vicksburg defenses . Johnston had been gathering troops at Jackson , intending to relieve pressure on Lt . Gen . John C . Pemberton ' s beleaguered garrison . Johnston cautiously advanced his 30 , 000 soldiers toward the rear of Grant ' s army surrounding Vicksburg . In response , Grant ordered Sherman to deal with Johnston ' s threat . By July 1 , 1863 , Johnston ' s force was in position along the Big Black River . Sherman used the newly arrived IX Corps to counter this threat . On July 5 , the day after the surrender of Vicksburg was made official ; Sherman was free to move against Johnston . Johnston hastily withdrew his force across the Big Black River and Champion ' s Hill battlefields with Sherman in pursuit . Sherman had with him the IX Corps , XV Corps , XIII Corps , and a detachment of the XVI Corps . On July 10 the Union Army had taken up position around Jackson . The heaviest fighting in the Siege of Jackson came on July 11 during an unsuccessful Union attack , which resulted in heavy casualties . Instead of risking entrapment , Johnston chose to evacuate the state capital and withdrew on July 16 . Sherman ' s forces occupied the city the following day . In the aftermath of the Vicksburg Campaign , most of Johnston ' s army was tranferred to the Army of Tennessee , arriving just in time for the Battle of Chickamauga . The 9th Arkansas remained in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana and was eventually assigned to the mostly Alabama brigade of Brigadier General Abraham Buford , of Major General William J . Loring ' s Division of Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk ' s Army during the Meridian Campaign in February to March , 1864 . After the Meridian Campaign , the unit was assigned to Brigadier General D . H . Reynold ' s Brigade in the Army of Tennessee , were it would remain for the rest of the war . The unit participated in the campaigns of that army from the Atlanta Campaign at Resaca , New Hope Church , Kennesaw Mountain , Dug Gap , Peachtree Creek , Atlanta , Ezra Church , and the final siege of Atlanta , as well as follow - on action at Lovejoy ' s Station and Jonesboro , Georgia . After the fall of Atlanta , the regiment participated in the Tennessee campaign that resulted in the battles of Franklin , and Nashville , Tennessee . They continued service with the Army of Tennessee to the close of the war , fighting at Sugar Creek on December 26 , 1864 , and in the Carolinas Campaign in February to April , 1865 . The unit participated in the following battles : After the Battle of Nashville , Tennessee , the Arkansas regiments of Reynolds ' Brigade marched via Bainbridge , Alabama , Tuscumbia , Iuka and Corinth to Tupelo , Mississippi , where they went into camp on January 10 , 1865 . They departed Tupelo on January 30 and marched to West Point , Mississippi . From West Point they traveled by rail to Selma , Alabama . From Selma they traveled by steamboat to Montgomery , then by rail to Columbus , Georgia . From Columbus they marched via Macon and Milledgeville to Mayfield , Georgia . From Mayfield they traveled by rail to Augusta , Georgia . From there they marched to Newberry , South Carolina . On March 19 , 1865 , they fought their last major engagement at the Battle of Bentonville , North Carolina . They then marched to Smithfield , North Carolina , where the entire brigade was consolidated into a single understrength regiment , the 1st Consolidated Mounted Rifles on April 9 , 1865 . Battle Flag . The battle flag of the 9th Arkansas Infantry currently resides at the Museum of the Confederacy , Richmond , Virginia . The flag is a 2nd National Flag Pattern battle flag of the 9th Arkansas Infantry Regiment . According to its history , it was preserved by Color Bearer Degan Foley and given to Reverend J . M . Lucey of Pine Bluff , who donated it to the Museum of the Confederacy , in 1896 . The Old State House Museum in Little Rock , Arkansas also contains a battle flag which was traditionally attributed to the 9th Arkansas Infantry Regiment . A variation of the first national flag with twelve stars , nine describing a circle and three within it . More recent research now indicates that this flag most likely belonged to the 11th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and was found , along with the regiment ' s baggage in Fort Thompson after the unit evacuated Island No . 10 . The flag was returned to Arkansas by the State of Michigan in 1941 . The flag is a First Confederate National Flag pattern variation made of cotton and cotton damask , measuring 46 " x 69 " and it is currently in the collection of the Old State House Museum , Little Rock , Arkansas . Consolidation and surrender . On April 9 , 1865 , the depleted Arkansas regiments of D . H . Reynolds ' Brigade , Walthall ' s Division , Confederate Army of Tennessee , were consolidated into a single regiment the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Rifles , at Smithfield , North Carolina . The companies of the consolidated regiment were drawn from the following Arkansas regiments : The 1st Arkansas Consolidated Mounted Rifles surrendered with the Army of Tennessee at Greensboro , North Carolina , April 26 , 1865 . The regiment was paroled on May 1 , 1865 , at Jamestown , North Carolina . After the surrender , the men were offered free rail transportation ( where available ) in the direction of their homes , by what was left of the Southern railway companies . Most of the men traveled by rail , where they could . A large number of men were killed or seriously injured in a railroad accident at Flat Creek Bridge , Tennessee on May 25 , 1865 .