44th Arkansas Infantry ( Mounted ) The 44th Arkansas Infantry ( Mounted ) ( 1864 – 1865 ) was a Confederate Army Mounted Infantry regiment during the American Civil War . While authorized by the State Military Board as an infantry regiment , the unit was mounted for Price ' s Missouri Expedition and was officially designated as mounted infantry , but this designation was almost never used by the unit . When a numerical designation is used , the unit is sometimes referred to as the 29th Arkansas Cavalry Regiment . The unit is most often referred as McGehee ' s Arkansas Cavalry Regiment for its commander , James H . McGehee . McGehee is often spelled McGhee in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies . Organization . The exact date of organization of the 44th Arkansas Mounted infantry remains obscure . Some sources state that the unit was organized in the fall of 1863 , but it is likely that the unit was organized during the summer of 1864 along with the 45th through the 48th Mounted Infantry Regiments . It is known that James H . McGehee began his military service in a volunteer militia company organized in the 30th Arkansas Militia Regiment in Crittenden County , Arkansas in April 1861 . The Crittenden Rangers became Company C of the 6th Arkansas Cavalry Battalion , which was eventually expanded to a full regiment and designated the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment ( Slemons ' s ) . It is unclear how long McGehee served with the 6th Battalion , but by January 1863 he was apparently a Captain commanding an unnamed , unattached company of cavalry which was operating along the Mississippi River , north of Memphis Tennessee . Captain McGehee stated in his after action report that he was acting under orders to reconnoiter the area , " burning cotton in that country and annoying the enemy on the Mississippi River " wherever possible . McGehee ' s primary target in these operations was Union shipping along the river . McGehee and his men were responsible for burning at least two steam ships . On January 6 , 1863 McGehee ' s troops captured and burned steamboat " Jacob Musselman " near Memphis , later they also intercepted and burned the steamer " Grampus No . 2 " . The operations by McGehee led Union Official to make a raid and burn the homes of suspected bushwhacker s in Mound City , and Hopefield Arkansas . By September 1863 , McGehee ' s Company had joined with other semi - independent companies under Colonel Archibald S . Dobbins to form Dobbins 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment . McGehee ' s Company became Company C , and probably remained with the regiment unit for the winter of 1863 when Colonel Dobbins was court - martialed and dismissed from the service because he refused to accept orders from General John S . Marmaduke because Marmaduke had killed Brigadier General L . M . Walker in a duel just before the Battle of Little Rock . The official records indicate that the regiment was broken up about January 3 , 1864 , and elements of the regiment were attached to , but not formally consolidated with , Col . Thomas J . Morgan ' s regiment . It may be that this is the point at which McGehee began organizing his own regiment . In May 1864 , General J . O . Shelby occupied northeast Arkansas , well behind Union Army lines . In early June 1864 , General Shelby commissioned several officers to begin raising regiments in Northeast Arkansas . By June 13 , Shelby reported to General Sterling Price that recruiting efforts were bearing fruit . The decreasing availability of fodder for horses in 1864 led the Confederate Trans - Mississippi Department to issue an order proscribing the raising of additional mounted regiments in Arkansas . However , when General Sterling Price received authorization to conduct a campaign in Missouri that fall , several of the new regiments were mounted in order to accompany him . As a result , the 44th , 45th , 46th , 47th , and 48th were officially mounted infantry regiments instead of cavalry regiments . They were rarely referred to in contemporary reports and orders by numerical designation . Price referred to them as McGehee ' s Cavalry , Crabtree ' s Cavalry , etc . , which eventually resulted in their later being referred to as 44th Cavalry , 46th Cavalry , etc . The unit was composed of companies from the following counties : Officer appointments in the 40 - series regiments date from the June to August 1864 timeframe , so it is assumed that the regiments were mustered into service about the same time at various points in northeast Arkansas . The list of regimental officers follows : There are no known muster rolls of the 44th Arkansas Mounted Infantry and no record of enlistments . Apart from a few prisoner of war records , the records of this regiment consist of paroles of soldiers who surrendered at Jacksonport , Arkansas on June 5 , 1865 . Battles . The 44th was assigned to Colonel Dobbins brigade , of Maj . Gen . James F . Fagan ' s division , of Sterling Price ' s Army of Missouri , for Price ' s Missouri Expedition ( commonly referred to as Price ' s Raid ) . The most fierce fighting that the 44th was engaged in during the raid occurred on October 23 at the Battle of Westport . Union General Blunt ' s position at the Wornall House was formidable . His three brigades occupied positions behind a stone wall , some three hundred yards in front of the Confederate line . A wide road , bordered on either side by stone walls , led to a farm house on top of a hill . In the road just over the hill there was a gun section of McLain ' s Colorado Battery in position and firing into the Confederate troops at the bottom of the hill . As the Confederate lines were reforming and being placed in position by Brigadier General Jo Shelby , Major General Fagan rode up at the head of his escort . Fagan looked at the battery a moment through his field glasses and said : " Shelby , I propose to take that battery . Have a regiment of cavalry to form in platoons and charge up the line and support the charge on foot . " Colonel McGehee , commanding the 44th Arkansas , about three hundred strong , formed by platoons , which filled the lane with a living mass of cavalry . As the 44th Arkansas charged up the lane , Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Walker led the 16th Kansas Cavalry and 2nd Colorado Cavalry against Colonel McGehee . Two squadrons of the 2nd Colorado under Green also struck the column ' s left . The 16th Kansas met them in the road , meanwhile Company E of the 15th Kansas Cavalry , struck across the field and reached the lower end of the lane , thus hemming in McGehee ' s troopers and intercepting any retreat . One of the few instances of individual combat between opposing commanders during the war occurred during the charge of the 44th Arkansas on McLain ' s Colorado Battery . Colonel McGhee encountered Captain Curtis Johnson , commanding Company E , 15th Kansas Cavalry . Both men pulled revolvers and charged toward one another , and both were wounded . Captain Johnson was shot in the arm . Colonel McGhee was listed as having been killed in a report filled by Colonel Charles R . Jennison of the 15th Kansas Cavalry , but this report proved to be false . Colonel McGhee was wounded a second time two days later at the Battle of Mine Creek , and he was forced to relinquish command to Lieutenant Colonel Jesse S . Grider , but McGhee survived the wounds and the war , living in Arkansas until at least 1870 . Brigadier General M . Jeff Thompson observed the fight reported that the gallant charge had been a disaster for the men that made it . McGehee ' s attack resulted in the loss to the Confederates of thirty - five prisoners , nineteen dead and thirty - seven wounded . After the completion of Price ' s raid , the 44th was furloughed to return to the area from which it was recruited in order to forage and recover absentees and to return to the army at a prescribed date . A scouting report made by Major Harris S . Greeno , of the 4th Arkansas Cavalry ( U . S . Army ) , November 15 , 1864 , made from Devalls Bluff relayed information on the post raid condition of Fagan ' s Division of Arkansas Cavalry . Maj . Greeno ' s information came from deserters and captured Confederate soldiers who had served in Price ' s Army : Surrender . Brigadier General M . Jeff Thompson , Commander of the Military Sub - District of Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri , to which the 45th Arkansas was assigned at the close of the war , surrendered his command at Chalk Bluff , Arkansas on May 11 , 1865 , and agreed to have his men assemble at Wittsburg and Jacksonport , Arkansas to lay down their arms and receive their paroles . Thompson ' s command was widely dispersed throughout northeast Arkansas , more for reasons of available forage than anything else . About a third of his men refused to surrender . Shelby ' s Missouri Brigade , along with elements of Green ' s and Jackman ' s Missouri Brigades , lit out for Mexico . Some Missouri units disbanded rather than surrender their colors . Many men simply went home . The 45th Arkansas Cavalry surrendered with its command structure intact and was paroled at Jacksonport on June 5 , 1865 . At the time of the surrender , the regiment was assigned to the Military Sub - District of Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri , commanded by Brigadier General M . Jeff . Thompson ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) , Dobbins ’ Brigade , commanded by Colonel Col . J . M . McGehee ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) , 44th Arkansas Mounted Infantry , commanded by Colonel James H . McGehee ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) .