11th and 17th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiment The 11th / 17th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry ( 1861 – 1865 ) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War . The unit is also known as the 11th / 17th Arkansas Mounted Infantry or the 11th / 17th Arkansas Cavalry . At various times after the consolidation , members of the unit who were captured gave their unit as either the 11th Arkansas Cavalry or the 17th Arkansas Cavalry . Organization . In March 1863 , the 11th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and the 17th ( Griffith ' s ) Arkansas Infantry Regiment were consolidated to bring the strength of each unit to an acceptable number . Col . John L . Logan assumed command , since he was the senior Colonel superseding Col . John Griffith of the 17th Arkansas Infantry . Companies H and I of the Eleventh Arkansas were combined with Company C while the remaining companies remained the same . The companies of the Seventeenth Arkansas were combined into 3 companies , H , I , and K of the new consolidated regiment . Almost immediately the Confederate War Department ordered the unit mounted , with plans for it to serve as a mounted infantry rather than as Cavalry . The " footsore " troops gladly accepted their mounts and spent long hours drilling in this new branch of service . Battles . The men of the 11th / 17th Infantry would spend the remainder of the war in Louisiana and Mississippi . The men still carried long muskets but were not issued sabers and when in battle still operated on foot but only traveled from place to place on horseback . This decreased travel time by a large margin . Although the two regiments were from different parts of the State ( the 11th Arkansas was mostly from Saline County and a few other southern counties ) , with different battle histories , the merger clicked . The first duties of the 11th / 17th Infantry was to travel to Southeast Louisiana to slow Union advance while preparations were made upstream to meet the enemy . The 11th & 17th Arkansas spent the rest of the war as the Confederate Army ' s ' fire brigade ' in southern Mississippi . As Union columns made repeated incursions into the area over the next couple of years , the South ' s counter - moves invariably involved the 11th / 17th Arkansas . General Benjamin Grierson ' s raid is a classic example of the duties of the 11 / 17th Arkansas . Some members of the 11 / 17th Consolidated Arkansas Mounted Infantry were captured at Siege of Port Hudson on July 9 , 1863 . These men were later released and exchanged in Arkansas and many would later joined Poe ' s Arkansas Cavalry Battalion or Logan ' s Arkansas Cavalry Regiment . In November 1863 Colonel John Logan was transferred from command of the 11th / 17th Arkansas back west of the Mississippi River and Col . John Griffith was given command of the brigade which consisted of : . With Colonel Logan called back west of the river and Colonel Griffith in command of the brigade , command of the 11th / 17th Arkansas briefly fell to Lieutenant Colonel McDuff Vance of the 11th . Vance remained in command until November 23 , 1863 , when Colonel Wirt Adams was promoted to Brigadier General and was given command of the brigade . Col . Griffith was returned to the command of the 11t / 17th Arkansas . Colonel Griffith seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to determining when and where to strike a larger enemy force to cause the most damage . The 11th & 17th Arkansas was renowned for its scouting and tracking abilities . The regiment served to the end of the war in this capacity . The regiment was involved in the following engagements : Surrender . By May 13 , 1865 , most of the 11th / 17th Arkansas had turned themselves in to Federal garrisons in Jackson , Miss . and were paroled .