Crawford ' s Arkansas Infantry Battalion The Crawford ' s Arkansas Infantry Battalion ( 1862 – 1863 ) was a Confederate Army infantry battalion during the American Civil War . Organization . The unit was organized with two companies in the spring of 1862 and was mustered into Confederate service on June 23 , 1862 . The unit was composed of the following companies : On August 11 , 1862 , Lieutenant Colonel William A Crawford , who was from Benton in Saline County , and who originally commanded Company E , 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment , was ordered to report to Colonel Robert G . Shaver to assumed command of the " extra companies of the 19th Arkansas and the 33rd Arkansas . Colonel Shaver was acting as post commander of Pine Bluff and commander of the Camp of Instruction at Sulphur Springs , just outside of Pine Bluff . The 19th and the 33rd had each been formed as " heavy regiments " , with more men in each company than the seventy five dictated by regulations and with more companies than the standard ten companies for an infantry regiment . It was apparently the intent of General Hindman that Crawford ' s new command would eventually be increased to regimental strength , but this did not occur before the Battle of Arkansas Post . Lieutenant Colonel Crawford had been wounded during the battle Shiloh , in April 1862 . When the 1st Arkansas was reorganized near Corinth following the battle of Shiloh , Crawford replaced Lieutenant Colonel Thompson , and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on May 18 , 1862 . Crawford apparently led the 1st Arkansas during the Battle of Farmington , but he resigned his position on July 21 , 1862 and by August 1862 he was back in Arkansas organizing an infantry battalion from recruits and conscripts at Sulphur Springs . On September 28 , 1862 his battalion was order to Clarendon Arkansas with the rest of the troops from Sulphur Springs . Battles . The battalion ' s only engagement was the Battle of Arkansas Post , Arkansas January 9 – 11 , 1863 . Crawford ' s Battalion was part of the 5 , 000 soldiers commanded by Confederate Brigadier General Thomas J . Churchill at Fort Hindman . The new year of 1863 brought a Federal invasion force of some 33 , 000 men and 3 ironclad gunboats , all under the overall command of Major General John A . McClernand , to Arkansas Post . On January 4 , the Federal force attacked Fort Hindman from two directions . At 1 : 00 pm on January 11 , 1863 , the Federal ironclads " Louisville " , " DeKalb " , and " Cincinnati " on the Arkansas River commenced shelling the Confederate defenders , silencing Fort Hindman ' s cannons by around 4 : 00 pm . During the bombardment , the Arkansas soldiers fought off two attempts by the 3rd Missouri and 31st Iowa Infantries to turn the Confederate flank . Federal Brigadier General Alvin P . Hovey then directed two 12 - pounder Napoleon cannons to shell the Arkansas positions ; after two salvoes , white flags were displayed from the Confederate earthworks near the fort . Confusion ensued since some of the Southern defenders under Colonel James Deshler and adjacent to the 19th Arkansas Infantry kept firing their muskets despite the white flags . Negotiations then ensued between Confederate and Union commanders with Major General William Tecumseh Sherman asking Colonel Deshler " What does this mean ? You are a regular officer , and ought to know better ! " Deshler angrily replied that he had received no orders to surrender , but was then convinced by Confederate Brigadier General Churchill to have his men stack arms . Union casualties were reported as 134 killed , 989 wounded , and 29 missing ; incomplete returns of Confederate losses indicated 60 killed and 80 wounded . However , 4 , 791 Confederate soldiers , including much of Crawford ' s Infantry Battalion , were captured . Some members avoid capture . It would seem at the time of the attack on Arkansas Post Crawford ' s Battalion was with the 24th Arkansas Infantry Regiment at St . Charles preparing to place two 8 inch 32 pounder smooth bore columbiad guns from the CSS Ponchartrain in battery there . When the news of the battle at Arkansas Post reached them , most fit men made the forced march from that St . Charles to Arkansas Post but arrived just in time to surrender . Those left at St . Charles , about 200 men from the 24th and Crawford ' s Battalion loaded the two 8 inch columbiads onto the steamboat " Bluewing " , moved them up the White River to DeVal ' s Bluff and loaded them onto railroad flatcars to be shipped back to Little Rock . However , the Federal Gunboats arrived before the train could leave and the guns were captured . The men had made their escape into the woods except for those who were in the hospital at DeVal ' s Bluff , who were paroled . It was the remnants of the portions of the 19th , 24th and Crawford ' s Battalion who made their way back to Sulphur Springs along with those who were in the hospital at DeVal ' s Bluff from the 19th along with Colonel Dawson that were organized into what was to later become Hardy ' s 19th Arkansas Infantry Regiment . Those members of Crawford ' s battalion who escaped capture at Arkansas Post were assigned to Company A , Hardy ' s Regiment Arkansas Infantry , about February 8 , 1863 . Prisoners Release in Virginia . The day following the surrender of Fort Hindman , January 12 , 1863 , lists of the Confederate prisoners were made before they were loaded onto Federal transport boats and departed for St . Louis ; they arrived on January 24 amid chunks of ice floating downstream the Mississippi River with snow falling . The enlisted men of the 19th Arkansas Infantry arrived at Alton , Illinois on January 28 before departing in railroad cars to Chicago , where they arrived on Jan . 29 , and being confined in unheated barracks at Camp Douglas . The bitter cold took its toll of the unaccustomed Southern soldiers . Twelve froze to death one night before they were moved to heated buildings . During Feb . 1863 , 387 of 3 , 884 Confederate prisoners in Camp Douglas died - a loss of 10 % in a single month ! Exposure , disease , and poor diet killed 189 ( 30 % ) of the soldiers in the 19th Arkansas Infantry during their 3 - month imprisonment . Camp Douglas records indicate that the prisoners died from smallpox , typhoid , pneumonia , congestive heart failure , meningitis , and diarrhea ( dysentery ) . Most , but not all of the dead POWs were buried in a mass grave in the Chicago Oak Woods Cemetery . Some survived by taking the Oath of Allegiance to the United States and were released . Most the survivors of Crawford ' s Battalion were exchanged and released from Camp Douglas on April . 2 , 1863 before arriving at City Point , Virginia via railroad on April 10 , 1863 . From City Point , the former prisoners boarded ships for Williamsburg , Virginia on April 11 , 1863 and then went by railroad to Petersburg , Virginia where they rested and recovered from their prison ordeal . On May 4 , they were assembled and issued new arms and equipment before again taking trains to Richmond , Virginia where they were reunited with their officers ( imprisoned elsewhere in Federal prison camps ) on May 6 , 1863 . The soldiers departed Richmond , Virginia by train on May 11 , reaching Tullahoma , Tennessee on May 17 where they were reorganized and placed in the division of Major General Patrick Ronayne Cleburne , Hardee ' s Corps , Army of Tennessee under overall command of Lieutenant General Braxton Bragg . At this time the survivors of Crawford ' s battalion were consolidated with the survivors of the 19th Arkansas Infantry and the 24th Arkansas Infantry , on May 23 , 1863 into the new formed 19th & 24th Consolidated Arkansas Infantry Regiment . Additional Reading . Williams , Charles G . and Crawford , William Ayers . " A Saline Guard : The Civil War Letters of Col . William Ayers Crawford , C . S . A . , 1861 - 1865 " , The Arkansas Historical Quarterly , Vol . 31 , No . 4 ( Winter , 1972 ) , pp . 328 – 355 Williams , Charles G . and Crawford , William Ayers . " A Saline Guard : The Civil War Letters of Col . William Ayers Crawford , C . S . A . , 1861 - 1865 , Part II " , The Arkansas Historical Quarterly , Vol . 32 , No . 1 ( Spring , 1973 ) , pp . 71 – 93 Rushing , Anthony C . “ Rackensacker Raiders : Crawford ’ s First Arkansas Cavalry . ” Civil War Regiments , I ( 1991 ) , 44 - 69 .