2nd Arkansas Infantry Battalion The 2nd Arkansas Infantry Battalion ( 1861 – 1862 ) was a Confederate Army infantry battalion during the American Civil War . The 2nd Arkansas Infantry Battalion was one of only three Arkansas units which served in Virginia during the Civil War . The 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment arrived in Virginia in June 1861 , and was present , though not engaged , at the battle of Manassas ( Bull Run ) in July . The 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment arrived in Virginia in July 1861 , and was sent to the mountains of western Virginia . Organization . The companies of the 2nd Arkansas Infantry Battalion were originally intended as re - enforcements for the 1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment . After about three months ’ service in Virginia , the 1st Arkansas Regiment sent officers back to Arkansas on recruiting service . One of the men selected for this recruiting duty was William Naylor Bronaugh , a graduate of the University of Virginia had served as a professor at St . John ’ s College at Little Rock . Bronaugh had entered service as a Lieutenant of Company D , " Clan McGregor " , 1st Arkansas . Shortly thereafter , Lieutenant Bronaugh was appointed regimental adjutant . Lieutenant Bronaugh found three volunteer companies being organized at El Dorado , Hot Springs and Pine Bluff , and encouraged them to join the 1st Arkansas in Virginia . The three new companies headed for Virginia on September 3 , 1861 , where they were attached to the 1st Arkansas . The Confederate War Department refused to permit the 1st Arkansas to exceed its authorized regimental strength of ten companies . The Adjutant and Inspector - General ' s Office issued Special Orders , No . 194 , dated October 29 , 1861 , which stated : " The following companies of Arkansas Volunteers are organized into a battalion to be designated the Second Infantry Battalion , Arkansas Volunteers , Major Bronaugh commanding . " The companies were organized into the following lettered companies : A company of Maryland troops , called the " Maryland Zouaves , " was attached to the 2nd Arkansas Battalion from February to June , 1862 , but no muster rolls of the company for this period have been located . The Battalion Staff of the 2nd Arkansas Infantry Battalion were : Battles . The newly organized 2nd Arkansas Battalion spent the first half of its existence assigned to picket duty in the Aquia District of Virginia — Major - General Theophilus Hunter Holmes , commanding — as part of Brigadier - General Samuel Gibbs French ' s mixed brigade , which included the 35th Georgia , 22nd North Carolina , 2nd Tennessee , 47th Virginia , Fredericksburg Artillery , Maryland Flying Artillery , Caroline Light Dragoons and Stafford Rangers . Spending the winter of 1861 – 62 on the shores of the Potomac took its toll on the battalion . The muster rolls for the period indicate that a large percentage of the troops were hospitalized , or were already dead . The following spring , however , would be worse . The 2nd Arkansas Battalion was transferred to Brigadier - General William Dorsey Pender ' s brigade , in Major - General Ambrose Powell Hill ’ s " Light Division , " in preparation for the campaign which would come to be known as the Seven Days ' Battles . With the 2nd Arkansas Battalion in Pender ' s brigade were the 16th , 22nd and 34th North Carolina Regiments , and the 22nd Virginia Battalion . Heavily engaged throughout the campaign , the 2nd Arkansas Battalion failed to survive it . At Beaver Dam Creek , near the village of Mechanicsville , Virginia , on June 26 , 1862 , the little battalion led the assault on the Federal position , and was decimated . There is no official casualty list or after - action report from the 2nd Arkansas Battalion for the Battle of Mechanicsville — there were no commissioned or non - commissioned officers left standing to make out any reports . The battalion roster shows many names with the notation , " no further record . " Since most of those so noted never returned to Arkansas , it is presumed that they were killed in the battle . An article published shortly after the battle of Mechanisville , The " Richmond Dispatch " newspaper provided an acknowledgment of the heroism and sacrifice of the 2nd Arkansas Battalion : Flag . A flag belonging to the 2nd Arkansas Battalion was caputured by Union sailors from the USS Anacostia on March 9 , 1862 . The flag was found by the sailors in trenches formerly occupied by the 2nd Arkansas Battalion and were identified by Oliver C . Cooper of the 1st Massachusetts Infantry as belonging to an Arkansas " company " . The flag , which is a First National Flag Pattern , with eleven stars , measuring 35 and 1 / 2 inches by 61 and 1 / 2 inches is currently in the private collection of Paul Dolle of Rogers , Arkansas . Consolidation with the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment . The remnant of the 2nd Arkansas Battalion was formally disbanded under Special Orders , No . 152 , dated July 15 , 1862 . The 139 survivors were transferred to the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment , but most of them were soon discharged for various wounds and illnesses . Many of those who were well enough to remain in service with the 3rd Arkansas would later fall at Gettysburg , Chickamauga and the Wilderness . A dozen or so would survive to be surrendered at Appomattox Court House .