45th Arkansas Infantry ( Mounted ) The 45th 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 . Due to its mounted status , the unit is sometimes referred to as the 45th Arkansas Cavalry when a numerical designation is used . The unit is most often referred to as either Baber ' s Arkansas Cavalry Regiment or Clark ' s Arkansas Cavalry Regiment , after its two commanders . After the war many former members referred to the regiment as " Shaver ' s Cavalry " because of the large number of officers and men who had previously served in Colonel R . G . Shaver ' s 7th Arkansas Infantry Regiment and 38th Arkansas Infantry Regiment , but Colonel Shaver was never actually associated with the unit . Organization . In May 1864 , General Joseph O . Shelby occupied Northeast Arkansas , well behind Union Army lines . In early June 1864 , General Shelby commissioned Colonel Thomas Hamilton McCray , among others , to begin raising regiments in Northeast Arkansas . By June 13 , Shelby reported to General Sterling Price that McCray ' s efforts were bearing fruit . Colonel McCray ' s efforts led to the recruitment of at least three regiments , the 45th , 46th and 47th Arkansas Infantry Regiment s . These 40 - series regiments consisted mostly of conscripts , and absentees from existing units , organized around a small cadre of veterans detailed from infantry regiments , which were expected to be idle during the fall and winter of 1864 . 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 time frame , 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 : According to some family histories , few uniforms were available for the new regiment , so in order to establish uniformity and company identification , each company would place a certain type of feather on a designated side of their hats . Colonel Milton Dyer Baber , who had previously served as the Major and Lieutenant Colonel of the 38th Arkansas Infantry Regiment , was appointed Colonel of the 45th Arkansas Mounted infantry . Colonel Baber was captured during the Price ' s Raid , so after October 1864 , the regiment was referred to as Clark ' s Arkansas Cavalry ( Lieutenant - Colonel James W . Clark succeeded Baber as regimental commander ) . Many of the men in the regiment had served in the 38th Arkansas Infantry . The regimental records of the 45th were destroyed by fire in the wagon in which they were being carried during the raid . Hence there are no known muster rolls of the 45th 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 45th was assigned to Colonel Thomas H . McCray ' s brigade and operated as part of General Shelby ' s division in northeast Arkansas in the summer of 1864 . The regiments organized by Colonel McCray were apparently ready for operations by 25 July 1864 when Brigadier General Shelby ordered McCray ' s Brigade to move south and attack the railroad near Brownsville , in current day Lonoke County , Arkansas . The purpose of these attacks were to cut off supplies to the Union army under General Steele in Little Rock , which was dependant on supplies flowing up the Arkansas River and down the rail road from Duvall ' s Bluff , Arkansas . In response to Colonel McCray ' s movements , Union Brigadier General Joseph R . West conducted an expedition from Little Rock to the Little Red River , August 7 – 14 , 1864 in antempt to destroy McCray ' s forces . Wests forces encounterd some of McCray ' s forces at Hickor Plains , Arkansas on August 7 , 1864 and captured seven prisoners . Shelby reported that McCray succeeded in tearing up track and buring several tresels . In late August 1864 , Colonel McCray and his brigade accompanied General Shelby in a raid against Union hay cutting operations in west of DeValls Bluff in Prairie County , Arkansas . The purpose of this operation was draw union forces east of Little Rock , in order to provide a diversion for General Sterling Price ' s crossing of the Arkansas River west of Little Rock . McCray ' s brigade functioned as the reserve for Shelby ' s attack on Ashley ' s Station and four other hay cutting stations west of DeValls Bluff , in which Shelby succeeded in capturing Colonel Greenville M . Mitchell , and over 500 troops of the 54th Illinois Infantry Regiment . General Price crossed the Arkansas River near Dardanelle on September 7 , 1864on his way to link up with General Shelby at Batesville in order to preapare for his raid on Missouri . The 45th and Colonel McCray ' s brigade , was assigned to Maj . Gen . James F . Fagan ' s division , of Sterling Price ' s Army of Missouri , for Price ' s Missouri Expedition ( commonly referred to a Price ' s Raid ) . The 45th fought in some of the most fierce combat operations on Price ' s Raid . Its war record is mixed . It was hampered due to lack of ammunition , food , blankets weapons , and uniforms . It also was hampered by leadership who were used to operating as Infantry , and several of the men were conscripts , and deserters . Colonel Baber was captured in the fight near Independence , Missouri on October 22 , 1864 . Upon Colonel Baber ' s capture , Lieutenant Colonel John W . Clark assumed command of the regiment . Major George R . James was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and Captain C . J . Wasburn , who had previously commanded Company A , was advanced to the rank of Major . According to John Edward ' s " Shelby and his Men " , and the book " Action Before Westport " , the crossing of the Little Blue on the afternoon and evening of the 21st of October 1864 was met with fierce Federal resistance . Elements of Fagan ' s Division ( which the 45th belonged to ) were trying to protect the crossing and Price ' s very long train . Cabell ' s brigade was ordered to protect the train in order to allow Fagan ' s troops to concentrate on forcing the crossing . Somewhere during that time frame Colonel Baber was captured , however the records are not clear as to exactly when or how Colonel Baber was captured . Colonel Baber was sent first to Alton prison and then transferred to Camp Douglas . While a prisoner of war , Colonel Baber wrote letters on behalf of the enlisted prisoners requesting blankets . The 45th also participated in the ill fated Siege of Fayetteville , Arkansas , as a part of General Fagan ' s operations against the Federals holding Fayetteville , upon their return to Arkansas after Price ' s Raid in November 1864 . After the completion of Price ' s raid , the 45th 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 the 45th Arkansas Cavalry . Maj . Greeno had just learned from deserters and captured Confederate soldiers who had served in Price ' s Army that Colonel T . H . McCray was en route by way of White River to Jacksonport with the 45th . 46th and 47th Arkansas Regiments . He gave the strength of the 45th Arkansas as about 250 men , and his description of the morale of the men in this regiment , as well as the others , was probably very accurate : 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 following command : Military Sub - District of Northeast Arkansas and Southeast Missouri , commanded by Brigadier General M . Jeff . Thompson ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) , McCray ’ s Brigade , commanded by Colonel Thomas H . McCray ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) , 45th Arkansas Mounted Infantry , commanded by Colonel James W . Clark ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) . While most the men on the Jacksonport parole lists actually served in the 45th Arkansas regiment during the war , some were attached to various companies in the regiment solely for the purpose of surrendering . A few probably never saw any service except marching with their relatives and neighbors to Jacksonport to receive the paroles , which were thought to provide the former confederates with some degree of protection from later arrest or capture .