46th Arkansas Infantry ( Mounted ) The 46th 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 served as mounted infantry . Due to its mounted status , the unit is sometimes referred to as the 46th Arkansas Cavalry when a numerical designation is used . The unit is almost always referred to as either Coleman ' s Arkansas Cavalry Regiment or Crabtree ' s Cavalry in official reports from the period . Organization . In 1862 , Colonel William O . Coleman returned to Carter County , Missouri and recruited heavily among former Missouri State Guard soldiers to form Coleman ' s Missouri Cavalry Regiment . Many of the same men appear on the rosters ( compiled from individual service records ) of Coleman ' s Missouri Cavalry regiment as the roster of the 4th Missouri Cavalry . Several of these men were from Arkansas , including Captain Wiley C Jones , who was the commander of a company in Coleman ' s 4th Missouri Cavalry . Apparently , Coleman ' s Missouri Cavalry Regiment operated for some time without formal recognition , until the summer of 1864 , and it was granted in July 1864 official status as a Partisan Ranger Regiment ( Independent Cavalry Command ) under the Partisan Ranger Act of 1862 . It was only an officially independent command for a few months , before the reorganization of commands for Price ' s Raid in Missouri which occurred between August and October 1864 . At some point several of the previously independent cavalry regiments , battalions , and companies were organized into new commands . In May 1864 , General J . O . Shelby occupied Northeast Arkansas , well behind Union army lines . In early June 1863 , 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 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 . William O . Coleman was formally assigned as the commander of the 46th Arkansas Mounted , while several of the former Coleman ' s officers and men ( e . g . Captain Jones ) were reassigned to other regiments such as the 45th Arkansas Infantry ( Mounted ) . The unit was composed of companies from Greene , Independence , Jackson , Van Buren and White 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 : There are no known muster rolls of the 46th 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 . It appears that the 46th was originally 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 . Major General Sterling Price issued General Order No . 8 , dated September 18 , 1864 which shifted the 46th , under the command of Colonel Coleman from Colonel McCray ' s brigade , in Major General James F . Fagan ' s division , to Brigadier General Joe Shelby ' s division of Missouri troops , of Sterling Price ' s Army of Missouri , for Price ' s Missouri Expedition ( commonly referred to a Price ' s Raid ) . The 46th is listed as an unattached command , ( meaning not assigned to a brigade ) in Shelby ' s division . However reports of Union officers opposing Price indicate that the 46th was still included in Colonel McCray ' s Brigrade . Brigadier General Thomas Ewing , Jr . , reporting on the composition of the Confederate forces which attacked Pilot Knob ( Fort Davidson ) on September 27 , 1864 , list Coleman ' s Regiment as being assigned to McCray ' s Brigade . Lietenant A . M . Jackson , reporting on the commposition of Price ' s Army on November 3 , 1864 , lists McCray ' s Brigade as including , Colonel Reves , Colonel Crandell ' s ( 47th Arkansas ) , Colonel Baber ' s ( 45th Arkansas ) and Colonel Crabtree ' s ( 46th Arkansas ) Regiments . The confusion over which division the 46th Arkansas was assigned to and whether it was under the command of Colonel Coleman or Lieutenant Colonel Crabtree during Price ' s raid may be clarified by an article that Colonel Coleman wrote for the " Confederate Veteran Magazine " in May 1909 . Coleman indicates that following Shelby ' s raid on Ashley ' s Station , he was sent north in to Missouri , ahead of Price ' s army , to organize new units . This he apparently did , joining Price ' s force in Missouri . Since Fagan ' s Division was intended to include all Arkansas Troops , while Marmaduke ' s Division was mainly Missouri troops , this would have left the 46th assigned to Fagan ' s Division , and probably McCray ' s Brigade , as described by Brigadier General Ewing and Lieutenant Jackson . Confederates often referred to regiments by the name of their commander , and Colonel Coleman ' s regiment is mentioned on several occasions in various reports from Price ' s Raid . The 46th was involved in the following actions during Price ' s Raid : Some of these reports appear to refer to the 46th Arkansas as Coleman ' s Regiment , and others appear to be describing the new command that Coleman organized at the very beginning of Price ' s Raid . After the completion of Price ' s raid , the 46th 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 46th Arkansas Cavalry : Major Greeno stated that he had attempted to engage Lieutenant Colonel Crabtree but the unit had scattered : Lieutenant Colonel Crabtree was captured by Colonel Matterson of the Third Minnesota near Augusta , Arkansas on December 15 , 1864 , along with approximately thirty of his men . The execution . A member of Company A , 46th Arkansas Mounted Infantry , Private Harvey H . Blackburn , was executed by Union authorities in retaliation for the alleged murder of Major James Wilson , Third Cavalry Missouri State Militia , and six men of his command by Confederate Colonel and alleged guerrilla Tim Reves during Price ' s Raid . Private Blackburn and the other men executed were not connected in any way with the incident , but were selected at random from among prisoners of war being held by the United States at Gratiot Street Military Prison , St . Louis , Missouri . Another soldier from the 46th Arkansas Mounted Infantry , John N . Ferguson , was also originally scheduled to be executed in the same action , but at the last minute his name was removed from the execution order because it was found that he had " never bore arms " and was only a teamster . Another soldier , Private George F . Bunch , Company B , Third Missouri Cavalry , who apparently had " borne arms " , was substituted for Ferguson and was executed along with Private Blackburn on October 29 , 1864 . Despite his reprieve from execution , Ferguson did not survive his imprisonment . He died on April 5 , 1865 , while still a prisoner of war , and is buried at Jefferson Barracks . Surrender . Brigadier General M . Jeff Thompson 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 . The 46th 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 ) , 46th Arkansas Mounted Infantry , commanded by Colonel William O . Coleman ( Surrendered at Jacksonport ) .