Arkansas Graves Registry in collaboration with Central Arkansas Civil War Heritage Trail and the Arkansas Division of the SCV will be added to Websites.. While not intended to replace that larger register cemeteries on the Internet, this is intended to gather information from some of the smaller or private cemeteries in the state.

Many of us have visited these cemeteries and noticed individual graves with confederate or union markings. The information from the headstone will be listed on the Registry and the location of the cemetery. This will serve two purposes; another place to find information about an ancestor, and a way to honor our ancestors who are buried in Arkansas. In the future, we will be asking everyone to gather information from the gravestones in cemeteries you visit around the state.

On July 27, 1864, a Confederate cavalry force launched a daring sunrise attack on a detachment from the 6th Kansas Cavalry on Massard Prairie near Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The Federals were camped on the prairie to guard horses being grazed there and the Confederates completely surprised them.

More than half the Union soldiers on the field were killed, wounded and captured in what one Confederate general called a "brilliant and dashing affair."

Fort Towson, C.N.

July 30, 1864

Report of Maj. Gen. Samuel B. Maxey,

C.S. Army

Our loss 8 killed and several wounded; the exact number not known.

An unofficial note from an officer states the enemy from Fort Smith followed General Gano out on his return and that an attack on the camp was likely. I do not believe the enemy will now throw out anything more than a reconnaissance in force. Preparations to the extend of our means will be made.”

Official Records, Séries 1, Volume LIII, Part 1, page 29.

Massard Prairie Today

The Battle of Massard Prairie was described as a “brilliant and dashing affair” in Confederate reports. Led by Brigadier General R.M. Gano, a former member of Confederate “Thunderbolt” John Hunt Morgan’s corps of officers, some 600 Southern soldiers – both white and Native American – swept down on the camp of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry. When the intense fight was done, Gano and his men

had achieved a telling victory. But there is more to the story of Massard Prairie than the simple tale of a small, albeit highly successful, Confederate victory.

The chain of events leading to the battle developed quickly in late July of 1864. A significant body of Confederate troops was then operating in Indian Territory (today’s Oklahoma) just west of the Arkansas border garrison town of Fort Smith. The commander of this force, Brigadier General Douglas H. Cooper, learned from scouts that several bodies were camped in isolated positions around Fort Smith.

You can follow the entire story with links on the PLACES Page of our CWRT/CACWHT WebSite

 http://www.civilwarbuff.org/places.html

Brigadier-General William N. R. Beall (1825-1883) was a native of Kentucky, born in 1825. His parents moved to Arkansas, and from here he was appointed to the United States military academy at West Point in 1844. He was graduated in 1848, and was assigned to the 4th U.S. infantry as brevet second lieutenant. He served on the frontier in the Northwest until 1850, with promotion to second lieutenant of the 5th U.S. Infantry on April 30, 1849. From that time until 1855 he served in Indian Territory and in Texas, and was commissioned first lieutenant of the 1st U.S. Cavalry, March 3, 1855, and before the end of the month, March 27th, captain in the same command. He was engaged in several Indian expeditions, encountering the hostiles in several combats and skirmishes. The last of these expeditions was in 1860 against the Kiowas and Comanches. He was on frontier duty when his adopted State seceded from the Union. He then sent in his resignation as captain in the United States service and received the same rank in the Confederate States army. He served in Arkansas under General Van Dorn, who, on the 17th of March, 1862, recommended that he be commissioned colonel. On the 11th of April this request was more than granted, for Captain Beall was commissioned a brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States, and on the 23rd of the same month was assigned by General Beauregard to the command of the cavalry of the army at Corinth. On September 25th he was in command at Port Hudson, and though Gen. Frank Gardner subsequently assumed chief command, General Beall and his brigade continued to be important factors in the gallant defense of the post until its surrender. His brigade included the 10th, 12th, 15th (Northwest), 16th and 23rd Arkansas Infantry regiments, and the 1st Arkansas battalion, as well as several Mississippi and Alabama regiments, and Louisiana artillery. His Arkansas troops lost 225 in killed, wounded and missing during the long siege of Port Hudson, which was only terminated when they were forced to surrender by the capitulation of Vicksburg. On July 9th the post was surrendered, and the men were then paroled, and some of them, including General Beall, were never exchanged. General Beall was first imprisoned on Johnson’s Island.

In 1864, by virtue of an agreement between the authorities in Washington, DC and in Richmond, he was released on parole to act as the Confederate agent to supply prisoners of war. In this capacity he maintained an office in New York City and sold cotton, which was permitted to come through the federal blockade. The proceeds were mainly devoted to the purchase of clothing and blankets for the relief of Confederate soldiers in Northern prison camps. He was finally released on August 2, 1865. After the war General Beall moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and engaged in business as a general commission merchant. He died on the 26th of July, 1883, at McMinnville, Tennessee, and is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, TN.

Recently, it was discovered, via the August 25, 1864 Inspection Report for Granbury's Texas Brigade (taken at East Point, Georgia), that the men of that command had the "Articles of War read: Frequently, while in camp."

The "Articles of War" pre-dates the Civil War, as it was adopted by United States Congress in 1806. This document of regulations was the predecessor of the "Uniform Code of Military Justice" of our modern military. The only difference between the Confederate and United States versions, was the obvious substitution of "United" for "Confederate,"

These Articles were what the armies had governed themselves. As stated by the above-mentioned documentation, and the articles themselves, the men of the 10th Texas Infantry, as well as the rest of Granbury's Brigade had been quite familiar with the contents therein.

http://members.aol.com/cog10thtx2/art1.htm