The 15th (Northwest) Arkansas Infantry Regiment (1861–1865) was a Confederate Army infantry regiment during the American Civil War. The unit was originally formed as the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Battalion. After receiving the required 10 companies, the unit was redesignated as the 21st (McRae's) Arkansas Infantry Regiment. Upon recognition that there was already a 21st Arkansas, the unit was again redesignated as the 15th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. This was the third Arkansas unit to bear the designation "15th Arkansas". The others are the 15th (Josey's) Arkansas Infantry Regiment and the 15th (Gee/Johnson) Arkansas Infantry Regiment. The unit saw action both west and east of the Mississippi, before serving in the Vicksburg campaign. The regiment was surrendered at Vicksburg in July 1863. After being paroled and exchanged, the regiment was consolidated with other depleted Arkansas regiments to form the 1st (Trans-Mississippi) Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment.
Organization
This unit can be traced back to four companies of Arkansas State Troops from Benton, Franklin and Yell counties, which marched to Bentonville in July 1861 to be assigned to a regiment of Arkansas State Troops. Instead, they were intercepted by Brigadier General Ben McCulloch, commanding Confederate forces in northwest Arkansas, organized into a battalion under command of Lieutenant Colonel Dandridge McRae, and mustered directly into the service of the Confederate States on July 15, 1861. Brigadier General McCulloch intended to increase the battalion to a regiment. He already had two Arkansas regiments enrolled in Confederate service, the 1st and 2nd Arkansas Mounted Rifles, and McRae's outfit was to form the basis for a 3rd Arkansas Regiment so it was named as the 3rd Battalion Arkansas Infantry.
Company A – Commanded by Capt. James H. Hobbs, of Benton County. Company B – Commanded by Capt. Edward B. Knott, of Franklin County. Company C – Commanded by Capt. David A. Stuart, of Franklin County. Company D – Commanded by Capt. Joshua L. Hollowell, of Yell County.
It appears that a volunteer militia company, known as the "Johnson County Lancers", Commanded by Capt. Bastion Whitehurst Cox, raised from the 10th Regiment, Arkansas State Militia, of Johnson Country was also assigned to Lt Col McRea's battalion during the Wilson's Creek Campaign. This company apparently disbanded after Wilson's Creek and did not become a part of the 15th Arkansas (Northwest).
The original Field and Staff Officers were:
Lieutenant Colonel Dandridge McRae. Major William Thompson. Assistant Commissary, Captain Henry J. Hays. Adjutant Squire Boone. Commissary Sergeant Edward T. Dorton. Quartermaster Sergeant R.M. Lewis. Assistant Surgeon James Morrow.
The field officers were Colonels Squire Boone, James H. Hobbs, and Dandridge McRae; Lieutenant Colonel William W. Reynolds; and Majors D. A. Stuart and William Thompson.
Battles
The 3rd Arkansas Infantry Battalion took an active part in the battles at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861, then marched to Camp Jackson, Arkansas, and where it was stationed and continued to drill from September 1, 1861, until the middle of October 1861. The regiment was then ordered to Missouri, moving through Carthage and by a circuitous route returned Arkansas about the November 1, 1861.
In November 1861, four new companies from Benton, Pope and Washington counties joined the 3rd Arkansas Battalion, making a total of eight, so Brigadier General McCulloch asked the Confederate War Department to authorize the battalion to be designated as a regiment, promising that the last two companies would shortly be added. Brigadier General McCulloch's designation of McRae's command as the 3rd Arkansas Regiment was rejected, since Col. Albert Rust's command in Virginia had already been given that designation; so the War Department assigned the designation of 21st Arkansas Infantry Regiment to McRae's command (which resulted in two 21st Arkansas Regiments). The new 21st Arkansas Regiment was officially established on December 3, 1861, at Camp Benjamin, Arkansas.