Reid's Arkansas Battery (1862), was a Confederate artillery battery that served during the American Civil War. Another Arkansas battery, the 1st Arkansas Light Artillery, a.k.a. the Fort Smith Artillery, was also once known as "Reid's Battery". Captain Reid had commanded the Fort Smith Artillery during the Battle of Wilson's Creek, but left that organization and later organized a second battery that is the subject of this article.
The first "Reid's Battery" Captain John G. Reid had previous served as the commander of a volunteer militia company of the 51st Militia Regiment, Sebastian County, Arkansas, The Fort Smith Artillery. The battery was originally identified simply as the "Independent Artillery" but was later styled the "Fort Smith Battery" or the "Fort Smith Artillery". Following the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the Fort Smith Artillery reorganized for Confederate service and Captain Reid did not stand for re-election, having accepted a staff position. The Fort Smith Artillery elected David Provence as captain on September 17, 1861 and was transferred east of the Mississippi River following the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge.
Rebuilding Arkansas Confederate Artillery
After the battle of Pea Ridge, General Earl Van Dorn was ordered to move his Army of the West across the Mississippi River and cooperate with Confederate forces in Northern Mississippi. Van Dorn stripped the state of military hardware of all types, including almost all the serviceable artillery. When General Thomas C. Hindman arrived to assume command of the new Trans-Mississippi District, he found almost nothing to command. He quickly began organizing new regiments, but his most pressing need was for arms for the new forces he was organizing, including the artillery. With Hindman's first order, dated May 31, 1862 at Little Rock, he announced his staff, including the appointment of Major Francis A. Shoup, Chief of Artillery. Hindman ordered guns, which the United States Arsenal had decommissioned and buried as property markers around the Arsenal in Little Rock, to be dug up and refurbished as best possible as serviceable weapons. Hindman was almost totally destitute of military quality weapons and could hardly arm or issue ammunition to the few troops that he had in June 1862. In July 1862, General Hindman wrote describing his efforts at organization and his need for arms for his men.
General Hindman ordered two enterprising young staff officers, Captain R.A. Hart and Major J.B. Lockman to travel to Grenada, Jackson, Columbus, Mississippi and other depots, with requisitions for ordnance and ordnance stores, instructing them to take even condemned articles, and to bring them to Arkansas by the most practicable route. Arms and cannon secured by these two were moved to Gaines Landing on the Mississippi River, where they were loaded onto flatboats and moved across the river between Union gunboat patrols. Apparently this activity did not go unnoticed by Union forces operating along the river:.
By August 5, 1862, General Hindman wrote to General Cooper describing the improvement in his supply situation
At the same time, General Mosely M. Parson's Brigade returned to Arkansas from Van Dorn's Army in Mississippi in August 1862. General Parson brought with him a wagon train of quartermaster supplies and five pieces of artillery. The quantity of guns supplied led to the organization and reorganization of several Artillery batteries in August and September 1862 in Arkansas.
Organization
The organization of Reid's Arkansas Battery apparently occurred in the summer of 1862 as Hindman attempted to build Confederate forces in Arkansas. On July 17, 1862, General Hindman issued Special Order #29 which directed Captain Reed to report to Col Carroll who was commanding Northwest Arkansas. Reid was to take four iron guns to be turned over to a Capt Pratt. Capt Shelby or the commanding officer of Shelby's infantry company was to proceed with his company with Capt Reed to Fort Smith. ... Capt Pratt was ordered to turn over to Reed the four iron pieces and will receive from Capt Daniels and Capt Woodruff two guns each. On July 27, 1862, Colonel Carrol reported the arrival of Captain Ried's battery at Fort Smith, Arkansas.
On July 27, 1862, Colonel Robert C. Newton, who was General Hindman's Adjutant, wrote to Brigadier General James S. Rains who Hindman had assigned to command Confederate forces in northwest Arkansas,