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Unit History During the Civil War
        One might think that, when first hearing of the 1st Arkansas, it was a
Confederate unit.  This is only half the story.  There was also a 1st Arkansas
that fought for the Union.  As a unit, we can re-enact as either 'Billy Yank'  or
'Johnny Reb'.  While wearing either the blue, or the gray; we portray the unit
as accurately as possible.

1st Arkansas Cavalry, USA
        The unit was formed in northern Arkansas in late 1861 by northern
sympathizers, who did not agree with their state's decision to secede from
the Union.  Arkansas was, however, under Confederate control at the time.
This forced the sympathizers to hide up in the Ozark Mountains to keep from
being forced into Confederate service or sent to prison camps. Most of these
men spent the better part of 1861 in hiding.  Once the unit was formed, these
men took an active role in attempting to secure Arkansas for the Union Army.
        The 1st Arkansas fought in many major campaigns throughout the area,
including Fayetteville.  It had a leading role in starting the Battle of Prairie
Grove.  The regiment was also given the impossible task of securing northern
Arkansas and Southern Missouri from bushwhackers and Confederate
guerillas. During these campaigns it was up against the likes of Frank James,
William Quantrill and his Raiders.
       At the end of the Civil War, most of the men returned to their families and
farms.  Some were forced to relocate West having had their farms burned and
destroyed.  Others were persecuted by neighbors and friends.  They were
labelled as traitors for not fighting for the Confederacy and were forced to find
a life elsewhere.
 
1st Arkansas Cavalry, CSA
        The 1st Arkansas Cavalry, or 'Dobbins's Brigade' was composed of men
mainly from northeast Arkansas.  Colonel Arch S. Dobbins, who fought under
General Beauregard's Army of Tennessee, was given command of this
brigade.  Dobbins moved the command base to his home town of Helena, Ak.
Because he was well known there, he recruited many of the local citizens into
his unit.
        The unit did not fight in 'Parade Ground Fashion'.  There is mention in
one of the Union's reports that the Dobbins's brigade was "made up by the
consolidation of the swamp guerrillas".  Colonel Dobbins was more or less his
own commander as few detailed reports were ever turned into his superiors.
        The 1st Arkansas was involved in several battles within Arkansas: the
Battle of Prairie Grove in December 1862, the Battle of Helena in July 1863,
and offered the final Confederate resistance to the Federals before they
crossed the Arkansas River to advance on Little Rock in September 1863.
The unit mainly stayed in and around Phillips County for the reaminder of the
war.  The unit finally accepted their paroles on June 4, 1865 - two months after
Generals Lee, Johnston, and Taylor had all surrendered the Trans-Mississippi
Department of the CSA.