The 15th Arkansas Infantry Regiment or Josey’s Arkansas Infantry Regiment (also known as “Polk’s regiment” or “Cleburne’s regiment”) was an infantry formation in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized in May 1861 under the command of Colonel Patrick Cleburne. It served throughout the war in the western theater, seeing action in the Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia campaigns. Following its depletion in numbers the regiment was consolidated several times with other Arkansas regiments, finally merging in 1865 into the 1st Arkansas Consolidated Infantry Regiment. There were two other regiments which also received the designation of “15th Arkansas”. The 21st (McRae’s) Arkansas Infantry was redesignated 15th Arkansas in February 1863, but to avoid confusion, was normally referred to as the “Northwest regiment”. This second “15th Arkansas” was surrendered at Vicksburg in July 1863. A third regiment, under command of Colonels Gee and later Johnson, also received the designation 15th Arkansas Infantry. This last regiment surrendered at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in July 1863.
Organization
The 1st Regiment, Arkansas State Troops, was organized mainly from existing volunteer militia companies several of which had participated in the seizure of the Federal Arsenal at Little Rock.
Organized from State Militia Units
Ten Volunteer Companies were enrolled in State service on May 14, 1861, at Camp Rector, near Mound City, 6 miles (9.7 km) above Memphis on the Mississippi River. Seven of the original ten companies had initially been organized under the state militia laws. Captain Patrick R. Cleburne, of the Yell Rifles, was elected Colonel of the regiment. As the very first regiment of the line authorized by the Arkansas State Military Board in the Civil War, they bore the title of 1st Regiment, Arkansas State Troops.
Re-designated as the 15th Arkansas Infantry Regiment
The Regiment conducted its initial training at Pitman’s Ferry and was assigned to a division commanded by Confederate General William Hardee’s Division. They made a short excursion or raid into southeast Missouri in September, and in October, moved with the rest of Hardee’s command across the river into Kentucky, becoming Hardee’s Division, Army of Central Kentucky. At the time the regiment was moved across the Mississippi River, it contained 506 men. By January 1862 the Confederate War Department had discovered that there was already a “1st Arkansas Infantry” enrolled in Confederate service. Col James Fleming Fagan’s regiment was accepted and enrolled in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States at Lynchburg, Virginia, on May 19, 1861, as the 1st Regiment Arkansas Volunteers. When the Confederate War Department realized that it had two “First Arkansas” regiments, it arbitrarily assigned what their records showed was the next available designation, “the 15th Arkansas Regiment” and ordered Cleburne’s regiment to adopt this designation. The regiment was re-designated as the 15th Arkansas Infantry on December 31, 1861. Unfortunately the Arkansas State Military Board had already authorized the use of this designation for Col. James M. Gee’s regiment. Effectively the Confederate Army went from having two 1st Arkansas Regiments to having two 15th Arkansas Regiments; however, these designations stuck for the rest of the war.
Source: Wikipedia