16th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Confederate)

Jackman resigned on September 25 to return to Missouri to continue recruiting; Jackman was replaced as commander of the regiment by Josiah H. Caldwell. On December 7, the regiment fought in the Battle of Prairie Grove as part of Brigadier General Mosby M. Parsons' brigade.[4] Early in the fighting at Prairie Grove, Parsons' Brigade was aligned to support the Confederate left flank; the regiment (now known as Caldwell's Missouri Regiment) was on the left flank of Parsons' line.[5] Later in the battle, Parsons' Brigade attacked a portion of Major General James G. Blunt's division. Parsons outflanked Blunt, and the Union troops were forced back.[6] However, when a further attack was pressed against the Union line, Caldwell's Regiment was squeezed out by Parsons' advancing regiments and could not participate in the second charge.[7] The regiment suffered 48 casualties at Prairie Grove.[8][9] The Confederate army then fell back from Prairie Grove, and encamped at Van Buren, Arkansas.[8]

Map of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War

In January 1863, the regiment transferred from Van Buren to Little Rock, Arkansas. The next several months saw an outbreak of disease in the regiment, which took the lives of over 100 men. Colonel Caldwell resigned on March 23 and was replaced by Lewis. On May 3, the regiment was officially designated the 7th Missouri Infantry Regiment by special order of Major General Sterling Price.[8] In late June, the regiment began moving towards Helena, Arkansas, although high water slowed the movement. During the Battle of Helena on July 4, the regiment, along with the rest of Parsons' Brigade, assaulted the Union defenses at Helena at a point known as Graveyard Hill. Parsons' charge was successful, but the rest of the Confederate assaults were repulsed, allowing Union troops to focus on Parsons' Brigade. After five hours of fighting, Parsons' Brigade was driven back with heavy losses, including many prisoners taken. At Helena, the 7th Missouri suffered 194 casualties; only 325 men remained in the regiment on July 6. Colonel Lewis was wounded and captured at Helena; Cumming replaced him as commander of the regiment.[8]

After the debacle at Helena, the regiment returned to Little Rock, where it built defensive positions north of the city. Major General Frederick Steele's Union force advanced against Little Rock, but avoided the fortifications by attacking from the southeast. Parsons' Brigade left Little Rock on September 10 and transferred to the vicinity of Arkadelphia, Arkansas. On December 15, the regiment was renamed the 16th Missouri Infantry Regiment by order of Price's headquarters.[10]

The 16th Missouri spent late 1864 in southern Arkansas. In March, Parsons was elevated to division command. His division contained the brigades of Colonels Simon P. Burns and John Bullock Clark Jr.; the 16th Missouri was in Burns' Brigade. Parsons' Division was sent to the aid of Major General Richard Taylor, who was threatened by a Union advance up the Red River; the troops reach Taylor on April 9.[11] Later that day, the regiment participated in the Battle of Pleasant Hill. Parsons' Division, which was on the right flank of the Confederate line, attacked the Union line.[12] The attack was initially successful, driving in part of the Union line, but a Union counterattack defeated the Confederates, who retreated in some disarray.[11][13] The 16th Missouri lost 25 men at Pleasant Hill.[11]

Parsons' Division then moved north to Camden, Arkansas, where a Union force commanded by Steele was positioned. Steele retreated in the face of the Confederate advance, but was caught by the Confederates at the crossing of the Saline River at Jenkins' Ferry.[11] At the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry on April 30, the 16th Missouri was still part of Burns' Brigade, along with the 10th Missouri Infantry Regiment, 11th Missouri Infantry Regiment, 12th Missouri Infantry Regiment, Pindall's Missouri Sharpshooter Battalion, and Lesueur's Missouri Battery.[14] At Jenkins' Ferry, Parsons arranged his division in a line with Burns' Brigade on the left and Clark's on the right.[15] When Burns' Brigade advanced, it hit the 33rd Iowa Infantry Regiment and the 12th Kansas Regiment. After about half an hour of fighting, Burns' Brigade was able to work around the flank of the two Union regiments, driving them back.[16] However, despite Burns' initial success, Union reinforcements arrived, driving the brigade back to where it had begun its attack.[17] The 16th Missouri lost 30 men at Jenkins' Ferry, and Steele's force was able to escape across the Saline.[11]

After Jenkins' Ferry, the regiment was stationed at various points in Arkansas and at Shreveport, Louisiana. Lewis returned to the regiment in early 1865, and was appointed to serve as a brigadier general by General Edmund Kirby Smith on May 16.[lower-alpha 1] Cumming was then officially promoted from lieutenant colonel to colonel. On June 8, the men of the regiment were paroled; they would return to Missouri via steamboat. The 16th Missouri Infantry had more men die while serving in the regiment than any other Missouri unit fighting for the Confederacy: 83 men killed in action, 253 died of various diseases, two were executed for deserting, and three were executed by Union forces.[19]