Ouachita County

The Camden Knights of the Golden Circle, Company C of the First Arkansas Infantry was formed in Camden under the leadership of Captain W. L. Crenshaw and fought through the war until the regiment was forced to surrender against overwhelming odds at Bentonville, North Carolina, in 1965.

The City Guards, under Captain R. Lyons, who later became a Colonel, was killed in Kentucky, the Ouachita Voltagures, under Captain Charles Kingwell, the Ouachita Grays, led by Captain H. T. Hodnett, and a company under Captain Griffin, all entered the Sixth Arkansas Infantry and were in the company of General Hardee until the close of the war. A. T. Hawthorne, of the City Guards became a Lieutenant Colonel and later Brigadier General.

There was a Camden company, the Camden Knights of the Golden Circle, No. 2, with the Eleventh Arkansas Infantry at the Battle of Island 10 on the Mississippi River and later with General Johnson in Mississippi.

There were also Ouachita County companies in the Fifteenth, Eighteenth, and Thirty-third Arkansas Infantry Companies at the bloody battle of Jenkins Ferry. Their Colonel was H. L. Grinstead, killed at Jenkins Ferry. {F or more information see : THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION, Full Detail of Great Battle At Jenkins' Ferry. A Summary of Events From Recent Dispatches.

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