Scott County Arkansas
Civil War Record
MARTIN C. COUGHRAN
Co. H, 4th Arkansas Infantry Reg.
Contributed by Bob Foster
August 17, 1861 Mustered in as a private. Traveled 250 miles from Polk
Co., Ark. to reach Miller's Spring, Missouri to enlist in Confederate
forces.
Aug. 17 to Nov. 1, 1861 Absent. In the hospital.
Nov 25 to March 1, 1862 Furloughed. Counted as present.
Feb. 28 to June 30, 1862 Present
June 27, 1862 Elected lieutenant of company H (was a sergeant).
July & August, 1862 Present
Sept. & Oct, 1862 Present
Nov. & Dec. 1862 Present. Assigned to McCown's Division, Polk's Corps,
Army of Tennessee.
Feb. 27, 1863 Sent to Arkansas as a recruiting officer by order of
Gen. Bragg (report dated April 29, 1863, Shelbyville, Tenn.)
March & April, 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
May & June, 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
July & Aug. 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
Sept. & Oct, 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
Oct. 25, 1863 Relieved by Consolidation (roster dated Brandon, Miss.)
Jan. & Feb. 1864 Absent. Detached duty in Arkansas since Feb. 1863.
(1. report dated Camp Bowen, Miss. Jan. 25, 1864.
(2. report dated Jan. 30, 1864, Meridian, Miss. Regiment
was now a part of French's Division.)
July & Aug. 1864 Present.
Oct. 12, 1864 Resigned his commission. No further record of his service.
Oct. 12, 1864 to end of war? Thought to have gone on with his regiment
as an enlisted man and fought in Tennessee under Gen. Hood. He was
wounded at some point and this seems a likely place for it. Could it
have been the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee?
Headquarters of Volunteer and Conscript Bureau Circular
Brevet 2nd Lt. M. J. Coughran
4th Arks. Regt.
You have been detailed to proceed to that section of the State from
which your Regiment was raised for the purpose of recruiting volunteers,
enrolling conscripts and conducting them to your command. This can be
done under instruction from the War Department of 8th instant without
taking conscripts through camps of instruction in the ordinary manner.
Every encouragement will be afforded by you consistent with the law
under the regulations of the service and by kind treatment and arguments
addressed to the patriotism and sense of duty of citizens to induce them
to enter the service of their country. Persons liable to conscription
will be allowed to join any particular company or regiment requiring
recruits in this army.
In like manner persons within conscript age and who may come forward
and volunteer for service will be allowed to do so and will receive all
the benefits which are secured by law to volunteers. Recruits thus
obtained however must in all cases enter companies already in service
and cannot be organized into (new) companies or regiments. In addition
to the duty of gathering volunteers and conscripts you will also
apprehend and send back all stragglers and absentees without leave from
the army who may come within your reach. In the discharge of this highly
important duty your attention is called to the great necessity which now
exists for strenuous exertions in bringing men to fill our reduced
commands in a reasonable time. You will therefore at once enter upon
this duty with zeal and energy and return to these headquarters the
result thereof.
You will (be) governed by the Acts of Conscription and exemptions and
regulations in connection therewith published in General Order No. 82
of 1862 dated Adjutant and Inspector General's Office Richmond Jan 8th
1863. You will make your own orders for transportation by rail road to
and from your field of labors for yourself and recruits and giving
proper receipts for the service rendered.
By order of G. D. J. Pillow
Brig Gen. CSA and Chief of Bureau
H. C. Lockhart A. A. Genl.
Extracts of orders of the War Department based on acts of Confederate
Congress. All the laws and regulations applicable to deserters shall be
applied to such conscripts as fail to repair to the place of rendezvous
for enrollment or who shall desert after enrollment. All the agencies
employed for apprehension and confinement of deserters and their
transportation to the commands of their respective commanders shall be
applicable to duty to persons liable to duty as conscripts who shall
fail to repair to the place of rendezvous after publication of the call.
List of absentees will be furnished by colonels.
By order of
Brig Gen G. D. J. Pillow
H. C. Lockhart
A.A. Genl.
If absentees from the army return promptly to their commands by order
of the commanding general they are pardoned.
By order of
Brig Gen Pillow
Chief of Bureau
(List of transportation vouchers used by M. J. Coughran to return to
Arkansas for recruiting duty)
1. Transportation furnished in kind to Jackson, Miss. March 5th, 1863.
2. Transportation furnished in kind to Port Hudson, La.
3. Transportation in kind to ---------?
4. Transportation in kind to J--------, La.
5. Transportation furnished in kind from Alexandria, La. to Camden, Ark.
March 12th, 1863.
6. Transportation in kind from Camden to Washington, Ark.
7. From Camden, Ark to Little Rock July 21, 1863.
Camp 4th Ark. Regt. near Lovejoy Station (Ga.)
Sept. 10th 1864
Genl(?)
I hereby tender my immediate and unconditional resignation of the office
of junior 2nd lieutenant of the 4th Arkansas Regt. Vol. Infantry for the
following reasons to wit:
My company was temporarily consolidated with Co. "I" of said Regt on
the 28th Feb. 1863. Since that time have been consolidated with Cos. "F"
& "G" of said Regiment. I was relieved by the first consolidation on
28th day of Feb. 1863 and have been on detached duty up to March 1864.
I am a supernumerary officer under the consolidation. There are five
officers belonging to the company. I think I can do the country better
service in some other capacity.
I hereby certify that there are no charges proferred against me, have no
government properties in my possession and that I am not indebted to the
Confederate States on any account whatever within my knowledge.
I have the honor to be ??
? ? ?
M. J. Coughran
Junior 2nd Lt. Co. "H" 4th Ark Regt
Camp 4th Ark Regt.
Sept 10th 1864
Lt. M. J. Coughran Co. H
4th Ark. Regt.
Tendered his unconditional resignation
H. Ross(?) 4th Ark Regt.
Sept 10th 1864
Approved and respectfully forwarded
A. Kile Capt
? Regt.
HQ Gen Reynolds Brigade SC
September 12 1864
Approved and respectfully forwarded
We deem(?) the services of this officer can be dispensed with without
injury to the service.
D. H. Reynolds
Brig. Gen
Battles and engagements Martin J. Coughran was known or suspected
to have participated in.
Elk Horn Tavern (a.k.a. Pea Ridge)
Stone's River (a.k.a. Murfreesboro)
Siege of Corinth
Jackson, MS
Dug Gap, GA
Resaca
New Hope Church
Kennesaw Mt.
Peach Tree Creek
Ezra Church
Atlanta campaign
Franklin (?)
Nashville (?)
Note: Family stories are clear that Martin was badly wounded in the
eye and leg during the war. He had a glass eye and a limp in later
years. However, his military record does not mention any wounds. It
is suspected that after he resigned his commission, he stayed with the
army as an enlisted man and may have been attached to the 5th Arkansas
Inf. (Govan's Reg.) where he was subsequently wounded in the attack on
Federal lines at Franklin, TN. One reason for thinking this is that his
Confederate Pension application was for the 5th Ark. Inf. NOT the 4th
in which he served most of the war. Why would he or his family have
made such a mistake? Surely he must have known which regiment he served
with. My guess is that the 5th was the regiment he was serving with at
the time of his wounding. Also, after he resigned, the war lasted only
another four months. The Confederate Army was in disarray and record
keeping had practically ceased. It is very possible that he was wounded
and nobody was left to make a record of the fact.
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