Mexican War
One company of mounted volunteers was raised in Washington County for service in the Mexican War. It consisted of 110 men, and was organized in the spring of 1846, with Stephen B. Enyart as captain, James P. Neal, first lieutenant; Mack O’Brien, second lieutenant; J. F. Rieff, ensign, and Mark Cline, orderly sergeant. The company marched to Washington, Hempstead County, but were too late to be received. They returned to their homes, and held themselves in readiness for the next call for troops. This came about the 1st of March, 1847, and the company marched to Fort Smith, the mustering place, near the middle of that month. About the 1st of April they left for Mexico by the way of San Antonio. They marched to Monterey, and were employed in the country between that city and the Rio Grande, in guarding wagon trains and doing scout duty, until the close of the war. They participated in several skirmishes, but took part in no pitched battle. The company was never assigned to any regiment. It was mustered out at Carmorigo in June, 1848, and returned home by way of New Orleans.
Civil War
The position of Washington County on all the questions which led up to the Civil War was similar to that of the State as a whole. She was reliably Democratic, and at the presidential election of 1860 gave Breckenridge a majority of 149 votes; her interests and sympathies were all with the South, but there was a decided feeling against disunion until the war had actually begun.
- Civil War
- David Walker’s Address
- General Orders, No. 17
- Letter from Brigadier-General W. L. Cabell
- Official Report of Attack on Fayetteville
- Union Army Minor units listed on main Civil War page.
- Confederate Army Minor units listed on main Civil War page.
Back to: Washington County, Arkansas History
Source: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.