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The Chew's Arkansas Infantry Battalion (1862) was a Confederate Army infantry battalion during the American Civil War. The unit was originally known as Hawthorne's Battalion, but the battalion is most often referred to as Chew's Sharpshooter Battalion. The unit was eventually consolidated with the 39th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. ==Organization== On October 19, 1862, at Camp Reagan, Arkansas Colonel A. T. Hawthorne was assigned to the command of an unarmed battalion composed of the companies of Dawson, Tumlinson, Perkins and Hailey and the new unit was referred to as Hawthorn's Battalion Arkansas Volunteers.〔University of Arkansas special collections-civil war manuscripts, Catalogue for the Manuscript Collections for the Civil War 39. Confederate States Army. Staff Officers. Selected compiled records, 1861-1865; 2 rolls〕 The four companies that made up Hawthorne's Battalion were:〔Maul, Allen. "Chew's Sharpshooter Battalion", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 11 July 2007, Accessed 20 January 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=15991〕 *Company A - Captain Elbert Dawson's Company (Madison County) Organized September 3, 1862 on King's River, Madison County. Marched thence to Elm Springs and was mustered into service on September 12, 1862, as Arkansas Infantry.〔 *Company B - Captain Wiley Tumlinson's Company (Scott County) Organized July 4, 1862 and served as cavalry until September 16.〔 *Company C - Captain B.T. Hailey's Company (Marion, Carroll and Benton Counties) Organized in June, 1862 and served as cavalry until August 24.〔 *Company D - Captain Samuel W. Perkin's Company (Scott County) Organized in June/July, 1862 and served as cavalry until September 16.〔 Dawson's Company was the last to be organized and apparently never served as cavalry. The other three companies mentioned above spent approximately two months serving together as cavalry in Gipson's Battalion Mounted Rifles.〔Gerdes, Edward G. "GIPSON'S BATTALION MOUNTED RIFLES", Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Accessed 20 January 2012, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/gipsons.htm〕 They were eventually dismounted at the approximate dates mentioned above to serve as infantry.〔 It appears that a portion of Tumlinson's Company was divided and placed into Perkins' Company as two men from the former company show up on the casualty list of Company C at the battle of Prairie Grove.〔 On Oct 23, 1862 an order to Colonel C. W. Adams, (Adams' Arkansas Infantry Regiment) countermanded a previous order assigning Captain Chew as Lieutenant Colonel of Adams' Regiment "in deference to the wishes of men and officers of the regiment in their memorandum to the Major General commanding." 〔 Two weeks later, Major Hawthorn was elected colonel of the 39th Arkansas Infantry Regiment.〔Odom, Danny. "Re: Chew's Sharpshooter Battalion", Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 9 July 2007, Accessed 20 January 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs53x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=15969〕 On November 3, 1862 Captain Robert E. Chew was appointed major and placed in command of the battalion which then became known as "Chew's Sharpshooter Battalion."〔 On November 5, 1862 an order from Colonel Brooks at Camp Hindman mentioned a "memorial" of the commissioned officers of Hawthorne's Battalion to have Captain Chew appointed Major to fill the vacancy caused by promotion of Major Hawthorne.〔 It appears that this battalion was a sharpshooter battalion in name only. Had it survived after the battle of Prairie Grove it may have become one in time. Sharpshooters were equipped in the same manner as infantry, with the standard rifle or rifle-musket; some were even armed for a time with smoothbore weapons. There was no difference in the organization of what was called a "sharpshooter battalion" and a regular light infantry battalion. The term "battalion" implies that the unit was organized with fewer than the full ten companies required for a regiment. Tactically, these units were specialists in skirmishing. "Sniping" — at least in the manner we think of it today—was the main purpose of a "sharpshooter" unit. Civil War infantry units received little formal instruction in rifle marksmanship; however skirmishers were expected to deliver individual, aimed fire at targets of opportunity rather than the massed volleys of the infantry line of battle.〔 No known roster of the battalion exists. The casualty list of this unit at Prairie Grove did survive as it was published in the True Democrat newspaper in Little Rock on December 31, 1862.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chew's Arkansas Infantry Battalion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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