The 4th Arkansas Field Battery (1862–1865) was a Confederate States Army artillery battery during the American Civil War. The battery spent its entire existence in the Department of the Trans-Mississippi, including time in the Indian Territory. Late in the war the battery supported operations in Louisiana. It was also known as the Desha County Artillery and West's Battery.

Formation West's Battery was formed during the spring of 1862 and for a time served in the District of the Indian Territory.National Park Service, "4th Field Battery, Arkansas Artillery (West's)", Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, Accessed 13 January 2013, It was led by Captain Henry Clay West.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888, Page 903; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600 : accessed February 03, 2012), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas.Gerdes, Edward G., "Organization of the Artillery in 1864", Edward G. Gerdes Civil War Page, Accessed 2 June 2010, http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/artillry.html Captain West had previously served as the 1st Lieutenant of Woodruff's Weaver Light Artillery of Pulaski County.Woodruff, W.E. With the Light Guns in '61-'65: Reminiscences of Eleven Arkansas, Missouri and Texas Batteries in the Civil War. (Little Rock, AR: Central Printing Co., 1903). The other battery officers were First Lieutenant Dan J. Murphy; Second Lieutenant Benjamin B. Brett; Third Lieutenant John J. Brooks. Lieutenant Brett resigned in the early part of the war, and Lieutenant Brooks succeeded him, the place of the latter being filled by Third Lieutenant Peter Dumas."Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas", Goodspeed Publishing Company (1890), Accessed 12 January 2012, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ardesha/gdspdhis.htm#M

At the time that Lieutenant West learned that he had been elected captain of a battery organized from Desha County, he was at Fort Smith with the Weaver Light Artillery and the new Desha County battery was report to be at Dardanelle. West joined the unit at Dardanelle and eventually moved the unit to Indian Territory where it was joined in an artillery battalion with the Weaver Light Artillery under the command of Major Woodruff.Woodruff, W.E. With the Light Guns in '61-'65: Reminiscences of Eleven Arkansas, Missouri and Texas Batteries in the Civil War. (Little Rock, AR: Central Printing Co., 1903).

West's battery spent the remainder of the winter and spring in Indian Territory. When Major General Thomas C. Hindman assumed command of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi on May 31, 1862, one of his first acts was to order General Pike to return first Woodruff's Battery and eventually West Battery to Arkansas.United States. War Dept.. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 13., Book, 1885; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154621/m1/870/?q=Woodruff Battery : accessed February 03, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. This action touched off a bitter struggle between Brigadier General Pike and Major General Hindman that ultimately resulted in Pike demanding to be relieved of command of the Indian Territory.United States. War Dept.. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 13., Book, 1885; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154621/m1/984/?q=Woodruff Battery : accessed February 03, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas.

In an August 1, 1862, telegraph from Major General Thomas C. Hindman to Colonel Charles A. Carroll at Fort Smith, Arkansas, giving him direction to divide two bronze guns obtained from Fort McCulloch in Indian Territory and the six guns of Wests battery between Colonel Carrol, Colonel Cooper and Brigadier General Rains. Hindman gave further instructions on August 8, 1862, when he instructed Colonel Cooper to choose between West's Battery and Howell's battery take three of the bronze guns. On the same day Hindman wrote to Major (former Brigadier General Nicholas Bartlett Pearce of the Confederate Commissary Department at Fort Smith stating, "I want these batteries completely effective by August 25th."Odom, Danny, "Re: West's 4th Arkansas Battery in the summer of 63" Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 1/14/2013, Accessed 15 January 2013, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?page=1;md=read;id=27720

Service

The Desha County Artillery was assigned to Colonel Emmett MacDonald's brigade of Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke's division of Major General Thomas C. Hindman's 1st Corps, Army of the Trans-Mississippi during the Prairie Grove Campaign. At that time the battery consisted of sixty-one men, one 6-pounder field gun, and two 12-pounder field guns.Shea, William. Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2009. . The unit did not join Marmaduke's force until after the Battle of Cane Hill on November 28, 1862.Alan Thompson, "Re: West's 4th Arkansas Battery" Arkansas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 16 January 2013, Accessed 16 January 2013, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/arcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?page=1;md=read;id=27732Woodruff, W.E. With the Light Guns in '61-'65: Reminiscences of Eleven Arkansas, Missouri and Texas Batteries in the Civil War. (Little Rock, AR: Central Printing Co., 1903), p.79. According to Captain West's report on the Battle of Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862, Brigadier General Marmaduke ordered the battery to support Brigadier General Fagan's brigade of Shoup's Division. The battery fired in support of Shoup's Division until driven off by the rifled guns of the union artillery. The battery then supported Brigadier General Roan's brigade until nightfall ended the battle.United States. War Dept. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600/m1/160/?q=west's arkansas battery : accessed January 14, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas.

After Prairie Grove the unit retreated to Van Buren, with the rest of Hindman's Army. As Hindman attempted to reorganize his defeated army, West's battery was assigned to the brigade of Colonel Robert G. Shaver. West's Battery became involved in the Battle of Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas, on December 28, 1862, as Union generals James G. Blunt and Francis Herron pursued General Hindman's retreating 1st Corps, Army of the Trans-Mississippi.United States. War Dept.. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 1, Volume 22, In Two Parts. Part 1, Reports., Book, 1888; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth154600/citation/?q=Van Buren : accessed January 15, 2013), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas. After Hindman's forces were forced to hastily retreat across the Arkansas River to escape the surprise Union attack, Hindman ordered the battery to shell Union forces in Van Buren. The battery almost struck a decisive below when one of its shells came close to killing both General Blunt and General Herron.Cox, Dale "The Battle of Van Buren - Van Buren, Arkansas", ExploreSouthernHistory.com, Accessed 15 January 2013, http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/vanburenbattle1.html

On January 1, Hindman's retreating army was met east of Van Buren by the 15th Texas Cavalry under Colonel J. W. Speight. Speight's regiment accompanied the retiring Confederate forces to Clarksville, Arkansas. At nearby Piney Bayou on January 7, the "four demoralized Texas [dismounted cavalry] regiments were put under command of Col Speight, creating a brigade. On January 10, 1863, West's Arkansas Battery was added to Speight's Texas Brigade. The battery would support Texas troops for the remainder of the war.Martin, Ken "Re: Col J.W. Speight's Brigade", Texas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 4/23/2010, Accessed 15 January 2012, http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/txcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=12000Barr, Alwyn, Polignacs Texas Brigade, Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas 1998, page 14.

General Holmes ordered the Texas brigade back through Fort Smith to reinforce Brigadier General William Steele, the new commander of the Indian Territory. The brigade, including West’s Battery trudged in varying degrees of cold winter rain and snow, short of wagons, across a country already stripped of forage for men and animals. Snow piled up eight to ten inches deep in places, and a hundred mules from the teams for the supply wagons and an artillery battery froze to death. Cattle and oxen were broken to harness to meet the emergency and to bring the guns and supplies through.Odom, Danny, "Colonel J.W. Speight's Texas Brigade", Texas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 4/23/2010, Accessed 13 January 2013, http://www.history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/txcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=11998

The battery remained in Indian Territory until April 19, 1863, when Speight's Texas Brigade and West's battery were ordered to proceed to Alexandria, Louisiana, via Shreveport, Louisiana, to oppose a suspected Union advance into Texas.Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Vol. 15, pt 1, page 28-33 The Battery arrive in Shreveport Louisiana on May 14, 1863. May 14, 1863.Odom, Danny, "Colonel J.W. Speight's Texas Brigade", Texas in the Civil War Message Board, Posted 4/23/2010, Accessed 13 January 2013, http://www.history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/txcwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=11998