David Adams Gillespie (1837–1863)

Confederate colonel David A. Gillespie served during the Civil War as an officer at the company and regimental level, eventually commanding the Seventh Arkansas Infantry. He continued in this capacity until being wounded in September 1863, dying from his wound a month later.

David Adams Gillespie was born on August 17, 1837. He enlisted on July 26, 1861, at Camp Shaver at Pocahontas (Randolph County) in Company G, Seventh Arkansas Infantry, which was an Independence County company. He either came from an influential family or had received some level of higher education, possibly at a military academy, as he was elected second lieutenant of Company G, and the next month was appointed a first lieutenant and acting assistant adjutant general of the regiment.

William Hardee’s troops were transferred to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in October 1861 and assigned to General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of Central Kentucky. After withdrawal from Kentucky, Johnston’s army, now designated as the Army of the Mississippi, concentrated around Corinth, Mississippi, before attacking Union forces of General Ulysses S. Grant, camped twenty-five miles north, at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6–7, 1862. Here the Seventh Arkansas, now nicknamed “the Bloody Seventh,” incurred heavy casualties. Colonel Robert Shaver was wounded and Lieutenant Colonel John M. Dean was killed.

Returning to Corinth, the Army of the Mississippi reorganized with Colonel Shaver not standing for election, and on May 14, 1862, First Lieutenant Gillespie was elected colonel and placed in command of the regiment. After the Siege of Corinth, the Seventh Arkansas, now as part of Brigadier General St. John R. Liddell’s Arkansas brigade of Hardee’s Corps, trekked north on the 1862 Kentucky Campaign, seeing devastating action at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky. The Seventh Arkansas opened the battle against an entire Union brigade for control of Doctor’s Creek due to heavy drought conditions. Incurring extremely heavy casualties, Colonel Gillespie was forced to withdraw, and Liddell threw the rest of his brigade into action with little success. The larger battle was fought later that day, with Confederate forces withdrawing back into Tennessee.

In December, due to casualties and losses, the Sixth and Seventh Arkansas regiments were permanently consolidated, but with each unit retaining its original organization. On December 31, 1862, the Sixth and Seventh Arkansas fought in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, assisting with other units in destroying the right flank of the Union army. During the battle, Colonel Samuel G. Smith of the Sixth was wounded, with command falling to Colonel Gillespie.

In 1863, Gillespie led the regiment through the Middle Tennessee Tullahoma Campaign, including the June 25 Battle of Liberty Gap. In September, the Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg unleashed heavy assaults on Union forces at Chickamauga, Georgia. Colonel Gillespie and his combined regiment saw heavy fighting. He was severely wounded and sent to the rear to the Clayton Hospital at Forsythe, Georgia. On October 26, 1863, Colonel Gillespie died of his wound. He is buried in the Proctor family plot in the Forsythe City Cemetery.

For additional information:
Masters, Daniel A. Hell by the Acre: A Narrative History of the Stones River Campaign, November 1862–January 1863. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2025.

Willis, James. Arkansas Confederates in the Western Theater. Dayton, OH: Morningside Press, 1998.

Anthony Rushing
Benton, Arkansas