Peter Snyder (1829–1865)

Confederate colonel Peter Snyder, a tailor from Pocahontas (Randolph County), served during the Civil War as a company officer and regimental commander of the Seventh Arkansas Infantry. He led the regiment after the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, until his death on April 19, 1865, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Peter Snyder (or Schneider) was born on November 14, 1829, in Saarbrucken, Saarland, Germany, to Johan Theobald Snyder and Lowesa Margaretha Klein Snyder, the fourth child of six. The family immigrated to the United States in 1830, settling in Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia), where Snyder became a successful tailor. By 1850, he had married Marietta Ayers; they had five children, two of whom survived into adulthood. He and his family moved to Pocahontas before 1859, where he continued his trade.

After Arkansas seceded in May 1861, Snyder enlisted on July 26, 1861, in Company A, Seventh Arkansas Infantry and was elected first lieutenant. Brigadier General 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 at the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee (April 6–7, 1862). The Army of the Mississippi withdrew back to Corinth, where Snyder was promoted on April 14, 1862, filling the vacancy for major; at the reorganization of the army in May, he was elected lieutenant colonel.

After the April 29–May 30 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, it was forced to withdraw, and the larger battle fought later that day saw Confederate forces withdrawing back into Tennessee.

In December, due to casualties and losses, the Sixth and Seventh Arkansas regiments permanently consolidated, with each unit retaining its original organization. On December 31, 1862, the Sixth/Seventh Arkansas fought in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, assisting in destroying the right flank of the Union army.

In 1863, Snyder fought during the 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 in Georgia. Lieutenant Colonel Snyder and his regiment saw heavy fighting in which Colonel David Adams Gillespie was severely wounded and sent to the rear, immediately elevating Snyder to command the Sixth/Seventh Arkansas. Snyder finally received promotion to colonel on December 5, 1864.

Snyder led the regiment through all its campaign and battles, including Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge, the Atlanta Campaign, and associated battles, where he, along with much of Brigadier General Daniel Govan’s Arkansas Brigade, was captured only to be exchanged a month later. In November, Snyder underwent Lieutenant General John B. Hood’s disastrous 1864 Tennessee campaign, surviving the Battle of Franklin on November 30, before receiving his first wound of the war at the battle of Nashville on December 15–16, 1864.

During the final Carolinas Campaign, Snyder and Colonel Peter V. Green of the Sixth Arkansas led the regiment in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, on March 19, 1865, before withdrawing, as they were heavily outnumbered.

Colonel Snyder contracted typhoid and was sent to the hospital at Raleigh, where he died on April 19, 1865. He is buried locally in an unknown location.

For additional information:
“Col. Peter Snyder.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59044931/peter-snyder (accessed June 5, 2026).

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