Entry Category: Military Science - Starting with T

Titan II ICBM Launch Complex 373-4 near Searcy (White County) was the site of an accident on August 9, 1965, in which fifty-three workers were killed—the largest loss of life ever suffered in a U.S. nuclear weapons facility. Titan II ICBM Launch Complex 373-4 was one of eighteen Arkansas launch complexes operated by the 308th Strategic Missile Squadron headquartered at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville (Pulaski County). Construction of Launch Complex 373-4 had commenced on January 3, 1961, and was finished on July 31, 1962—the first of the 308th’s sites to be completed and the first to go on alert (meaning that it was fully operational and ready to respond) on May 16, 1963. After it had …

The Titan II Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County), just north of Damascus (Van Buren and Faulkner counties), became the site of the most highly publicized disaster in the history of the Titan II missile program when its missile exploded within the launch duct on September 19, 1980. An Air Force airman was killed, and the complex was destroyed. The Titan II Missile Launch Complex 374-7 Site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on February 18, 2000. Complex 374-7 had already been the site of one significant accident on January 27, 1978, when an oxidizer leak sent a cloud of toxic fumes 3,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 100 feet high drifting across U.S. Highway …

Following the Soviet Union’s detonation of its first thermonuclear bomb in 1953, the United States began actively developing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Titan II Missile program was a Cold War weapons system featuring fifty-four launch complexes in three states. Eighteen launch complex sites were in Arkansas, from which intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nine-megaton nuclear warheads could be launched to strike targets as far as 5,500 miles away. Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems were part of a three-pronged nuclear weapon strategy that included manned bombers, land-based ICBMs, and sea-launched ballistic missiles. The ICBMs needed only thirty to thirty-five minutes to reach their targets, making them capable of first strikes on enemy territory. Their powerful warheads were designed to destroy …

James Totten was an officer in the U.S. Army and was the commander of the Little Rock Arsenal during the Arsenal Crisis of 1861. He later served in the Civil War, commanding units in both the Trans-Mississippi and Western theaters. James Totten was born on September 11, 1818, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father, William E. Totten, was a doctor who later served at the Little Rock Arsenal and had a private practice; there is no information on Totten’s mother or siblings. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1841. Commissioned a second lieutenant, he was promoted to first lieutenant in 1847. In 1849–50, Totten served in Florida to help suppress the Seminole Indians. Totten was promoted …

A northbound St. Louis Southwestern train (No. 571) derailed on the morning of May 21, 1918, at Moyston Station near Garland (Miller County). The train was bound for St. Louis, Missouri, and was carrying a detachment of thirteen soldiers from the 619th Aerial Squadron at Camp MacArthur near Waco, Texas. The locomotive, a Baldwin K1 2-8-0, pulled one baggage car, two Pullman tourist cars, two Pullman sleeping cars, and a caboose. The train left the station at Texarkana (Miller County) around 7:15 a.m. and derailed at trestle number 972, about 4.3 kilometers (2.7 miles) north of McKinney Station. The trestle measured 140 meters (460 feet) long and 2.4 meters (11 feet) high, except that it rose to a height 7.9 …

The October 11, 1863, Skirmish at Tulip was a small action in which Union colonel Powell Clayton led men from the Fifth Kansas and First Indiana Cavalry Regiments in an attack that routed Colonel Archibald Dobbins’s First Arkansas Cavalry Regiment, capturing men and equipment. Also captured was a flag that became a prized artifact in the collection of the Old State House Museum. Following the Union occupation of Little Rock (Pulaski County) on September 10, 1863, a delegation of citizens from Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) came to Little Rock and asked General Frederick Steele to establish a garrison there to protect property and keep citizens from being conscripted into the Confederate army. Steele duly ordered Clayton’s small cavalry brigade to …

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Cornelius Turner Jr. was a commander of U.S. Army Forces at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium. During his military career, he served in South Vietnam on three separate occasions, during which time he commanded a detachment of Armed Door Gunners, a company in the Twenty-seventh Infantry Regiment, and was a senior advisor to South Vietnamese Regional and Popular Forces in Long An province. In 1969, he returned to his alma mater, Arkansas State University (ASU), to serve as an assistant professor of military science and tactics, making him the university’s first Black faculty member. Frederick Cornelius Turner Jr. was born in North Little Rock (Pulaski County) on June 15, 1937, to Frederick Turner …

The Twelfth Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in both the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters during the American Civil War. Composed of companies and men primarily from Clark, Columbia, Dallas, Hempstead, Hot Spring, Ouachita, and Sevier counties, the regiment was organized on July 27, 1861, in Arkadelphia (Clark County) by Congressman Edward Gantt. The troops elected Gantt as colonel, W. D. Cook as lieutenant colonel, and Thomas J. Reid as major. The regiment crossed the Mississippi River and garrisoned Columbus, Kentucky, during the Battle of Belmont in Missouri. Afterward, it transferred to New Madrid, Missouri, serving as garrison of Fort Thompson, along with the Eleventh Arkansas Infantry, operating as pickets in front of New Madrid. In March …

The Twelfth Arkansas Infantry Battalion was a Confederate unit that served in both the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters during the American Civil War. The battalion consisted of men from across the state of Arkansas and selected from Colonel Thomas P. Dockery’s Arkansas infantry brigade. Its appointed field officer was Major William F. Rapley of Little Rock (Pulaski County). The battalion organized on June 11, 1862, at Priceville, Mississippi, in accordance with General Order No. 39, calling for the creation of a battalion of sharpshooters for each brigade in the Army of the West. Requirements insisted that it be made of “chosen men, able bodied, active, and good rifle shots and of tried courage.” These battalions were intended to become the …

The Twentieth Arkansas Infantry regiment was a unit that served in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. It saw service in both the Western Theater and in the Trans-Mississippi. The regiment was organized at DeValls Bluff (Prairie County) on April 9, 1862. It consisted of companies from Hempstead, Hot Spring, Perry, Pulaski, Bradley, and Lafayette counties. The first colonel of the regiment was George King of Pulaski County. The regiment was originally organized as the Twenty-Second Arkansas. Another unit also known as the Twenty-Second Arkansas fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Confederate forces in the state moved eastward after the Battle of Pea Ridge, and the unit joined this movement. Major General Earl Van Dorn ordered his …

The Thirty-Sixth Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the Civil War. Although the unit was originally composed of volunteer cavalry companies, General Thomas Hindman ordered them dismounted and organized as the Second Trans-Mississippi Regiment on June 26, 1862. The Confederate War Department officially designated it as the Twenty-Eighth Arkansas Infantry. It was composed primarily of men from Conway, Prairie, Pulaski, Van Buren, and White counties, and the original field officers were Colonel Dandridge McRae, Lieutenant Colonel John Glenn, and Major William Hanna. The Twenty-Eighth spent the summer and fall drilling and training on Massard Prairie outside Fort Smith (Sebastian County) before moving north with Hindman’s army. McRae received promotion to brigadier general, …

The Twenty-Fifth Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that saw service during the Civil War. The unit was also known as the Thirtieth Arkansas for a time. The regiment began the war as the Eleventh Arkansas Infantry Battalion. Organized under the command of Colonel Charles Turnbull, the unit comprised six companies stationed in northern Arkansas in the spring of 1862. As Major General Earl Van Dorn moved across Arkansas after the Battle of Pea Ridge, he ordered the unit to join his forces and cross to the east bank of the Mississippi River. The battalion moved to Mississippi, and additional companies, including some from the Eighth Arkansas Infantry Battalion, joined the unit to bring it to full strength as …

The Twenty-First Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in both the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized on May 15, 1862, in Corinth, Mississippi, by the consolidation of four companies of the Fourteenth (McCarver’s) and six companies of the Seventeenth (Lemoyne’s) Arkansas Infantry regiments. It was composed of companies and men primarily from Conway, Izard, Johnson, Lawrence, Pope, Prairie, and Yell counties, and its appointed field officers were Colonel Jordan E. Cravens, Lieutenant Colonel William Matheny, and Major William Dowdle. The regiment, initially assigned to Brigadier General Albert Rust’s brigade, participated in the initial defense of the city of Corinth, Mississippi, in May before Confederate forces retreated farther south. Later …

The Twenty-Fourth Arkansas Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters during the American Civil War. The unit was primarily composed of men from Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Drew, Hempstead, Pike, Polk, Sevier, St. Francis, and Yell counties. It was organized on June 6, 1862, at Camp White Sulphur Springs in Jefferson County, and the original field officers of the regiment were Colonel E. E. Portlock, Lieutenant Colonel T. M Whittington, and Major William R. Hardy. Assigned to Robert Garland’s brigade in September 1862, the Twenty-Fourth and its sister regiments were responsible for defense of Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post to prevent any enemy invasion by land. Later, a portion of the Twenty-Fourth was ordered to …

The Twenty-Second/Thirty-Fifth Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. Due to differing numbering system of the Arkansas Military Board and Confederate War Department, it was referred to by both designations at various times. The regiment was organized on July 11, 1862, near Fort Smith (Sebastian County), composed primarily of men from Benton, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Pope, and Sebastian counties. It contained men from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Arkansas Infantries and Colonel Erasmus Irving Stirman’s First Battalion Arkansas Cavalry who did not accompany those regiments on their transfer to Mississippi. Additional companies were composed of men from the Fifteenth and Fifty-Eighth Arkansas Militias of Johnson and Pope counties seeking to …

The Twenty-Seventh Arkansas Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War. The unit was composed of men primarily from Carroll, Izard, Fulton, Marion, and Searcy counties. The regiment organized in July 1862, when a number of mounted companies were dismounted and augmented with conscripts. Colonel James Shaler, a former Missouri State Guard officer, was appointed as colonel, with A. J. Magenis as lieutenant colonel and Beal Gaither as major. The Twenty-Seventh moved to Fort Smith (Sebastian County) in preparation for the planned attack on Union forces in northwestern Arkansas. Assigned to Colonel Robert Shaver’s Brigade, in Brigadier General Daniel Frost’s Division, the Twenty-Seventh did not join its sister regiments in their first …

The Twenty-Sixth Arkansas Infantry was a Confederate unit that served in the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the Civil War. The unit was primarily composed of men from Arkansas, Bradley, Dallas, Drew, Jefferson, Johnson, and Lafayette counties. The Twenty-Sixth first organized on June 14, 1862, as Morgan’s Arkansas Battalion, with Asa Morgan appointed lieutenant colonel and Fountain P. Yell as major. With organization of additional companies, it became a full regiment on July 23, 1862, at DeValls Bluff (Prairie County). Designated as the Third Trans-Mississippi Infantry Regiment by General Thomas Hindman, it was officially designated by the Confederate War Department as the Twenty-Sixth Arkansas Infantry. Asa Morgan was appointed colonel, with John C. Wright as lieutenant colonel and Yell as major. During …

The Twenty-Third Arkansas Infantry Regiment was a Confederate unit that served in both the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters during the American Civil War. The regiment was organized on April 25, 1862, at Memphis, Tennessee, by the consolidation of Charles Adams’s and Simon Hughes’s infantry battalions and Mitchell Adair’s infantry company. It was composed of companies and men primarily from Clark, Craighead, Crittenden, Jackson, Phillips, Poinsett, and St. Francis counties, and its elected field officers were Colonel Charles W. Adams, Lieutenant Colonel Simon P. Hughes, and Major James F. Robinson. Reorganization of the regiment was undertaken on September 10, 1862, with Oliver P. Lyles appointed as colonel, Abraham Pennington as lieutenant colonel, and Erastus L. Black as major. The regiment was …