September 9, 2009

Future Arkansas governor James Berry joined the Confederate Sixteenth Arkansas Infantry in 1861 and was quickly chosen as its lieutenant colonel. His initiation to combat came at the Battle of Pea Ridge. After his regiment was moved east of the Mississippi River, he fought in the 1862 battles at Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi. At Corinth, a severe wound resulted in the need for his right leg to be amputated above the knee. Captured and eventually paroled, he returned home. After the war, he was an active member of the United Confederate Veterans and was a frequent reunion speaker.