Obituary of General Daniel H. Reynolds, Pulaski Co, Ar

***********************************************************
Submitted by: Paul V. Isbell < >
 Date: 1 May 2011
Copyright. All rights reserved. 
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
***********************************************************

Obituary: General Daniel Harris Reynolds, Arkansas - Little Rock, Ark. Mar. 14 -
He was a Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, died this morning at Lake
Village, Ark. Atlanta Constiturion, Mar. 15, 1902. Bio: Daniel Harris Reynolds
(1832–1902) Daniel Harris Reynolds was a lawyer, Confederate general, and state
senator who ranks as one of Arkansas's most talented and dedicated citizen -
soldiers during the Civil War. Daniel Reynolds was born on December 14, 1832, in
Centerburg, Ohio, to Amos and Sophia (Houck) Reynolds. He studied at Ohio
Wesleyan University in the town of Delaware, where he joined the Masonic order
in 1853. He studied law privately in Louisa County, Iowa, and Somerville,
Tennessee, where he befriended fellow future Confederate general Otho French
Strahl. Admitted to the bar in 1858, he established a legal practice in Lake
Village (Chicot County). At the outset of the Civil War, Reynolds raised a
cavalry company, the "Chicot Rangers," and entered Confederate service as a
captain in command of Company A of the First Arkansas Mounted Rifles. The
regiment mustered in at Fort Smith (Sebastian County) on June 14, 1861. Serving
initially in the Trans - Mississippi Theater, the regiment saw its first action
at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, on August 10, 1861; although injured
in this engagement in a fall from his frightened horse, Reynolds stayed in the
field and also fought at Pea Ridge March 7–8, 1862. Dismounted shortly after the
Battle of Pea Ridge, the Mounted Rifles served thereafter as infantry, producing
lingering resentment among the regiment's officers and enlisted men. The
regiment soon transferred to the Army of Tennessee and served in the Western
Theater (that is, east of the Mississippi River) for the rest of the war.
Despite a lack of military training or experience, Reynolds proved a natural
leader, both in camp and in battle. Highly respected by superiors and
subordinates alike, he advanced consistently through the ranks of regimental
command, earning promotion to major on April 14, 1862; lieutenant colonel on May
1, 1862; and colonel of the First Arkansas Mounted Rifles on November 17, 1863
(retroactive to September 20). With the impending promotion of Brigadier General
Thomas James Churchill, Reynolds' colleagues petitioned the Confederate
secretary of war for his promotion to brigadier general, even though he was not
the brigade's ranking colonel. He was promoted to brigadier general on March 12,
1864, retroactive to March 5. For the rest of the war, he commanded "Reynolds's
Arkansas Brigade, " composed of the First and Second Arkansas Mounted Rifles
(dismounted); the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty - fifth and Thirty - first Arkansas
Infantry regiments and the Fourth Arkansas Infantry Battalion. Reynolds had
little patience for ineffective commanders and voiced his displeasure after
several unsuccessful campaigns. As a result of one personality conflict, Major
General Samuel Gibbs French placed him under arrest in January 1864; although
the charges were quickly dismissed, Reynolds refused to serve under French and
transferred his brigade to the command of Major General Edward Cary Walthall,
with whom he enjoyed a close friendship and mutual respect. In the Atlanta
campaign, Reynolds defeated Brigadier General Hugh Judson Kilpatrick at the
Battle of Lovejoy Station on August 20, 1864, helping temporarily maintain
Confederate supply lines to Atlanta. Reynolds's left leg was amputated because
of a wound received in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, on March 19,
1865. After the war, he returned to Lake Village, reestablished his law
practice, and received a presidential pardon from Andrew Johnson. From 1866 to
1867, he served as a state senator for Ashley, Chicot, and Drew counties until
federal Reconstruction policy forced the removal of former Confederates from
elected office. He married Martha Wallace on November 24, 1868, and raised five
children. He died in Lake Village on March 14, 1902, and is buried in Lake
Village Cemetery. For additional information: Biographical and Historical
Memoirs of Southern Arkansas. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1890. 

Extracted from: 
Washington Post via Ancestry.com and Goodspeed's