Martin J. Coughran Civil War File

Scott County Arkansas
Civil War Record
MARTIN C. COUGHRAN
Co. H, 4th Arkansas Infantry Reg.
Contributed by Bob Foster

August 17, 1861 Mustered in as a private. Traveled 250 miles from Polk Co., Ark. to reach Miller's Spring, Missouri to enlist in Confederate forces.
Aug. 17 to Nov. 1, 1861 Absent. In the hospital.
Nov 25 to March 1, 1862 Furloughed. Counted as present.
Feb. 28 to June 30, 1862 Present
June 27, 1862 Elected lieutenant of company H (was a sergeant).
July & August, 1862 Present
Sept. & Oct, 1862 Present
Nov. & Dec. 1862 Present. Assigned to McCown's Division, Polk's Corps, Army of Tennessee.
Feb. 27, 1863 Sent to Arkansas as a recruiting officer by order of Gen. Bragg (report dated April 29, 1863, Shelbyville, Tenn.)
March & April, 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
May & June, 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
July & Aug. 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
Sept. & Oct, 1863 Absent. Detached service in Arkansas.
Oct. 25, 1863 Relieved by Consolidation (roster dated Brandon, Miss.)
Jan. & Feb. 1864 Absent. Detached duty in Arkansas since Feb. 1863.
(1. report dated Camp Bowen, Miss. Jan. 25, 1864.
(2. report dated Jan. 30, 1864, Meridian, Miss. Regiment was now a part of French's Division.)
July & Aug. 1864 Present.
Oct. 12, 1864 Resigned his commission. No further record of his service.
Oct. 12, 1864 to end of war? Thought to have gone on with his regiment as an enlisted man and fought in Tennessee under Gen. Hood. He was wounded at some point and this seems a likely place for it. Could it have been the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee?

Headquarters of Volunteer and Conscript Bureau Circular

Brevet 2nd Lt. M. J. Coughran
4th Arks. Regt.
You have been detailed to proceed to that section of the State from which your Regiment was raised for the purpose of recruiting volunteers, enrolling conscripts and conducting them to your command. This can be done under instruction from the War Department of 8th instant without taking conscripts through camps of instruction in the ordinary manner. Every encouragement will be afforded by you consistent with the law under the regulations of the service and by kind treatment and arguments addressed to the patriotism and sense of duty of citizens to induce them to enter the service of their country. Persons liable to conscription will be allowed to join any particular company or regiment requiring recruits in this army.
In like manner persons within conscript age and who may come forward and volunteer for service will be allowed to do so and will receive all the benefits which are secured by law to volunteers. Recruits thus obtained however must in all cases enter companies already in service and cannot be organized into (new) companies or regiments. In addition to the duty of gathering volunteers and conscripts you will also apprehend and send back all stragglers and absentees without leave from the army who may come within your reach. In the discharge of this highly important duty your attention is called to the great necessity which now exists for strenuous exertions in bringing men to fill our reduced commands in a reasonable time. You will therefore at once enter upon this duty with zeal and energy and return to these headquarters the result thereof.
You will (be) governed by the Acts of Conscription and exemptions and regulations in connection therewith published in General Order No. 82 of 1862 dated Adjutant and Inspector General's Office Richmond Jan 8th 1863. You will make your own orders for transportation by rail road to and from your field of labors for yourself and recruits and giving proper receipts for the service rendered.
By order of G. D. J. Pillow
Brig Gen. CSA and Chief of Bureau
H. C. Lockhart A. A. Genl.

Extracts of orders of the War Department based on acts of Confederate Congress. All the laws and regulations applicable to deserters shall be applied to such conscripts as fail to repair to the place of rendezvous for enrollment or who shall desert after enrollment. All the agencies employed for apprehension and confinement of deserters and their transportation to the commands of their respective commanders shall be applicable to duty to persons liable to duty as conscripts who shall fail to repair to the place of rendezvous after publication of the call. List of absentees will be furnished by colonels.
By order of
Brig Gen G. D. J. Pillow
H. C. Lockhart
A.A. Genl.
If absentees from the army return promptly to their commands by order of the commanding general they are pardoned.
By order of
Brig Gen Pillow
Chief of Bureau

(List of transportation vouchers used by M. J. Coughran to return to Arkansas for recruiting duty)
1. Transportation furnished in kind to Jackson, Miss. March 5th, 1863.
2. Transportation furnished in kind to Port Hudson, La.
3. Transportation in kind to ---------?
4. Transportation in kind to J--------, La.
5. Transportation furnished in kind from Alexandria, La. to Camden, Ark. March 12th, 1863.
6. Transportation in kind from Camden to Washington, Ark.
7. From Camden, Ark to Little Rock July 21, 1863.
Camp 4th Ark. Regt. near Lovejoy Station (Ga.)
Sept. 10th 1864

Genl(?)
I hereby tender my immediate and unconditional resignation of the office of junior 2nd lieutenant of the 4th Arkansas Regt. Vol. Infantry for the following reasons to wit:
My company was temporarily consolidated with Co. "I" of said Regt on the 28th Feb. 1863. Since that time have been consolidated with Cos. "F" & "G" of said Regiment. I was relieved by the first consolidation on 28th day of Feb. 1863 and have been on detached duty up to March 1864. I am a supernumerary officer under the consolidation. There are five officers belonging to the company. I think I can do the country better service in some other capacity.
I hereby certify that there are no charges proferred against me, have no government properties in my possession and that I am not indebted to the Confederate States on any account whatever within my knowledge.
I have the honor to be ??
? ? ?
M. J. Coughran
Junior 2nd Lt. Co. "H" 4th Ark Regt
Camp 4th Ark Regt.
Sept 10th 1864
Lt. M. J. Coughran Co. H
4th Ark. Regt.
Tendered his unconditional resignation
H. Ross(?) 4th Ark Regt.
Sept 10th 1864
Approved and respectfully forwarded
A. Kile Capt
? Regt.
HQ Gen Reynolds Brigade SC
September 12 1864
Approved and respectfully forwarded
We deem(?) the services of this officer can be dispensed with without injury to the service.
D. H. Reynolds
Brig. Gen

Battles and engagements Martin J. Coughran was known or suspected to have participated in.
Elk Horn Tavern (a.k.a. Pea Ridge)
Stone's River (a.k.a. Murfreesboro)
Siege of Corinth
Jackson, MS
Dug Gap, GA
Resaca
New Hope Church
Kennesaw Mt.
Peach Tree Creek
Ezra Church
Atlanta campaign
Franklin (?)
Nashville (?)

Note: Family stories are clear that Martin was badly wounded in the eye and leg during the war. He had a glass eye and a limp in later years. However, his military record does not mention any wounds. It is suspected that after he resigned his commission, he stayed with the army as an enlisted man and may have been attached to the 5th Arkansas Inf. (Govan's Reg.) where he was subsequently wounded in the attack on Federal lines at Franklin, TN. One reason for thinking this is that his Confederate Pension application was for the 5th Ark. Inf. NOT the 4th in which he served most of the war. Why would he or his family have made such a mistake? Surely he must have known which regiment he served with. My guess is that the 5th was the regiment he was serving with at the time of his wounding. Also, after he resigned, the war lasted only another four months. The Confederate Army was in disarray and record keeping had practically ceased. It is very possible that he was wounded and nobody was left to make a record of the fact.