Page 165 - Arkansas Confederate Women

"THE DAUGHTER OF THE FIRST ARKANSAS

REGIMENT."

By Miss Laura Govan, of Marianna.

The subject of this sketch, Mrs. Charles Kichard Cockle,
is the. eldest daughter of the late Major General James F.
Fagan, of Arkansas. She has the proud distinction of bearing
the title of "Daughter of the First Arkansas Regiment," hav-
ing been so christened and adopted by the regiment while it
was encamped at Brook's Station. Virginia, in 1861, the regi-
ment having, immediately upon its organization left, under
command of General (then Colonel) Fagan, for Virginia, Mrs.
Fagan with her two children accompanying her husband.

The adoption occurred at time of dress parade, the regi-
mental ceremony of the day, the companies in their best attire,
the officers in full dress, guns burnished, bayonets gleaming in
the sunlight, the sound of music's martial strains caught up in
the soft spring air and wafted across Virginia's hills, 'and over
all floated the folds of the Southern flag, as yet unriddled by
shot or shell. Mrs. Cockle was at that time four years of age;
her dress was typical of the inherited instincts of the soldier
which have characterized her whole life, red pants, a white
blouse with embroidered ruffle at neck and wrists; over this a
Zouave jacket of red, the small three-cornered hat of the same
bright, warm hue, with ribbon rosettes bearing the colors of the
Southern standard. The address of adoption was delivered on
behalf of the regiment by the Adjutant, who was afterwards
Major Bronaugh, commanding a battalion of the troops. Rev.
R. W. Trimble, chaplain of the regiment, christened the little
Irene, "Daughter of the First Arkansas Regiment."

The touching and' beautiful incident is a part of the lost

cause, 'and has lived in the hearts of the veterans, witness their
tribute to their "Daughter," so touchingly bestowed only a short

time ago, when the regimental flag, the precious relic which has
been so tenderly, reverently preserved through all the years, was