The regiment was composed of African American enlisted men commanded by white officers and was authorized by the Bureau of Colored Troops which was created by the United States War Department on May 22, 1863.

Following the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, an organization of African-American troops was commenced in the Mississippi River Valley under the personal supervision of the adjutant-general of the army, Lorenzo Thomas.

[4] Twenty-one-year-old Minos Miller of the 36th Iowa Infantry, stationed at Helena, Arkansas wrote in January 1863:[5] [W]e are rejoicing today over Brags [sic] defeat [at Murfreesboro, Tennessee] and Old Abe's [Emancipation] Proclamation.

Reaction to Thomas's address was so favorable that three companies of a hundred soldiers each were recruited immediately, forming the nucleus of the 1st Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment (African Descent).

In June 1863, Confederates from Gaines's Landing, Arkansas, undertook an expedition to Lake Providence, Louisiana, in an effort to disrupt the Union supply lines supporting the Siege of Vicksburg.

[7] The Union had constructed fortifications, on top of an old Indian mound about five miles northwest of Goodrich's Landing, guarding a military supply depot.

Facing odds of more than 10 to one, the Union commander of the fort agreed to surrender on the condition that the white officers be treated as prisoners of war.

Confederate Maj. Gen. John G. Walker admitted in his report concerning the Mound: "I consider it an unfortunate circumstance that any armed negroes were captured," for he had already been warned by Lt. Gen. Kirby Smith that black soldiers were not to be taken prisoner.