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.

[3] Twenty-one-year-old Minos Miller of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry, stationed at Helena Arkansas wrote in January 1863:[4] [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).

[5][6] In the summer of 1863, the regiment, which had not been officially mustered into federal service, as it had not yet gained the required number of troops, was located at Helena, Arkansas, organizing and drilling.

Confederate forces under the command of Brigadier Generals Richard Montgomery Gano and Stand Watie surprised a Federal supply convoy under the protection of the 2nd Kansas Cavalry.

The 54th was among reinforcements under Colonel James M. Williams of the Frontier Division 2nd Brigade, which marched from Fort Gibson to recapture the lost convoy wagons.

[8] As the war drew toward a close, the 54th continued to search for Confederate raiders, engaging one of the last remaining bands of guerrillas at the Saline River in a series of running skirmishes in the spring of 1865.

14, Department of Arkansas, dated February 1, 1865, from Little Rock, included the 113th United States Colored Infantry is reported as belonging to the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division of the 7th Army Corps.