Several of these men were from Arkansas, including Captain Wiley C Jones, who was the commander of a company in Coleman's 4th Missouri Cavalry.

Apparently, Coleman's Missouri Cavalry Regiment operated for some time without formal recognition, until the summer of 1864, and it was granted in July 1864 official status as a Partisan Ranger Regiment (Independent Cavalry Command) under the Partisan Ranger Act of 1862.

In early June 1864, General Shelby commissioned Colonel Thomas Hamilton McCray, among others to begin raising regiments in Northeast Arkansas.

By June 13, Shelby reported to General Sterling Price that McCray's efforts were bearing fruit.

[7] The decreasing availability of fodder for horses in 1864 led the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department to issue an order proscribing the raising of additional mounted regiments in Arkansas.

However, when General Sterling Price received authorization to conduct a campaign in Missouri that fall, several of the new regiments were mounted in order to accompany him.

[5] The unit was composed of companies from Greene, Independence, Jackson, Van Buren and White counties:[10] Officer appointments in the 40-series regiments date from the June to August 1864 time frame, so it is assumed that the regiments were mustered into service about the same time at various points in northeast Arkansas.

[11] The list of regimental officers follows:[12] There are no known muster rolls of the 46th Arkansas Mounted Infantry and no record of enlistments.

It appears that the 46th was originally assigned to Colonel Thomas H. McCray's brigade and operated as part of General Shelby's division in northeast Arkansas in the summer of 1864.

The regiments organized by Colonel McCray were apparently ready for operations by 25 July 1864 when Brigadier General Shelby ordered McCray's Brigade to move south and attack the railroad near Brownsville, in current day Lonoke County, Arkansas.

[16] In late August 1864, Colonel McCray and his brigade accompanied General Shelby in a raid against Union hay cutting operations in west of DeValls Bluff in Prairie County, Arkansas.

[20] McCray's brigade functioned as the reserve for Shelby's attack on Ashley's Station and four other hay cutting stations west of DeValls Bluff, in which Shelby succeeded in capturing Colonel Greenville M. Mitchell, and over 500 troops of the 54th Illinois Infantry Regiment.

Brigadier General Thomas Ewing, Jr., reporting on the composition of the Confederate forces which attacked Pilot Knob (Fort Davidson) on September 27, 1864, list Coleman's Regiment as being assigned to McCray's Brigade.

Coleman indicates that following Shelby's raid on Ashley's Station, he was sent north in to Missouri, ahead of Price's army, to organize new units.

The detachment returned during the afternoon and reported that the regiment under Crabtree had scattered in every direction and would not give me a fight.

[30] A member of Company A, 46th Arkansas Mounted Infantry, Private Harvey H. Blackburn, was executed by Union authorities in retaliation for the alleged murder of Major James Wilson, Third Cavalry Missouri State Militia, and six men of his command by Confederate Colonel and alleged guerrilla Tim Reves during Price's Raid.