December 14, 1832 – March 14, 1902
Ohio-born Daniel Harris Reynolds was a Confederate general, who served in the Far Western and Western Theaters of operations during the American Civil War.
Daniel Harris Reynolds was born on December 14, 1832, in Centerburg, Ohio. He was the son of Amos and Sophia (Houck) Reynolds.
Reynolds attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he met Otho Strahl, another future Confederate general from Ohio. Both men left school before graduating and moved to Somerville, Tennessee to study law under the tutelage of Chancellor John W. Harris. In 1858, they were each admitted to the bar. Strahl relocated to Dyersburg in western Tennessee, where he opened a law office. Reynolds moved to Lake Village, Arkansas and established a successful legal practice.
When the Civil War began, Reynolds raised a cavalry company called the "Chicot Rangers" and was elected as its captain on May 25, 1861. He was commissioned in the Confederate Army as captain of Company A of the 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles on June 14, 1861. Reynolds spent the early part of the war west of the Mississippi River, fighting in Arkansas and Missouri. His regiment participated in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek (August 10, 1861) and the Battle of Pea Ridge (March 7–8, 1862).
In the spring of 1862, Reynolds's regiment was ordered east of the Mississippi River to reinforce General Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi. Reynolds was promoted to major on April 14, 1862. A little over two weeks later, on May 1, 1862, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. During the summer of 1862, the Army of Mississippi participated in the Confederate Heartland Campaign in Tennessee and Kentucky, culminating with the Rebel loss at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky (October 8, 1862).
On November 20, 1862 the Army of Mississippi was reorganized and renamed the Army of Tennessee. Reynolds served with the Army of Tennessee during the Tullahoma Campaign (June 24-July 3, 1863) and the Chickamauga Campaign (August 21-September 20, 1863). After the Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga (September 19-20, 1863), Reynolds was promoted to colonel of the First Arkansas Mounted Rifles on November 17, 1863 (effective September 20).
Following the Federal breakout from Chattanooga, Tennessee in November 1863, Reynolds continued to serve with the Army of Tennessee throughout the Atlanta Campaign in 1864. He was promoted to brigadier general on March 12, 1864 (effective March 5), commanding "Reynolds’s Arkansas Brigade," composed of the First and Second Arkansas Mounted Rifles (dismounted); the Fourth, Ninth, Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Arkansas Infantry Regiments and the Fourth Arkansas Infantry Battalion. In one of the few Confederate triumphs during the Atlanta Campaign, Reynolds led his brigade to victory at the Battle of Lovejoy's Station (August 20, 1864).
After the loss of Atlanta, the Army of Tennessee, now commanded by General Joseph Johnston, was ordered to North Carolina. During the Battle of Bentonville (March 19, 1865), Reynolds was severely wounded, and surgeons amputated his left leg.
When the Civil War ended, Reynolds resumed his law practice in Lake Village, Arkansas. From 1866 to 1867, he served as a state senator for Ashley, Chicot, and Drew counties. On November 24, 1868, Reynolds married Martha Wallace. The couple subsequently had five children.
Daniel Reynolds died at Lake Village, Arkansas on March 14, 1902. He is buried in Lake Village Cemetery.
Reynolds was one of six generals in the Confederate Army who were born in Ohio.
