 Most of the guns were castoffs and unusable weapons from the various state armories which had been returned to the armories after the Confederate armies east of the Mississippi had been re-equipped from the "Battlefield Quartermaster" of Seven Days Battles, Second Manassas and Harper Ferry.The Arkansas secession convention, while drafting the new state constitution in 1861, had shortened the term of office for the governor from four years to two years.This necessitated an election in the fall of 1862.