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3rd Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Webmaster/Editor's Note: There are some errors in this borrowed history of the 3rd Arkansas which shall be corrected with the next update.
3rd Arkansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment developed from Captain Van H. Manning’s and William H. Tebbs’ Companies that were organized in Ashley County, Arkansas in the Spring of 1861. These two companies were initially mustered on may 20, 1861 at Hamburg, Arkansas.
Manning’s and Tebbs’ Companies became part of the infantry regiment organized and raised by Albert Rust, a well known Arkansas political leader from Union County. The ten companies that comprised Rust’s 3rd Arkansas Regiment were raised primarily in 5 counties located n South Arkansas, namely Ashely, Dallas, Hot Springs and Union Counties. The regiment was expanded to an over strength organization when a Company (L) of Arkansas, commanded by Captain Joseph D. Christian of Ashely county, joined Rust’s command in Virginia on August 14, 1861. All companies, except Company H, were composed wholly by Arkansawyers. Company H was comprised of men from Kentucky and Arkansas.
The first official muster of the Regiment was held on June 9, 1861. Following this date the companies departed Arkansas for Virginia at varying times. All had left by the last of June and had reached their rendezvous point, in the east, Lynchburg, Virginia, by early July. On July 3 and 4, company and regimental officers were "officially" appointed and elected, and on July 5 the Regiment was mustered into Confederate Service "for the war." Albert Rust was elected Colonel and the regimental Commander and Seth M. Barton, a West Point Graduate (Class of 1849), was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Regiment. Barton, a Virginian, had been assigned by the Confederate war Department to the Arkansas Regiment. Van H. Manning, Captain of the company A, was appointed the Major of the regiment. Company commanders (captains) elected were: Co. A, William H. Tebbs; Co. B, James H. Capers; Co. C, Thomas M. Whittington; Co. D, Captain Robert S. Taylor; Co. E., Thomas F. Nolan; Co. F, Daniel A. Newman; Co. G, John W. Reedy; Co. H, Samuel V. Reid; and Co. I George D. Alexander.
Two organizational changes took place during 1862 that effected the makeup of the 3rd Arkansas Infantry During January of 1862, three new companies of the Arkansas troops arrived in Virginia. These troops, known as the 2nd Battalion, Arkansas Infantry, were commanded by major Wm. N. Bronaugh. This Battalion saw much fighting during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 ands suffered very heavy casualties at the battles of Seven Pines (May 31-June 1), Beaver Dam Creek or Mechanicsville (June 26) and at Gaines’ Mill on June 27. On July 18, 1862, the 133 survivors of the 2nd Battalion, Arkansas Infantry , were assigned to and amalgamated with the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment. The second organizational change took place in late September. At the battle of Sharpsburg (September 17, 1862) Companies A and L of the #rd Arkansas were decimated. On Septembers 25 the few survivors of Company L were transferred into Company A and Company L ceased to exist. Thus the regiment was reduced to ten companies, the normal complement for an infantry regiment.
The 3rd Arkansas Infantry, prior to being assigned to Hood’s Texas Brigade in late November, 1862 had seen only limited action in the Eastern Theater. Rust’s command was assigned to various brigades and divisions during the first year and a half after it arrived in Virginia. The Regiment participated in the ill-fated Western Virginia Campaign during the Fall of 1861 and Winter of 1861-1862. In early Spring of 1862 the Arkansas troops traveled to the North Carolina coastal area to counter a Federal invasion attempt. In late May, Rust’s Regiment moved back to Virginia and occupied a position near Drewry’s Bluff on the James River south of Richmond . The 3rd Arkansas mostly marched and counter Marched during the Seven Day’s Battles. (June 26-July 1), missed Second Manassas (August 30), but did see much action at bloody Sharpsburg (September 17) where it, along with Lee’s entire army, suffered heavy causalities.
The Army of Northern Virginia was reorganized
during November 1862. Among other organization changes, the reorganization
involved both the promotion and reassignment of senior officers and the
regiments of regiments within brigade. The goal of the War Department was to
have regiments from the same states brigaded together. This was not possible in
all cases, for instance the 3rd Arkansas Infantry was the only "Razorback" Regiment
in Virginia. Fortunately, however, there were only three Texas Regiments under
Lee’s command as a perfect combination was
worked out involving the two contiguous frontier states. During the
organizational shuffle, Hood’s Texas Brigade lost the infantry companies of
Hampton’s Legion to General Micah Jenkins’ South Carolina Brigade, and the
18th Georgia Infantry regiment was reassigned to General T.R.R. Cobbs
Georgia Brigade. The 3rd Arkansas was transferred into Hood’s Texas
Brigade, thus brining the famous Brigade up to its full strength of four
regiments. The Texans and Arkansas remained brigaded together until the final
curtain at Appomattox. The Texans in Hood’s Brigade generally refereed to
their Arkansas "cousins" as "the 3rd Texas".
Source
: Hoods Texas Brigade: A Compendium, pages 251 and 252.
The Third Arkansas was composed initially of eleven volunteer companies from southern Arkansas:
Company A— "The Ashley Volunteers," organized at Portland, Ashley county.
Company B— "The Berlin Beauregards," organized at Berlin, Ashley county.
Company C— "The Confederate Stars," organized at Monticello, Drew county.
Company D— "The Selma Rifles," organized at Selma, Drew county.
Company E— "The Champagnolle Guards," organized at Champagnolle, Union county.
Company F— "The Hot Spring Hornets," organized at Rockport, Hot Spring county.
Company G— "The Three Creeks Rifles," organized at Three Creeks, Union county.
Company H— "The Orphan Company," a mixed Arkansas/Kentucky company.
Company I— "The Tulip Rifles," organized at Tulip, Dallas county.
Company K— "The Arkansas Travelers," organized at Hamburg, Ashley county.
Company L— "The Rust Guards," organized at Latonia, Ashley county (later consolidated with Co A).
These companies organized in May and June, 1861, and traveled to Lynchburg, Virginia, where they were mustered into Confederate service, "for three years or during the war," on July 5. The Third Arkansas was the first Arkansas regiment to enlist for the duration, the First and Second Arkansas having initially enlisted for one year and later enlisting "for the war." Albert Rust, a prominent south Arkansas politician, was appointed colonel of the regiment. Vannoy Hartrog Manning, a lawyer from Hamburg, Arkansas, and captain of Company K, was appointed major. The Confederate War Department had initial misgivings about these volunteers from "the backwoods of Arkansas," and decided to assign "real soldiers" to certain key positions in the regiment. Seth Maxwell Barton, a West Point graduate and native Virginian, was assigned as lieutenant-colonel. Another Virginian, Thomas Middleton Semmes, a recent Virginia Military Institute graduate, was assigned as the regimental adjutant. The Third Arkansas was then sent to a camp of instruction, where VMI cadets drilled them daily.
The Third Arkansas was then ready for four long years of war, participating in six campaigns, nine battles, five major engagements, five sieges, and a long list of military operations and skirmishes.
On March 4, 1862, Colonel Rust was appointed a brigadier-general in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States. Major Manning succeeded him as colonel, and commanded the Third Arkansas until he was severely wounded and captured at the Battle of Wilderness, May 6, 1864.
In July, 1862, the ranks of the Third Arkansas were augmented by the addition of nearly 140 soldiers from the Second Arkansas Infantry Battalion. The Second Arkansas Battalion had been organized in October,
1861, from three companies of volunteers from El Dorado, Hot Springs and Pine Bluff. In June, 1862, the little battalion was decimated while leading an assault on the Federal position at Beaver Dam Creek, and its commander, Major William Naylor Bronaugh, mortally wounded. The War Department disbanded the battalion and transferred its survivors to the Third Arkansas.
In November, 1862, the Third Arkansas was assigned to the famous Texas Brigade of the Army Northern Virginia. The Confederate War Department had determined that the troops would benefit from being brigaded with regiments from their home States. At this time, the standard brigade organization consisted of four regiments. There were three Texas regiments in the Army—the First, Fourth and Fifth—and only one Arkansas regiment. It was therefore decided to group these four western regiments together. The Third Arkansas remained an integral part of Hood’s Texas Brigade until the end of the war.
The Third Arkansas gained a reputation as
gritty, tenacious fighters, and always seemed to end up in some of the most
hotly-contested parts of the battlefield—the Sunken Road at Sharpsburg—the
Devil’s Den at Gettysburg—and consequently suffered a high casualty rate. It
was at the Battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, that the Third Arkansas
experienced some of their most serious losses, including their gallant Colonel
Van Manning. Severely wounded and captured, he sat out the rest of the war as a
prisoner. Major William K. Wilkins (who had succeeded Major John W. Reedy,
killed in action at Chickamauga) was killed at the Wilderness.
Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Samuel Taylor, was severely wounded at the Wilderness,
but recovered and commanded the Third Arkansas when the Army of Northern
Virginia surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The paroles of
the Third Arkansas troops were finally signed on April 12, and they were
released to go home.
During its four years of war 1,353 men served in the Third
Arkansas. Less than 150 remained at the surrender