3rd Arkansas
The 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment was organised by
companies in Lynchburg, VA on July 5, 1861 and mustered into
Confederate service for the duration of the War.
Following formation the regiment was ordered to the
mountains of West Virginia, where it performed arduous and discouraging
service in the campaign on the Gauley and Cheat rivers.
This was followed by hard marching under Stonewall
Jackson (whom Col Rust later described as "an impracticable old
schoolmaster who said grace before he ate and prayed before going to bed")
in the Valley Campaign.
The regiment was engaged in the battles of Greenbrier
and Allegheny.
Under General Jackson at Winchester, in
January, 1862, the 3rd Arkansas marched to Bath and Romney,
returned to Winchester, and was ordered thence
to
Fredericksburg and assigned to the brigade of Gen.
Theophilus H. Holmes. Colonel Rust was promoted to brigadier general about this
time, and was transferred to a command in the western armies. Van Manning was
promoted to the colonel of the regiment succeeding Col. Rust.
The 3rd Arkansas was engaged in the battles of White
Oak Swamp, June 3, 1862, in J.G. Walker's brigade,
on July 1, 1862 participated in the battle of Malvern
Hill,
and was at Sharpsburg on September 17, 1862
where Col. Manning was seriously wounded.
At Fredericksburg again in December, 1862, the 3rd Arkansas was assigned to Hood's Texas Brigade, with which it remained until the end of the war. Here the regiment was additionally augmented by the incorporation of Bronaugh's 2nd Arkansas Infantry Battalion of five Arkansas companies.
The regiment was not engaged at Chancellorsville,
being engaged instead with Longstreet's Corps at Suffolk.
The 3rd Arkansas participated in the battle of Gettysburg
with Longstreet's Corps, fighting in and in the vicinity of the "Devil's
Den", and went with that corps to
Tennessee in September, 1863 where it fought at Chickamauga
(where the gallant Major Reedy was mortally wounded),
Chattanooga,
Wauhatchie,
and in the siege of Knoxville, TN.
Returning to the Army of Northern Virginia in the
spring of 1864, the regiment fought with the Texas Brigade at the battle of the
Wilderness, May 6, 1864, marching at the double-quick several miles that
morning to save the Confederate line and subsequently throw Grant's forces back.
Here Col. Manning was shot through the thigh and captured, being detained a
prisoner of war until July, 1865.
The regiment moved on to continue the fight at Spotsylvania,
and on to Cold Harbor.
The regiment was at Deep Run on August 6,
1864;
at Petersburg during the siege by Grant,
at High Bridge
and Farmville in 1865,
and surrendered at Appomattox Court House with
General Lee on April 9, 1865.
At Appomattox, only 144 men remained to stack
their arms instead of the nearly 1,500 mustered throughout the war.