Epic Gamer Texas Brigade right here, join all yall Texans and wannabe Texans! Perhaps a few Arkansawyers
History
From its induction into the Confederate Army, the Third Arkansas would go on to become one of the most distinguished and well respected Confederate regiments of the war. However, prior to their first battle actions, the first impressions of them by their fellow Confederates were, by written accounts since, not good. In several accounts, relayed by author and historian Mauriel P. Joslyn, the regiment was first seen as a poorly dressed and poorly equipped lot of ignorant country boys. Once proven in combat, however, those opinions of them would change dramatically.
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. The regiment was engaged in the battles of Greenbrier and Allegheny. 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. Under General Jackson at Winchester, in January, 1862, the Third 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 Rust.
The Third 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.
In July, 1862, the ranks of the Third Arkansas was augmented by the addition of nearly 140 soldiers from the 2nd 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 2nd Arkansas 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.
On September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam, Companies A and L of the Third Arkansas were decimated. On September 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. Col. Manning was seriously wounded during the battle.
In November, 1862, the Third Arkansas was assigned to the famous Texas Brigade of the Army of 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 1st, 4th and 5th—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 first engagement that the unit participated in as part of the Texas Brigade was the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862. The regiment was not engaged at Chancellorsville, being detached with the rest of Longstreet's Corps at Suffolk.
The Third Arkansas acquired a reputation as tenacious fighters, often finding themselves in the thickest fighting on the battlefield, such as their presence at the "sunken road" during the Battle of Antietam. Their most famous action was while serving as a part of the Texas Brigade during the Battle of Gettysburg, at the Devil's Den, where they took heavy casualties while serving under General John Bell Hood. Its place in the front of Hood's assault meant it was one of the first units, if not the first, to be heavily engaged during the second day of the battle. The regiment was commended for gallantry in that action, while under the direct command of Brigadier General Jerome B. Robertson, fighting in and in the vicinity of the "Devil's Den".
The regiment was transferred with Longstreet's Corps to Tennessee in September, 1863 in time to fight at the Battle of Chickamauga (where Major Reedy was mortally wounded). The unit went on to participate in the battles of Chattanooga, Wauhatchie, and in the siege of Knoxville, Tennessee, returning to the Army of Northern Virginia in the spring of 1864.
The regiment suffered heavy casualties later in the Battle of the Wilderness, during which they lost many of their commanding officers in addition to heavy losses in their ranks. In that battle they lost Colonel Van. H. Manning and Lieutenant-Colonel Robert S. Taylor, both of whom were badly wounded and captured, in addition to Major William K. Wilkins who was killed in action.
The regiment 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 during the closing day of the war in 1865.
By the end of the war, the Texas Brigade as a whole, which included the 1st, 4th, and 5th Texas, and the Third Arkansas, had only 617 men remaining out of a total of 5,353. The 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment is entitled to the following campaign participation credit.
Detailed Service:
Battle of Cheat Mountain (September 11th-12th,1862); assigned to 1st Brigade; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry R. Jackson
23rd, 25th, and 31st Virginia Infantry regiments
3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment
Seven Days Battle (June 25th-July 1st, 1862) assigned to Huger's Division; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. John G. Walker
3rd Arkansas Infantry regiment, 2nd Georgia Battalion
27th and 46th North Carolina Infantry Regiments
30th Virginia Infantry Regiment
Battle of Harper's Ferry (September 12th-15th, 1862); assigned to Walker's Division; Brigade commanded by Col. Van H Manning
3rd Arkansas Infantry regiment, 2nd Georgia Battalion
27th and 46th North Carolina Infantry Regiments
30th Virginia Infantry Regiment
Battle of Antietam (September 17, 1862); assigned to Walker's Division; Brigade commanded by Col. Van H Manning
18th Georgia Infantry Regiment
Hampton (South Carolina) Legion
Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11, 1862); assigned to Hood's Division; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson
1st, 4th, and 5th Texas Infantry regiments
3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment
Battle of Gettysburg (July 1, 1863); assigned to Hood's Division; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson
1st, 4th, and 5th Texas Infantry regiments
3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment
Battle of Chickamauga (September 18, 1863); assigned to Hood's Division; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson
1st, 4th, and 5th Texas Infantry regiments
3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment
Battle of Wilderness (May 5, 1864); assigned to Field's Division; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. John Gregg
1st, 4th, and 5th Texas Infantry regiments
3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment
Battle of Cold Harbor (May 21 - June 3, 1864); assigned to Field's Division; Brigade commanded by Brig. Gen. John Gregg
1st, 4th, and 5th Texas Infantry regiments
3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment
