page_title: 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops
section_title: Battles
hierarchical_section_title: 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops / Battles
caption_attribution_description: English: Colonel John. R. Gratiot commanded the 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. From Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Arkansas in the Civil War, by Bobby Roberts and Carl Moneyhon.
context_page_description: The 3rd Infantry, Arkansas State Troops was an Arkansas State infantry regiment that served during the American Civil War. The regiment was designated as the 2nd Infantry, Arkansas State Troops, by the State Military Board, but it was named the 3rd Arkansas by Brigadier General Nicholas Bartlett Pearce, Commander, 1st Division, Provisional Army of Arkansas. The regiment is generally referred to as the "3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops", or "Gratiot's Regiment" in contemporary accounts. This unit is distinguished from the 3rd Arkansas Infantry Regiment which served in the Eastern Theater of War in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The unit is also distinguished from a later state organization known as Adams' 3rd Arkansas State Troops, which was organized in 1862 and participated in the Battle of Prairie Grove before being disbanded.
context_section_description: The 1st Division (Brigade) Arkansas State Troops, along with Brigadier-General Ben McCulloch's Confederate brigade, marched north into Missouri, where they linked up with Major General Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard. The combined force then moved towards Springfield, Missouri.  Under the command of fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri, on August 10, 1861. On the morning of August 10, 1861, while encamped along Wilson's Creek, just south of Springfield, Missouri, the Southern army was attacked by a Union force under Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. The ensuing battle was one of the largest and most desperately fought engagements in the western theater. Colonel John R. Gratiot's, 3rd Regiment, Arkansas State Troops had been held in reserve during the early part of the battle; however, a renewed Union assault on the Confederate right flank prompted calls for its immediate deployment. Forming in a long battle line, Gratiot's regiment charged up Oak Hill toward the Union lines.  The regiment had reached a point about 40 yards from the enemy when the Federals unleashed a massive volley directly into the charging Arkansans. The regiment wavered momentarily, as scores of men fell dead or wounded, then charged forward with a roar and smashed into the Federals. After a vicious, face-to-face fight, using bayonets and clubbed muskets, the Southerners broke the Federal line. The unit suffered 109 casualties, including twenty-five killed, out of a force of 500 men.
  Colonel Gratiot described the engagement as follows:
  Report of Col. John R. Gratiot, Third Arkansas Infantry.
  Battle-ground Upon Wilson's Creek, Mo.,
  August 11, 1861.
  Sir: Early upon the morning of the 10th of August my regiment was summoned by the report that the enemy had taken us by surprise and were upon us. As soon as the regiment was formed it was ordered to an adjacent hill, occupied by Captain Woodruff's battery, to support it, where it remained some hours under a fire of shot and shell. At about 11.30 o'clock a. ra. yourself in person gave orders for my regiment to move on to the scene of action and attack a battery and a large force then forming on the north side of Wilson's Creek, on the ridge, and in the woods. I proceeded to execute the order under a heavy fire of shot and shell from the enemy's batteries, crossed the creek, and marched up the ridge by a flank movement and in column of fours. I advanced until we came near the enemy. We then faced toward them, and marched in line of battle about fifty paces, when we were attacked by a large force of the enemy in front and on the left flank.
  At this moment a battery commenced playing upon our left flank, enfilading the entire regiment with grape, canister, and shell. So terrific was the fire, that my regiment was obliged to lie down, and then commenced filing in that position. We remained in this attitude for about thirty minutes, firing with deadly effect, silencing the fire of the artillery and infantry upon our left and driving the enemy in front. We remained upon the ground long after the enemy had fled and all firing ceased.
  During the action, I am sorry to say, we were very much annoyed, and some of the casualties hereafter mentioned are to be attributed to the fire of our own friends, who formed behind us and lower down upon the hill, and fired through my ranks after the fire had ceased from the enemy. Attached herewith find a. report of casualties, which will show the heavy fire under which we were placed.*
  Of my regiment I must speak in the highest terms for their coolness, prompt obedience, and daring courage, and although but few of them had ever been upon a battle-field, they maintained their position for thirty minutes under one of the most galling fires ever delivered upon regiment by 1,500 or 2,000 Federal troops, besides being enfiladed b; a heavy battery. They stood their ground, delivering their fire with deadly effect and extreme rapidity.
  I must here mention in terms of high approbation the conduct of lieutenant-colonel, David Provence, for his coolness, skill, and gallant 
caption: Colonel John R. Gratiot
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