3rd Regiment , Arkansas State Troops The 3rd Infantry , Arkansas State Troops ( 1861 ) 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 . Organization . At the beginning of the war , the Arkansas Succession Convention created the Provisional Army of Arkansas . The Provisional Army was to consist of two divisions : the 1st Division in the western part of the state was to be commanded by Brigadier General Pearce , and the 2nd Division in the eastern half of the state , commanded by Major General James Yell . The intent of the Secession Convention was to transfer these state troop regiments into Confederate service as quickly as possible , to avoid the cost of paying for a large state army . The troops of the eastern division were transferred to the command of Brigadier General Hardee in July 1861 , but the troops of the western division under Brigadier General Pearce were not transferred to Confederate service before they became engaged in the Battle of Wilson ' s Creek . The unit ' s designation as the 3rd Regiment , Arkansas State Troops has its origins in the confusion caused by Brigadier General Nicholas B . Pearce ' s failure to comply with the numbering system for regiments adopted by the State Military Board . The State Military Board authorized a 1st and 3rd Arkansas Regiment of State Troops . The 1st Regiment was commanded by Colonel Patrick R . Cleburne and was organized a Mound City , in the 2nd or Eastern Division of the Army of Arkansas . The State Military Board had authorized a 3rd Regiment of State Troops as a cavalry regiment under Colonel DeRosey Carroll , and ordered it to join the 1st Division " of the Army of Arkansas commanded by General Nicholas B . Pearce in northwest Arkansas . The free - spirited General Pearce ignored the unit designations authorized by the State Military Board , and assigned his own designations , based on when each regiment showed up in camp to muster . The first units to arrive at the designate assembly point were naturally the mounted units which became Carroll ' s regiment , so the 3rd Regiment Arkansas State Troops was re - designated the 1st Regiment . The officially - sanctioned 2nd Regiment Arkansas State Troops , under Colonel John R . Gratiot , arrived at the assembly point third , and was immediately renamed the 3rd Regiment . Thus , all accounts of the State Troops in northwest Arkansas , including the battle of Wilson ' s Creek , refer to Gratiot ' s regiment as the 3rd Arkansas . This designation also leads to confusion with the other , more famous , 3rd Arkansas , commanded by Colonels Albert C . Rust and Van H . Manning . The Rust / Manning " 3rd Arkansas " , was not a regiment that was ever officially authorized by the Arkansas State Military Board . By the time that a several volunteer companies in South Arkansas had recruited and organized , the State had already reached its original goal of eight regiments , so the services of these new companies were declined on the thought that war would not last long . These companies decided to go to Virginia and volunteer their services there . This group of regiments moved to Lynchburg , Virginia and organized themselves into a regiment , and elected Albert Rust as their colonel . They were mustered into service by the Confederate War Department as the 3rd Regiment Arkansas Volunteers . There are those to this very day who insist that Rust ' s 3rd Arkansas was the same unit that fought at Wilson ' s Creek , despite unimpeachable documentation showing that Rust ' s unit was camped on the Greenbrier River in Virginia at the time of the battle . The regiment was organized on July 15 , 1861 from the following volunteer companies : Either Company E or Company I was known as the " Sebastian Guards " , but since both companies were from Sebastian County , it is unclear which company used this name . Battles . 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 . Disbanded . Following the battle , the Garrott ' s Regiment marched back to Arkansas and was given the opportunity to vote on the issue of being transferred into Confederate service . The regiment , along with the rest of the 1st Division voted to disband rather than be transferred to Confederate service . The unit was mustered out of state service on September 19 , 1861 . Most of its members subsequently enlisted in regular Confederate regiments , including the 1st Battalion Arkansas Cavalry , 17th Arkansas Infantry Regiment ( Griffith ' s ) and 34th Arkansas Infantry Regiment . Some later served in the Indian Territory . An extraordinary number of the Hempstead Rifles went on to become officers in the Confederate army . At least three of them , besides Colonel Gratiot , went on to become field - grade officers : Daniel W . Jones , colonel in the 20th Arkansas Infantry Regiment ; Benjamin P . Jett , Jr . , major in the 17th ( Griffith ' s ) Arkansas Infantry Regiment ; and Jesse A . Ross , major in the 4th Arkansas Infantry Battalion . Two went on to command artillery batteries : Chambers B . Etter , captain of the 6th Arkansas Field Battery ; and William P . Hart , captain of the 2nd Arkansas Field Battery . Another twenty or so went on to become lieutenants and captains of infantry companies and cavalry troops . Flags . Many of the original companies raised for the war received handmade flags which were presented to them in elaborate ceremonies in their hometown before marching off to war . In the first year of the war , many of these home made banners were " 1st National Flag " pattern , meaning that they were patterned after the first national flag authorized for the new Confederate Government . The new Confederate Banner , often referred to as the " Stars and Bars " , consisted of " a red field , with a white space extending horizontally through the center , equal in width to one third the width of the flag , and red spaces above and below to the same width as the white , the union blue extending blue extending down through the white space and stopping in the lower red space , in the center of the union , a circle of white stars corresponding in number with the States of the Confederacy . " The white stripe was a convenient place for the flag makers to embellish the flag with some motto or inscription . At least two of these 1st National Flag pattern colors were present to units in the 3rd Regiment , Arkansas State Troops . On May 4 , 1861 Miss Bettie Conway present a flag to the Hempstead Rifles , along with a stirring speech . This flag , with its stars arranged in three rows of three , many be seen in a photo made of the company before its departure from Arkadelphia . Another 1st National Flag pattern flag was presented to the Pike Guards , of Washington County , on May 2 , 1861 , by Ms Thomas J . ( Mary Willis Stirman ) Pollard at Fayetteville . In place of the blue union , the flag of the Pike Guards has a white field with a painting of the Lady of Liberty . The words " OUR COUNTRY & OUR RIGHTS " were inscribed on the red strips on the front and the words " PIKE GUARDS " was inscribed on the white strip on the reverse side . This flag was allegedly captured in 1864 when Union forces occupied the city of Camden , Arkansas . The flag is now in the keeping of the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka Kansas .