Holding the Flank at Greenbrier with the 3rd Arkansas

The 3rd Arkansas Infantry arrived in western Virginia truly ducks out of water. They were the only regiment from Arkansas in the theater, and their rough-hewn appearance made their Virginia comrades view them as " ignorant country boys." While the regiment would go on to greater fame as part of Hood's Texas Brigade with the Army of Northern Virginia, it spent much of its first year of service in the foreboding mountains of western Virginia, taking part in the battles of Greenbrier and Camp Allegheny. Sergeant Major Frederick Lawrence of the 3rd Arkansas penned the following letter describing the Battle of Greenbrier, Virginia which took place on October 3, 1861. A Federal force of eight regiments and three batteries under General Joseph Reynolds marched from Cheat Mountain with the intention of breaking up the Confederate force stationed at Camp Bartow on the Greenbrier River. The 3rd Arkansas formed the left flank of the defending force and was able to successf