Albert Rust was born circa 1818 in Fauquier County, Virginia, to William Rust and his wife Elizabeth; his exact birth date is not known. He was admitted to the bar in 1836 and the following year moved from Virginia to Arkansas, settling in Union County, Arkansas. He bought land and a store near the river in 1837. By 1838, he held the U.S. government contract to survey land in the new state. In 1839, the county seat was moved present day Champagnolle. As he owned the only building suitable, so his storehouse also became the courthouse. Rust then read law and was admitted to the Arkansas bar. In 1842, he won a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives, where he was re-elected twice, and also elected 1852–1854. He ran in a special election for an open congressional seat in 1846. He won fourteen counties, yet got only third place. In 1852 he was elected Speaker Pro-Tempore of the Arkansas House of Representatives a very powerful position. Two years later. Democrats nominated him for United States Congress. He won the general election and went to Washington, D.C. In 1856, Rust drew public attention for his efforts to oppose Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, who appeared likely to become Speaker of the House. Banks opposed further extension of slave territory, unlike Rust and his constituents. According to the Rust family history, He introduced something labeled a compromise resolution, which New York Tribune newspaperman Horace Greeley characterized Rust's as an attempt to make it appear that the contest over the speakership was about personal rivalries among the candidates and not about principles. Greeley believed its true purpose was to oppose Banks's candidacy. After Congress adjourned, on the day The Tribune reached Washington, Rust accosted Greeley on the Capitol grounds and felled him with his cane. A few days later, Rust again struck Greeley again on the streets of Washington. Rust showed little interest other than in military matters. He was not renominated; Edward A. Warren succeeded him. After working to regain his political reputation, Rust once again won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1858. His interest in military affairs continued in his second term. A supporter of Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 Presidential election and strong advocate for Union, Rust shifted his position after Lincoln's call for troops. In May 1861 Arkansas seceded from the Union, and he was named a delegate to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.
Returning to Arkansas, Rust received a commission as Colonel on July 5, 1861, and assisted Van H. Manning in recruiting and organizing the 3d Arkansas Infantry Regiment. The Third Arkansas would become Arkansas's most celebrated Civil War regiment and the only Arkansas regiment to be permanently assigned to General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. In the fall of 1861, Rust and the Third Arkansas traveled to Western Virginia and took part in the Battle of Cheat Mountain under Lee. During that winter, he and the regiment were under the command of General Stonewall Jackson. They would go on to serve in almost every major battle fought in the east, including the Battle of Gettysburg, although mostly after Rust's promotion and transfer from the regiment. On March 4, 1862, Rust was promoted to brigadier-general and transferred back to Arkansas, where he was assigned to Lieutenant-General Earl Van Dorn's Army of the West. He led troops at the Battle of Hill's Plantation in July 1862. After the Battle of Pea Ridge, most Confederate States forces were removed from Arkansas and transferred east of the Mississippi River. Rust fought at the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi in October. In April 1863, he was once again transferred back to Arkansas and placed under Major-General Sterling Price in the Trans-Mississippi Department. He later served under Major-Generals Thomas C. Hindman in Arkansas and John Pemberton and Richard Taylor in Louisiana. He eventually lost his command based upon questions regarding his loyalty to the Confederate cause; he had become an outspoken and bold critic of the Confederate government, regularly expressing Unionist sentiments. After his active military service, he moved to Austin, Texas to reunite with his family, who had abandoned their home in Arkansas during the Federal occupation and spent considerable time with his brother Dr. George W. Rust in Virginia.
After the war Rust moved from his home in El Dorado, Arkansas, across the Arkansas River from Little Rock. He returned to Washington as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was even a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1869 before Congressional Reconstruction began and former Confederates were forbidden to hold elective office and he withdrew himself from candidacy. On April 3, 1870, he died in Pulaski County, Arkansas, from a brain abscess, while his wife and children were away visiting family in Virginia. His burial place is the subject of some dispute. Contemporary accounts state that he was buried at the historic Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock, but other accounts indicate that he was buried in an unmarked grave next to the Confederate monument in Oakland Cemetery. A cenopath memorial stone is in the Oakland and Fraternal Cemetery.
Personal life
Rust married Jane Carrington of Charlotte County, Virginia, on April 17, 1844, but she soon died, and was buried in Hervey Cemetery in Hempstead County, Arkansas. He then married Anne Bouldin Cabell, and at least three of their children would survive to adulthood: Julia Rust Tutwiler, Breckenridge Cabell Rust and author Pauline Carrington Rust Bouve.
