Albert Rust was one of the leading men of Arkansas during the days of political strife that preceded the War Between the States. He served the State of Arkansas ably as one of its Representatives before the Congress of the United States. During his tenure, he devoted himself to defending the Southern interpretation of the Constitution.
Background
Albert Rust was born in 1818 in Virginia. He was the son of William Rust and his wife Elizabeth. He moved to Arkansas in 1837, settling in Union County on the banks of the Ouachita River where he built a storehouse and became a county surveyor.
Education
Albert Rust attended Common schools in Virginia and emigrated to Arkansas in 1837, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in El Dorado, Union County.
Career
Albert Rust was a prominent Arkansas farmer and slaveowner. From 1842 to 1848 and from 1852 to 1854, he served in the state House. He was a member of the U.S. House from 1855 to 1857 and ran unsuccessfully for reelection in 1856 before being returned to that body from 1859 to 1861.
In 1860, Albert's name was mentioned as a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat of Robert W. Johnson. Although he was a unionist who supported Stephen A. Douglas for president in 1860, he eventually supported secession. He resigned from Congress in March 1861 and volunteered for service in the Confederate Army.
Early in the war, Albert Rust raised the 3rd Regiment of Arkansas Infantry, which participated in the Cheat Mountain campaign in western Virginia during the fall of 1861 and served in Virginia under General "Stonewall" Jackson in 1862. Promoted from colonel to a general in the provisional Confederate Army in March 1862, he did not attain the permanent rank of brigadier general until two years later. Meanwhile, he had fought at Corinth in October 1862 and had served under Sterling Price in April 1863, under Hindman in Arkansas, and under Pemberton and Taylor in Louisiana early in 1864.
Rust also was elected to the provisional Confederate Congress in 1861, where he was a member of the Postal Affairs Committee. In the fall of 1864, having lost his command because of some question of his loyalty to the Confederate cause, Rust gave up active military service and moved to Austin, Texas, until August 1865. During the last part of the war, Albert Rust expressed unionist sentiments and was a bold critic of the Confederate government.
After the war, Albert Rust returned to Arkansas, where he served in the U.S. House of Representatives during the early years of Reconstruction. In 1869, he was a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, but he withdrew his name before the election.
Rust made an unsuccessful attempt to run for U.S. Congress in 1846 but was successful in returning to the state House of Representatives in 1852. In 1854 he succeeded in his second attempt at U.S. Congress, winning 67% of the vote as a Democrat. He failed to be renominated in 1856 but was elected again in 1858.
Rust was a major proponent of succession, and when Arkansas did so in May of 1861 he represented Arkansas in the Provisional Confederate House of Representatives.
Connections
On April 17, 1844, Albert Rust married Jane Carrington but she soon died. He married a second time to Anne Bouldin Cabell, and they had three children: Julia Rust Tutwiler, Breckenridge Cabell Rust, and Pauline Carrington Rust Bouve.