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Albert Rust (1818–1870) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas and a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
In the fall of 1861, Rust and the 3rd Arkansas took part in the Battle of Cheat Mountain under Lee. In addition to his military duties, Rust was a delegate to the Confederate Congress from Arkansas during 1861 and 1862.
Rust was raised to the rank of brigadier general on March 4, 1862. Rust led Confederate troops at the Battle of Hill's Plantation in July 1862. After the Battle of Pea Ridge, most Confederate forces were removed from Arkansas and transferred east of the Mississippi River. Rust fought at the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Corinth. In April of 1863, Rust was once again transferred back to Arkansas and placed under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. He later served under General Thomas C. Hindman in Arkansas and General John Pemberton and Richard Taylor in Louisiana.
Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee directed his first offensive of the war. The strategy included a two-pronged simultaneous attack against Colonel Nathan Kimball's fortress on the summit of Cheat Mountain and against Brig. Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds' entrenchments at Elk Water on the Tygart's Valley River. Approximately 4500 Confederates moved to attack Cheat Summit. The Union defenders numbered 1800 men at Cheat Summit. The approach routes by each of the three Confederate brigades were uncoordinated. Rain, fog, mountainous terrain, and a dense forest limited visibility to minimal distances. As a result, each of the three Confederate brigades assigned to attack Cheat Summit Fort acted independently and never made contact with either of the other two Confederate brigades. The Union defenders on Cheat Summit were very familiar with the terrain and mountain trails. Information from captured Federal soldiers was so misleading and two Federal probing attacks from Cheat Summit Fort were so aggressive that Confederate Colonel Albert Rust and Brigadier General Samuel R. Anderson, each leading approximately 1500 Confederates at Cheat Mountain, were convinced that they confronted an overwhelming force. Rust and Anderson withdrew their 3000 men although they actually faced only about 300 determined Federals outside the Union fortifications. At Elk Water, General Reynolds' brigade faced three more Confederate brigades but refused to budge from his entrenchments. The Confederates did not press an attack after Colonel John A. Washington, of Lee's staff, was killed during a reconnaissance of the Union right. Reynolds was so confident in the face of such timidity that he dispatched two of his own regiments from Elk Water up the mountain road to relieve the supposedly besieged fortress garrison, but the arriving Union reinforcements were unnecessary. Lee called off the attack and, after maneuvering in the vicinity, withdrew to Valley Head on September 17. Reynolds, meanwhile, planned an offensive against the Confederate forces stationed at the Greenbrier River. In October, Lee renewed operations against Laurel Mountain (see Battle of Laurel Hill) with the troops of Floyd and William W. Loring, but the operation was called off because of poor communication and lack of supplies. Lee was recalled to Richmond on October 30 after achieving little in western Virginia.
The cemetery is the burial place for 10 former Governors of Arkansas, 6 United States Senators, 14 Arkansas Supreme Court Justices, 21 Little Rock Mayors, numerous Arkansas literary figures, Confederate Generals, and other worthies.
