William Nelson Rector Beall

William Nelson Rector Beall, a Captain in the United States army, 2d Cavalry, was appointed as cadet to West Point from Arkansas, where the members of his family resided; hence considered the State his home; he resigned at the commencement of the war and entered the Confederate Army. Commanded first a brigade of cavalry at Corinth, and afterwards a brigade of Infantry at Port Hudson, which place he fortified and defended. Seth M. Barton went out as Major of the 3d Arkansas Regiment under Col. Rust. On the promotion of Col. Rust to Brigadier-General he became Colonel of the regiment and was shortly afterwards promoted to Brigadier-General, and commanded a brigade in Virginia.

SOURCE: Fay Hempstead, A Pictorial History of Arkansas, from Earliest Times to the Year 1890, p. 366