Samuel Girard Earle Jr. (1832–1863)

Confederate colonel Samuel Girard Earle Jr., a prominent farmer of Ouachita County, served during the Civil War as a company and regimental commander in the Third Arkansas Cavalry. Earle led his troops until March 5, 1863, when he was killed in the Battle at Thompson’s Station, Tennessee. 

Samuel Girard Earle Jr. was born on January 9, 1832, in Anderson County, South Carolina, the fifth son of seven sons of the Reverand Samuel Girard Earle and Elizabeth Hampton Harrison Earle. While two brothers, Julius R. and Francis Wilton, followed in the footsteps of their father and became ministers, Samuel and eldest brother Elias ran the farming operation after the death of their father in 1848.  

In 1853, Samuel Earle Jr. married Catherine (Kate) P. Hobbs in Greenville, South Carolina. In 1858, Earle and his wife with their three small children relocated to Freeo Township of Ouachita County, Arkansas, where he continued successful agricultural pursuits. In 1860, his real estate totaled $2,000, with a personal estate of $8,000. 

At the secession of his adopted state of Arkansas in May 1861, Earle enlisted in July and was elected captain of Company G in Colonel Solon Borland’s First Arkansas Mounted Regiment of state troops and sent to Pittman’s Ferry in northeastern Arkansas. In July, the regiment was officially mustered into Confederate service and redesignated the Third Arkansas Cavalry due to another regiment already in service assigned as the First Arkansas Mounted Rifles.  

Captain Earle and the Third Arkansas moved east of the Mississippi River as part of General Earl Van Dorn’s Army of the West in April 1862, participating in the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi, from April 29 to May 30. Most activity revolved around picketing and skirmishing, with no major battles. At the reorganization of Confederate forces on May 26, 1862, Captain Earle defeated Borland in elections for the position of colonel. The remainder of the summer was spent in camps in central Mississippi. 

During summer, a portion of the Union forces were transferred to Tennessee, providing an opportunity to retake Corinth. Van Dorn laid plans to assault Union forces at Corinth and drive them away from the vital rail center. Colonel Earle and the other cavalry commands in Phifer’s Brigade were dismounted, to serve as infantry. Colonel Earle led his dismounted cavalry in heavy fighting on October 3–4, where Van Dorn’s forces were defeated with heavy losses. Colonel Earle’s regiment participated in the fighting withdrawal on October 5, at Hatchie Bridge, before finally escaping Federal forces.  

Much to the pleasure of Earle and his men, they were soon remounted and placed in Colonel Frank Armstrong’s Brigade. Sensing another opportunity, Major General Van Dorn led his cavalry on a raid to Holly Springs, Mississippi, which served as the major supply depot for General Ulysses Grant. The Third Arkansas under Earle were actively engaged in defeating Union forces and capturing large quantities of supplies on December 20, 1862. 

In February 1863, Colonel Earle and his Third Arkansas arrived near Columbia, Tennessee, as part of another Van Dorn raid to gather information and capture supplies. The maneuvering led Van Dorn’s forces to attack Union infantry at Thompson’s Station, Tennessee. Earle and his regiment deployed in the center of Confederate forces, advancing down the Columbia Pike. During heavy assaults on Union positions on March 5, Earle was shot in the head and killed instantly, one of numerous casualties in his regiment. Upon his death, command fell to Lieutenant Colonel Anson Hobson, and Earle was buried alongside all Confederate dead at Thompson’s Station. In his report, Van Dorn stated that Earle “was one of the bravest and best officers of our service.” 

He was survived by his wife Kate and children James, John, Nellie, and Sammuella, and his descendants remained in Ouachita County at Bearden. 

For additional information:
Collier, Calvin L. The War Child’s Children: The Story of the Third Regiment, Arkansas Cavalry, Confederate States Army. Little Rock: Pioneer Press, 1965. 

Durham, Robert L. “Union Disaster at Thompson’s Station.” Military Heritage 7 (December 2005): 56–63. 

Willis, James. Arkansas Confederates in the Western Theater. Dayton, OH: Morningside Press, 1998. 

Anthony Rushing
Benton, Arkansas