Early Life and Political Career
Albert Rust was born in 1818 in Fauquier County, Virginia; his exact birth date is not known. In 1837, he moved from Virginia to Arkansas, settling in Union County, Arkansas. After arriving he bought land and a store near the river. He was admitted to the bar in 1836 and, by 1838, was contracted by the U.S. government to survey land in the new state. In 1839, the county seat was moved present day Champagnolle after 1839. As Rust owned the only building suitable, it was decided that his storehouse would be used for the courthouse. He then started studying law and was admitted to the bar. In 1842, Rust won a seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives, one of four that he would serve.
Rust 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. Then two years later Rust was nominated by the Democrats for United States Congress. He won the general election and went to Washington, D.C..
In 1856, Rust became the center of attention in his efforts to make a compromise over the election of a new speaker. The single candidate who was shown as the most possible favored was Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts. Banks was well known for his opposition to the further extension of slave territory. According the Rust family history, while writing for the New York Tribune, newspaperman Horace Greeley quickly “characterized Rust’s resolution as an attempt to make it appear that the contest over the speakership was one of personal rivalries among the candidates and not of principles, and its true purpose to ride the opposition of the powerful candidate, Banks. After the adjournment of Congress 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 struck Greeley again on the streets of Washington.
Rust began to show little interest in many things other than military matters. He was not renominated and his seat was taken by Edward A. Warren. After working to gain his political future back Rust once again one a seat in the House of Representatives in 1858. Rust continued his interest in military affairs 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 Rust was named a delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress. When elections for the Confederate Congress were held later in 1861, Rust resigned from his post.
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