The 3rd Arkansas was one of the most distinguished and well-respected Confederate regiments of the Civil War. It was the only Arkansas regiment to serve the entire war in the east, where most of the major battles were fought. The men of the 3rd Arkansas acquired a reputation as tenacious fighters and were known for the long knives—“Arkansas toothpicks”—they carried. As part of Gen. John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade, they found themselves in some of the fiercest fighting in the war in places such as the famous “sunken road” at Antietam and the Battle of Gettysburg. “They’ll Do to Tie To!” was originally published in 1959.

Calvin L. Collier, a native of Surry County, Virginia, was a major in the U.S. Air Force and served at the Little Rock Air Force Base. His other books on the Civil War include The War Child’s Children and First In–Last Out. He and his wife Melba live in Fredericksburg, Virginia.