In September 1863, the Third Minnesota marched into Little Rock, as part of a mission to push the Confederates out of Arkansas. This was a victorious moment for the Third, which had faced humiliation in 1862 when their regiment surrendered to Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest's forces in Tennessee. In between the humiliation and the victory, the Third was sent to fight the Dakota in the U.S.-Dakota War. A group of soldiers from the Third left camp without permission to find something to eat and stumbled upon Dakota forces lying in wait. The Minnesota soldiers' accidental encounter led to the Battle of Wood Lake. 

Stanley Arthurs, who created this painting for the new Minnesota capitol building, was a student of Howard Pyle's, another Capitol-commissioned artist. "Third Minnesota Infantry Regiment Entering Little Rock" is one of the six Civil War paintings that will continue to hang in the Governor's Reception Room, after discussion in fall 2016 by residents and government officials.