USA > Arkansas > A pictorial history of Arkansas, from earliest times to the year 1890. A full and complete account, embracing the Indian tribes occupying the country; the early French and Spanish explorers and governors; the colonial period; the Louisiana purchase; the periods of the territory, the state, the civil war, and the subsequent period. Also, an extended history of each county in the order of formation, and of the principal cities and towns; together with biographical notices of distinguished and prominent citizens > Part 12
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(*) On presenting the portrait of Edward Hempstead to the State of Missouri, 1881.
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EDWARD HEMPSTEAD. First Delegate to Congress from Missouri Territory.
I55
FROM 1804 TO 1819.
This Act, together with a previous Act of June 13th, 1812, served to cure and perfect whatever titles obtained from the former foreign owners, were susceptible of cure. The Act of 1812 was passed in conformity with the provisions of the treaty of cession with France, and confirmed in fee simple to the inhabitants, "the town or village lots, out lots, common- - field lots and commons, in, adjoining and belonging to the several towns or villages of Portage des Sioux, St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Ferdinand, Village-a-Robert, Carondelet, Ste. Genevieve, New Madrid, New Bourbon, Little Prairie and Arkansas, in the Territory of Missouri, which lots have been inhabited, cultivated or possessed prior to the 20th day of December, 1803."
Edward Hempstead was Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives, of Missouri Territory, at the session of 1816. He died August 9th, 1817, from injuries sustained in falling from his horse. He was succeeded as delegate to Congress by Ru- fus Easton, November 16th, 1814, in the thirteenth Congress ; and Easton was succeeded by John Scott, who took his seat December 2nd, 1816. John Scott was a brother of Judge Andrew Scott, one of the early settlers and judges in Arkan- sas, and uncle of Captain John R. Homer Scott, now a resi- dent of Pope county.
On the 3Ist of December, 1813, the Legislature of Mis- souri Territory formed the county of New Madrid, bounded north by the south line of Cape Girardeau county ; east by the Mississippi river ; south by a line commencing on said river, opposite the lower end of the island laid down in the Navi- gator as Number Nineteen ; thence in a direct line to White river at the mouth of Little Red; thence to the line of the Osage purchase ; and thence north to the place of beginning. This embraced country in the upper part of Arkansas, com- prising the northeast corner of the State.
And by an Act of the same date, all the remainder of what is now the State was organized into a county called the
I56
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
county of Arkansaw, created in the administration of Gov- ernor William Clark. A full account of the several counties, in the order of their formation, will be found later at the division called "County Histories."
On the 27th of January, 1814, Congress passed an Act providing for the appointment of an additional judge in Mis- souri Territory, who was required to reside "at or near the Village of Arkansas." Under this Act George Bullitt, of Missouri, was appointed February 9th, 1814, and was re- commissioned February 19th, 1818. His associates of the Court were Silas Bent, of Missouri, appointed February 18th, 1813, and January 2Ist, 1817, and John B. C. Lucas, of Pennsylvania, appointed June Ist, 1814, and re-appointed April 30th, 1818, and Alexander Stuart, of Virginia, appoin- ted February 9th, 1814, and March 6th, 1818. Joshua Nor- vell was Prosecuting Attorney from 1814 to 1820, and John Dodge Clerk of the Court.
On the 15th of January, 1815, the Legislature of Missouri Territory formed the county of Lawrence out of the lower part of New Madrid county, in the northeast part of the present State. It was the second county formed in what is now the State of Arkansas. The town of Davidsonville, which was founded in the year 1815 became the county seat. On the 28th of June, 1817, a post office was established at Davidsonville and Adam Ritchey was appointed postmaster. This was the first post office in Arkansas. At that time there was only one mail route in all of Arkansas. It was from St. Louis, through Davidsonville and the Post of Arkansas to Monroe Court House, Louisiana. Mail was carried on horse-back and was delivered between those points once in thirty days .*
On the 24th of August, 1818, a treaty, called a treaty of Friendship Cession and Limits was entered into at St. Louis, between William Clark and Auguste Chouteau, Commissioners
(*) For a fuller account of Lawrence county see "County Histories."
157
FROM 1804 TO 1819.
on the part of the United States, and Heckaton, "the Dry Man," Hradapaa, "the Eagles' Bill," Tehonka, "the Tame Buffalo," and other chiefs and warriors of the Quapaw tribe, by which they ceded to the United States all their lands from a point ninety miles below the mouth of the Arkansas river westward to the Big Raft on Red river, and northward to the Arkansas river, except the central portion, nearly a paralleo -. gram in shape, extending from a point on the south bank of the river opposite the Post of Arkansas; thence in a south- westerly course to the Washita river ; thence up that river and up the Saline river until a due north line would strike the river at the Little Rock, which reserved portion they agreed not to sell to any other nation without the consent of the United States being first obtained. This surveyed line, pass- ing through what is now the eastern portion of the city of Lit- tle Rock and terminating in what was called the Point of Rocks, distinguishing it from the Big Rock three miles higher up the river, is still made use of to describe the location of property in the city of Little Rock. Lots and blocks in deeds of conveyances are still described by their being east or west of the Quapaw line. The western line of the United States garrison grounds in Little Rock lies along this line.
The number of acres of land obtained by the United States in this treaty is stated in official publications of the War De- partment of 1825 as follows, to-wit :
In Arkansas and to the west thereof -
26,698,560 acres
In Louisiana
- -
- - 2,492,000
Total
29, 190,560 66
Of this amount it is estimated that about 16,000,000 acres lay in Arkansas.
The consideration to be paid for it was the sum of four thousand dollars in goods at cost price, and one thousand dol- lars in goods every year.
The amount retained by the Indians in the reserved paral- lelogram was one million five hundred thousand (1,5000,000) acres.
158
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
The area of this reserved parallelogram, or nearly of that shape, was ceded to the United States in a treaty entered into "at Harrington"-the residence of Bartley Harrington, Esq., of Arkansas county, afterwards member of the Legislature. The treaty was negotiated between Robert Crittenden as Com- missioner on the part of the United States, and Heckaton, Saracen and other chiefs and warriors of the Quapaws, of date November 15th, 1824. In consideration of $4,000.00 in goods to be paid at the time of signing the treaty, and $1,- 000.00 in money (specie) to be paid annually for eleven years, and $500.00 to each of the four head chiefs of the nation, the Quapaws agreed to cede to the United States their reservation and to move out of the territory. They were to settle in.a district of country in Louisiana inhabited by the Caddo Indians and to amalgamate with that tribe.
The treaty stipulated that the United States should convey to a number of persons Indians by descent designated tracts of land, such as Francis Imbeau, Joseph Duchassin, Baptiste Socie, Louis Bartelmi, Joseph Bonne and others. Among them was one to Saracen, a half-breed Quapaw, "eighty acres to be laid off, so as to include his improvements, where he now resides, opposite Vaugine's."
In accordance with the stipulations of this treaty, the Qua- paws moved from the State in 1825 and settled on Red river, in Louisiana, on a tract of land given them by the Caddo Indians, but which was found subject to overflow on account of the raft on Red river. Their crops were destroyed by water year after year, and it proved to be a very sickly country, and where, in a short time, nearly one-fourth of their people died. The Caddos refused to give them any other situation, and also refused to incorporate or receive them as a part of their tribe, and as the Quapaws saw no alternative but to perish if they continued there, they decided to come back to their old resi- dence on the Arkansas, and so quitting the Caddo country they once more appeared in Arkansas.
159
FROM 1804 TO 1819.
On arriving at their old grounds, they found themselves in a pitiable and most embarrassing attitude. Their former lands, and what little improvements they had made, were in the hands of white settlers, and the country had filled up a good deal more than when they left it. In this exigency the Government took action in the matter, and on the 13th of May, 1833, a third treaty was made between them and the United States, by which they ceded to the United States the lands given them by the Caddo Indians on Red river, in con- sideration of which the United States conveyed to them one hundred and fifty sections of land west of the State line of Missouri, and between the lands of the Senecas and the Shaw- nees, in lieu of their location on Red river, to provide a perma- nent home for the nation. The Government paid their debts to various creditors, amounting to $4,180; moved them at its own expense, and contributed liberally for their comfort in their new home; and thus the Quapaws, as a tribe, disap- peared from Arkansas.
They are now located in the extreme northeastern corner of the Indian Territory, and their numbers are less than two hundred. Heckaton, their principal chief, was the last full blooded Quapaw chief. He died shortly after leaving Arkan- sas, and was succeeded by Saracen, who was a half-breed. Saracen was a brave and noble Indian. It is related of him that on one occasion a wandering band of Chickasaws roam- ing through the Quapaw country stole two children of a trapper family below where Pine Bluff now is. The frantic mother appealed to Saracen for their recovery. He prom- ised to deliver them to her by midnight. Accordingly, when night came he crept stealthily to the Chickasaw camp, and hav- ing ascertained the exact spot where the children were located, raised the warwhoop and made a dash for them. The astonished Chickasaws, thinking it was a night attack of the Quapaws, were at first in some confusion, in the midst of which Saracen
I60
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
made off with the children, and, true to his promise, delivered them to the overjoyed mother.
He went with his tribe to their allotted reservation in the Indian country, but, by leave of Governor Pope, was per- mitted to return to Arkansas, and live on the lands granted to him in the treaty of 1824. He died in 1839, at the age of 90 years, and is buried in the cemetery at Pine Bluff, being the first burial made in the cemetery in which he lies. When the Catholic church at Pine Bluff was built, in Decem- ber, 1888, a memorial window was placed in it, inscribed to him, not because he was a pratical Catholic, but because his noble deeds deserved to be held in remembrance. In 1818 Andrew Scott, of Potosi, Washington county, Missouri, brother of the John Scott who was delegate to Congress, was appointed Judge of the Superior Court, in the District of Arkansas, and took up his residence at the Post of Arkansas, and the next year, 1819, he moved his family thither. One of the members of the family who thus accompanied him was his son, John R. Homer Scott, who is still living (1889), an honored citizen of Pope county. Judge Scott was one of the first, if not the first officer in the Territory of Arkansas after its creation. He reached the Territory before Mr. Crittenden came, and was there on Crittenden's arrival.
On the 15th day of December, 1818, the Legislature of Missouri Territory created the counties of Pulaski, Clark and Hempstead, all of which were formed out of portions of Arkansas county. They were enormous counties in size, and from them many counties have since been taken. Pulaski county was named after Count Pulaski, the Polish patriot, who aided us in the Revolutionary War. Clark, after William Clark, then in office as Governor of Missouri Territory, although the Act creating the counties was signed by Frederick Bates as acting Governor, and Hempstead, after Edward Hemp- stead, first Delegate to Congress from Missouri Territory .*
(*) See County Histories.
2
c ***
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In
AmMinton
ANDREW SCOTT. First Federal Judge in Arkansas Territory.
162
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
By an Act of Congress of March 2d, 1819, it was enacted that after July 4th, 1819, all that portion of Missouri Terri- tory which lies south of a line beginning on the Mississippi river at 36 degrees north latitude, running thence west to the River "St. François," thence up the "St. François" to 36 de- grees 30 minutes (36° 30') north latitude, thence to the western territorial boundary line of Missouri Territory, should be erected into a separate Territory, called the "Arkansaw" Ter- ritory. Until otherwise provided by the Legislature of the Territory, the seat of Government was directed to be at the "Post of Arkansaw," on the "Arkansaw" river. John Scott, Delegate from Missouri Territory, was the author of the Act, and was the means of securing its passage.
On the next day, March 3d, 1819, James Miller, of New Hampshire, was appointed Governor by President Monroe, and Robert Crittenden, of Frankfort, Kentucky, was ap- pointed Secretary. Mr. Crittenden was then only in the 22d year of his age. By law, the Secretary was required to act as Governor during that officer's absence, and in point of fact Mr. Crittenden, assuming the duties of the office at this early age, served as acting Governor the greater part of the term for which General Miller was appointed. The Governor's salary was $2,000.00 per annum, and that of the Secretary $1,000.00.
The James Miller, who was appointed Governor, was a distinguished officer in the war of 1812. He is the same who, as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2 Ist New Hampshire Vol- unteers, distinguished himself at the battle of Maguaga, August 9th, 1812, and more particularly at the battle of Lun- dy's Lane, July 25th, 1814. At this latter battle General Rip- ley, his commanding officer, indicated to Col. Miller a battery of the British guns in a commanding position, and asked Mil- ler whether he could storm it with his, Ripley's, old regi- ment, the 2 1st. Col. Miller, well knowing the perilous nature of this duty, modestly replied : "I'll try, sir !" and immedi-
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JAMES MILLER. First Governor of the Territory of Arkansas.
164
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
ately put his regiment in line for the assault. To the amaze- ment of the whole British line, Col. Miller steadily and silently advanced up the eminence, until within a few paces of the ene- my's cannon, when he impetuously charged upon the artiller- ists, and after a short, but desperate contest, carried the whole battery, and then formed his line in its rear, upon the same ground on which the British force had previously been posted. Col. Miller's words, "I'll try, sir !" were afterwards worn on the buttons of the 21st regiment, and otherwise became historic.
Governor Miller served as Governor until the latter part of 1824, when he was appointed Collector of Customs of the Port of Salem, Massachusetts, which office he held from 1825 to 1849. He died at Temple, New Hampshire, July 7th, 1851. He was born at Peterborough, New Hampshire, April 25th, 1776.
At the time of the creation of the Territory, the population was stated to be about 14,000 persons. The exact number, as given by the census in 1820, was 14,255. There were but five counties, to-wit : the counties of Arkansas, Lawrence, Pulaski, Clark and Hempstead. Mr. Crittenden reached the Territory in June, and, as Governor Miller had not yet ar- rived, assumed the duties of acting Governor as well as Sec- retary. He at once appointed the necessary county officers. In Arkansas county they were Eli J. Lewis, clerk, and Hewes Scull, sheriff; in Lawrence county, Richard Searcy, clerk, and Joseph Hardin, sheriff ; in Pulaski county, Robert C. Oden, clerk, and Lemuel R. Curran continued as sheriff ; in Clark county, W. P. L. Blair, clerk, and Moses Graham, sheriff ; and in Hempstead county, J. M. Stewart, clerk, and A. S. Walker, sheriff.
Charles Jouett, Robert Letcher and Andrew Scott were ap- pointed by the President Judges of the Superior Court, who, together with the Governor, constituted the first Legislature,
165
FROM 1804 TO 1819.
With the appointment of these officers the new Territory be- gan its official life with the necessary complement of officers for its government.
Thus it resulted that the Arkansas country was now vested with an isolated and distinct sovereignty, not embraced in or bound up with any other province, but henceforward to maintain an existence individually, separate and distinct. After the time when it passed from foreign control and be- came a part of Missouri Territory, it had been presided over and was connected with the career of many prominent and distinguished men, whose fame is a common heritage to her, as well as to the great State from whose boundaries she was taken. Among these, without distinction, may be mentioned : Thomas H. Benton, Edward Hempstead, Rufus Easton, John Scott, J. B. C. Lucas, Charles Gratiot, Henry Gratiot, Pierre Chouteau, Auguste Chouteau, David Barton, Freder- ick Bates, Edward Bates, Luke E. Lawless, Robert Wash, Benjamin Emmons, Merriwether Lewis and William Clark, all of whom were men who left an indelible impression upon her history, either by public life or in the force of private character and individual worth.
1
PERIOD III. FROM 1819 TO 1836.
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CHAPTER VI.
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FROM 1819 TO 1825.
ARKANSAS TERRITORY .- THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR JAMES MIL- LER .- FIRST LEGISLATURE .- FIRST NEWSPAPER .- COURTS .- SEAT OF GOVERNMENT MOVED.
BEING duly organized, the Territory was now to take its first steps in governmental procedure. On the 28th day of July, 1819, the first Territorial Legislature held its session at the Post of Arkansas. It consisted of the Governor and the Judges of the Superior Court. As Governor Miller had not at that time reached the Territory, Robert Crittenden, Secre- tary of the Territory, acted as Governor. The Judges of the court were Charles Jouett, Robert P. Letcher and Andrew Scott. They organized by the election of Charles Jouett, Speaker, and George W. Scott, Clerk. They remained in session until August 3d, 1819, and provided for the establish- ment of Circuit Courts. Arkansas and Lawrence counties being made the first circuit, and Pulaski, Clark and Hemp- stead the second. They created the offices of Territorial Auditor and Treasurer, with a salary of three hundred dollars per annum for each. George W. Scott, the Clerk, was ap- pointed Auditor, August 5th, 1819, and served until Novem- ber, 1829; James Scull was appointed Treasurer same date, and held till November, 1833.
Their earliest Act, as printed in the laws, was to declare that all laws of Missouri Territory, of a public and general nature, in conformity to the organic law of Arkansas Territory, should be in force as fully as it had been in the Territory of Missouri.
169
170
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
By the force of this Act, all the laws of Missouri Territory of general application, as set forth in Geyer's Digest of 1818, together with any enacted since that date, became the laws of Arkansas Territory.
Shortly after this session, the three judges left the Territory. Judge Scott, for the purpose of bringing his family with him on his return, and Judges Jouett and Letcher left it perma- nently. Thus Mr. Crittenden was the only State officer in it for a time, charged with the sole duty of its government. The prospect was not encouraging. The central portion of the Territory was held by the Quapaw Indians. There was only one town and two post-offices in all of its extent, to-wit: Davidsonville and Arkansas Post, and mail was received only once a month thereat ; the scanty population of 14,000, mostly new emigrants, was scattered over wide distances, and settled in small detached neighborhoods, separated by inaccessible wil- dernesses, without a road to connect them. There was not a dollar in the treasury ; a treasurer had been elected, it is true, but it was to preside over a vacant and empty treasury- and there was no hope of any help from the national treas- ury, which was then burdened with a large debt, growing out of the recent war with Great Britain. It was under such discouraging surroundings that Mr. Crittenden, at the inex- perienced age of 22 years, addressed himself to the grave task of organizing the Territory.
On the last day of October, 1819, William E. Woodruff arrived at the Post of Arkansas, and began the publication of the first newspaper in the Territory, the fifth one to be estab- lished west of the Mississippi river. Mr. Woodruff was born near Bellport, in Suffolk county, Long Island, New York, December 24th, 1795, and in 1809 worked in a printing office at Brooklyn, serving his apprenticeship therein. In 1817 he set out from his home with the intention of going west to seek his fortune. He made his way to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he purchased a canoe, and with a companion journeyed
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WILLIAM E. WOODRUFF. Founder of the first Arkansas newspaper.
I72
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
by the river to Louisville, Kentucky. From there he walked to Russellville, Kentucky, where he stayed a short time. From there he walked to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked a year at the printing business. From there he went to Franklin, Tennessee. He was undetermined whether he would locate in Nashville, Louisville, or St. Louis, but event- ually gave up the notion of going to either of these places, and as the Territory of Arkansas had just been created, determined to come to Arkansas and publish a paper. Accordingly, at Franklin, he purchased a small printing press and printer's outfit, and had it carried to the Cumberland river. It was thence transported on a keel-boat down the Cumberland to the Ohio, down the Ohio and down the Mississippi to Mont- gomery's Point, at the mouth of White river. There were but few boats that ran on the Mississippi river at that time, and none on the Arkansas. The road, from Montgomery's Point to the Post, was a mere bridle-path. No such thing as teams were to be had for hauling, nor was transportation by this means at all possible, but Mr. Woodruff was equal to the emergency. He procured two pirogues, and lashed them together to transport his freight. Pirogue is the old time name for a canoe or dug-out, usually made from the body of a large cottonwood tree. They are often as much as fifty feet long. The name is derived from the Spanish word piragua (pi- raw-gwa), and signifies a narrow boat. With the aid of two boatmen he carried the craft through the cut-off and into the Arkansas river, and from there to the Post, at which place he arrived safely with his press October 30th, 1819, having been nearly three months in making the round journey. The Post was a mere collection of huts and small houses, and contained a population of less than one hundred persons, mainly French and Indians, and with very few Americans. At the Post no house could be found in which to set up the press, but with a determination which knew no such thing as failure, Mr. Woodruff soon had a log hut in which to place the outfit, and
173
FROM 1819 TO 1825.
made ready to issue his paper. His printer experience now stood him in good stead. He set up the type, did his own presswork, was editor, and yet served in all other capacities in the office.
The first number of his paper was issued Saturday, Novem- ber 20th, 1819. It was called "The Arkansas Gazette," and it is still in existence, published at the capital, and is the leading journal of the State. It has been published regularly, first as a weekly, and afterwards as a daily and weekly, ever since that date, with the exception of the time when it was being moved to Little Rock, and a short time during the war. Mr. Wood- ruff started with not a single subscriber. Among the adver- tisements in the first issue were Robert C. Oden, lawyer, Little Rock ; Lewis & Thomas, merchants ; Stokley H. Coulter, tailor. In size the first paper was not more than eighteen inches square, but was correctly and exceedingly well exe- cuted as to type, printing and punctuation. At that time there was only one mail route in the whole Territory, and that was from St. Louis, by way of the Post, to Monroe, Louisi- ana, then called Monroe Court House. Mail was carried on horseback between these points, and was delivered once in four weeks. On the Ist day of April, 1820, Mr. Woodruff was, by resolution of the General Assembly, appointed printer for the Territory, and made the first issue of the Legislative Pro- ceedings from his press in 1821. He continued to print his paper at the Post as long as the seat of the Territorial Govern- ment was there ; but when it was moved to Little Rock, he like- wise moved the office to Little Rock, and continued the publica- tion there. The last issue of the paper at the Post was made November 24th, 1821, and the first issue at Little Rock, made December 29th, 1821, was Vol. III, No. 3, whole number 107. From that time on the paper became a great power in the Territory and the State, in the leading and moulding of public opinion. It was the only paper published
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