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 15
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The line thus surveyed was re-surveyed and located in 1844 and 1845 by Commissioners from Missouri and Arkansas. Hon. Davis Thompson for Arkansas, and Governor Dunklin and Dr. George Penn for Missouri. Governor Dunklin died during the progress of the work, and Dr. Penn succeeded him.
On the 6th of October, 1823, the Third Territorial Legis- lature sat at Little Rock, remaining in session till October 3Ist. Sam C. Roane was elected President of the Legis- lative Council, and Thomas W. Newton, Secretary. Mr. Newton was at that time only in his nineteenth year.
201
FROM 1819 TO 1825.
The House of Representatives organized by the election of Terence Farrelly, of Arkansas county, Speaker, and D. E. Mckinney, Clerk. The principal Act of the session was to create the office of Prosecuting Attorney, and establish the different circuits for Courts. W. B. R. Horner, of Phillips county, was appointed Prosecuting Attorney, November Ist, 1823, for the first circuit ; Robert C. Oden, of Pulaski county, for the second, and Townsend Dickinson, of Independence county, for the third. One new county was created, to-wit: the county of Chicot, formed October 25th, 1823.
By an Act of Congress, of date May 26th, 1824, secured mainly through the influence of Henry W. Conway, Dele- gate, the western boundary line of the Territory was fixed at a point forty miles west of the western boundary of Missouri, where it had been fixed by the Act of 1819, creating the Ter- ritory, and running thence south to Red river, thence down Red river to Louisiana. This added to our domain a strip of country forty miles wide by about two hundred miles long ; but this splendid advantage was lost, and the boundaries were cut down through subsequent treaties, by the United States, with the Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, whereby the line between us and the Choctaws was agreed to be a line which should commence on the south bank of the Arkansas river, one hundred paces east of Fort Smith-the old fort, not the town-and run thence due south to Red river; and with the Cherokees, May 28th, 1828, the line between us and the Cherokee Nation was agreed to be a line which should run from Fort Smith, northwesterly, to the southwest corner of the State of Missouri; and these have since remained the lines between us and those Nations. The line between us and the Cherokees was surveyed by the United States, and was completed November 19th, 1828. Robert Crittenden, acting Governor, issued his proclamation January 7th, 1829, requiring all white persons living west of that line to move east of it within ninety days from that date, as all west of it belonged to the Indians.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
The treaty with the Choctaws, by which so much of our western border was clipped off, caused great indignation throughout the Territory. The district ceded to the Choctaws was largely filled with white settlers; the number of them is stated to have been five thousand, of whom fully two-thirds moved into that portion of Mexico which now is Texas, and were thus lost to the Territory. It included Fort Gibson, and other towns now situated in the Indian country. Congress made provision to compensate persons who had lost lands in this way; for all settlers were required to move out of the ceded area ; but though it could give them new lands, and the value of improvements left behind, it could not give them new homes.
The extent of country ceded to the Choctaws was described as follows: "Beginning on the Arkansas river, where the lower boundary line of the Cherokees strikes the same, thence up the Arkansas to the Canadian Fork, and up the same to its source, thence due south to the Red river, thence down Red river three miles below the mouth of Little river, which empties itself into Red river on the north side, thence a direct line to the beginning. The point at which the lower Cherokee line struck the Arkansas river, as defined by the treaty of July 8th, 1817, was a point on the north side of the river, at the mouth of Point Remove, or Budwell's old place, running thence by a straight line northwardly, to strike Chataunga Mountain, or the hill first above Shield's Ferry, on White river. The point on Red river three miles below the mouth of Little river, would be not far from the present town of Fulton, so that the western boundary line of this ces- sion was a line which would run from near Fulton north- eastwardly to Point Remove, now in Faulkner county.
By another treaty with that Nation, of date January 20th, 1852, negotiated by John C. Calhoun, the Choctaws ceded to the United States all lands east of line beginning one hundred paces east of the old Fort Smith, and running thence south
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FROM 1819 TO 1825.
to Red river, comprising 5,030,912 acres. The treaty refers to the previous cession to the Choctaws, and recites that it had been ascertained that said cession embraced a large num- ber of settlers, who were citizens of the United States.
By means of this last mentioned treaty, the 5,030,912 acres of what had been lost in the previous treaty was recovered. President John Quincy Adams appointed James S. Conway, of Lafayette county, afterwards Governor, to run this line, 150 . miles in length. He did so, the work occupying nearly three months, and this survey has since remained our western bound- ary line. Thirty years afterwards the line was re-traced by other surveyors, and throughout its entire length the new survey did not vary an inch from the old one, so straight and correct had the line been run in the first instance.
In 1855, during the administration of President Buchanan, a farther effort was made to disturb the western boundary line, and directions were given by the Interior Department for a survey to be made with a view of adding to the Choctaw country a strip of land ten miles wide, and one hundred and fifty miles long, off of the western portion of the State, extending from the south bank of the Arkansas river to Red river. The Indians had been given to understand by agents or interested parties that the land would be ceded to them, and taking the matter in advance, numbers of them had crossed the State line and staked off parcels of lands, oftentimes the improved farms of white settlers, who had held patents for the land for a quarter of a century, with a view of occupying them when the cession should be made. These proceedings created great uneasiness and alarm among the inhabitants of that particular district ; and the then Governor, Elias N. Conway, took the matter in hand and entered such a vigorous protest against the proceeding that the Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Jacob Thompson, gave orders that no survey should be made, and recalled the surveyors, and the matter ended. The Choctaws failing to get the land, a claim was made against the United
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
States Government in their name for compensation to the amount of $3,000,000.00 for their failure. This subject has since been known as the Choctaw claim, efforts have been made before Congress and the Departments to secure the allowance and payment of the matter, but without success.
On the 15th of November, 1824, occurred the treaty with the Quapaws, the one negotiated by Robert Crittenden, which has been mentioned, whereby they ceded to the United States the 1,500,000 acres out of the central portion of the State, which had been reserved to them in the treaty of 1818. In the witnesses to this treaty were the names of many who were either then or who afterwards became well known in the annals of the State, such as Thomas W. Newton, Secretary to the Commission ; Robert C. Oden, Lieut .- Col. 2d Regi- ment Arkansas Militia; Terence Farrelly, Adjutant-General of Militia; Gordon Neill, Edmund Hogan, Thomas W. Johnston, Antoine Barraque, David Barber, Etienne Vau- gine, who acted as interpreter, and Bartley Harrington, who afterwards became a member of the Legislature from Arkan- sas county, and at whose house the treaty was concluded. When the treaty was presented by Mr. Newton, Secretary of the Commission, to Secretary Calhoun, the latter, when he had been made acquainted with its features, remarked that it was the best treaty which the United States had ever made with any tribe of Indians.
1
CHAPTER VII.
FROM 1825 TO 1829.
ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR GEORGE IZARD .- AMBROSE H. SEVIER. FIRST STEAMBOAT.
ON the 5th of March, 1825, President John Quincy Adams appointed General George Izard, of South Carolina, Gov- ernor of the Territory of Arkansas. He assumed the duties of the office in the latter part of the month, and held the same until his death, in the latter part of 1828. Robert Crit- tenden, Secretary of the Territory, was urged for the Gov- ernorship, and was supported for the position by Henry W. Conway, the Delegate from the Territory, but Governor Izard received the appointment, Mr. Crittenden remaining Secretary.
Governor Izard was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in September, 1777. He received a classical education, and in 1794 was appointed a Lieutenant in the United States Army. In 1803 he was Captain of Artillery. In the War of 1812 he was appointed Colonel of the Second Artillery, and was promoted to Brigadier, and afterwards to Major-General, and at one time was placed in command of the northwest frontier. His corps was disbanded in 1815. He died in Lit -. tle Rock, November 22d, 1828, and is now buried in Mt. Holly Cemetery, where a plain tablet marks his resting place. He is interred in the family burying ground of the Ashley family. His remains were moved to their present resting place by direction of Col. Chester Ashley, on the establish- ment of that cemetery, in 1843.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
The following, from an extended account of Governor Izard, appears in "Niles' Register," published in Baltimore, in 1814, supplemented by statements as to him, made by Judge Dan- iel T. Witter, who was intimately acquainted with him during his term of service as Governor :
"General George Izard was born in Charleston, South Car- olina, in the month of September, 1777, and is the second son of Ralph Izard, Esq., who was a gentleman of large for- tune and high respectability, in South Carolina. Mr. Izard, having been charged by Congress, during the Revolution, with a secret mission to one of the Courts of Europe, took his family to Paris, where they resided until the peace of 1783.
"Here George commenced his studies under the care of a private tutor in the family, and showed great aptitude in the acquirement of classical learning. He was particularly dis- tinguished for a turn for the mathematics, in which he made great proficiency at an early age. His father having returned to America at the conclusion of the war, was, on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, in 1789, elected to represent South Carolina in the Senate of the United States. He, therefore, removed to New York, and entered George at Columbia College, where he was placed, on examination, at the head of his class, although the youngest boy in it. As he was intended for a military life, his father obtained from the President of the United States, in 1792, a subaltern commis- sion for him in the Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers (as it was then called), with permission to send him to Europe, for the purpose of qualifying him in his profession. He was ac- cordingly sent to England, under the care of General Thomas Pinckney, who was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James. By General Pinckney he was placed in a military school near London, until arrangements could be made for sending him to Germany, where the best military instructors were then supposed to be obtained. He was, af-
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FROM 1825 TO 1829.
ter some time, transferred to one of those institutions of great celebrity on the Continent, where he remained for two years. Great attention was then paid to the exercise of the body, in which the young American was found to excel, nature having endowed him with an uncommon portion of strength and ac- tivity.
"On Mr. Monroe's appointment as Minister to France his influence was used to obtain for young Izard permission to en- ter the Corps of French Engineers, and, as the American Government was then high in favor, the request was granted. This is said to be the only instance of a foreigner having been admitted into that corps. In this situation he had the best means afforded him of acquiring a knowledge of the most useful branch of military science. Having completed his studies, and received from the officers at the head of the Insti- tution ample testimonials of approbation, he returned to America, in the year 1797, and joined the regiment. On the commencement of hostilities between France and the United States, in 1798, Captain Izard was appointed engineer for the harbor of Charleston, and erected, with great despatch, some works for its defense.
"In 1799, he was appointed Aide de Camp to the Inspector- General (the late Alexander Hamilton), in which position he remained until the disputes between France and America were compromised by treaty. No active service offering at that time, Captain Izard was indulged with a furlough, to ac- company our Minister to the Court of Lisbon, in the capacity of Private Secretary, but in reality to afford him an opportunity of traveling on the Continent of Europe, various countries of which he visited. On his return to America, in 1802, finding the Army of the United States placed on a very reduced es- tablishment, Captain Izard resigned his commission, married a lady from the State of Virginia, and found himself in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where he continued to reside until his nomination to the command of a regiment of artillery."
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
This was in the War of 1812, and shortly after this he was made a Brevet Major-General, and assigned - to an important command on the Canadian frontier.
Continuing, Judge Witter adds to the foregoing notice :
"Before the Army assigned to General Izard could be or- ganized and brought into the field, General Brown had met and repulsed the main British Army at Chippewa and Lundy's Lane; and General McComb, at Plattsburgh had defeated and driven back, with great disorder and loss, the only re- maining British force then on that frontier. As the cold season was then rapidly advancing, and no enemy within striking distance, the command of General Izard went early into winter quarters to await the issues of the coming campaign.
"In December following, the treaty of peace was entered into between the United States and Great Britain, and the war closed without giving the General or the army he com- manded an opportunity of distinguishing themselves on the battle-field. At the close of the war, General Izard resigned his commission, and returned to his family in Philadelphia, where he lived in refined and literary retirement until the spring of 1825, when he was appointed by the then President of the United States-John Quincy Adams-Governor of the Territory of Arkansas, in place of General James Miller, re- signed. General Izard was of princely presence, and of noble physique-a true type of the southern gentleman of the old school."
Judge Witter relates that, on entering upon the discharge of his duties, Governor Izard found a considerable propensity on the part of the Legislature to grant divorces, and that the business of the sessions of the General Assembly was fairly clogged with applications and bills therefor, but he announced at once his intention to withhold his approval of any bill of that character, which had the effect of breaking up the prac- tice, and eventually to turn all such matters into the Courts, where they were susceptible of more exact adjudication.
209
FROM 1825 TO 1829.
Governor Izard was of opinion that the correct method of spelling the name of the State was Ar-kan-sa. Docu- ments are now in existence, in which the name of the State is spelled in that way by him. On beginning the duties of his office he found in the stationery for public use a number of blank commissions for officers in the "Territory of Arkansas." Being obliged to use them before he could procure others differently spelled, he was careful to erase the final s to the name, as being an interloper, and having no proper place there.
The fourth Territorial Legislature convened at Little Rock, October 3d, 1825, and remained in session until November 3d. Jacob Barkman, one of the pioneers of Clark county, and a resident of the Territory before the county was formed, was President of the Legislative Council, and Thomas W. Newton, Secretary. Of the House, Robert Bean, of Inde- pendence county, was Speaker, and David Barber, Clerk. The labors of the session were largely devoted to the forma- tion of new counties. Conway county was formed out of Pulaski, October 20th ; Crittenden county was formed out of Phillips, October 22d, and Izard county was formed out of Independence, October 27th.
In the matter of the apportionment of arms to the Militia, the United States report of this year, 1827, shows that the number of Militia in the Territory at that time was 2,028, to whom 25 muskets had been apportioned and issued.
On the 2d day of March, 1827, Congress passed an Act granting twenty sections of land, the proceeds of which should go to the establishment of a seminary of learning in Arkan- sas. A supplemental Act was passed March 2d, 1833, di- recting the Governor to offer the lands for sale at public sale. On the 7th of May of this last named year Governor Pope issued his proclamation, giving notice that the lands thus granted would be sold at public sale on the first Monday of November.
14
210
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
On the admission of the State into the Union, Congress, by an Act of the 23d of June, 1836, confirmed the seventy-two sections which had been selected as seminary lands to the State of Arkansas, to be applied to the support of an institu- tion of learning. On the 18th of December, 1844, the Legislature passed a resolution requesting Congress to consent to a modification of this compact, so as to allow them to apply the seventy-two sections to common schools. Congress gave its consent thereto July 29th, 1846, and thereafter the pro- ceeds of these lands have been distributed to the several coun- ties whenever sold.
The fifth session of the Territorial Legislature was held October Ist to 31st, 1827, with Daniel T. Witter, of Hemp- stead county, President of the Council, and Thomas W. New- ton, Secretary ; and A. H. Sevier, of Pulaski county, Speaker of the House, and Andrew Roane, Clerk. A special session of this Legislature was also held October 6th to 28th, 1828, with E. T. Clark, President of the Council, and Charles Cald- well, Secretary; John Wilson, of Hempstead county, Speaker of the House, and Daniel Ringo, Clerk.
A considerable portion of its labors was devoted to the formation of new counties, of which four were created, to-wit : St. Francis county was formed out of Phillips, October 13th, 1827 ; Lafayette county out of Hempstead, October 15th, 1827, and Loveley county was formed October 13th, 1827, out of a body of land in the extreme northwest corner of the Territory, not previously assigned to any county. This body of land was what was known as "the Loveley purchase," and was in that scope of country added by the Act of Congress of 1824, lying west of the western boundary line of Missouri.
The year 1827 witnessed the outgrowth of party spirit among the people, which now for the first time made its ap- pearance. Up to the year 1825 there had been the utmost harmony in all directions. After that date little bickerings began to arise which were augmented by concurring events,
2II
FROM 1825 TO 1829.
until they obtained such full headway as to produce the utmost discord and distraction, and which even resulted in bloodshed. Mr. Crittenden said on this subjectin his address, on becoming a candidate for Congress in 1833 :
"When Governor Izard reached here in 1825 we had been six years a Territory, yet up to that time no party spirit had distracted our country. We might then have challenged the Union to show a more united or harmonious people. We were then one, and recognized a common interest. No news- paper scribblers had then been found hardy enough to hint at discord, or those party feuds and conflicts which have since distracted us at home, and sunk us in the estimation of the good and virtuous abroad."
Shortly after Governor Izard's advent into the Territory a personal difference arose between himself and Mr. Crittenden, which resulted in a coolness between the two. This was fol- lowed by a series of articles in the Gazette over the signature of "Jawbone," and "A voter of Pulaski county," which were a continued attack upon Mr. Crittenden, and designed as charged for the purpose of "putting him down." He responded in a severe and bitter manner directed against the supposed author, or authors of the articles ; and this was kept up for a considerable time, many publications passing, until public opinion in the town was in a ferment of excitement over it. Eventually it drew other persons into the controversy, and tended greatly to augment the state of bad feeling which was at that time springing into existence. The inhabi- tants of the Territory generally had become divided into two political parties, of which Robert Crittenden was the leader of one, and Henry W. Conway was the leader of the other. They were known respectively as the Crittenden party and the Conway party.
In this and succeeding years there also occured a number of homicides and personal conflicts, so frequent indeed as to give the community an undesirable name abroad; and one which
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
we, their descendants, have found it difficult to overcome, even after long years of integrity and peace. One relic of those times is likely to be handed down to time immemorial in the name the people commonly bear. We are extensively known as the "Tooth-pick" State, because in the times now being treated of, it was customary for the people generally to go armed ; and the common weapon was a Bowie-knife of a peculiar pattern, and which was absurdly said to be used by the natives for a tooth-pick. From the frequency with which they were carried, the people generally got the name of it, and no matter that it has long ago been discontinued, the name still clings in the public mind.
During the first week of September, 1827, a duel was fought at Point Remove, now in Conway county, a few miles above Little Rock, between Thomas W. Newton and Am- brose H. Sevier.
Hon. George W. Jones, a brother-in-law of Judge Andrew Scott, and who was afterward United States Senator from Iowa, acted as Mr. Newton's second ; Dr. William P. Rey- burn acted as his surgeon, and Robert C. Oden as his friend. Col. Wharton Rector acted as Sevier's second ; Dr. Nimrod Menefee as his surgeon, and there was a friend accompany- ing him, whose name has not been obtained. Mr. Jones, now General, had recently came to Arkansas on a visit to his relatives, and brought with him a pair of dueling pistols which he presented to Mr. Newton, with which the duel was fought. They were of the flint-lock pattern, as were all fire-arms of that day. The adversaries took positions, standing sideways, ten paces apart, with the muzzles of the pistols down. Both be- haved with great coolness and courage. By lot, it fell to Mr. Jones to give the word, which was to be, "Gentlemen, are you ready? Fire ! One, two, three, stop !" At or about the word "two" both pistols were discharged, but neither party was hit. A second shot was demanded, whereupon the pistols were re- loaded, and placed in the hands of the principals. Posi-
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FROM 1825 TO 1829.
tions were taken for the second fire, when Dr. Menefee jumped in between them, and dashing his cap violently upon the ground, exclaimed, "Gentlemen, this thing must stop. Mr. Jones, can we not have a settlement of this duel?" Mr. Jones replied, "It is for Col. Rector to say." Col. Rector said, "I am willing for a parley." The two surgeons and mutual friends then went off, and after a short consultation returned, when Dr. Menefee said, "It is agreed that these gentlemen, never having had any quarrel, and always being on good terms, shall shake hands and be friends." Mr. Jones then commanded, "Gentlemen, march up; now, shake hands." It was done, and thus the affair ended, and the parties re- mained on good terms thereafter. In fact, there had been no unfriendliness between them prior to the incidents of the meet- ing. The duel grew out of a remark made by Mr. Sevier at a barbecue, expressing a wish to fight the writer of a certain newspaper article which had recently appeared over a nom de plume criticising Henry W. Conway, and which was being commented on at the barbecue. The remark being circulated about, and it coming to be understood that the article in ques- tion was Mr. Newton's writing, what Mr. Sevier had said was repeated to him. Whereupon Mr. Newton avowed him- self to be the author of the piece. Following which the meet- ing was arranged, and took place as above stated.
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