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 43
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In the second named proceedings the requiring of the test oath in the case of lawyers was a practical exclusion of the entire fraternity of the State, as all had been unanimous in support of the Confederacy, and should it be sustained, would entirely debar any Southern man from the ranks of the pro-
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597
FROM 1865 TO 1868.
fession. The validity of the requirement was contested in the courts by Colonel A. H. Garland, in a case entitled "Ex parte Garland," which was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States. In a masterly argument made by brief before that court, Colonel Garland established his fame as a great lawyer. The decision of the court was against the con- stitutionality of the test oath requirement, and by this means the question was set at rest for the whole country.
Under the last named Acts, proceedings were taken in the Federal Court of the Eastern District of Arkansas against a large number of persons who had taken part in the war on the Confederate side, charging them with treason. At the April term, 1865, the Grand Jury returned indictments against 243 persons, among whom were George A. Gallagher, Wil- liam R. Miller, Elbert H. English, Richard H. Johnson, Robert C. Newton, Thomas C. Hindman, John J. Clen- dennin, John C. Peay, David F. Shall, William H. Brooks, Craven Peyton, William K. Patterson and others. Warrants of arrest were issued against these parties and they were nom- inally arrested, but were not confined in custody, though oc- casionally some were required to give bond for appearance. In the case of William H. Brooks, bond in the sum of twenty thousand dollars for his appearance was required, which he gave.
The most of these cases were disposed of by the parties obtaining and pleading a pardon from the President, under the amnesty policy, which was being pursued in the admin- istration of national affairs.
Other cases not disposed of in this way were never brought to trial. In general, it may be said that no man was pun- ished by the United States through trial in any court of law, for his participation in the war. In all the body of the American laws, no statute could be found to punish any man for having followed the official action of his State-so closely were the rights of the States interwoven with the life
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
of the General Government, in the governmental plan de- vised by the Fathers of the Republic.
At this time the course of national legislation was looked to with great solicitude. President Johnson began his adminis- tration entertaining extreme views, meditating punishment for those who had been prominent in the Rebellion, and stern measures in the government of the South generally ; or, in the language of a phrase current at the time, determined to "make treason odious." In a short while, however, the President's views underwent a change, mainly, it is said, through the influence and persuasion of Secretary Seward. From having been vindictive, he now became conciliatory. He issued proclamations of pardon and amnesty, finally em- bracing all who had taken part in the Rebellion; and made provision for the prompt return to the Union of the States lately in rebellion, on the simplest and easiest conditions.
The President's policy in this respect was not satisfactory to the extremists among the Republicans, who now began to be known by the party name of "Radicals." Upon the assembling of the Thirty-ninth Congress, December, 1865, his policy was bitterly assailed, one of the grounds set forth by the public press was that through it the "fruits of the war would be lost," and finally led to such a rupture between the two, that an attempt was made by Congress to impeach the President, the first and only time that such an effort has been made in the history of the United States, but which failed by one vote when tried before the Senate, sitting as a Court of Impeachment.
Among the Acts of this Congress was one proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, to be known as the Fourteenth Amendment, conferring equal civil and political rights upon all persons; the effect being to confer such rights particularly upon the colored race. The Amendment contained the following provision :
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FROM 1865 TO 1868.
"Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representa- tive in Congress ; or Elector of President and Vice-president ; or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a Member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or re- bellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the ene- mies thereof; but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability."
Congress made the acceptance of this Amendment a con- dition precedent to the return of any of the seceded States to representation in that Body.
The last session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, which sat in December, 1866, was even more violently opposed to the President's policy of restoring the States to the Union, than the previous session had been. On the 2d of March, 1867, that Body passed an Act for the "Re-construction" of the States of the South, entitled : "An Act for the more efficient Government of the Rebel States." The preamble of the Act recited that "no legal State Governments, or adequate pro- tection for life or property now exists in the Rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Missis- sippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas and Arkansas, and (whereas) it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal and Republican State Gov- ernments can be legally established." This Act is known as "The Re-construction Act."
As far as the State of Arkansas was concerned, its preamble had no foundation in fact, for a State Government, every member of the Executive branch of which was Republican, had been in existence for three years. Everything was peace- able, and was beginning to be prosperous. The laws were executed, progress was in vogue, and the entire governmental
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
machinery was moving on smoothly. President Johnson vetoed the Bill, but it was passed by Congress over his veto.
Neither the State of Arkansas nor any other of the South- ern States, had any voice in the enactment of these laws, as they were not given any representation in Congress at the time.
The Act required that the States of the South should be divided into five Military Districts, each district governed by a military appointee. Under this provision the States of Arkansas and Mississippi were joined as the Fourth Military District, under the government of General E. O. C. Ord. The State of Arkansas was made a Sub-district, under Gen- eral Alvan C. Gillem.
The sixteenth session of the Arkansas State Legislature met at the capital November 5th, 1866, and remained in session until March 23d, 1867. It was largely Democratic, while the State Government otherwise was Republican. This led to considerable opposition between the Executive and the Legis- lature. Governor Murphy vetoed a number of Acts, but they were universally passed over his veto.
In the Senate, Reverend Andrew Hunter was elected Presi- dent, and Wyatt C. Thomas, Secretary. In the House, Brad- ley Bunch, of Carroll county, was elected Speaker, and John King, Clerk.
The Acts of general importance of the session were Acts to locate at Arkadelphia the Arkansas Institute for the Blind, which had been incorporated February 4th, 1859; providing for the erection of additional buildings upon the Penitentiary grounds ; assenting, in the name of the State of Arkansas, to the donation by Congress of lands to provide Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges ; providing for "the support of wounded and disabled soldiers, and the support of indigent widows and children of deceased soldiers, and the relief of indigent families of this State," and to furnish artificial limbs for maimed soldiers. This last-named Act directed that ten per cent. of
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FROM 1865 TO 1868.
the revenue of the State, up to $350,000, to-wit: not exceed- ing $35,000, should be reserved by the State Treasurer annu- ally for the purposes contemplated by the Act. The benefi- ciaries of the measure were to be the maimed or crippled soldiers, "disabled in the late war," or their families, "not already provided for by pension, bounty or otherwise, by the Government of the United States." This Bill was vetoed by the Governor, but was passed over his veto February 2d, 1867.
Other Acts of general importance were to declare the rights. of persons of African descent; increasing the salaries of the Auditor and Treasurer of State to $2,500 per annum, the Secretary of State to $2,000, and the Governor's Private Sec- retary to $1,500 per annum; directing the issue of deeds to persons who had contracted and paid for school lands prior to the 5th day of June, 1865, and confirming all patents issued for such lands ; Acts which were vetoed by the Governor, but passed over his veto ; creating the county of Little River ; loan- ing the faith and credit of the State in aid of the construction of railroads ; remitting interest on purchases of internal improve- ment of seminary and saline lands during the war, i. e., from May 6th, 1861, to May 6th, 1865; defining and putting on record the boundaries of the counties of Cross and Woodruff, which were created by the Legislature of 1862-3; and de- clining to accede to the Fourteenth Amendment to the Consti- tution of the United States, as proposed by Congress.
At this Legislature Hon. John T. Jones, of Helena, and Rev. Andrew Hunter, President of the Senate, were elected United States Senators. Dr. Hunter declined the office, as being incompatible with his duties as a minister, and A. H. Garland was elected to fill the vacancy. Neither of these gentlemen were allowed admission by the Senate, and so the seats remained vacant, as they had been since 1861.
On the 15th of October, 1866, Judge David Walker became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and John J. Clendennin Associate Justice, but they were ousted by General C. H.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Smith, Military Commander of the Sub-district of Arkansas, under the Re-construction Acts.
On the 15th of October, 1866, L. B. Cunningham became State Treasurer, succeeding Dr. E. D. Ayers. He served as such until August 19th, 1867, when he was ousted by the Military Government of the District, and Henry Page was appointed at that date his successor. At the same date, Oc- tober 15th, 1866, Robert H. Deadman became Attorney- General, succeeding R. S. Gantt, who had served as such from January 3Ist, 1865.
On the 12th of February, 1867, Judge T. D. W. Yonley was appointed Chancellor of the Pulaski Chancery Court, suc- ceeding Judge Lafayette Gregg, who had served as, Chancellor since November 28th, 1865.
Upon appointing the commanders for the five military dis- tricts into which the South was divided, President Johnson took the opinion of Attorney-General Stanberry as to the effect of the Re-construction Acts, and his opinion, which was in the main adverse to the validity of the law, was issued to the de- partment commanders as an order for their guidance.
Under these directions, General Ord caused a registration of voters to be made, and in November, 1867, an election was held for Delegates to a Constitutional Convention, which the law directed should be held at the capital, in January, 1868. Both the registration and the election were held under military authority. A large number of citizens who applied to regis- ter were refused registration on the ground of their having participated in Rebellion, and being in classes prohibited by the re-construction laws. In this state of affairs many Dem- ocrats did not offer to register, regarding the whole proceed- ings as unconstitutional and void. At the election for Dele- gates, likewise held under military auspices, Delegates to the convention were returned, who, generally, were Republicans.
The Convention sat in Little Rock, from January 7th to February 18th, 1868. Thomas M. Bowen was elected Presi- dent of the Body, and John G. Price, Secretary.
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FROM 1852 TO 1860.
The following is a list of the Delegates :
Arkansas county, John McClure, J. H. Hutchinson.
Ashley, W. D. Moore, G. W. Norman.
Benton, W. W. Reynolds.
Bradley, John M. Bradley.
Calhoun, William G. Hollis,
Chicot, James W. Mason.
Clark, S. Exon, M. L. Langley.
Carroll, Joseph Wright.
Columbia, Wm. A. Beasley, G. W. Mc- Cown.
Conway, Anthony Hinkle.
Craighead and Mississippi, F. R. Poole.
Crawford, Thomas M. Bowen.
Crittenden, Asa Hodges.
Cross and Poinsett, J. A. Houghton.
Dallas, Gale H. Kyle.
Desha, Clifford Stanley Sims.
Drew, R. G. Putney, S. J. Matthews.
Franklin, Robert Hatfield.
Fulton and Searcy, Wm. A. Wyatt.
Green, Hampton T. Allen .*
Hempstead, J. R. Montgomery; S. D. Belden, Richard Samuels.
Hot Spring, John W. Harrison.
Independence, Peter G. Misner, Geo. W, Dale. Izard, W. W. Adams.t Jackson, W. H. Pickett .*
Jefferson, S. W. Mallory, O. P. Snyder,
James M. Gray, William Murphy. Johnson, James Newton Sarber.
Lafayette, Alfred M. Merrick, Monroe Hawkins.
Lawrence, Bouldin Duvall.
Little River, George S. Scott.
Madison, F. M. Sams.
Marion and Newton, P. A. Williams.
Monroe, A. H. Evans.
Montgomery and Perry, J. C. Priddy. Ouachita, James P. Portis, Nathan N.
Rawlings.
Phillips, Joseph Brooks, Thos. Smith,
Wm. H. Gray, James T. White.
Pike and Polk, Elijah Kelley .*
Pope, Walter W. Brashear.
Prairie, Robert S. Gantt, William F. Hicks.
Pulaski, James L. Hodges, James Hinds, Henry Rector, Thos. P. Johnson.
Randolph, Ham. W. Ratcliffe.t
Saline, James H. Shoppach.
Scott, Charles H. Oliver.
Sebastian, Moses Bell.
Sevier, Joseph H. Corbell.
St. Francis, Daniel Coates.
Union, R. C. Van Hook, I. L. Wilson.
Van Buren, Jesse Millsap.
Washington, Charles W. Walker, James M. Hoge.
White, Jesse N. Cypert, Thomas Owen. Woodruff, W. H. Gray .*
Yell and Franklin, Monroe Rounsaville.
(*) Never Present.
(+) Present one day.
A Constitution was framed to be submitted to a vote to be had March 13th, 1868. At the same a vote was to be had for the election of State officers. James L. Hodges, Joseph Brooks, and Thomas M. Bowen were appointed a State Board of Commissioners to declare the result of the vote on the adoption or rejection of the Constitution.
The instrument contained provisions with relation to franchise, making registration a prerequisite for voting, the effect of which was that any person to whom registration
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
should be denied was thereby precluded from voting; and refusing the privilege of either registering or voting to a large number of citizens-about 25,000-in the State. The dis- franchisement which it contained was similar to that con- tained in the re-construction laws.
Notwithstanding these laws, the Democratic vote was in an unquestioned majority in the State. They were not, how- ever, agreed as to their course. Most of the leaders were in favor of subscribing to the oath required by the re-construc- laws, and casting the full vote against the instrument. Others, following the direction of Attorney-General Stanberry's opin- ion, were inclined to look upon the whole proceeding as null and void, and counseling that Democratic voters should take no part in the election, and should refrain from voting ; or, as the phrase of the times went, should "stand boldly aloof." Others refrained from different reasons. The party conven- tion, and the party press generally, advocated that all should turn out and vote, but it is not improbable that the holding aloof policy kept many from doing so.
The vote on the Constitution was held during five days- March 13th to 18th. The vote, as given in General Gillem's report, was :
Number voting for Constitution, 27,913; number voting against Constitution, 26,597 ; majority for Constitution, 1,316; total vote cast, 54,510. The total registered vote, as given in said report, was 73,784. This would indicate that there were 19,274 registered votes in the State, which were not cast at the election at all. The report mentioned a number of irreg- ularities, among which was 1, 195 more votes cast in Pulaski county than there were registered voters, and in Jefferson county 730 persons voting who were registered in other coun- ties ; but as to which General Gillem reported that he "could not tell whether they voted for or against the Constitution."
On the Ist of April, 1868, the State Board of Commis- sioners issued their proclamation, reciting that, "it appears
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FROM 1865 TO 1868.
that a majority of the votes cast were cast for the Constitution," and declaring it ratified and in force from that date.
The election for delegates to the convention, and the elec- tion on the adoption of the Constitution, was the first time at which the negro vote was cast at an election in Arkansas.
At this last named election the following State officers were chosen, of Republican politics, to-wit : Governor, Powell Clay- ton ; Lieutenant-Governor, James M. Johnson ; Secretary of State, Robert J. T. White ; Auditor, James R. Berry ; Treas- urer, Henry Page ; Attorney-General, John R. Montgomery ; Chancellor of Pulaski Chancery Court, T. D. W. Yonley. Justices of the Supreme Court : Thomas M. Bowen, Lafay- ette Gregg, William M. Harrison and John McClure. On the organization of the Court, W. W. Wilshire was appointed Chief Justice by the Governor. N. W. Cox was appointed Clerk, and D. P. Upham, Clerk of Chancery Court.
The Democrats claimed that great frauds were perpetrated in the election by the exclusion of those entitled to vote, by repeating, and in other ways, whereby the Constitution was really largely voted down. Colonel Francis A. Terry, the Chairman of the Democratic State Central Committee, was active in presenting a great number of affidavits to prove the truth of the charges, but in the end it availed nothing. The Constitution was sustained, and the State was admitted to representation by Act of Congress of May 13th, 1868. Pres- ident Johnson vetoed the Bill, but it was passed over his veto. When this was done, the reign of the military ceased, and the control of affairs was turned over to the civil authorities.
CHAPTER XXVII.
FROM 1868 TO 1873.
THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF GOVERNORS POWELL CLAYTON AND O. A. HADLEY.
THE State Government, under the new Constitution, began its existence July 2d, 1868, at which date Governor Clayton was inaugurated and the other officers were inducted into of- fice.
Governor Powell Clayton, the ninth Governor of the State, was born in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, August 7th, 1833. He lived in that county until reaching manhood, was educated there, and attended the Military Academy at Bristol, Pennsylvania. In 1855 he emigrated to Kansas, and located at Leavenworth, where he pursued civil engineering. On the breaking out of the war, he enlisted in the First Kansas Infantry, organized at Leavenworth, and was made a Cap- tain therein. With his regiment he took part in the battle of Oak Hill, or Wilson's Creek, the regiment losing many men in the engagement. He was then made Lieutenant-Colonel, and afterwards Colonel of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, and was at Helena, under General Curtis, in the battle there, July 4th, 1863. He was then with General Steele in the capture of Little Rock, and was assigned to the command of Pine Bluff, which place he held until the close of the war, when he was mustered out of service. During his command at Pine Bluff he had two encounters with Confederate Cavalry, one in the attack on Pine Bluff, by General Marmaduke, which was re- pulsed; and the other, with a force under General Dockery, at
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POWELL CLAYTON. Ninth Governor of the State.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Mount Elba, on the Saline river, in which he made capture of a number of prisoners. For gallantry in this last named engagement he was promoted to Brigadier-General.
Shortly after the war he married Miss B. A. McGraw, of Helena. Of this marriage four children were born. He set- tled on a plantation, near Pine Bluff, in 1867, and in the pro- ceedings in the canvass and election on the Constitution he became, and still is, the leader of the Republican party in the State. After serving one term as Governor, he was, in 1871, elected United States Senator to succeed Alexander MacDon- ald, and served as such to 1877, after which he settled at Eureka Springs, Carroll county, becoming largely interested in the railroad leading from Seligman, Missouri, to Eureka Springs.
On becoming Governor, he chose as his Private Secretary, first, Keyes Danforth, and, afterwards, James H. Barton.
The seventeenth session of the Legislature of Arkansas met at the capital April 2d, and held two sessions: the first extending from April 2d to July 23d, 1868, and the second sitting from November 17th, 1868, to April 10th, 1869-the two sessions embracing 255 days. James M. Johnson was President of the Senate, and I. W. Carhart, Secretary. In the House, John G. Price, of Pulaski county, was elected Speaker, and Frank E. Wright, Clerk. In politics it was almost entirely Republican.
The Acts of general application, passed at the first session, were Acts bestowing civil rights upon the colored race ; provid- ing for the registration of voters, and the revision thereof; ap- pointing a Commissioner of Immigration and State Lands ; es- tablishing the Arkansas Deaf Mute Institute; creating the county of Sharp; directing the preparation of a Code of Practice in Civil and Criminal Cases ; pledging State aid to the construction of railroads; moving the State School for the Blind from Arkadelphia to Little Rock; establishing free common schools; making a general incorporation law for
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FROM 1868 TO 1873.
cities and towns, and for railroad companies ; repealing the Act of 1867 for pardon and amnesty ; authorizing counties to subscribe stock to railroads ; establishing the Arkansas Indus- trial University ; and adopting the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States-this last of date July 20th, 1868.
One of the highly important Acts of this Legislature was the establishment of the "Arkansas Deaf and Mute Insti- tute." The following account of the institution is taken from the public press of 1888 :
"THE ARKANSAS DEAF MUTE INSTITUTE .- On July 10th, 1867, Joseph Mount, a deaf mute, opened a school in Little Rock, supported by the city. By an Act of the Legislature, approved July 17th, 1868, this school was incorporated as 'The Arkansas Deaf Mute Institute,' and permanently lo- cated at Little Rock. The first Board of Trustees were : John Wassell, President; Robert J. T. White, Albert W. Bishop, Geo. R. Weeks, and Henry Page. On February 28th, 1869, Mr. Mount, the Principal, left, and the school was carried on under one of the older pupils until June 26th, when Prof. Marquis L. Brock became Principal, but only re- mained until the 26th of February following, when he re- turned to the Illinois institution, whence he came. In April, 1870, Prof. Elmore P. Caruthers took charge, and from that time the institute entered upon a career of prosperity that re- ceived no check till 1875. In the spring of that year, owing to financial trouble, growing out of the political struggle in the State, the school was closed. At that time there were seventy-nine pupils in attendance, and it was not until 1886 that the pupils reached that number again."
About the year 1868 an organization came into existence in the South, called the "Kuklux Klan," which was productive of much trouble in the administration of affairs. It is said that it had its origin in a masquerading frolic of some young men
39
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
in Georgia, and was intended for no other purpose than harmless amusement; but as the organization grew larger, and spread into neighboring States, it became uncontrollable, and acts of violence were committed by its members, which brought the society or "Klan" under the ban of repression by law, and it ceased to exist.
The order undoubtedly existed in Arkansas, either as a regular organization, or else by its acts being followed and imi- tated, and a number of secret murders and acts of violence were committed, which were charged to have been done or promp- ted by the "Klan," until it was broken up by the Legisla- ture of 1889, passing a law declaring it to be a felony to belong to it. In the summer of 1868, James Hinds and Joseph Brooks were on their way to a political meeting, at Indian Bay, Monroe county, when they were fired on from the bushes, and Hinds was instantly killed, and Mr. Brooks was wounded. The assassination of Hinds created a profound sensation, and was one of the many acts arising to add to the troubled condition of affairs at the time. It was believed to have been done by "Kuklux."
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