USA > Arkansas > Faulkner County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Garland County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Grant County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Hot Spring County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Jefferson County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Lonoke County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Perry County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Pulaski County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
USA > Arkansas > Saline County > Biographical and historical memoirs of Pulaski, Jefferson, Lonoke, Faulkner, Grant, Saline, Perry, Garland and Hot Spring counties, Arkansas, comprising a condensed history of the statebiographies of distinguished citizens...[etc.] > Part 21
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JEFFERSON COUNTY.
whom the offices are equitably distributed on the principle that, as the white man have the great bulk of the property, they shall occupy the offices that have most to do in governing taxation. The ticket made by this committee has no rival and is sure of election. This applies to local affairs only, as in presidential contests the county has of late years been as thoroughly Republican as it was Dem- ocratic in ante-bellum days. The general satisfac- tion with this method is everywhere apparent, and is due largely to the influence of moderate and sensible men of both parties and races, who are making honest endeavor to demonstrate a very knotty proposition.
The only court of especial interest is that of the circuit, which was provided for in the act of county erection. Its first record reads as follows: "June term, 1830. At a Circuit Court commenced and held by the honorable Benjamin Johnson, one of the judges of the Superior Court of the Territory of Arkansas, at the house of Joseph Bone [ Bonne], in and for the county of Jefferson, erected out of certain designated portions of the counties of Pulaski and Arkansas by an act of the General Assembly of the said Territory, bearing date of the second day of November one thousand eight hun- dred and twenty-nine, the county of Jefferson being one of the counties composing the second judicial circuit of the said Territory, and assigned to the honorable Benjamin Johnson to hear pleas in on Monday, the twenty-eighth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty." It also gives these grand jurors: "William Arbuckle, foreman; Alex. B. Jones, Louis Darden, Wesley Tracy, David Musick, Antoine Duchesson, Asa Mason, John Manuel, Antoine Kelly, Alex. Slater, William Bailey, Hiram Reid, H. L. Allen, Raphael Brumback, Jacob Callicote, John Noble, Francis Darden, Samuel Davis and Wigton King."
The first action was on the jurisdiction over Israel Emery in a murder case. The first court held in the town of Pine Bluff began December 24, 1832.
The legal fraternity of Jefferson County or Pine Bluff has always been one of prominence in the State-men, too, who have been prominent in
governmental affairs. Among the most influential from the first have been Gov. S. C. Roane, M. W. Dorris, Gen. James Yell, Gov. John S. Roane, Judge J. W. Bocage, Solon B. Jones, Capt. A. T. Stewart, Senator R. W. Johnson, Col. M. L. Bell, Col. W. P. Grace, A. B. Grace, Judge J. C. Murray, Judge W. M. Harrison, R. E. Waters, John S. Anderson, Maj. Herman Carlton, Col. O. A. Bradshaw, Judge D. W. Carroll, W. M. Gallo- way, W. F. Owen. C. M. Tannehill, R. B. Me- Cracken, Judge Ira McL. Barton, Judge H. B. Morse, Col. M. L. Jones, Judge John A. Williams, Gen. H. King White, Col. N. T. White, Judge J. M. Elliott, Judge W. E. Hemingway, Judge W. S. MeCain, Judge T. F. Sorrells, John M. Taylor, J. G. Taylor, Sam. M. Taylor, Col. John M. Clay- ton, Judge W. P. Stephens, Senator John W. Crawford, N. A. Austin, J. M. Cunningham, Thomas J. Ormsby and others of briefer residence. S. J. Hollingsworth is the most notable among the colored bar.
The work of the courts of Jefferson County has been characterized more probably by land litigation and debt than anything else. Its criminal prac- tice has not been very extensive or notable. The first case of execution was about 1847, when Judge J. W. Bocage was prosecutor, and Col. W. P. Grace, in his maiden speech, plead for the defense -- the only criminal case he ever lost in his remark- able career as a criminal lawyer. Since that time there have been less than a half dozen executions in the whole career of the courts. Colored law- yers were not generally in practice until during the 70's.
The circuit judges who have presided over the circuit containing this county have been: Judges Benjamin Johnson Roysden, Euclid L. Johnson, Isaac Baker (1840), W. H. Sutton (1845), Josiah Gould (1849), John C. Murray (1851), T. F. Sor- rells (1853), John C. Murray (1858), W. M. Harri- son (1865), H. P. Morse (1868), John A. Williams (1874), X. J. Pindall, (1878), J. A. Williams (1882), and John M. Elliott (1888).
In connection with the bench and bar of the county may be mentioned a list of Jefferson's citizens who served in Congress: Senator R. W.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Johnson, 1855 to 1861; Representatives R. W. Johnson, a part of the time between 1847 and 1853; A. A. C. Rogers (seat contested by J. T. Elliott), 1869 to 1871; O. P. Snyder, 1871 to 1873; same (contested by M. L. Bell), 1873 to 1875; C. R. Breckinridge, State-at-large, 1883-85, 1885-87, 1887-89, and 1889-91.
Post-offices are usually centers about which villages spring up, and, with that basis, the fol- lowing list in Jefferson County seems happily pro- phetic: Altheimer, Bankhead, Cornerstone, Dex- ter, Double Wells, Fairfield, Faith, Garretson's Landing, Greely, Greenback, Grier, Humphrey, Jefferson, Kearney, Linwood, Locust Cottage, Macon, Madding, New Gascony, Noble's Lake, Nubia, Pastoria, Pine Bluff, Plum Bayou, Rain- ey, Red Bluff, Redfield, Rob Roy, Sleeth, Toronto, Wabbaseka, English, Swan Lake, and Williamette. But as far as the past or even present is concerned Pine Bluff and the county are almost synonymous, for the activity and much of the population cen- tered there from the beginning, and what villages now exist outside the capital are very recent de- velopments of railway shipping points. It is safe to say that over one third of the county reside in Pine Bluff, and that over half of these are white.
As to age, St. Mary's Landing and New Gas- cony store are the oldest, both settled in French times. Rob Roy and Pine Bluff were founded about the same time. Garretson's Landing and Wabbaseka are also very old places. Others have grown up within a decade almost.
As to size, Pine Bluff, Redfield, Altheimer, Jefferson Springs and Rob Roy are the order of those that can be called towns.
Pine Bluff is so thoroughly identified with the county that it seems superfluous to treat it sepa- rately. The land was entered in 1831, by Joseph Bonne, although he had settled here as early as 1819. This comprised the "old town." He soon sold it to John T. Pullen, one of the first English settlers in this region, who not long after disposed of it to "Pinkard, Chowning, Davis & Dawson," a firm of non-residents. It is variously claimed that the first lots were laid out by Mr. Pullen, Mr. A. H. Davis, in 1837, and John E. Graham, still
later, but the probability is that Mr. Pullen made the first and the others additions or re surveys. About 1843 this company sold the site to Gens. James and Yell, and subsequent extensions will be found in connection with the incorporation.
Besides those mentioned, one of the early fam- ilies of the place was that of James N. Buck, of whose children (Irving O., John L. and Eliza E.) Col. John L. lived to be the oldest citizen of the town. Another old settler was Drew White and family. Joseph Bonne owned the first tavern, which was kept by a Spaniard named Casamns, and the cooking was done by old Corey Brown's wife, a colored woman. James Buck and Drew White also had taverns at "the Bluff" until the war. A Mr. Fugate gave his name to a street by keeping the first store at the north end. Among other early business men were Messrs. Dorris, Maulding, Hewes, James, Scull, Tucker, Bird, Greenfield and Kay .*
From this beginning "the Bluff" gradually began to be a river trading point; manufactories sprung up from time to time; a wholesale and sup- ply trade began to spread; men of large estates made Pine Bluff their home; some of the ablest legal talent of the State located, and finally the war came and caused general ruin to estates, busi- ness, and society, although the town itself was not seriously destroyed by anything but general decay.
The period of reconstruction was one of slow growth, and it was not until about 1870 that the new Pine Bluff began to make itself known by a vig- orous but not intermittent growth, which promises to make it the rival of any city in the State. The new surroundings and independent movements of both races in developing the great cotton belt of this State have had their effect on Pine Bluff. It has made large increase in local capital, and as a home for large planters who are also investors in commerce and business generally, has contributed to the place a solidity of growth and structure plainly evident to the most ordinary observer.
The manufactures of Pine Bluff began in 1850 with a small foundry by Henry Cloyes; he after-
*Acknowledgment is especially due the Press-Eagle for many of these facts.
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JEFFERSON COUNTY.
135
ward added a corn mill and planing-mill. Will- iam Scull had a sash, door, and planing factory from 1857 until the Federal army took charge of it. The next factory was a similar one owned by the largest contractors in the county - Bell & Bocage, who had mills in various parts of the county, and a steam brick factory. At the time their works burned (August 23, 1873) they were the largest south of St. Louis, and of over 100 employés about half were skilled mechanics. Their loss exceeded $60,000. In 1871 E. W. Bo- cage built his Pine Bluff Iron and Engine Works. The next were the Pine Bluff Agricultural Works, erected by a joint stock company. This was under the management of W. J. Mckinney. In 1875 the Emma Oil Company began, and in less than a decade they had six presses of six boxes each. In 1877 the Pine Bluff Oil Company began their works, but were soon absorbed by the Emma Com- pany, under the presidency of G. H. Blood. The foundry and machine shops of J. W. Bocage & Co. were erected near the Valley depot in 1879, and soon became one of the largest works of this re- gion. In 1880 the Jefferson Iron Works Company were organized by Messrs. Franklin, Preston and Hardin, and began work in the old Baptist Church building on Barraque Street. The works soon fell into the hands of Preston & Prigmore. The Star Planing and Shingle Mills were opened in January, 1879, by Smith & Riggin, with Mr. G. Morris as foreman. The Bluff City Lumber Company is a wood working factory, successor to the O. D. Peck Company. The Ice & Coal Company have a large ice plant, erected in 1884. The machine works of Dilley & Son care for that kind of work. E. L. Colburn has a gin and grist mill, and the "Cotton Belt" Railway division shops are large works. Several brick kilns are in operation, while a few drug firms make patent medicines. Thomas Green has a general cart factory, and Mr. Currie's fac- tory for native wines has headquarters here.
The Merchants' & Planters' Bank was organ- ized December 1, 1876, with a capital of $58,000. The First National Bank was formed on Septem- ber 2, 1882, with a cash capital of $50,000. An- other bank is in course of formation with a capital
of $300,000. The Citizens' Bank was formed February 10, 1887, with a capital of $100,000.
The city has two excellent street railways-the Citizens' and Wiley Jones-each with respective capitals of $30,000 and $25,000. The latter, as stated elsewhere, is the only street railway line in the world owned by a colored man.
Telephone and telegraph facilities are excel- lent, and the Pine Bluff Water & Light Company, with a capital stock of $200,000, furnishes elec- tric light of 1,500 incandescent and 100 are light capacity, and water with a domestic pressure of 80 pounds, and fire pressure of 200 pounds to the square inch, and with pipe of size sufficient for a city of 200,000. The pumping capacity is 3,500,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. The sys- tem of sewerage is good and has thirty-inch mains. The police and fire departments are well organized.
The city has an immense cotton trade and has two compresses. Its wholesale, jobbing and retail houses are numerous and extensive, and increasing constantly.
One opera house and two large parks-the Recreation or Citizens' and Wiley Jones'-repre- sent the amusement side of Pine Bluff, while White Sulphur Springs is the nearest resort.
The incorporation of Pine Bluff as a town oc- curred on December 12, 1848, when its population was less than 400. This was known as the "Old Town," and included what is bounded by Walnut, Sixth Avenue, and Tennessee Streets and the river. The first mayor was James De Bond, Jr., and his council was composed of W. P. Grace, lawyer; Drew White, landlord and mail contractor; L. L. Mandel, merchant: Theron Brownfield, carpenter. It was the duty of Col. Grace, the clerk, to formulate the first ordinances, which he did during about two months, and it is related that he was allowed $25, provided he would have them printed. As the printing cost him $24.50, his public contract proved to be a grand exception to what such con- tracts are popularly supposed to be. Many of these ordinances are still in force. In 1860 the place reached a population of about 700 or 800, and was incorporated as a city. The town had begun to extend west and south. Additions were
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
made: Drew White's, 11 blocks in 1854; James', 18 blocks in 1854; Woodruff's, 73 blocks in 1855; Finnerty's, 7 blocks in 1855; Harding's, 72 blocks in 1869; James & Simpson's, 18 blocks in 1871; Tannehills & Owen's, 9 lots in 1872; Taylor's, 9 blocks in 1873; Woodruff's, 11 lots in 1873; Scull's, S blocks in 1873; Allis', 14 lots in 1877; Vining's, 10 lots in 1878; Worthen's, 9 blocks in 1879; Harding's, 33 lots in 1879; G. Meyer's, 14 lots in 1880; Dorris', 57 blocks in 1881; Brump's, 7 lots in 1881; Mills', 8 blocks in 1883; Johnson's, 2 blocks in 1883; Morris', 12 lots in 1883; Bloom's, 13 lots in 1883; Trulock's, 6 blocks in 1884; Ring- ler's, 16 blocks in 1884; Gibson's, 16 blocks in 1884; D. C. White's, 3 blocks in 1885; Oliver's, 8 blocks in 1885; M. J. Scull's, 16 blocks in 1885; Houston & James', 10 lots in 1885; Portis Land Co's., 21 lots in 1885; Pine Bluff Land Co's., 35 blocks in 1886; Hudson's, 20 lots in 1886; Smith & Wheatley's, 22 lots in 1886; Rogers', 13 blocks in 1886; D. White's, 11 lots in 1886; Sorrells & De Woody's, 14 blocks in 1887; Geis- reiter's, 35 blocks in 1887; Wilkins & Hauf's, 15 acres in 1887; W. J. Hammett's, 22 lots in 1887; Wiley Jones', 15 acres in 1888; Fee Webb's, 120 acres in 1888. The city is divided into four wards.
Secret societies, as well as social and profes- sional ones, are extensively represented. Among those of the white people which have existed and are still in operation, are two Masonic societies, a Royal Arch Chapter, a Commandery, Odd Fellows, a Jewish Order. Knights of Honor, Royal Arca- num, American Legion of Honor, Knights of Py- thias, Knights of Labor, Grand Army of the Re- public, etc. ; while among the colored people may be mentioned the Masons, Odd Fellows, Brothers and Sisters of Friendship, Sons and Daughters of Lily, Knights of Pythias, etc.
A public library exists, and the Merrill Institute, now nearly completed, will be a public institution containing library, reading room, lecture rooms, gymnasium, etc.
The newspapers of the county began with The Jeffersonian, issued about 1847, by W. E. Smith, who was succeeded by a Mr. Wyatt. It was short lived. In 1850 Luckie & Carter issued the Pine
Bluff Republican, and among others afterward connected with the paper were Messrs. Wells, E. H. Vance, Bushnell, Shepherd, and Judge Reed Fletcher. The American was a contemporary under E. H. Vance. W. Q. Dent issued the Pine Bluff Democrat about 1856, and Wells & Luckie began the Jefferson Enterprise near the same time, Mr. Luckie's death afterward causing the journal to fall into the hands of Fletcher & Williams, whom Col. W. Williams succeeded. Lee & Doug- lass secured it in 1858 and gave it the name, The Independent. During the war H. B. Worsham published The War Bulletin, the first daily ever published in the county. For some time before 1865 there was no local paper, but at that date The Dispatch was begun by Morton & Bowers, and later on was edited by the well known deceased journalist, Maj. J. H. Sparks. Very soon Lee & Williams established The Orthopolitan, which was replaced by The Southern Vindicator, by Williams, Lee & Ryan, of whom Col. J. G. Ryan was the leading editorial spirit. In 1868 J. L. Bowers be- gan The Jefferson Republican, with which Messrs. Ira McL. Barton, J. B. Dow, F. K. Lyman, Frank Silverman, O. P. Snyder. E. W. MeCracken, and A. R. Craig were connected. The Pine Bluff Press was established in January. 1869, by W. C. Thomas, with whom Maj. Charles G. Newman was soon associated, and who assumed full control on the death of Col. Thomas, in February, 1874. In September, 1888, Newman & Ryan changed it to a daily, and in January, 1879, it suspended, and in January, 1881, S. C. Ryan secured it and resumed publication from April to October 9, when it was burned. It resumed on the 11th as a daily, but on the 1st of November joined The Eagle and be- came The Weekly Press- Eagle. The Weekly Eagle had been started February 28, 1880, by W. F. Bell, but at his death on August following, his brothers, D. C. and J. C. Bell, succeeded him. In November Bell & Murray secured it, and Ryan & Murray made the consolidation. These latter gen- tlemen had control separately at times, and now it is in the hands of Arthur Murray. In May, 1881, Maj. C. G. Newman established the Pine Bluff Daily Commercial, which has been the only daily
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JEFFERSON COUNTY.
since. The Graphic was started by Judge R. Fletcher in 1887, and is now in the hands of J. W. Adams. The Hornet is a colored paper which has been in various hands. It was started by J. C. Duke. Outside of Pine Bluff, the only paper has been the Redfield Star, by C. T. Munroe, not now published. A few other efforts have been made, but were short lived. The journals have ably rep- resented the interests of the community in which they have been so important a factor.
Redfield grew out of the Little Rock, Missis- sippi River & Texas Railway interests, together with the efforts of J. K. Broadie, by whom it was laid out recently, although it has been a business point since early in the present decade. It has about 1,000 people, and, besides general stores, has a large wood-working mill. Messrs. Fairman, Daniels, Sallee Brothers and W. C. McKinnis are among the leading men.
Altheimer is the junction of the Little Rock & Eastern Railway with the "Cotton Belt" line, and has grown up to a population of about 600 in the last three years. The Altheimer Brothers have been its leading spirits. Davis & McDonald are merchants. There are two cotton gins here.
Jefferson Springs is a recent lumber town on the Little Rock, Mississippi River & Texas Rail- way of about 150 people. It has two mills.
Rob Roy has a store and is the seat of A. God- bold's plantation. It was formerly one of the most prominent river shipping points of this region.
Among other places that have stores and are the seats of plantations are Bankhead, Cornerstone, Garretson's Landing, Kearney (mill), Linwood, Madding, New Gascony, Noble's Lake (the seat of Sol. Franklin's great plantation), Pastoria, Plum Bayou, Red Bluff, Wabbaseka and Swan Lake. Other places are post-offices merely.
Whether or not the old French settlers, pre- vious to Joseph Bonne's day in 1819, took part in our early British wars, is not known. It would not be strange, however, if a few had participated in the affair of 1815 at New Orleans; nor is it improb- able that some of Jefferson County's inhabitants had a share in the Creek, Seminole or Black Hawk wars. They, of course, took part in what little
border Indian warfare there was, but as the Quapaws were friendly this article has nothing of that kind to record.
After the birth of Jefferson County in 1829, the first war experience it had to deal with was that of 1846 with the Mexican neighbors. There was no particular excitement, and all who chose to go gathered about Capt. John C. Roane, the lead- ing military spirit of the county, and with him entered the northwestern part of the State recruit- ing, finally serving bravely in the famous ranks of Gen. Yell, of Buena Vista fame. There were but few, however, the total population being but 5,834. The excitement effected the county but little, and quiet reigned until the close of the great campaign of 1860.
The general causes which figured in the great campaign ably represented by Lincoln, Douglas, Breckenridge and Bell, are so well known as to not necessitate repetition in these lines; but as the peculiar make-up of a county almost always deter- mined its action in that struggle it is well to glance at the condition of Jefferson at that time. In 1860 there was in the whole county a population of but 14,971, of whom 7,158 were colored, and the white population exceeded them by 655, making 7,813 whites. This shows, according to the accepted proportion of about five persons to one voter, a vote of little more than 1,500 to the county. It needs only to be mentioned that the county was then as now a cotton and corn slave-holding com- munity, to make it clear that the 1,500 voters were supremely democratic at this particular period. While there were a few votes for Lincoln and Bell, the mass was chiefly divided between Doug- las and Breckenridge, and the fact that the Hon. W. P. Grace, of Pine Bluff, was an elector on the Douglas ticket shows that there was no small Douglas sentiment afloat. The result was a general support of Douglas.
The inauguration of Lincoln and the convention at Little Rock occurred and began the same day, and Jefferson had its time in choosing delegates. The Pine Bluff convention chose the Hons. James Yell and W. P. Grace, with the understanding that Northern aggression should be resisted-just
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
how was not generally decided upon. Two inde- pendent strictly Union candidates were in the field also-Anthony A. C. Rogers and Horace B. Allis, but the election fell to Grace and Yell, who entered the Little Rock convention of March, and Mr. Grace was made chairman of the ordinance com- mittee. After the well-known recess before May 6, Mr. Grace and his committee drew up the ordinance of secession which was passed as the best thing that Arkansas could do under the circum- stances, and with the one dissenting voice of Isaac Murphy, as elsewhere noted.
Meanwhile, it must be remembered, the county had two companies of State militia, which had been organized before war was thought of; one was the Jefferson Guards, formed by Capt. Charles Carlton and L. Donaldson; the other, formed early in 1861 by Capt. J. W. Bocage, was known as the Southern Guards. During April a war meet- ing was in session at the court house at Pine Bluff, and among the speakers for secession were Messrs. Roane, Bell, Sorrells, Bocage, and others, while Anthony Rogers was the exponent of the corporal's guard of a Union following. During the meeting Capt. Frank McNally reported to Capt. Bocage a telegram from Gen. Hindman that boats loaded with national supplies had passed Helena, were bound up the Arkansas River, and should be cap- tured by him at Pine Bluff. Capt. Bocage called on the meeting asking volunteers to stop the boat as she was reported in sight. The assemblage re- sponded with alacrity, and Gen. Roane was placed in command. As the boats entered in front of the city they were ordered to stop, and by a shot across the bow of the one in the lead, the vessels came to and their stores were captured. Capt. Bocage telegraphed Gov. Rector of the action, to which the latter responded that Jefferson County had "taken a high-handed step and must foot the re- sponsibility." They decided to "foot" it, and held the goods, which were soon after ordered into the State service by the Governor. Supplies were also captured at Napoleon.
During 1861 there obtained the constant hurry and bustle of recruiting and organization at Pine Bluff, which became the headquarters and rendez-
vous for a large surrounding territory. From time to time companies of the First Arkansas Infantry were formed here by Col. John M. Bradley, and about four of these companies were composed of Jefferson County men, while some were scattered through all the rest. The county court supported them. A few went independently, and in various directions, to Little Rock, and still others into Mississippi, many serving gallantly in some of the most famous actions of the war. In the Confeder- ate troops they were known as the Fifteenth Ar- kansas.
The year 1862 was passed in much the same way, so that by its close about all the fighting force of the county was gone. The law directing the raising of less cotton and more corn gave the coun- ty an abundant supply of the latter commodity, which fell to ten cents a bushel. This kept the slaves fully occupied.
The early part of 1863 passed rather unevent- fully, but early in October Gen. Powell Clayton came down with a small force from Little Rock and took peaceable possession of Pine Bluff, with- out any attempt at fortification, merely holding it as a post. He had been here but a few days when Gen. Marmaduke marched upon the town with a much larger force, and, sending in a flag, asked Gen. Clayton to surrender. The General, of course, took time to consider the matter, and also used that precious time in hastily fortifying the court-yard and streets leading to it with the numerous and almost omnipresent cotton bales. After he had " considered," he sent Gen. Marma- duke a refusal to surrender, whereupon the latter made an attack on all sides against the effective cotton bales, and after a few hours of severe fight- ing and the death of fifteen Confederates and eleven Federals, Marmaduke withdrew. This occurred in the forenoon of October 25, 1863. In the Methodist Episcopal Church recently torn down were found many of the bullets of that fight.
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