Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 1, Part 6

Author:
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis : The Goodspeed Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

USA > Arkansas > Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 1 > Part 6

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*Bancroft, vol. iv .- 457; Gayarre's Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. ii .- 121.

the fearful interior of unknown lands; its mission - aries won most familiarly the confidence of the aboriginal hordes; its writers described with keener and wiser observation the forms of nature in her wildness, and the habits and languages of savage man; its soldiers, and every lay Frenchman in America owed military service, uniting beyond all others celerity with courage, knew best how to endure the hardships of forest life and to triumph in forest warfare. Its ocean chivalry had given a name and a colony to Carolina, and its merchants a people to Acadia. The French discovered the basin of the St. Lawrence; were the first to ex- plore and possess the banks of the Mississippi, and planned an American empire that should unite the widest valleys and most copious inland waters in the world. But over all this splendid empire in the old and the new world was a government that was medieval-mured in its glittering palaces, taxing its subjects, it would allow nothing to come to the Louisiana Territory but what was old and worn out. French America was closed against even a gleam of intellectual independence; nor did all Louisiana contain so much as one dissenter from the Roman Church.

" We have caught them at last," exultingly ex- claimed Choiseul, when he gave up the Canadas to England and the Louisiana to Spain. "Eng- land will ere long repent of having removed the only check that could keep her colonies in awe. *

* * She will call on them to support the bur- dens they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off all dependence," said Vergennes.

These keen-witted Frenchmen, with a pone- tration far beyond the ablest statesmen of Eng. land, saw, as they believed, and time has con- firmed, that in the humiliation and dismember- ment of the territory of France, especially the transfer to England of Canada, they had laid the mine which some day would destroy the British colonial system, and probably eventuate in the independence of the American colonies. The in- tellect of France was keeping step with the spirit of the age; it had been excluded of course from the nation's councils, but saw what its feeble

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

government neither could see nor prevent, that the distant wilderness possessed a far greater impor- tance on the world's new map than was given it by the gold and gems it was supposed to contain; and that the change of allegiance of the colonies was the great step in the human mind, as it was slowly emerging from the gloom and darkness of the middle ages. Thus it was that the mere Terri- tory of Louisiana, before it was peopled by civilized man, was playing its important part in the world's greatest of all dramas.

The first official act of our government, after the purchase of Louisiana, was an act of Congress, March 26, 1804, dividing Louisiana into two dis- tricts, and attaching the whole to Indiana Terri- tory, under the government of William Henry Harrison. The division in Louisiana was by a line on the thirty-third parallel; the south was named the District of Orleans; that north of it was named the District of Louisiana. This is now the south line of the State of Arkansas.

In 1805 the District of Louisiana was erected in- to the Territory of Louisiana. It was however a terri- tory of the second class and remained under the gov- ernment and control of Indiana Territory until 1812.

By act of June 4, 1812, the name of Louisiana Territory was changed and became the Missouri Territory, being made a territory of the first class, and given a territorial government. Capt. William Clark, of the famous Lewis and Clark, explorers of the northwest, was appointed governor, remaining as such until 1819, when Arkansas Territory was cut off from Missouri.

The act of 1812, changing the District of Louisiana to Missouri Territory, provided for a Territorial legislature consisting of nine members, and empowered the governor to lay off that part where the Indian title had been extinguished into thirteen counties. The county of New Madrid, as then formed, extended into the Arkan- sas territorial limits, "down to the Mississippi to a point directly east of the mouth of Little Red River; thence to the mouth of Red River: thence up the Red River to the Osage purchase," etc. In other words it did not embrace the whole of what is now Arkansas.

December 13, 1813, the County of Arkansas, Missouri Territory, was formed, and the county seat was fixed at Arkansas Post .*

Besides Arkansas County, Lawrence County was formed January 15, 1815, and Clark, Hemp- stead and Pulaski Counties, December 15, 1818.

Missouri neglected it seems to provide a judi- cial district for her five southern or Arkansas counties. Therefore Congress, in 1814, authorized the President to appoint an additional judge for Missouri Territory, "who should hold office four years and reside in or near the village of Arkan- sas,"- across the river from Arkansas Post.

March 2, 1819, Congress created the Territory of Arkansas out of the Missouri Territory. It was only a territory of the second class, and the ma- chinery of government consisted of the governor and three judges, who constituted the executive, judicial and legislative departments, their offi- cial acts requiring the consent of Congress. Pres- ident Monroe appointed James Miller, governor; Robert Crittenden, secretary; Charles Jouett, Andrew Scott and Robert P. Letcher, judges of the superior court. The act designated Arkansas Post as the temporary seat of government. In the ab- sence of the Governor, Robert Crittenden, "act- ing governor," convened the first session of the provisional government on August 3, 1819. The act continued the new territory under the laws of Missouri Territory. The five counties designated above as formed prior to the division of Arkansas. had been represented in the Missouri Territorial legislature. Elijah Kelly, of Clark County, was a representative, and he rode on horseback from his home to St. Louis. The session was probably not a week in length, and the pay and mileage little or nothing.

This first Territorial legislature appointed a treasurer and auditor, provided a tax for general purposes, and divided the five counties into two judicial circuits: First, Arkansas and Lawrence Counties ; Second. Pulaski, Clark and Hempstead Counties.

* During the latter part of the eighteenth century. something of the same municipal division was made, and called " Arkansas Parish," the name being derived from an old Indian town called Arkansea.

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

April 21, 1820, Congress passed an act per- fecting the Territorial organization, and applying the same provisions to Arkansas that were contained in the act creating Missouri into a Territory of the first class.

The first legislative body elected in Arkansas convened at Arkansas Post, February 7 to 24, 1820. In the council were: President, Edward McDonald; secretary, Richard Searcy; members, Arkansas County, Sylvanus Phillips; Clark County, Jacob Barkman; Hempstead County, David Clark; Lawrence County, Edward McDonald; Pulaski County, John McElmurry. In the house of rep- resentatives: Speaker, Joseph Hardin (William Stephenson was first elected, served one day and resigned, on account of indisposition); J. Cham- berlain, clerk; members, Arkansas County, W. B. R. Horner, W. O. Allen; Clark, Thomas Fish; Hempstead, J. English, W. Stevenson; Lawrence, Joseph Hardin, Joab Hardin; Pulaski, Radford Ellis, T. H. Tindall. This body later adjourned to meet October following, continuing in session until the 25th.

At this adjourned session the question of the removal of the Territorial seat of government from Arkansas Post to "the Little Rock," came up on a memorial signed by Amos Wheeler and others. "The Little Rock" was in contradistinction to "the Rocks," as were known the beautiful bluffs, over 200 feet high, a little above and across the river from "the Little Rock." In 1820 Gov. Miller visited the Little Rock-Petit Rocher- with a view to selecting a new seat of government. The point designated was the northeast corner of the Quapaw west line and Arkansas River. Im- mediately upon the formation of the Territory, prominent parties began to look out for a more central location for a capital higher up the river, and it was soon a general understanding that the seat of government and the county seat of Pulaski County, the then adjoining county above Arkansas County on the river, would be located at the same place. A syndicate was formed and Little Rock Bluff was pushed for this double honor. The government had not yet opened the land to pub- lic entry, as the title of the Quapaws had just been

extinguished. These parties resorted to the expe- dient of locating upon the land " New Madrid floats," or claims, under the act of February 17, 1815, which authorized any one whose land had been "materially injured" by the earthquake of 1811 to locate the like quantity of land on any of the public lands open for sale. Several hundred acres were entered under these claims as the fut- ure town site. The county seat of Pulaski County was, contrary to the expectation of the Little Rock syndicate, located at Cadron, near the mouth of Cadron Creek. where it enters the Arkansas River.

On the 18th day of October, 1820, the Terri- torial seat of government was removed from the Post of Arkansas to the Little Rock, the act to take effect June 1, 1821. The next Territorial legislature convened in Little Rock, October 1 to 24, 1821. The council consisted of Sam C. Roane, president, and Richard Searcy, secretary. In the house William Trimble was speaker, and A. H. Sevier, clerk.

The third legislature met October 6 to 31, 1823. Sam C. Roane was president of the coun- cil, and Thomas W. Newton, secretary; while T. Farrelly was speaker, and D. E. Mckinney, clerk of the house.

The fourth legislature was held October 3 to November 3, 1825. Of the council. the president was Jacob Barkman; secretary, Thomas W. New- ton. Of the house, Robert Bean was speaker; David Barber, clerk.

The fifth Territorial legislature was held October 1 to 31, 1827, and a special session held October 6 to October 28, 1828; E. T. Clark served as presi- dent of the council, and John Clark, secretary; J. Wilson was speaker of the house, and Daniel Ringo, clerk.

In the sixth legislature, Charles Caldwell was president of the council, and John Caldwell, secre- tary; John Wilson was speaker of the house, and Daniel Ringo, clerk.

The seventh legislature held October 3 to November 7, 1831, had Charles Caldwell as presi- dent of the council, and Absalom Fowler, secre- tary; William Trimble was speaker of the house, and G. W. Ferebee, secretary.

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

In the eighth legislature, October 7 to Novem- ber 16, 1833, John Williamson was president of the council and William F. Yeomans, secretary; John Wilson was speaker of the house, and James B. Keatts, clerk.

The ninth legislature met October 5 to Novem- ber 16, 1835. The president of the senate was Charles Caldwell; secretary, S. T. Sanders. John Wilson was speaker of the house and L. B. Tully, clerk.

This was the last of the Territorial assemblies. James Miller was succeeded as governor by George Izard, March 4, 1825, and Izard by John Pope, March 9, 1829. William Fulton followed Pope March 9, 1835, and held the office until Arkansas became a State.

Robert Crittenden was secretary of State (nearly all of Miller's term "acting governor " ), appointed March 3, 1819, and was succeeded in office by William Fulton, April 8, 1829; Fulton was succeeded by Lewis Randolph, February 23, 1835.

George W. Scott was appointed Territorial auditor August 5, 1819, and was succeeded by Richard C. Byrd, November 20, 1829; Byrd was followed by Emzy Wilson, November 5, 1831; and the latter by William Pelham, November 12, 1833, his successor being Elias N. Conway, July 25, 1835.

James Scull, appointed treasurer August 5, 1819, was succeeded by S. M. Rutherford, Novem- ber 12, 1833, who continued in office until the State was formed.

The counties in 1825 had been increased in num- ber to thirteen: Arkansas, Clark, Conway, Chicot, Crawford, Crittenden, Lawrence, Miller, Hemp- stead, Independence, Pulaski. Izard and Phillips. The territory was divided into four judicial cir- cuits, of which William Trimble, Benjamin John- son, Thomas P. Eskridge and James Woodson Bates were, in the order named, the judges. The delegates in Congress from Arkansas Territory were James W. Bates, 1820-23; Henry W. Conway, 1823-29; Ambrose H. Sevier, 1529-36.

The Territorial legislature, in common with all other legislatures of that day, passed some laws which would have been much better not passed, and

others that remained a dead letter on the books. Among other good laws which were never enforced was one against duelling. In 1825 Whigs and Democrats allowed party feelings to run high, and some bloody duels grew out of the heat of cam- paigus.

Robert Crittenden and Henry W. Conway fought a duel October 29, 1827. At the first fire Conway fell mortally wounded and died a fortnight thereafter.

December 4, 1837, John Wilson, who, it will be noticed, figured prominently in the preceding record of the Territorial assemblies, was expelled from the house of representatives, of which body he was speaker, for killing J. J. Anthony.

A constitutional convention, for the purpose of arranging for the Territory to become a State in the Union. was held in Little Rock, in January, 1836. Its duty was to prepare a suitable constitution and submit it to Congress, and, if unobjectionable, to have an act passed creating the State of Arkan- sas. John Wilson was president, and Charles P. Bertrand, secretary, of the convention. Thirty- five counties were represented by fifty-two members.

June 15, 1836, Arkansas was made a State, and the preamble of the act recites that there was a population of 47,700.

The first State legislature met September 12 to November 8, 1836, later adjourning to November 6, 1837, and continued in session until March 5. 1838. The president of the senate was Sam C. Roane; secretary, A. J. Greer; the speaker of the house was John Wilson (he was expelled and Grandison D. Royston elected); clerk, S. H. Hemp- stead.

The second constitutional convention, held January 4 to January 23, 1864, had as president. John McCoy, and secretary, R. J. T. White. This convention was called by virtue of President Lin- coln's proclamation. The polls had been opened chiefly at the Federal military posts, and the major- ity of delegates were really refugees from many of the counties they represented. It simply was an informal meeting of the Union men in response to the President's wish, and they mostly made their own credentials. The Federal army occupied the

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

Arkansas River and points north, while the south portion of the State was held by the Confederates. It is said the convention on important legal ques- tions was largely influenced by Hon. T. D. W. Yonly, of Pulaski County. The convention prac- tically re-enacted the constitution of 1836, abolished slavery, already a fact, and created the separate office of lieutenant-governor, instead of the former ex-officio president of the senate. The machinery of State government was thus once more in oper- ation. The convention wisely did its work and adjourned.

The next constitutional convention was held January 7 to February 18, 1868. Thomas M. Bowen was president, and John G. Price, secretary. The war was over and the Confederates had re- turned and were disposed to favor the constitution which they found the Unionists had adopted in their absence, and was then in full force in the State. Isaac Murphy (Federal) had been elected governor under the constitution of 1864, and all the State offices were under control of the Union- ists. His term as governor would expire in July, 1868.

This convention made sweeping changes in the fundamental laws. The most prominent were the disfranchisement of a large majority of the white voters of the State, enfranchising the negroes, and providing for a complex and plastic system of reg- istration. This movement, and its severe character throughout, were a part of the reconstruction measures emanating from Congress. Arkansas was under military rule and the constitution of 1864, and this condition of affairs, had been ac- cepted by the returned conquered Confederates. But the Unionists, who had fled to the Federal military posts for protection, were generally eager to visit their vanquished enemies with the severest penalties of the law. A large part of the intel- ligence and tax payers of the State were indis- criminately excluded from the polls, and new vot- ers and new men came to the front. with grievances to be avenged and ambitions to be gratified. The unusual experiment of the reversal of the civic conditions of the ex-slaves with their former mas- ters was boldly undertaken. Impetuous men now

prevailed in the name of patriotism, the natural reflex swing of the pendulum-the anti-climax was this convention of reconstruction to the convention of secession of 1861. The connection between these two conventions-1861-1868-is so blended that the convention of '61 is omitted in its chro- nological order. that the two may be set properly side by side.

March 4, 1861, a State convention assembled in Little Rock. The election of delegates was on February 18, preceding. The convention met the day Abraham Lincoln was inducted into office as president of the United States. The people of Arkansas were deeply concerned. The conserva- tive minds of the State loved the Union as sin- cerely as they regretted the wanton assaults that had been made upon them by the extremists of the North. The members of that convention had been elected with a view to the consideration of those matters already visible in the dark war- clouds lowering upon the country. The test of the un- ion and disunion sentiment of that body was the election of president of the convention. Judge David Walker (Union) received forty votes against thirty-five votes for Judge B. C. Totten. Hon. Henry F. Thomasson introduced a series of con- servative resolutions, condemning disunion and looking to a convention of all the States to "settle the slavery question " and secure the perpetuation of the Union. The resolutions were passed, and the convention adjourned to meet again in May fol- lowing. This filled the wise and conservative men of the State with great hopes for the future. But. most unfortunately, when the convention again met war was already upon the country, and the ordinance of secession was passed, with but one negative vote. The few days between the adjourn- ment and re-assembling of the convention bad Lot made traitors of this majority that had so recent- ly.condemned disunion. The swift- moving events. everywhere producing consternation and alarm. called out determined men, and excitement ruled the hour.

The conventions of 1961 and 1868-secession and reconstruction! When the long - gathering cloud-burst of civil war had passed, it left a ceu-

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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.

tury's trail of broken hearts, desolated homes, ruined lives, and a stream of demoralization over- flowing the beautiful valleys of the land to the mountain tops. The innocent and unfortunate ne- gro was the stumbling-block at all times. The con- vention of 1861 would have founded an empire of freedom, buttressed in the slavery of the black man; the convention of 1868 preferred to rear its great col- umn of liberty upon the ashes of the unfortunate past; in every era the wise, conservative and patriotic sentiment of the land was chained and bound to the chariot-wheels of rejoicing emotion. Prudence and an intelligent insight into the future alone could prevent men from "losing their reason."

The constitution of 1868, as a whole, was not devoid of merit. It opened the way for an age of internal improvements, and intended the establish - ment of a liberal public free school system, and at the same time provided safeguards to protect the public treasury and restrain reckless extravagance.

Then the legislatures elected under it, the State officers, and the representatives in the upper and lower Congress, were in political accord with the dominant party of the country. Gen. Grant was president; Powell Clayton, governor; Robert J. L. White, secretary of State; J. R. Berry, auditor, and Henry Page, treasurer. The first legislature under the constitution of 1868 passed most liberal laws to aid railroads and other internal improve. ments, and provided a system of revenue laws to meet the new order of affairs. During 1869 to 1871 railroad aid and levee bonds to the amount of $10,419,773.74 were issued. The supreme court of the State in after years declared the railroad aid, levee and Halford bonds void, aggregating $8,604, 773.74. Before his term of governor had expired, Gov. Clayton was elected United States senator (1871-77), and in 1873 Hon. Stephen W. Dorsey was elected to a like position.

The climax and the end of reconstruction in Arkansas will always be an interesting paragraph in the State's history. Elisha Baxter and Joseph Brooks were the gubernatorial candidates at the election of 1872. Both were Republicans, and Brooks was considered one of the most ardent of that party. Baxter was the nominee of the party

and on the same ticket with Grant, who was can- didate for president. Brooks was nominated on a mixed ticket, made up by disaffected Republicans. but on a more liberal platform toward the Demo- crats than the regular ticket. On the face of the first returns the Greeley electors and the Brooks ticket were in the majority, but when the votes were finally canvassed, such changes were made, from illegal voting or bulldozing it was claimed, as to elect the Grant and Baxter tickets. Under the constitution of 1868, the legislature was de- clared the sole judge of the election of State officers. Brooks took his case before that body at its Jan- uary term, 1873-at which time Baxter was in- augurated-but the assembly decided that Baxter was elected, and, whether right or wrong, every one supposed the question permanently settled.

Brooks however, went before the supreme court (McClure being chief justice), that body promptly deciding that the legislature was by law the proper tribunal, and that as it had determined the case its action was final and binding. Bax- ter was inaugurated in January, 1873; had been declared elected by the proper authorities, and this had been confirmed by the legislature, the action of the latter being distinctly approved by the supreme court. The adherents of Brooks had supposed that they were greatly wronged. but like good citizens all acquiesced. Those who had politically despised Brooks - perhaps the majority of his voters - had learned to sym- pathize with what they believed were his and their mutual wrongs. Baxter had peacefully ad- ministered the office more than a year, when Brooks went before Judge John Whytock, of the Pulaski circuit court, and commenced quo warranto proceedings against Baxter. The governor's at- torneys filed a demurrer, and the case stood over. Wednesday, April 15, 1874, Judge Whytoek. in the absence of Baxter's attorneys, overruled the de- murrer, giving judgment of ouster against Baxter, and instantly Brooks, with an officer, hastened to the State house, demanded the surrender of the office, and arrested Baxter. Thus a stroke of the pen by a mere circuit court judge in bane plunged the State into tumult.

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Biographical and historical memoirs of northeast Arkansas : comprising a condensed history of the state biographies of distinguished citizens a brief descriptive history of the counties, and numerous biographical sketches of the prominent citizens of such counties. V. 1, Part 6

Author: Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis : The Goodspeed Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author:
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Nashville, St. Louis : The Goodspeed Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1026