USA > Arkansas > Johnson County > Johnson County, Arkansas, the first hundred years > Part 4
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When a funeral procession started with its slow tread to- ward a burying ground, some church bell began to toll out its lonesome tones and ended only when the body was deposited into the grave. And this custom continued until the latter days of the past century. A large number of the earliest settlers of Clarksville and vicinity were buried at the Lee graveyard north of the town. And today, if one would know who the old set- tlers were, a visit to one of the cemeteries where the only mark of those old fathers, having lived, so far as the eye can see, is their names written there.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
The Civil War came with much doubt, fear and misgiving, and yet a dogmatic hope strengthened by that patriotic belief in an early termination. Calls were made for young men and they came flocking in, companies were formed, and excitement pre- vailed.
Young women were busy sewing. Flags were made of silk, for silk only was good enough for those sons of an established autocracy. Young ladies presented them in public addresses, brave hearts carried them away. Many troths were made at the parting. Some were consummated later but many wore broken by the shot and shell of war. And too, a large number at the very first encounter, at Oak Hill. Then the days grew dark, bushwhackers began to prowl, and women were afraid. Somebody's house was burned almost every night, and sometimes women's feet were charred because of the refusal of some unreasonable request.
General Churchill and his men wintered the season of '62-'63 down near the old Spadra site. This was a delight to their friends. But in the spring they went on their way to war. Finally a Federal Regiment came and established a post in Clarksville.
Cruelties in the town were not so frequent then, but those over the county at large were still ruinous and devastating. Food was taken and many went hungry-fires, fires, every night, soon left an army of homeless. Old men and ministers were taken out and shot. There was one case that will not be forgotten in Johnson County for many generations. It was said that a minister, without offense, was stood up beside a tree, while several men stepped off a few paces and riddled him with bullets. A young son stood by, and in his childish heart took a solemn vow to avenge that heinous deed. The war ended but that vow was unbroken, and, men began to die. No one seemed to know why, but one by one, 'tis said, the lad cut them down. Finally he was found out and then he too was hunted. He was the hunter and the hunted. £ But as long as he was at large by swish of shot those men continued to drop. Finally he grew desperate and if anyone gave offense, 'tis said, they too were included in his retribution.
Terror reigned in the hearts of women and children for this lad was now a man and his offenders were not all dead. Finally
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after many had fallen by his hand, he paid the price on the gallows. But many who committed crime went free.
For a reason unknown, one mother was taken from her babies and sent down the river to Little Rock and placed in jail. Her four small children, the baby but three years old, were left to wander about-no one to care for them and the winter was cold. Finally after six weeks, she was alleged to have promised to return to jail if permitted to go to her children and make their clothes ready for the cold winter. She went, but she did not return, nor was she forced again.
These extreme cases are but two of many, not unlike those committed all over the invaded country, or any country overrun by an enemy.
The night came when General Fagan's army was reported approaching with much strength in men and guns. The Federal post was abandoned at once. All they could not take with them was burned. They started well the flames to their commissaries and went on their way, but someone lingered behind, for presently many buildings were ablaze.
Not a man nor boy over twelve was in the town, but the women forgot their sex, forgot that they were not accustomed to toil. They fought the flames and extinguished many. A few hours more and the Confederates came. No one slept that night, for excitement was high. The following day this army was on its way. And after a time the Federals returned. Thus, with the vicessitudes of conflict, the year passed.
At last the end came-somehow it always does.
THE AFTERMATH
Then came the aftermath, bitter as quassia. The spirit of sanguinity with which the land was imbued in the beginning had passed out through the channels of doubt, fear, suspicion and reality. Death was all about, friends and neighbors were pitted against each other. The dead could not return, they alone were at peace. The maimed in mind and body came back-
to what? A devastated country filled with unscrupulous men and unruly negroes. Men from the enemy lines were in the seats of the high, and negroes were in office. The old Master and Missus had learned to toil with their hands, and their heads were bowed.
Churches were burned, and ministers dead, and children cried for bread.
The spirit of the conqueror had more easily softened than the spirit of the conquered, and he was content to dwell in the places of the enemy. Young girls had learned to know the man, and forget the soldier, and to marry them. Thus the enemy invaded the home.
There were no grist mills, and no corn to grind. No cotton gins, and
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
no cotton to gin. There were no crops left over, and no seeds to plant. In the forests alone was plenty of fuel, the only commodity with which to battle the bony fingers of death, now folding over the once sunny, blooming land of grand estate. Those sons of southern sires arose because they must. And the women brought forth cotton from secret places-in beds or pillows or wherever else it had been stored. And busy fingers resorted to the old time
way, and they lost not a seed. With these, a first crop was planted. The old spinning wheels were brought forward, all that were left, and the thrift of their mothers was learned all over again. Every woman was busy, too busy to complain, for against hunger and cold the war was now waged. Scanty wares were divided, for poverty made all akin. Thus, the women, young and old, had found a niche they, too, must fill.
The "carpetbaggers" were all about, so called because of the bags they
carried. Men who had been owners of men, were now subservient without recourse, to the whims of their recent enemy. The vote of that reign was granted only to the "Carpetbagger" and the negro.
Then came the Ku-Klux-Klan, which served its purpose, too. The country stood in a stagnant pool, so far as improvements were concerned. There was no money and in the uncertain, unsettled state of both the ruled and ruling caste, incentive itself was at low ebb.
But time, that healing anodyne, passed, and after a few years the hold of strangers and the domination of an inferior race was overcome. The change was inevitable, for the men who held the land by purchase and by birthright, could but come again and dominate. Some dozen years had passed, years of anxiety, uncertainty and turmoil, but in the end this could not last, for the conqueror and the conquered were all Saxons, Celts and Teutons, too, and all akin by tie of blood-all Americans. Hatred and envy may dwell in the heart for a time, but not for always, for the good in the human race is stronger than the bad, and peace came in truth at last, and the land began to bloom again.
POST-WAR STORY
Six long years passed, longer than the period of the war, before the peace that was declared in '65 began to be felt in reality by the people. A few months after the fighting ceased the straggling soldiers had all made their way back-all that would ever come back. And the families who had gone south as refugees, too had returned. They came back, in most cases, to their bare farm lands, with perhaps a mule or a horse, and perhaps a house, but more often they found neither. It was with whatever had been left them and a grim determination to make the best of the future that they had passed through this period of half a decade. But still there were old chimneys and foundation stones as silent reminders of the terrible devastation. From old Pittsburg at the mouth of Cabin Creek, west to Spadra and extending a mile inland, every house was burned on one night in '63, and the feet of many women were charred by live coals, from which at least one woman, Mrs. Seth J. Howell, died. And no wonder those old chimneys pointing upward, were still
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ghastly, grim reminders. But now a half dozen years had passed and a new regime was coming in.
The first telegraph line up from Little Rock had been in- stalled in the Court house in 1862 and the people of Clarksville felt as if they were not entirely an inland town. Early in the seventies, perhaps '71, an Arkansas company negotiated for a railroad to extend from Little Rock to Ft. Smith. The excava- tions and dumps for this roadway were almost or perhaps were complete, when the company went bankrupt. The old roadbed may still be traced. At one time the face of College Hill was excavated east and west, and one mile out of Clarksville to the west may still be seen the old dump, grown over with forest trees. A period of doubt and apprehension followed the lull in this progress, but soon the Gould System took over the rail- way project and a gala day was the one in 1873 when the first whistle of progress sounded to the east of the little town. On that day, when the rails were laid to the top of East Hill, a train was on its way, to arrive at a certain hour, so the message over the telegraph wires had clicked, and everybody was there, for progress had come at last and Clarksville and Johnson county were now on the map.
A marvelous progress, this telegraph system, over the old waiting hours and days at the river landings for the steamer, when one couldn't tell whether the boat would puff in sight within the hour or, perchance, was on the shoals somewhere, beyond release.
Many immigrants came to Johnson County in '73. It seemed an incentive to ride to the end of the road. And then they usually remained.
One year later the railroad was extended to Ft. Smith, and the Clarksville depot was changed to a place between Taylor and Filmore streets, the present site of the Missouri Pacific freight depot.
That old stage line-the inevitable stage line, with its joys and discomforts-had served its purpose, had seen its day, for now it was abandoned forever. However no inovation comes with so sudden a change that the old methods are not given up by degrees. And while there were no coaches traveling over that long-used highway, J. A. Rhea's big white horses were still slowly winding their way over the long and steep mountain
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
roads that were, by the mid-century, cut through to Eureka Springs. This old hack line road was the only outlet for the country to the north for many years. But that too lost its favor when the Frisco built a railroad to Seligman, Missouri. And the old road to Spadra that had been the most popular in the county, was attracting less travel. And the Young Ladies Seminary on the top of the hill, from the windows of which the girls watched every incoming vehicle for a possible beau, or less interesting arrivals, or perchance only for pastime, had been burned-never to be rebuilt.
Even the long, heavy, sonorous whistle of a steam boat, failed to cause the manifested interest of previous years. The passing indifference could be appreciated most by those who re- membered the occasions of a decade before when the news brought by each boat was the topic of the day, and real excite- ment prevailed when on some occasions a boat would sink along
the border of the county. They were easily remembered by name, and every detail of the circumstances for years to come. It has been said, that on January 3, 1849, the Steamer "Mustang" had come up from Napoleon bound for Ft. Smith, when it sank two miles below Spadra in five and a half feet of water. When the old "Umpire No. 2" went to the bottom of the river, south of Clarksville at the Laban C. Howell farm in 1854 the event was a topic much discussed. And when the "Sparrow-Hawk" sank in 1856, and a sale of dry goods was conducted, the people went in great crowds. There was also a steam boat given the honor of bearing the name of "Clarksville" that ran the Arkansas in the early days.
In March, 1872, the little court house built back in the thir- ties was burned to the ground, just at a time when the people of the county were least ready for added taxation to build a new one. But on that day, March 2, County Judge Elisha Mears ordered Robert F. Naylor to appoint a commissioner to procure and make ready suitable rooms-a court room, grand and petit jury rooms, also a clerk's office. The second story of Moreau Rose's corner building was secured.
In January, prior to the burning of the court house in '72, the lot on which the county jail had stood for long years was sold to John C. Hill. A new lot was purchased from Francis M. Paine. The old jail was torn away and J. M. Armstrong was
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appointed a commissioner for the purpose of building a new one. This was in November, 1874, following a report made by the grand jury in March of 1873. However the erection of the jail was postponed in January, 1874 by the board of supervisors, until the next session. Repeatedly, year anfter year, the erection was postponed and not until early in the present century was a jail built. And in the meantime the lot had been sold to J. V. Hughes and a new one purchased, the one on which the county jail now stands, and which is the former site of an old lanyard. A calaboose had been put on the jail lot and in that, drunks were confined, also other prisoners, temporarily. A room in the court house was arranged in which to confine most of the prisoners. Murderers and some other criminals were taken to Little Rock, where they were placed in the State Peni- tentiary until the term of court at which they were to be tried, was held.
The building of a new court house, however, met with more favor than the proposed jail, and was pushed forward more rapidly. On April 18, 1872, it was ordered by the court that a new building be erected for the seat of justice. John S. Hous- ton was appointed commissioner of public buildings. On April 10, following his presentation of plans of the building to be erected, and an estimate of the material of which it was to be con- structed, and possible cost, it was ordered that the building nego- tiations begin without delay. Thirty days were given in which the contract was open for bids. After the thirty days notice by posting and in the newspapers, the commissioner was ordered to open and carefully consider all proposals offered, and award the contract to such bidder as might, in his opinion, secure early com- pletion of the building, and protect the county's best interests.
Upon opening the sealed bids the commissioner found that some proposals were for currency and bonds, and others for cur- rency alone. Mr. Houston was then ordered to request the currency bidders to again put in their bids in bonds. At the October term of court the commissioner reported that the con- tract had been given to A. J. Millard and R. S. King of Little Rock.
The articles of agreement were entered into Sept. 2, 1872, between the honorable county of Johnson and Millard & King of Little Rock as principals, and W. A. Stewart, E. M. Phillips, Ben- jamin Thomas and D. P. Upham of Little Rock as bondsmen.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
The architect was John D. Edwards, also of Little Rock. The amount of the bid for completion was $30,875.00. The contract specified that the work should begin February 1, 1873. Mr. Houston resigned as commissioner on February 14, and R. S. Crampton was appointed to fill the vacancy. When December of 1873 came, the building had not been completed and the time was extended to June 30, 1874. When that day arrived John V. Hughes, who had the contract for decorations, had finished with its last coat of paint inside and out, he having the last of the contract work. It was then turned over for inspection, and was accepted.
Not only had a beautiful new court house been erected, but other houses and homes were rising over the ashes of the past. The Methodist congregation had rebuilt the church that was al- most complete when burned in '64; Capt. A. S. McKennon and Maj. L. N. Swaggerty had each built, in duplicate, handsome colonial homes, which are standing today, ivy covered and intact, on Central avenue. The McKennon place, without an outward change was for several years the Dr. E. W. Adams home, but is now the residence of Samuel Laser, and the old Swaggerty home is now the Presbyterian Manse, occupied by Rev. Elbert Hefner and family. This house has been changed slightly, and was for long years the home of Dr. and Mrs. C. E. Robinson.
Other improvements were rapid, the old log houses were being weatherboarded on the outside and sealed with dressed lumber on the inside and then given a coat of paint, and some af them were canvased and papered.
Prof. P. Mead Benham and his family, consisting of Mrs. Benham, one son, Filo, and one daughter, Ada, came to Clarks- ville in the early sixties. 3 Prof. Benham taught the Clarksville school. It was during this time that the famous writer, Opie Reed, made regular visits to Johnson County. His incentive was engendered by the presence of the above mentioned young lady; for so enamored was he that Miss Benham finally became Mrs. Reed.
The old saw mills and cotton gins were being replaced every- where by newer and more modern ones.
The old cotton gin of Thomas May had well filled its purpose and was now abandoned. It was probably the only gin stand- ing after the war, and therefore served as a link of sentiment and
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great need between the old regime and the new. But this may be dealt with better to quote from "Early Days in Johnson", by Ex- Senator G. T. Cazort.
"Some soldiers had brought back the horses which they had ridden in the army, a mule or pony had been left here and there, and with these a few late crops were planted and grown in '65. No crops were grown that year in the eastern part of Johnson county, but the next spring Maj. Swaggerty and S. B. Cazort, who had two mules each, repaired the Thos. May gin, near the spot where the Knoxville depot now stands, (for the Cazort gim had been burned by the Federals during the war), and sent out notices that they would gin cotton for the seed. As there had been none grown since '61 or '62, and the most of this burned to prevent its falling into the hands of the invading army, the reader may ask whence came this cotton to be ginned for the seed? From the pillow cases, cushions, bed ticks and mattresses which had survived the war in different parts of the county, from Colony mountain to the cliffs of Big Danger, from the hills be- yond Salem to the banks of the Arkansas, in lots of 10 pounds to 200 pounds, in all, about two bales. The women needed lint to card and spin, and the owners reserved a part of the seed for themselves to plant, but the ginners had left about twenty-five bushels, which they divided equally, and from this seed the crop of '66 was grown."
When the decade covering the eighties came, the little village of Clarksville had dug ditches and drained the streets; gravel walks were about over the town, and flagstone side walks in front of the store buildings were replacing the old ones made of lumber; every lot on the north of the square was now filled with stone buildings, and the McConnell house that burned had been replaced by a frame building, the corner of which was still the McConnell Drug Store. The old settlers were passing away and others were taking their places.
Col. John F. Hill, who after the war did a mercantile busi- ness, passed away in the eighties.
S. N. Pitzell was a deaf Jew,-but a business man. With him came our townsman, Samuel Laser, who is today Clarksville's oldest merchant, not in years but in business,-and who is as much a devotee of the city's interests as if he were to the manor
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
born. And his splendid family too, educated and refined, are of the best citizens.
Rogers & Hunt was another firm of that decade. W. W. Rogers had come from the south of the river, and Wm. Hunt, who was a lawyer-merchant, married one of the popular young ladies of the city, Miss Mattie Rose.
There were J. V. Hughes' Furniture store, John P. Molloy's Jewelry Store, Mike Leib's boarding house, the Koschwitz Res- taurant, Dr. McKennon's Drug Store, Dr. Mitchel's Drug Store, Miss Mary Hardgraves' Millinery store, Abe Laster's grocery store and W. V. Hamilton's Hardware Store. The Clark Brothers' Store, M. L. and D. N .; Q. B. Poynor and A. P. May were selling drygoods; J. C. Hill, General Merchandise; J. W. Coffman, lawyer; B. D. Pennington, J. W. May, T. K. May and Claude C. May, all Merchants; Max Seideman, Undertaker, and John Mann did an extensive livery stable business; the hotel is the McConnell block with a theatre room over a part of the building, the St. James Hotel, the City Hotel, with Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Black as owners, and the Kitchen Boarding House on Lee St. (College avenue).
During the last ten years of the past century the one-mile- square limit given Clarksville when the town was incorporated in 1848, had been well taken up and extended far out in the various additions. Each addition usually took the name of the man who held the deed to the property. There are, to-wit :- Rogers No. 1 and 2, McLane, Rose, Powers, Ward, Evans, Hays No. 1 and 2, and Bamber or Riddell.
The Clarksville business district has had several destructive fires, burning one or more entire blocks at a time, but on each occasion new, better and more substantial buildings were put up. Nothing save brick, stone or concrete buildings are permitted in the fire district covering the business section.
At this time Clarksville is an attractive little city, with twenty or more miles of concrete sidewalks. The Square and Main street are paved, with an asphalt surface. This paving runs east across Spadra creek to Bluff street and west a hundred yards past Elm street. Each way this pavement joins the Johnson County Highway. This highway when finished, will join one from the Pope county line on the east and one in Frank-
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lin on the west. About half of the distance is covered at this time.
The Clarksville Light and Water system is most satisfactory. The Light Plant is modern and efficient, and Main street in Clarksville has an attractive electric White Way extending from the railroad crossing to Spadra bridge. The water is taken from a deep well from which it is piped through a filter system before being forced into the tank which tops College Hill. The high power wires of the Commonwealth Public Service Com- pany, of Fort Smith, are connected in the city and are used as an auxiliary power to operate the Clarksville gins. This power is also extended outside to several of the coal mines.
Clark Thompson who is the state manager for this high power company, makes his home in Clarksville.
Clarksville has as a resident the oldest man in service as rural mail carrier in the United States. When quite young Hugh Miller began to deliver mail under the Rural Free Delivery Act, this being the first county in the United States to be tried out as to the practicability of a rural mail service. Mr. Miller has now carried the mail over the route assigned, twenty-five years, in October, 1921. Four rural carriers go out from Clarksville, three from Lamar, two from Hartman and one from Harmony at the present time.
Clarksville also has the distinction of having the first small town free mail delivery in the United States. The women of the Clarksville Civic Club took the matter up with Hon. H. M. Jacoway, Congressman from the Fourth District, and within a short time, to their surprise, Robert Jamison was appointed to the City Delivery. He delivered the first time, August 15, 1913. Today Clarksville has two city carriers.
The Johnson County Telephone Company is the only one in this territory. The exchange extends to all points in the county.
Clarksville today, has 102 business concerns-stores, offices, hotels, etc.
The Citizens Band of Clarksville held the state champion- ship in 1915 and was appointed by Governor Hays to represent Arkansas at the World's Fair at San Francisco.
The Post Office at Clarksville is rated in the Second Class.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY
LAMAR
The town of Lamar is known by two names. It was orig- inally called Cabin Creek, but the Arkansas Legislature, recog- nizing a petition of the citizens, officially named it Lamar. This change was made during President Cleveland's administra- tion and it was given the name of Lamar complimentary to L. C. Q. Lamar, who was a member of the Democratic cabinet. The Missouri Pacific Railway, however, has continuously refused to accede to the name of Lamar-hence, it is Lamar postoffice and Cabin Creek station. There are but few cases of this kind in the United States.
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