USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. III > Part 32
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ing attorney on the Second circuit, F. W. Desha on the Third circuit, and James K. Young on the Sixth circuit.
Cane Hill College at Cane Hill, was established in 1852.
The ninth legislature was held November 1, 1852, to Janu- ary 12, 1853. Senate: President-Thos. B. Hanley ; secretary- John M. Ross. House of representatives: Speaker-Benj. P. Jett; clerk-James H. Hobbs. Columbia county was created December 17, 1852. This legislature divided the state into two congressional districts, passed a homestead exemption law and, February 9, 1853, incorporated the Cairo and Fulton Railroad Company, now the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Rail- road Company. On the last day but one of the session, the sec- retary of state was made ex-officio state commissioner of common schools and required to report to the governor the true condition of the schools in each county, which report the governor presented to the general assembly at each regular session. The provisions of an act of January, 1855, related to the sale of the sixteenth sec- tion and defined the duties of the school trustees and commission- ers. Article VIII in the constitution of 1868 is substantially of the purport of the provisions of the law of 1836. Arkansas College, Robert Graham, president, opened in 1853 with six professors, and- 150 to 200 students from ten states and territories attended before the Civil war, and the United States used it for the educa- tion of Indian youths, Many men later distinguished in state affairs were graduated from this institution, the first in Arkansas to confer a literary degree.
William K. Sebastian was re-elected United States senator for six years, 1853-59. Reports showed that the state had, 1838-52, expended on account of the penitentiary one hundred twenty-seven thousand five hundred and eighty-eight dollars and had, 1848-52, distributed to counties eighty-two thousand six hundred and fifty- four dollars of the internal improvement fund and, 1834-52, twenty-four thousand six hundred and ninety-seven dollars of the seminary fund, leaving in the treasury, twelve thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight dollars of the former and nine thousand and seventy-one dollars of the latter fund. In 1854 surveys were made for the Cairo and Fulton, the Little Rock and Fort Smith and the Memphis and Little Rock railroads.
The tenth legislature was held from November 6, 1854, to Jan- uary 22, 1855. Senate: President-B. C. Harley ; secretary- W. L. D. Williams. House of representatives: Speaker-Sam- uel Mitchell; clerk-James 11. Hobbs. Senator Solon Borland, having been appointed minister to Central America and having 111-21
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resigned his senatorship, Robert W. Johnson had been, in June, 1853, appointed by Governor Conway as his successor, and at this session, he was elected for the full term ending 1861. The peti- tions for the passage of a prohibitory liquor law which were pre- sented to this legislature and which brought no immediate results were the beginning of the prohibition movement in the state. In 1854, A. B. Greenwood was elected congressman from the First district, E. A. Warren from the Second.
The eleventh legislature was held, November 3, 1856, to Janu- ary 15, 1857. Senate: President-J. R. Hampton ; secretary- John D. Kimball. House of representatives: Speaker-Sanmel Mitchell; clerk-Samuel M. Scott. The message of Governor Conway presented to this body showed that October 1, 1856, there was in the state treasury for the ordinary expenses of the state, one hundred forty-two thousand one hundred and fifty-four dol- lars in specie ; all Arkansas treasury warrants ever issued, except less than two hundred dollars not presented for payment, had been redeemed, the whole amount being two hundred ninety-seven thousand six hundred and forty-three dollars ; forty-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-four dollars of the seminary fund had been distributed and there was on hand six thousand four hundred and eleven dollars in specie; one thousand seven hundred and twenty-two dollars of the saline fund had been distributed and there was on hand three thousand five Imdred and twenty dollars in specie; the amount of swamp land script redeemed was one million five hundred ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and eight dollars ; the taxable property of the state aggregated seventy million five hundred fifty-eight thousand and forty-five dollars, an increase in four years of twenty-seven million eight hundred fifty-seven thousand nine hundred and sixty-five dollars. The sale and improvement of swamp lands was progressing satisfactorily and levee and ditching work was being pushed. The commission- ers' report two years before had stated that they had "caused to be leveed and secured from overflow, almost the entire portion of the state fronting on the Mississippi, and a large portion of the Arkan- sas river, and considerable portions elsewhere in the state." Not- withstanding the growing burden of indebtedness caused by the failure of the State and Real Estate Banks, Arkansas was prosper- ing along most economie lines and was growing rapidly in wealth and population. These banks having suspended payment, were put in liquidation by the legislature of 1842-43. In 1858, sixteen years after the beginning of efforts at collection, and after all the available assets of the State Bank had been realized, there still
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remained a deficiency of nearly one million two hundred thousand dollars, for which Arkansas was responsible as endorser. At the same time, the Real Estate Bank still owed nearly two million two hundred thousand dollars, for the payment of which its available assets amounted to only about nine hundred thousand dollars, leaving a deficiency of nearly one million three hundred thousand dollars for which the state was responsible by reason of its guar- anty bonds. 'It was involved to the amount of about two and a half million dollars on account of both banks. At this session of the legislature, state taxes were reduced to one-sixth of one per cent. Samuel 11. Hempstead was appointed solicitor general. The Hon. Josiah Gould of Drew county was appointed to make a revision and digest of the state laws. The digest was published in 1858 under the supervision of the Hon. George C. Watkins, examiner. December 15, 1856, a law was passed prohibiting the sale of liquor in quantities less than forty gallons within three miles of Falcon Male and Female Academy in Columbia county. Thus the three mile legislation to protect schools and churches originated in this state. Between 1856 and 1860 six similar laws were enacted ..
In 1843 the state militia had numbered 17,137, in 1854 it had numbered 36,054, but had been equipped only with "one twelve- pounder bronze howitzer, with implements complete, and fifty muskets, with implements incomplete." In 1856, Arkansas had received from the government at Washington, an adequate supply of arms and accoutrements, which, with other arms formerly kept in Dallas county, the governor had consigned for safekeeping to the arsenal at Little Rock.
Political change was pronounced and rapid. Events were hastening the day of Civil war. The decline of the great Whig party had begun in 1850, when Fillmore was president and the party had been overthrown with the defeat of General Scott in 1852. Out of the "Order of United Americans" then started, came later the "Knownothing" party, of which the chief promoter in Arkansas was Albert Pike. Andre J. Hutt becoming first pres- ident of the state council. Whigs and Democrats joined it and in 1854 it captured the legislature and every state office filled by that body except secretary of state. Soon, however, it ceased to be a factor to be reckoned with. James Yell, "Knownothing" can- didate for governor in 1856, was defeated by Mr. Conway by a large majority. Albert Rust, Democrat, defeated Absalom Fowler, "Knownothing" nominee for congress, and this entered upon relations in which he gained national notoriety by caning
T
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Horace Greeley. Now the Republican party had come into existence, the slavery question was paramount and on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line, pro-slavery men and abolitionists were becoming more and more outspoken and antagonistic. The slavery question was affecting the integrity of the Democratic party in the North, but it was solidifying the Democracy in the South and bringing into affiliation with it many Southerners who had been Whigs. Reference to the presidential vote of Arkansas from the year 1836 up to and including the election of 1856 will serve to show in a general way the political complexion of the state during that period. The elections have resulted as follows- scattering votes not being given : 1836-Van Buren, 2,400; Har- rison, 1,162; total 3,638. 1840-Ilarrison, 5,160; Van Buren, 6,049 ; Birney, 889 ; total 11,209. 1844-Polk, 8,540; Clay, 5,504; total 15,050. 1848 -- Taylor, 7,588; Cass, 9,300; total 16,888. 1852-Pierce, 12,170; Scott, 7,404; total 19,577. 1856-Buch- anan, 21,910; Fillmore, 10,787; total, 32,097.
'The election of Buchanan and Breckinridge was regarded as a triumph of constitutional principles, and in favor of the Union. In Arkansas a joint resolution was adopted by the legislature, Jannary 15, 1857, declaring :
"WHEREAS, The contest of 1856 for President and Vice-Presi- dient of the United States was a struggle of the friends of the Constitution and the rights of the States against fanaticism and treason in the North, and,
"WHEREAS, By the defeat of the Black Republican party and the success of the National Democracy, the Constitution has been vin- dicated and the rights of the States preserved and the continued existence of the Union insured, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the thanks of the people of Arkansas are hereby tendered to all those citizens of the North, and to the Old Line Whigs of the South who supported the Democratic nominees ; and be it further
Resolved, That the people of Arkansas, in common with the whole people of the South, ask nothing but what is right and will submit to nothing that is wrong, and while pledging an adherence in good faith to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, they demand of the people of the North a patriotic and honest compli- ance with all the requirements of the Federal compact as the only means by which the Union can or ought to be perpetuated."
In September, 1857, 120 emigrants from Arkansas were assassi- nated by Mormons and Indians at Mountain Meadows, Utah. Seventeen children under nine years old, were saved and held
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prisoners by the Mormons, till they were returned by United States authorities to their relatives in Arkansas. One of these was Miss Sarah Dunlap, later for years a teacher in the School for the Blind at Little Rock. Albert Sydney Johnston said of this party : "This company was made up of farmers' families, allied by blood and friendship, and far above the average in wealth, intelligence, and orderly conduct. They were Methodists and held religious services regularly mornings and evenings." Its leader was Captain Fancher of Carroll county. The Mormon leader was John D. Lee, who in 1876 was tried and put to death for his participation in this awful crime. This affair grew out of the shooting at Van Buren, of Perley P. Pratt, a Mormon leader, by Doctor McLean, for the seduction of the latter's wife and the abduction of two of Mel,ean's children. The massacre was an act of vengeance against Arkansas.
In 1857 the Arkansas Manufacturing Company put in operation at Royston, Pike county, a factory for the manufacture of cotton and woolen yarn and thread. The superintendent was W. W. Bell. The year 1858, witnessed the first railroad building in Arkansas. The section of the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad from Hopefield, opposite Memphis, to Madison, was completed and operated. In October there was in the treasury subject to draft for ordinary state expenses, two hundred and thirty-five thousand one hundred and ninety-four dollars in specie, an increase of ninety-three thousand and forty dollars in two years. The amount expended on the swamp land system in 1857-58 had been fifty-seven thousand four hundred and four dollars less than in 1855 -- 56. Nearly a million cubic yards of ditch and levee work had been done in the past two years. Thomas C. Ilindman was elected, Albert Rust reelected to congress in 1858.
The twelfth legislature was held, November 1, 1858, to Febru- ary 21, 1859. Senate: President-Thomas Fletcher (of Arkansas county ) ; secretary-John D. Kimbell. House of representatives : Speaker-O. H. Oates ; clerk, Samuel M. Scott. Among the more important acts of this assembly, beyond the filling of certain official vacancies, was one providing for the continuation of the geological survey of the state, another authorizing the increase of salaries of judges of the supreme court, and an act passed February 19, 1859, creating Craighead county. The Arkansas School for the Blind was incorporated February 4, 1859, and opened to pupils the same year in Arkadelphia. In 1868 it was removed to Little Rock, and suitable grounds were purchased at the foot of Center street, on Eighteenth street. This is not an asylum for the aged and
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infirm, nor a hospital for the treatment of disease, but a school for the young of both sexes in which are taught literature, music and handicraft. In 1859-60, that part of the Memphis & Little Rock Railroad between Little Rock and Duvall's Bluff, was constructed. The route of travel was from Madison by stage, or from Memphis to Duvall's Bluff by boat, from there to Little Rock by rail. The central division of the railroad was not finished until four or five years after the end of the Civil war. In 1860, the first telegraph line in Arkansas, from Memphis to Little Rock, was established.
The growth of churches kept full pace with the development of the state, and houses of worship were built in town and country. The Christian church was organized in 1832 at Little Rock, by Elder B. F. Hall. Its prominent preachers were the Revs. John T. Johnson, Thomas Ricketts, W. W. Stevenson and Joseph Desha Pickett. The Baptists formed a state association in 1847, and in 1860 had twelve associations in the state. The Revs. J. B. Hart- well, B. F. Cortney, H. II. Bayliss and Isaac Perkins were well known Baptist preachers. The Methodists were well organized throughout the state when the Civil war began. Prominent Methodist preachers were the Revs. W. P. Ratcliff, Andrew Hunter and A. R. Winfield. Presbyterian synods were then established. Leading Presbyterian clergymen were the Revs. J. W. Moore, Thomas R. Welch and Aaron Williams. Bishop Leonidas Polk began active work for the Episcopal church in 1840. Prominent rectors were the Rev. Andrew Freeman, the Rev. Dr. Yearger and the Rev. J. T. Wheat. The Catholic diocese of Little Rock was created in 1843 and the Rt. Rev. Andrew Byrne was its first bishop. Prominent Catholic priests were the Rev. Fathers McGowan, Patrick O'Reilly and James Donahoe. Some of the other seets now numerous in the state were well established.
Schools were prospering and multiplying. Arkansas seemed to be established in the ways of progress and prosperity. Immigra- tion was rapid and constant. The days of the pioneer were gone and the state was in the hands of small farmers who were making money. The resources of Arkansas were being brought to light ; internal improvements were in progress, and a careful and eco- nomical policy was being pursued in the administration of public affairs ; so that when Governor Conway passed out of office, he left about three hundred thousand dollars in specie in the state treasury. The total amount of real and personal property at the first state assessment in 1838 was fifteen million five hundred and sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-four dollars. In 1860
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ARKANSAS, IN ANTE-BELLUM DAYS.
it was one hundred and twenty million four hundred and seventy- five thousand twohundred and thirty-six dollars. The actual wealth of the state was in round numbers, two hundred and forty million dollars. There were in the possession of private owners 10,479, 231 acres of land and 17,194 town lots valued together at sixty million four hundred and ninety-nine thousand three hundred and forty-one dollars, and slaves assessed at forty-five million dollars. Goods and merchandise were valued at two million three hundred and sixty-two thousand five hundred and twenty-seven dollars. There were nearly 100,000 horses and mules and 250,000 cattle. There were one million one hundred and twelve thousand and forty dollars in money at interest. There were no banks. Mant- factures were few. The total population was 435,450.
There was to be a long, expensive and bloody war and many of its battles would redden Arkansas soil. It would destroy all these hardly earned and most encouraging values and set the state back several decades in her struggle for position among her sister states. For a time it would baffle and embitter, but it would not daunt the spirit of her people.
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CHAPTER IV
Arkansas During the Civil War
A RKANSAS had no distinctive part in the march of events which culminated in the Civil war. It was one of the Southern states, and within its borders and among its people had grown up political and economic conditions similar to those which had obtained in other Southern states, Those conditions affected the wealth and the material welfare of its people. In a sense, they comprehended largely the results of its people's enter- prise thus far and its people's prospects for advancement and pros- perity. To the time of President Lincoln's first call for nien toserve in arms against the South, these conditions were more domestic and economic than political. The people of Arkansas were loyal to the Union in the majority and to the heart's core. They loved the general government that had been founded by their forefathers of the South and of the East, but they loved more the state that they themselves had founded. The history of the events, North and South, out of which these conditions had grown, is a part of the history of the whole vast extent of country embraced within the Louisiana Purchase, and so important a part if it that it is inter- woven with that of the material progress of that great empire from the days of the pioneer down to that day of readjustment when men who had worn blue and men who had worn gray, and who respected each other for the sears they bore, put dead issues under their feet and stood shoulder to shoulder in the struggle for American supremacy in its broadest sense. It is the province of the writer to consider chiefly the part taken by Arkansas in mak- ing history in the period 1860-65.
Henry M. Rector, who in 1860, became the sixth governor of the state, was born in St. Louis, Mo., in 1816, a son of Col. Elias
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Rector, and came to Arkansas in 1835 to take in hand and manage some landed interests at Hot Springs that had been left him by his father. Until 1859, when he became judge of the supreme court, he gave his attention largely to farming. When he became a gubernatorial candidate he resigned his seat on the bench. As governor, he served actively and aggressively until 1862, when he was succeeded by Harris Flanagin. Thomas Fletcher of Lincoln county was acting governor November 4-15, 1862. A crisis had been reached in national politics. There were two branches of the Democratic party-one headed by Breckinridge and Lane; the other by Douglas and Johnson. Another party, composed of the former elements of the American party and some of the Whig members, was known as the Constitution and Union party and was headed by Bell and Everett. Opposed to these was the Repub- lican party, now grown strong and having for its candidates Lincoln and Hamlin. In the election, which took place in Novem- ber, Lincoln and Hamlin were chosen. The vote of Arkansas was given for Breckinridge and Lane. Richard H. Johnson was the regular nominee of the Democratic party of Arkansas for gov- ernor, but Judge Rector became an independent Democratic candi- date for the office. The total vote cast at this election was 61, 198, out of a population of 435-450 in the state as given by the census of that year. This population was a gain of 225,553 persons, or more than a quarter of a million over the censuis of 1850. Judge Rector's majority was 2,461.
S. M. Weaver was secretary of state January 21, 1860, to March 20, 1860; J. 1. Stirman, March 24, 1860, to November 13, 1862. 11. C. Lowe was acting state auditor March 5, 1860, to January 24, 1861. W. R. Miller entered upon the duties of the office January 24, 1861, and performed them until April 18, 1864. Jared C. Martin succeeded John Onindley, deceased, as state treas- urer, December 13, 1860, and gave place, February 2, 1861, to Oliver Basham, who filled the office until April 18, 1864. In the office of attorney-general, J. I. Hollowell was followed by C. T. Jordan, September 7, 1861, and the latter was succeeded by Sam. W. Williams in 1862. H. F. Fairchild, a Confederate, became an associate justice of the supreme court in 1860 and held the office until his death.
William Byers became judge of the Seventh judicial district of the state of Arkansas, July 8, 1861. James D. Walker became judge of the Eighth circuit, July 25, 1861. In this year, I .. I .. Mack became prosecuting attorney on the Third cirenit, July 8; Pleasant Jordan, on the Fifth circuit, September 7; Elisha Baxter,
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on the Seventh circuit, December 7; N. J. Temple, on the Ninthi circuit, July 8; La Fayette Gregg became prosecuting attorney on the Eighth circuit, November 13, 1862.
Arkansas had started permanently along the road of triumphant Democracy, from which it never would have varied, except for the war times which brought to the whole country confusion and political chaos. Being a Jackson state, dominated by the blood of the first governor of Tennessee-Gen. John Sevier, a man little inferior to Jackson himself-only the most cruel circumstances could have forced the state into secession. March 4, 1861, a state convention assembled in Little Rock. The election of delegates was on February 18, preceding. The convention met on the day Abraham Lincoln was inducted into office as president of the United States. The people of Arkansas were deeply concerned. 'The conservative minds of the state loved the Union as sincerely as they regretted the wanton assaults that had been made upon them by the extremists of the North. The members of that con- vention had been elected with a view to the consideration of those matters already visible in the war-clouds lowering upon the country. The test of the Union 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. E. C. Boudinot was elected secre- tary. The members of the convention were: Arkansas county, James L. Totten ; Ashley, M. L. Hawkins; Benton, A. W. Dins- more, H. Jackson ; Bradley, Josiah Gould ; Calhoun, P. H. Echols; Carroll, W. W. Watkins, B. H. Hobbs; Chicot, Isaac Hilliard ; Clark, 11. Flanagin : Columbia, George P. Smoote, I. C. Wallace; Conway, S. J. Stallings; Craighead, not represented; Crawford, Henry F. Thomasson, Jesse Turner; Crittenden, Thomas B. Hanley ; Dallas, R. T. Fuller ; Desha, J. P. Johnson ; Drew, W. F. Slemmons, J. A. Rhodes; Franklin, W. W. Mansfield; Fulton, S. W. Cochran ; Greene, J. W. Bush ; Hempstead, A. H. Carrigan, R. K. Garland; Hot Spring, Joseph Jester ; Independence, M. S. Kennard, U. E. Fort. F. W. Desha ; Izard, A. Adams ; Jackson, J. H. Patterson ; Jefferson, J. Yell, W. P. Grace ; Jolinson, F. I. Batson, W. W. Floyd : Lafayette, W. P. Cryer ; Lawrence, M. D. Baber, S. Robinson ; Madison, I. Murphy, H. Bollinger; Marion, Thomas F. Austin ; Monroe, William M. Mays; Montgomery, A. M. Clingman ; Mississippi, F. R. L,anier ; Newton, I. Dodson ; Ouachita. A. W. Hobson ; Perry, L. D. Hill ; Phillips, T. B. Ilan- ley, C. W. Adams; Pike, S. Kelly; Poinsett, H. W. Williams; Polk, Archibald Ray ; Pope, William Stout ; Prairie, B. C. Totten ;
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Pulaski, A. II. Garland, J. Stillwell ; Randolph, J. W. Crenshaw ; Saline, J. M. Smith ; Scott, E. T. Walker; Searcy, John Campbell ; Sebastian, W. M. Fishback, S. L. Griffith ; Sevier, B. F. Hawkins, J. S. Dollarhide; St. Francis, J. N. Shelton, G. W. Laughing- house; Union, H. Bussey, W. V. Tatum; Van Buren, J. HI. Pat- terson ; Washington, D. Walker, J. II. Stirman, J. A. P. Parks, 'T. M. Gunter; White, J. N. Cypert; Yell, W. Il. Spivey. S. W. Cochran resigned and George C. Watkins was elected in his stead. Messrs. Stillwell and Garland were returned as elected, but were declared not elected by resolution of the convention and the pres- ident was directed to order another election for delegates from Pulaski county.
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