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 34

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926, ed
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : The Weston Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1086

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 34

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Louisiana troops, and placed Gens. Theophilus H. Holmes and Thomas C. Hindman in command in this state. General Hindman and Gen. John S. Roane got an army together and held their own with Curtis in a skirmish near St. Charles, June 17, and in another at Cache River (Cotton Plant), July 7, 1862.

July 15, 1862, the "Arkansas," a Confederate ram that had been completed near the mouth of the Yazoo river, steamed out of that river, sailed down the Mississippi and passed a fleet that was watching and waiting to capture it. The successful running of the fiery gauntlet was one of the most exciting scenes ever wit- nessed on Western waters. Proudly the devoted craft kept on its course, sending volleys into vessels to the right of it and to the left of it, and at nearly every turn of its wheels encounter- ing new enemies. A Federal surgeon of the Union fleet said that that wonderful dash of the "Arkansas" reminded him of an Irishman's advice on going into a "free fight"-"Wherever you sce a head, hit it."

Fayetteville was taken by the Union cavalry June 15, 1862, and General Cabell tried vainly to retake it. There were skirmishes at Pittman's Ferry and Cane Hill and the Confederate arsenal and munitions of war at Yellville were burned. General Hindman moved to Cane Hill, whence he was forced to retire by a Federal attack by General Blunt and his forces November 28. The Unionists, about 16,000 in number, planted themselves at Prairie Grove and Cane Hill. General Hindman attacked General Her- ron at Prairie Grove December 7, 1862. Though Herron was reinforced by Blunt's division, the aggressiveness of Hindman succeeded. Gen. James F. Fagan's men did gallant service in this engagement. The Confederate victory was without imme- diate fruitage, for General Hindman, crippled by lack of supplies, had to retire, and the Federals again occupied the field from which they had been routed. Soon Hindman went down into the coun- try south of the Arkansas and the Union troops took position near Van Buren. General Curtis remained alert but inactive, at Hel- ena, General Holmes at Little Rock. The Federals were warily watching for another Confederate invasion of Missouri. Sher- man planned a land and naval attack on Fort Hindman, which had been erected at Arkansas Post and was garrisoned by about 4,000 Confederates under command of Gen. Thomas J. Churchill. January 10, 1863, the fort was assailed by a land force of 22,000 men under General McClernand and nine gunboats and eighty- five transports under Admiral Porter. General Churchill had received orders from General Holmes, who could not have fore-

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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.

seen such a formidable attack, to "hold the fort until reinforce- ments should arrive or all were dead," and for two days he and his devoted men withstood shot and shell and fire, repulsing several determined charges. Then, through a mistake made by a Texan regiment, the white flag was displayed and the survivors of the garrison were made prisoners of war January 11. It has been said that General Grant did not favor the attack on Arkansas Post and called it a "wild goose chase." Sherman, who was present, under McClernand, said that Fort Hindman was constructed with great care. At the burning of Napoleon, January 17, he said: "We all deserve to be killed unless we can produce a discipline wherein such disgraceful acts cannot go unpunished-no man has labored harder than I have to check this spirit in our soldiers." That month, General Gorman made an expedition up the White river, capturing Confederate stores and taking prisoners at St. Charles, Des Arc and Clarendon.

July 4, 1863, one day after the defeat of Lee's army at Gettys- burg and the very day of the fall of Vicksburg, General Holmes made a brilliant but unsuccessful attack on the force of Curtis at llelena, where it was strongly fortified. In the face of a terrible fire, the Confederates attacked the Union defences and carried some of them, but they were driven back with fearful loss and retreated across the country to Little Rock, where General Holmes was succeeded by General Price. Port Hudson fell, and the Confederacy was practically cut in two. July 13, 1863, Gen. E. Kirby Smith wrote from Shreveport, headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi District, to Governors Thomas C. Reynolds, F. R. Lubbock, Harris Flanagin and Thomas O. Moore, calling on them, as the heads of their respective states, to meet him at Mar- shall, Tex., 'August 15, following. "I have attempted to impar-

tially survey the field of my labor. * * * I found on my arrival the headquarters of Arkansas district at Little Rock.

* % Vicksburg has fallen. The enemy possesses the key

to this department. * * The possession of the Mississippi river by the enemy cuts off this department from all communi- cation with Richmond, consequently we must be self-sustaining and self-reliant in every respect. *

** * With God's help and yours, I will cheerfully grapple with the difficulties that surround us," ete. This was a gloomy but a correct view of the situation west of the Mississippi river after the fall of Vicks- burg. Now the Federals planned to capture Little Rock, and General Curtis ordered General Steele to institute hostilities against that point. General Stcele was occupied in the expedition

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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.

tially survey the field of my labor. * * * I found on my arrival the headquarters of Arkansas district at Little Rock.

** ** % Vicksburg has fallen. The enemy possesses the key

* * With God's help and yours, 1 will cheerfully grapple with the difficulties that surround us," etc. This was a gloomy but a correct view of the situation west of the Mississippi river after the fall of Vicks- burg. Now the Federals planned to capture Little Rock, and General Curtis ordered General Steele to institute hostilities against that point. General Steele was occupied in the expedition

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ARKANSAS, DURING THE CIVIL WIR.

from Helena to Little Rock, from Angust I, to September 10. The cavalry under General Davidson had to scour the country to the right and left as they made their slow advance. The Confederates had no breastworks South of the Arkansas, but had them at several points north of the river, and the Federal advance from Helena to Little Rock was contested by cavalry movements between Wittsburg and Clarendon August 1-8, later by skirmishes or more important engagements at West Point August 14, at Harrison's Landing August 16, at Grand Prairie August 17, at Brownsville August 25, at Bayon Meta August 26, at Reed's Bridge Angust 27, at Shallow Ford August 30, at Aslı- ley's Mills September 7, and at Fourche Bayou September 10. The engagement at Bayon Meta, twelve miles east of Little Rock, was a heavy skirmish, indeed a regular battle, being the first serious effort to check the Federal advance upon the capital. At the last stand made in defense of the city there was heavy fighting, and Confederate Colonel Coffee of Texas, was killed. In a short time Davidson's cavalry appeared in Argenta and trained their . field pieces on the city and fired a few shots, when the place was surrendered by the civil authorities. The Confederates liad evac- uated but a few hours before the Federal cavalry were galloping through the streets and posting sentinels here and there. There was no confusion, no disorder, and none of the usual crimes of war under similar circumstances. In an hour after General Steele was in possession of the city, he had it under strict control and order prevailed. General Reynolds was put in command at Little Rock. The Confederates wisely retreated to Arkadelphia. They were pursued by the Federals as far as Malvern, but no captures were made and no heavy skirmishing occurred. General Price took position on and near the Ouachita, where his command remained through the ensuing winter. After the occupation of Little Rock the Federals dominated all that portion of the state north and east of the Arkansas and yet their actual, occupied posts were the only grounds over which Confederate rangers were not frequently roving with impunity. The Confederates exercised ruling power all south and west of the Ouachita river, and for a while the territory between the Arkansas and Ouachita rivers was a kind of "No Man's Land" so far as the armies were con- cerned. October 25, General Marmaduke made an unsuccessful attack on Pine Bluff which was occupied by Federal forces under command of Gen. Powell Clayton. Part of the Confederate troops in Arkansas were later temporarily transferred to Louisi-

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ana and fought under Gen. Dick Taylor at Mansfield and Pleas- ant Hill.

General Steele remained at Little Rock until the spring of 1864, when, reenforced, he marched toward Arkadelphia, and Price retreated to Camden, where the Confederates .had several factories for the manufacture of war materials. Suffering defeat at Poison Spring, April 18, and at Mark's Mill, 'April 25, Steele found it expedient to fall back to Little Rock. At Jenkins' Ferry, April 30, he was engaged in a fierce battle, in which his force was roughly handled, narrowly escaping capture as a whole. Then he made good his retreat to Little Rock. Banks' expedition had ascended Red river, the plan being to catch Price between Banks and Steele and destroy the Confederate army. Price and Gen. Dick Taylor did not wait for Banks, but met and overwhelmingly defeated him. Having defeated Banks, they turned and gave Steele battle at Jenkins' Ferry. After Steele's return to Little Rock there was little notable warfare in Arkansas until about. September 1, 1864, when General Price, leaving Southwest Arkan- sas, made his famous raid through Northern Arkansas and South- ern Missouri, fighting mimnerons battles and meeting defeat at Pilot Knob, Mo., and reverses at Marias des Cygnes, Kan., after which he brought his army back to Arkansas. This was the end of active war in Arkansas, though the Confederates held the southwestern counties. Lee surrendered in Virginia April 9, 1865; Johnston in North Carolina April 26, and, in June Kirby Smith surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department. Hood sur- rendered May 31. Col. R. G. Shaver surrendered at Shreveport, la., Jime 9, and was supplied with a boat with which to bring his regiment home. A little later and the last gun had been fired in the great conflict. The war was over. The South had lost; but it had also gained more than its people knew or its victors guessed.

The following named officers from Arkansas rose to the rank of major-general in the army of the Confederacy: Thomas J. Churchill began his military career as colonel of the First Arkan- sas mounted rifles, became a brigade commander, then a division commander, and served east of the Mississippi till transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, an Irishman by birth, enlisted as a private and went into the war as captain of a Helena company, the Yell Rifles. He became colonel of the First Arkansas infantry, state troops (afterwards the Fifteenth Arkansas), and was later a brigade commander in Kentucky and still later in Hardee's corps. He won a vote of

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ARKANSAS, DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

thanks from the Confederate congress for his efficient defense of Ringgold Gap, November 7, 1863, and was killed November 30, 1864, while leading his men at the battle of Franklin. James F. Fagan rose from the colonelcy of the First Arkansas infantry to be a brigadier-general and then a major-general, and was at the head of a division east of the Mississippi. Thomas C. Hindman, colonel of the Second Arkansas infantry, became a brigade com- mander cast of the Mississippi. As major-general, he established and commanded the Trans-Mississippi Department. Later he was a major-general under Hood and Johnston. Evander McNair, colonel of the Fourth Arkansas infantry, became a brigadier-gen- eral, then a major-general in service east of the Mississippi. These rose to the rank of brigadier-general : Charles W. Adams, colonel of the Twenty-third Arkansas infantry, became a brigade commander late in the war. Seth M. Barton, major of the Third Arkansas regiment, succeeded Colonel Rust in its command and was soon after promoted to command a brigade in Virginia. WV. N. R. Beall was a West Point officer from Arkansas and 'a captain in the Second United States cavalry. He resigned his commission, and, entering the Confederate service, commanded a cavalry brigade at Corinth and later an infantry brigade at Port Hudson. His fortification and defense of the last named point marked him as an able officer. N. B. Burrow commanded a bri- gade of state troops. William L. Cabell, a United States army officer, resigned to enter the army of the Confederacy, and after commanding an infantry brigade cast of the Mississippi, com- manded a cavalry brigade west of the Mississippi. Thomas P. Dockery, colonel of the Third regiment of Arkansas troops, rose to the command of a brigade in the Trans-Mississippi Department. D. C. Govan, captain of Company "F," Second Arkansas infantry, was advanced to the command of a brigade in Cleburne's division and Hardee's corps, Army of Tennessee, under Hood, Bragg and Johnston. A. T. Hawthorne made a good record as a soldier and as a commander. Jolin H. Kelley was lieutenant-colonel, then colonel, of the Eighth Arkansas, and rose to the command of a cavalry brigade in Cleburne's division. James McIntosh com- manded McIntosh's regiment, state troops, then was a brigadier- general in service west of the Mississippi until he was killed at the battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn), March 7, 1862. Dandridge McRae, colonel of McRae's battalion, was advanced to the com- mand of a brigade in Eagan's division in the Trans-Mississippi Department. John Edward Murray began his military service as drill-master, became lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth Arkansas and

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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.

was killed at Atlanta July 22, 1864, only a few hours after being commissioned a brigadier-general. N. B. Pearce, formerly a United States army officer, was appointed a brigadier-general by the Military Board at the beginning of the war and served in Arkansas until his brigade was disbanded in 1861. Charles W. Pfieffer, a battalion commander, became a brigade commander and as such served with bravery and ability. Albert Pike, com- missioner to the Choctaw and Cherokee Indians, organized and led a brigade of Cherokees in the service west of the Mississippi. At one time he commanded all state troops in Northwest Arkan- sas. Daniel H. Reynolds, a captain in the Arkansas Mounted Rifles, became commander of McNair's old brigade and served east of the Mississippi under Hood and Johnston. John Selden Roane, appointed brigadier-general by President Davis, helped to organize and was a brigade commander in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Albert Rust, colonel of the Third Arkansas, became a brigade commander east of the Mississippi, later at Port Huid- son, and was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi Department. James C. Tappan, colonel of the Thirteenth Arkansas, rose to the command of a Trans-Mississippi brigade. Marsh Walker, colonel of a regiment of Tennessee and Arkansas men, became a brigade commander in the Trans-Mississippi Department, in which capac- ity he served until, in 1863, he fell in a duel with Gen. John S. Marmaduke, near Little Rock. That was the last duel fought in the state. James Yell was appointed a brigadier-general by the convention of 1861 and assigned to the command of state troops.

Col. Elisha Baxter (Federal), Lieut. James H. Berry ( Con- federate), Maj .- Gen. Thomas J. Churchill ( Confederate), Brig .- Gen. Powell Clayton ( Federal), Lieut .- Col. James P. Eagle ( Con- federate), Col. Harris Flanagin (Confederate), Lieut .- Col. Simon P. Hughes ( Confederate), Col. Dan W. Jones ( Confeder- ate), and Isaac Murphy (Federal), cach became governor of Arkansas. Some account of their military service is given in bio- graphical sketches which appear on other pages of this work. Other men who have been otherwise prominent in state affairs did gallant service in the Civil war.

Meantime, the state was making civil history. In 1860 T. C. Hindman had been re-elected and F. W. Gantt had been elected to congress, but the Civil war prevented their taking their seats. The fourteenth legislature was held November 5 to December 1, 1862. Senate: President-Thomas Fletcher (of Arkansas county) ; secretary -- J. D. Kimball. House of representatives: Speaker- John Harrell; clerk -- Alden M. Woodruff. Cross county was

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ARKANSAS, DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

created November 15, and Woodruff county November 26, 1862. It transpired that a defect in the constitution of 1861 would leave. the gubernatorial term of office two instead of four years, thus nullifying a change which it had been sought to make. The supreme court decided that the provision of the last constitution on this point was still operative and Governor Rector resigned November 4. Thomas Fletcher became acting governor and J. R. Hampton was elected president of the senate in his stead. Harris Flanagin was elected seventh governor of the state at a special election in 1862 and inaugurated November 15 that year and served a year and a half. Governor Flanagin was elected as a Confederate, by a majority of 10,012 in a total vote of 26,266. At the beginning of the war he had become captain of Company "E," Second Arkansas mounted rifles. He had risen to the colonelcy of the regiment and was commanding it at the time of his elec- tion. Born at Roadstown, Cumberland county, N. J., Novem- ber 3, 1817, he was about forty-five years okl when he became seventhi governor of the state. He came at the age of twenty to . Arkansas from Illinois, where he had fitted himself for his pro- fession, and, settling at Greenville, Clark county, engaged in the practice of law. He lived there until 1842, when the county seat was established at Arkadelphia, where he afterward lived until his death, which occurred October 23, 1874, when he was nearly fifty- seven years old. He was a member of the legislature in 1847 and of the constitutional convention of 1874.

November 13, 1862, O. H. Oates succeeded Jolin I. Stirman as secretary of state and filled the office during this administration, though Robert J. T. White was made provisional secretary of state January 24, 1864. W. R. Miller was state auditor Janu- ary 24, 1861, to April 18, 1864. Oliver Basham was state treas- urer February 2, 1861, to April 18, 1864. Sam W. Williams was attorney general 1862-64 and was succeeded by R. S. Gantt. W. W. Wilshire became chief justice of the supreme court in 1863 and resigned about a year afterward. T. D. W. Yonley succeeded him in 1864. In that year E. Baxter assumed the duties of the office under the provisions of the new Murphy con- stitution. Albert Pike, Confederate, became an associate. justice in 1864. November 28, 1862, HI. B. Stuart became judge of the Ninth judicial circuit of the state of Arkansas. December 1, that year, Z. P. H. Farr became prosecuting attorney on the First cir- cuit, B. J. Brown on the Fourth circuit. Y. B. Sheppard became judge of the Fourth circuit, May 9, 1863. Sam W. Williams became prosecuting attorney on the Fifth circuit, July 6, 1863.

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Charles B. Mitchell and Robert W. Johnson were, in 1862, elected Confederate state senators and served as such. Mitchell died September 18, 1864, and 'A. H1. Garland was elected to fill the vacancy. Johnson and Garland served until the fall of the Con- federacy. In 1862 an election for representatives of Arkansas in the Confederate congress resulted in the choice of Thomas B. Hanley from the First district, Grandison D. Royston from the Second district, A. H. Garland from the Third district, and Felix I. Batson from the Fourth district. September 22, 1862, President Lincoln issued a proclamation providing that, on the first day of January, 1863, all persons held as slaves in any state or part of any state, the people whereof should be in rebellion against the United States, should be "thenceforward and forever free." On the day designated the proclamation terminated the chattel condition of III,259 negroes, who had been slaves in Arkansas. Their market value had been more than sixty million dollars.

When the year 1862 drew to a close, the everyday hardships of the people of Arkansas had become very serious and harrassing from the scarcity of numerous articles of ordinary necessity. A rigid blockade of all the ports of the entire South prevented com- munication with the outside world, and articles of household consumption which had been brought from Northern states, or for- cign markets, had been used up. Tea, coffee, black pepper, drugs, medicines and like materials the people were obliged to do with- out. Some used such substitutes as could be found or improvised. Confederate money which was the purchasing medium in use, had become greatly depreciated. A pound of black pepper would bring three hundred dollars, a turkey twenty dollars, a sheep fifty dollars, a pair of boots eighty dollars, a pair of shoes thirty-five dollars in Confederate notes, and other articles brought amounts in corresponding proportions. The people were literally thrown on their own resources, and the hardshps they endured were not less than those with which pioneers in the state had had to con- tend. Kerosene, in use by the people of the North, was to this people unavailable. Pine knots and tallow dips afforded the only light in the house at night. Looms that had been long in disuse were dragged forth and put in operation, new ones were impro- vised ; homespun cloth was made in all parts of the state, but not enough to supply the demand. Clothing and shoes, were hard to get at home, even to those who were not exactly poverty stricken, but the soldiers in the field could not be supplied with them and many of them went hatless and barefooted in the dead of winter.

ARKANSAS, DURING TIIE CIVIL WAR. 349

'They were sustained by a patriotism as heart-born as that which sustained Washington's suffering soldiers at Valley Forge. They loved their homes, where their half famished children cried for them and their worn and shivering wives prayed for them, and, from their point of view, they were waging as righteous a war for liberty as did their forefathers from Virginia and from New York and from Massachusetts, three-quarters of a century before. When they bethought them of their mild Southern cli- mate, they were thankful that sometimes God really does temper the wind to the shorn lamb.

Soon after the occupation of Little Rock by the Federal forces, a growing sentiment in favor of the setting up of a state govern- ment was manifested by the people. A Union meeting was held at Little Rock, with Dr. John Kirkwood as president and Dr. F. D. Ayers as secretary. Isaac Murphy, E. P. Filkins, W. M. Fishback, E. W. Crowe and C. V. Meador were appointed a com- mittee to draft and forward to President Lincoln resolutions offer- ing loyalty to the United States government and urging the carly establishment of a state government. In a proclamation issued December 3, following, the president extended full pardon and amnesty to all participants in the rebellion (except ex-United States officials above certain ranks ) who would swear fealty to the government at Washington. With a view to availing themselves of this offer, citizens of some counties in Arkansas in Federal possession met at Fort Smith and made provision for the election of delegates to a constitutional convention to convene at Little Rock, January 4, 1864. Delegates from twenty-three counties were present : Crawford county, 1. C. White, J. Austin, J. Ilow- ell, C. A. Harper; Clark, M. 1 .. Langley, J. M. Strapp, C. T. Jordan, J. Burton ; Columbia, John H Hiflin; Dallas, R. M. Stanfield, A. J. Eden ; Drew, William Cox; Hot Spring, T. Whit- ten, W. H. Davis; Independence, C. C. Bliss; Jackson, John Box; Jefferson, Il. B. Alls, Peter Finnerty, Thomas W. Clegg, Jr. ; Madison, G. W. Seamains; Montgomery, J. C. Priddy, R. Lamb; Newton, John McCoy ; Ouachita, R. T. Turner, Ralph Seats ; Phillips, J. A. Butler, J. B. Miles, T. M. Jacks, Thomas Pearce; Pike, W. Jones, L. D. Cantrell; Polk, James Huey, Thomas Young; Pope, William Stout; Pulaski, T. D. W. Yonley, E. Maynard, E. D. Ayers, F. A. Sarasin ; Saline, J. T. Swafford, J. M. Dement, W. Holleman, E. 11. Vance; Sebastian, H. L. Holleman, J. R. Smoot, R. D. Swindle; Sevier, Samuel Helms; St. Francis. A. B. Fryrear ; Yell, B. Johnson, Elias G. Cook. Mr. Miles, of Phillips county, having left the convention without any

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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 34

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926, ed Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Madison, Wis. : The Weston Historical Association Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926, ed
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : The Weston Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1086