University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

Page 18 text:

Carried on. A more thorough study was made later in the century by Dr. John C. Branner, state geologist, and later president of Stanford University. Ex-presi¬ dent Hoover, then a student at Stanford, helped in the more extensive survey during his summer vacation in 1892. FIRST RAILROAD IS FOUNDED First railroad in Arkansas was organized in 1852, when the Mississippi, Ouachita, and Red River R. R. was constructed. The company was unable to buy or operate any trains, so it failed. In 1853 three others came into existence, according to Moore: The Mem¬ phis and Little Rock, The Cairo and Fulton, and the Little Rock and Fort Smith railroads. Though railroads were built, they got along without telegraph lines until about I 860, when the first wire was set up from Memphis to Little Rock. Right in the midst of the expansion movement, the curse of the centuries fell upon Arkansas. The Civil War was precipitated by formation of the Confeder¬ acy, but this state did not want war, and was one of the last to enter the Southern alliance. Though Arkansas ' citizens were loyal to the Union, their sentimens were Southern, for most had come from the South. They felt that they would rather not mix in the conflict until President Lincoln requested a regiment from Arkansas to aid in suppressing rebel¬ lion in the South. Governor Henry M. Rector, who later resigned to enlist as a private in the Confederate army, replied to the president, None will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury. ARKANSAS JOINS CONFEDERACY So Arkansas ' lot was cast. On May 6, 1861, sev¬ enty delegates met at the Statehouse and voted to withdraw from the Union. Even this did not cause great consternation among Arkansans. Not until news reached the state that a large Federal force was sweeping south from Kansas City did the enlistment numbers jump. Then the state went wild. Grandpa grabbed his old squirrel rifle; the schoolboy got his muzzle loader; some soldiers received standardized equipment, and 50,000 Arkansas men went to war. From the State also went 8,789 who enlisted in the Union army. Arkansas furnished four major-generals to the Con federacy: James F. Fagan, Thomas J. Churchill, Thom¬ as C. Hindman, Patrick Roane Cleburne. There were 29 brigadier-generals, among them, Albert Pike and ex-governor Roane. Many citizens along the northern border remained loyal to the Union. Some outstanding officers among them include Col. Elisha Baxter, later governor, and Lafayette Gregg, later a Fayetteville judge.

Page 17 text:

The Masonic fraternity organized the Arkansas Grand Lodge in 1838 and gave to the state ' s chap¬ ters a central organization. The first chapter of Masonry in Arkansas was founded at Arkansas Post, but the lodge did not continue in operation. First permanent chapter of the Masonic lodge, which is still in existence, is in Fayetieville. It was established in 1835, and Archibald Yell, second governor of the State, helped to set it up. Yell is truly the most romantic figure of Arkansas history. Having served as a volunteer in the battle of New Orleans, he became district judge of Arkansas Territory and lived in Fayetteville. He was the first member of Congress from the state; governor in I 840; elected to Congress again, 1844; resigned and ac¬ cepted colonelcy of the Arkansas Volunteers for the Mexican War, 1846. He was killed at Buena Vista, Feb. 22, 1847, and before his final resting place in Evergreen cemetery at Fayetteville was reached, was buried three times. He was buried on the battlefield, and when the Arkansas troops returned home, they brought his body back in a metal coffin and placed it in the family graveyard back of his home, Waxhaws, which still stands on the foot of College avenue in Fayetteville. In 1872 the Masons moved his body from the family lot to Evergreen. TRAVELER TUNE IS COMPOSED The Arkansas Traveler first became known about 1840, according to legend and history. This famous old tune is said to have originated from Col. Sandford C. Faulkner, who, with a party of politicians, A. H. Sevier, Chester Ashley, William Fulton, and Archibald Yell, stopped at a squatter ' s home in the Boston moun¬ tains during a state campaign. After talking some foolish banter resembling that of the repartee of the Arkansas Traveler tale, Col. Faulkner played the moun¬ taineer ' s fiddle. Later at a banquet in Little Rock he was asked to reproduce the tune, and it thus became published. Education was spreading gradually as institutions of learning sprang up. Perhaps the first military school in the state, St. John ' s College, was founded in 1848, in Little Rock, by the Masons. The State School for the Blind was founded in 1859. A Deaf Mute Insti¬ tute came into being in 1868. First west of the Alleghenies, was what the Ga¬ zette in 1840 called the anthracite coal discovered near Spadra Bluff that year. A Mr. Walker picked up the mineral on the ground there and took a specimen to the newspaper office. The first public library was set up in I 843, when Pub¬ lisher Woodruff of the Gazette began circulating some of his personal volumes. The Fayetteville Female Seminary was founded in 1844 by Miss Sophie Sawyer on what is now West Mountain Street. The next institution of learning in the home of our University was Arkansas College, built in 1852, located on the present site of the First Chris¬ tian Church in Fayetteville. The need having arisen for a comprehensive report of minerals in the state because of new discoveries, Dr. David Dale Owen in 1858 mapped the gelogical resources of Arkansas. His work was not completed before his death, so his brother and Edward T. Cox A Band of Regulars in the Early Part of the Civil War

Page 19 text:

PEA RIDGE IS FIRST BATTLE SITE The first engagement in Arkansas between the Fed¬ eral and Confederates was on Pea Ridge, about 30 miles from Fayetteville. On March 6, 1862, 15,000 Confederates under Gen. Sterling Price attacked 20,- 000 Union soldiers under Gen. Curtis at Bentonville and drove them back to the ridge. Next day, the Southerners drove the blue coats into Missouri, but Price did not pursue them. For some reason he re¬ tired to Van Buren. There was another time that Price failed to follow his advantage. At Wilson Creek, ne ar Springfield, they chased Federals from the field, but did not go into the city where they could have ob¬ tained sufficient supplies for the hungry Southerners. Later the Confederates were ordered to Mississippi, and Arkansas was unprotected for the time. This gave Curtis a chance to advance and he moved down as far as Helena. Under the Trans-Mississippi plan, Gen. Hindman was put in charge of Arkansas. Previously, fearing inva¬ sion of the capital, the seat of government was moved to Hot Springs. On Dec. 7, 1862, was the battle of Prairie Grove. The Unions, 16,000 strong, under Generals Blunt and Herron, were forced back 12 miles to Fayetteville by the gray forces under Hindman and Fagan, with 12,- 000 troops. Later Fayetteville was bombarded by the Southern¬ ers and during the artillery fire across the town from the hill where the S. A. E. house is now, to east mountain, considerable damage was done to the town. One house, still standing on Center street, was struck by a cannon ball and the hole which it caused can still be seen. Arkansas Post fell on Jan. 8, 1863, when a fleet of gun boats brought 20,000 Union soldiers there. Gen. Churchill held out for three days, but surrendered to the tremendous odds. News came to the capital that Gen. Steele was leav¬ ing Helena to attack Little Rock, so Gov. Flanagin moved the capital to Washington, Ark. Small details of Confederate troops resisted Steele, but he reached Little Rock and took it on Sept. 10, 1863. Gen. Price withdrew to save his men. Hero of the Arkansas campaign was David O. Dodd, who protected his friends by refusing to reveal the source of military papers in his pockets when captured. He was tried and hung as a spy by the Federals. ARKANSAS REJOINS UNION Seeing their cause was futile, citizens from 24 coun¬ ties met in 1864 in informal convention and drew up a constitution which omitted slavery and set up a Union government in Little Rock. The document was ap¬ proved by the people of the state 12,177 to 266. At this time Gen. Steele decided to drive the rebels from Arkansas. He marched after them towards Camden, but they turned on him at Poison Spring and nearly captured his whole detachment. Southern hos¬ pitality was missing as they angrily pounced on his re¬ inforcements sent from Pine Bluff and ran off another detail of help coming from Sheridan. Then Arkansas ' fighting on a major scale was ended with the battle at Jenkins ' Ferry on April 30, 1864. A reflection on the poor sportsmanship of the North was exhibited in the reconstruction days when military rule was set up in the South. Gen. C. H. Smith was put in charge of Arkansas, and he immediately pre-