George Wherry Rutherford (1833–1911)

George W. Rutherford was the leader of an irregular band of Confederate cavalry that was active in northeastern Arkansas during the Civil War.

George Wherry Rutherford was born at Rutherfordton in Rutherford County, North Carolina, on July 10, 1833, one of nine children of tanner Walter B. Rutherford and Sarah McTyre Rutherford. The family moved to Arkansas in 1850, settling in what became Rutherford (Independence County), where Walter Rutherford acquired a large farm. George Rutherford served as deputy county land surveyor in 1858, with county records showing that he conducted thirty-five surveys. Living with his parents, he owned $1,000 in real property and $2,000 in personal property in 1860.

Rutherford enlisted as a captain in Company D, Second Arkansas Cavalry, at Searcy (White County) on June 1, 1862, pledging to serve for the duration of the war. He was recorded as being six feet tall with a fair complexion, light hair, and gray eyes. Company D would later be associated with Colonel Archibald Dobbins’s First Arkansas Cavalry.

Rutherford’s command often operated independently by 1864, as when it attacked and captured a Federal wagon train in the February 19, 1864, Skirmish at Waugh’s Farm or when it was defeated in the Skirmish at Oil Trough Bottom on March 25, 1864. Rutherford corresponded with Colonel Robert R. Livingston, U.S. First Nebraska Cavalry, in Batesville (Independence County) following the Waugh’s Farm fight in an effort to trade Union captives for his imprisoned brother James Rutherford. He apparently succeeded, as Major General Frederick Steele ordered James Rutherford’s release on July 14, 1864.

Rutherford’s unit joined forces with several bands led by Colonel Thomas R. Freeman and Captain John Bland in the April 1, 1864, Action at Fitzhugh’s Woods in Woodruff County, a fight in which a witness related that “Rutherford was a master of profanity, and…he poured it on that day.” Rutherford’s command also took part in the April 20, 1864, Attack on Jacksonport in Jackson County.

Rutherford was captured on May 31, 1864, near Sugar Loaf Springs in Van Buren County (now Heber Springs in Cleburne County). He was imprisoned in Little Rock (Pulaski County) for the remainder of the war, being freed after finally signing an oath of allegiance on May 7, 1865.

He returned to his parents’ Independence County farm after the war, and he inherited it following their deaths. He married Florence Neill in 1868, and they would have ten children. While many landowners suffered severe financial misfortunes after the war, Rutherford prospered, claiming $5,000 in real estate and $2,500 in personal property in 1870. In 1889, Goodspeed’s history reported that “his farm is well improved, and adapted to the stock business, in which he is an extensive dealer.”

Rutherford died on February 11, 1911, “after a lingering illness of many weeks.” The Batesville Daily Guard eulogized him, writing that “by his death the county loses one of her most prominent and substantial citizens.” He is buried in Rutherford Cemetery in Batesville.

For additional information:
“Capt George Wherry Rutherford Sr. (1833–1911).” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/18639043/george-wherry-rutherford (accessed September 27, 2024).

“Capt Rutherford Is Dead.” Batesville Daily Guard, February 13, 1911, p. 1.

“Captain Rutherford’s Company.” Independence County Chronicle 5 (January 1964): 17–18.

“Waugh’s Farm Skirmish Fought Feb. 19, 1864.” Independence County Chronicle 5 (January 1964): 8–16.

Christ, Mark K. “‘It Was a Hard Little Fight’: The Battle of Fitzhugh’s Woods, April 1, 1864.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 64 (Winter 2005): 1–11.

The Goodspeed Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeastern Arkansas. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Vol. 34, Part II, p. 380. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1891.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System