The Life and Adventures of an Arkansaw Doctor

The 1851 humor book The Life and Adventures of an Arkansaw Doctor details the exploits of a physician in eastern Arkansas in the antebellum period. Written by Marcus Lafayette Byrn using the pen name of David Rattlehead, the work is based on his experiences working in the Arkansas Delta between 1849 and 1850. The book is an example of nineteenth-century works aimed at readers on the East Coast that portrayed Arkansas as a wild, unsettled country.  

Byrn was born on September 4, 1826, in Statesville, Tennessee, and grew up in that state. Little is known of his parents or family. While much of his writing was autobiographical, Bryn included few details about his upbringing, and it is unclear if that information was altered to make it more humorous. He received little formal education and worked in a dry goods store as a teenager. Deciding to embark on a career in medicine, Byrn studied with a local doctor and spent 1848 and 1849 at the University of Louisville studying in the medical department. He later spent several months in the Arkansas Delta, helping with an epidemic  

The book is arranged in twenty chapters with an additional preface, all told in chronological order. Early chapters detail the author’s time working at a dry goods store and his training received with a local doctor, including a grave-robbing incident. Returning home after a year studying in Louisville, the author found that the doctor with whom he previously studied no longer had room in the practice for another physician. Discouraged, he traveled to Mississippi to find work. On his first night in that state, he learned that Racoon Bayou, a fictional town in Arkansas, needed a doctor. With a letter of introduction, he crossed the Mississippi River and, within a few days, had arrived at the settlement.  

The author’s experiences in Arkansas begin in chapter thirteen, with the preceding chapter detailing his travels to the state. He treated both white and enslaved patients, making note of the desire of slave owners to protect the health of their property due to the financial investment. He treated dropsy, bled patients, and saved one person who had attempted suicide. During his travels to treat patients across the countryside, he reported that he was captured by Native Americans and held captive for three weeks before he used medicines to incapacitate his captors so he could escape.  

The book contains several references to enslaved people, and the author mimics African American Vernacular English in an attempt to draw humor from the interactions. In the first chapter, the author relates a story where in which he almost shoots an enslaved person who interrupts his sleep. In one episode, he relates his attempt to perform an autopsy on a still-living enslaved man before realizing his error. He also consistently portrays the residents of Arkansas as uneducated.  

Byrn returned to medical school after his sojourn in Arkansas and received a medical degree in 1851 from the Medical College of New York. Returning to the South, he practiced for two years in Mississippi and Tennessee before returning to New York. After moving to New York, he married Anna Barberie, and the couple had three children. Byrn practiced in New York City for decades and died in New Jersey on February 12, 1903. Byrn is buried in Brooklyn.  

The Life and Adventures of an Arkansaw Doctor is an example of literature that portrayed Arkansas in an often-unflattering light. It is a useful resource for modern researchers, but caution should be taken when relying on it as a source due to the comedic efforts of the author. Byrn published the book while still studying for his medical degree. It was released in 1851 in Philadelphia by Lippincott, Grambo, and another edition appeared in 1854, this one with illustrations. An edition edited by W. K. McNeil was published in 1989 by the University of Arkansas Press.  

For additional information:
Pettengell, Michael J. “Marcus Lafayette Byrn: Southwest Humorist in New York City.” Studies in English 7 (1989). Online at https://egrove.olemiss.edu/studies_eng_new/vol7/iss1/11/ (accessed May 13, 2025). 

Rattlehead, David. The Life and Adventures of an Arkansaw Doctor. Edited by W. K. McNeil. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1989.  

David Sesser
Southeastern Louisiana University