Entries - Entry Type: Event

Levels, Jacob (Execution of)

Jacob Levels was an African American man hanged in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on June 21, 1878, for murdering another Black man the previous year. Jacob Levels was a single man, and Robert Swan’s wife cooked for him. On June 8, 1877, Swan “quarreled with his wife concerning her intimacy with Levels.” When Levels spoke up for the wife, Swan cut his cheek with a pocketknife. Levels went for a shotgun, but Swan fled. Two days later, Swan went to Levels’s house with another man and attempted to apologize, without success. On June 12, Swan went into Little Rock (he presumably lived outside the city) and told an acquaintance that he and Levels had reconciled, but that evening Levels went …

Lewis, Charles (Lynching of)

Charles Lewis, an African American man, was hunted by an armed posse and killed in Hope (Hempstead County) on October 17, 1911, for allegedly making threats to the wife of a prominent local planter. The incident was poorly reported in state newspapers, perhaps due to the coverage afforded the more dramatic lynching of Nathan Lacey near Forrest City (St. Francis County) the previous day. According to the Arkansas Democrat, “Charley” Lewis, as he was called, went on October 17 to the home of one Mrs. Lewellan, “the wife of a prominent planter a few miles south of Hope,” where, “in the absence of the family he used very abusive language to Mrs. Lewellan and finally threatened her and used the …

Lewis, David S. (Execution of)

David S. Lewis was hanged at Batesville (Independence County) on April 29, 1859, for murdering his father-in-law in White County about a year earlier. David S. Lewis, twenty-four, was the son of Abner and Mary Lewis of Pickens County, South Carolina, and was married to a daughter of Will C. Bewler. Lewis, described as “a drinking, worthless scamp,” was immigrating to Texas with Bewler and his wife, the family’s three daughters, and Lewis’s child when he and Bewler had an argument over some property. Lewis then left the party, riding ahead to Searcy (White County). Lewis proceeded to get drunk “and had his passions highly inflamed by the suggestions of some rowdys [sic]…concerning the aggravating character of his father-in-law’s treatment …

Lewis, Sanford (Lynching of)

At midnight on March 23, 1912, a mob hanged Sanford Lewis from a trolley pole in Fort Smith (Sebastian County). He had been suspected of shooting Deputy Constable Andy Carr, who sustained a fatal wound above the eye. Although the Arkansas Gazette refers to this as the first lynching in Sebastian County, it was actually the first lynching of an African American there. The murder of a white man named James Murray in the county on December 6, 1897, was described in many media outlets as a lynching. Deputy Constable Andy Carr was probably the Andy Care [sic] listed on the census as living in Ward 4 in Fort Smith in 1910. Living with him were his wife, Della, and …

Lewisburg into Yell and Searcy Counties, Scout from

A pair of Third Arkansas Cavalry (US) soldiers led scouting operations into their home counties in March 1865, bringing back intelligence of Confederate operations. Colonel Abraham H. Ryan of the Third Arkansas reported on March 23, 1865, that Yell County native Lieutenant William M. Boles had returned to Lewisburg (Conway County) that day from a twelve-day expedition in Yell County, reporting that the scouting party had killed several Confederates near Danville (Yell County). Boles learned during his scout that Colonel John T. Coffee was planning to bring 300 men from rebel camps at Center Point (Howard County) to harvest wheat in the bottomlands of the Fourche La Fave River to feed Confederate troops in southern Arkansas. Sergeant Ebenezer D. Arnold …

Lewisburg to Strahan’s Ferry, Expedition from

The expedition for Lewisburg (Conway County) to Strahan’s Landing (Johnson County) saw a Union anti-guerrilla operation’s mission shift to protecting steamboats carrying desperately needed supplies to the garrison at Fort Smith (Sebastian County). Major George L. Childress left the Union base at Brownsville (Lonoke County) on November 21, 1864, with 300 men of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry Regiment (US) and 200 troopers of the Ninth Iowa Cavalry under Major Willis Drummond for temporary duty at Lewisburg, where Colonel Abraham Ryan’s Third Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (US) was involved in heavy anti-guerrilla activity. After arriving on November 24, the cavalrymen from Brownsville were sent out two days later to “scour [the] country above Dover (Pope County) and on the Big Piney.” After …

Lewisburg, Scouts from (August 11–14, 1864)

The scouts by troops from the Third Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (US) from Lewisburg (Conway County) were sent out in search of Confederate troops and guerrillas as General Joseph O. Shelby’s men operated in north-central and eastern Arkansas in the late summer of 1864. Shelby’s troops had been operating north of the Arkansas River and between the White and Mississippi rivers since May 1864, forcing irregular troops into service with established regiments, conscripting every male aged fifteen to fifty into Confederate service, sinking the USS Queen City in Clarendon (Monroe County), and skirmishing with U.S. soldiers throughout the region. In early August, Shelby sent Colonel Archibald Dobbins to attack federally leased farms in Phillips County while Colonel Thomas McCray gathered recruits …

Lewisburg, Scouts from (June 1864)

The scouts from Lewisburg (Conway County) were conducted in an effort to locate Confederate troops under Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby who were recruiting soldiers and attacking Union targets in central and eastern Arkansas during the summer of 1864. Shelby drove off troops from the Third Arkansas Cavalry (US) and Fourth Arkansas Cavalry (US) garrisoning Dardanelle (Yell County) in the early hours of May 17, 1864, and spent the next two days moving approximately 1,200 Confederate soldiers across the Arkansas River to begin operations behind Federal lines along the river. Union forces struggled to determine the location of the Confederate force and, by late May, had abandoned their bases at Batesville (Independence County) and Jacksonport (Jackson County). Shelby officially took …

Lewisburg, Scouts from (September 6–12, 1864)

A flurry of Union scouting expeditions set out from Lewisburg (Conway County) between September 6 and 12, 1864, as Colonel Abraham H. Ryan tried to determine the locations of Confederate troops while Major General Sterling Price was beginning his invasion of Missouri in the fall of 1864. Ryan, commanding the Third Arkansas Cavalry (US) from its base at Lewisburg on the Arkansas River, began sending scouting expeditions into the region on September 6 to determine where Price’s troops were operating; they, in fact, were beginning to cross the Arkansas at Dardanelle (Yell County) on September 6. A patrol of the Third Arkansas scattered Confederate pickets and captured thirteen horses at Norristown (Pope County) on the same day. Ryan dispatched scouts …

Lewisburg, Skirmish at

Lewisburg (Conway County), a thriving town in the 1860s, was the site of a significant occupation force of Union troops during the Civil War. Located about fifty miles west of Little Rock (Pulaski County), it was the first and most significant river port along the way to Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Indian Territory. Federal troops under the command of General Frederick Steele raised the U.S. flag there on September 28, 1863, and remained there as an occupation force until August 1865. As Conway County had divided interests and loyalties, two Union companies were raised there soon after the Rebels abandoned their relatively unprotected positions in late 1863. These units were assigned to the newly formed Third Arkansas Regimental Cavalry …

LGBTQ+ Movement

The social movement in Arkansas in support of rights for LGBTQ+ people (an umbrella term that covers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and more; LGBT was also used in the past) has historically been represented by such legal organizations as Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This was followed by an increasing organization of LGBTQ+ people in Arkansas, primarily in the emergence of student groups at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) and other institutions of higher education. Despite statewide and nationwide strides toward equality under the law, LGBTQ+ Arkansans still face ongoing discrimination—and the fight for rights, safety, and acceptance is far from over. Legal Issues …

Lick Creek Expedition

aka: Helena Expedition (March 6–10, 1863)
aka: Big Creek Expedition

  The Lick Creek Expedition was an attempt to find Confederate forces located around Big and Lick creeks in Phillips County. On March 6, 1863, Brigadier General Benjamin M. Prentiss in Helena (Phillips County) dispatched 500 men from the Fifth Kansas Cavalry under the command of Major Samuel Walker. After searching for Confederate forces for two days, Walker reported back to Prentiss early on March 8 that they could not find any Confederates in the area. Walker took a different approach and advised Major Edward F. Winslow of the Fourth Iowa Cavalry to cross Big Creek while he moved across another area of the creek. Both Maj. Walker and Maj. Winslow encountered small Confederate forces; Winslow killed one Confederate, destroyed their …

Lick Creek, Skirmish at

With the capture of Helena (Phillips County) on the Mississippi River, Federal forces had a tenuous foothold in Arkansas. Deep in enemy territory, the Union troops were forced to constantly patrol against the threat of a Confederate attack on the city. When Federal units did leave the city, they were likely to draw the attention of enemy forces and be attacked. Colonel Powell Clayton of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry led an expedition from Helena on January 11, 1863, in the direction of the White River. On January 12, Lieutenant James Bradford, commanding twenty-five men of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry, left on a mission to deliver a number of dispatches back to Helena from the expedition. Leaving the expedition near Big …

Lightfoot, G. P. F. (Lynching of)

In December 1892, African-American Baptist minister G. P. F. Lightfoot, referred to in most accounts as “Preacher Lightfoot,” was murdered by a group of African Americans in Jackson County in retaliation for taking their money and promising them nonexistent passage to Liberia. Interest in immigrating to Africa started early in the United States. The Back-to-Africa movement dates back to 1816, when the American Colonization Society (ACS) was established to help free blacks resettle in Africa. The Republic of Liberia was established in 1847 and was recognized by the U.S. government in 1864. Following the Civil War, many newly freed Arkansas slaves became interested in the movement, especially those in majority-black counties in the Arkansas Delta. The Liberian Exodus Arkansas Colony …

Limestone Valley, Skirmish at

A small skirmish between Arkansas Federals and Confederate-leaning guerrillas in the rugged Ozark Mountains, this engagement was part of an effort to keep Confederate forces both from attacking Union units and from terrorizing the local population. This engagement is typical of the type of fighting at this point of the war between Union forces and irregular units. On April 14, 1864, Colonel John Phelps of the Second Arkansas Cavalry (US) ordered Major James Melton to take 110 men and move against a guerrilla force nearby under the command of a man known as Sissell (quite likely John Cecil). Melton and his men departed the next day. Captain John Bailey and his company were ordered to work with Melton’s unit in …

Lindbergh Day

aka: Guggenheim Tour

Not long after Charles Lindbergh completed his successful transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, France, he returned to the United States and toured ninety-two cities in forty-eight states. His flight tour began on July 20, 1927, at Mitchel Field in New York, and ended at Mitchel Field on October 23, 1927. His landing in Little Rock (Pulaski County) at the Little Rock Airport (now the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport) on October 1 and the following festivities marked one of the biggest events in the city’s history to that point. Lindbergh’s tour was officially known as the Guggenheim Tour, as it was financed by industrialist and multi-millionaire Daniel Guggenheim. Guggenheim, and his son Harry, were proponents of aviation …

Lindbergh, Charles, First Night Flight of

In the acclaim for Charles Augustus Lindbergh following his solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, few people recognized the small but significant role Arkansas played in the historic event. Today, a modest monument off Highway 159 near Lake Village (Chicot County) marks the Arkansas site that contributed to one of the greatest stories in American history. In April 1923, Charles Lindbergh was a young pilot who had taught himself to fly. On a flight between Mississippi and Houston, Texas, he landed near Lake Chicot in Lake Village, in an open space which was used as a local golf course. The nearest building was the clubhouse. The keeper, Mr. Henry, and his family sometimes used the building as an inn and extended …

Little Miss Arkansas Pageant

The Little Miss Arkansas Pageant was one of the first children’s beauty and talent pageants for young girls in the state. The Little Miss Arkansas Pageant was founded in 1979 by Barbara Johnson of Hot Springs (Garland County). She had followed the Miss Arkansas Pageant for many years and consulted with Bob Wheeler, then the director of the Miss Arkansas Pageant, who encouraged her to establish something similar for young girls. The pageant was first held at the Ramada Inn in downtown Hot Springs but moved to the Hot Springs Convention Center in 2001. The pageant started with four age groups: Tiny, Petite, Pre-Teen, and Teen, adding the Baby division in 1982. The pageant is open to any Arkansas girl …

Little Red River, Skirmish at (June 6, 1864)

aka: Skirmish at Beeler's Ferry

On May 27, 1864, Brigadier General Joseph Shelby was promoted to command all Arkansas Confederate forces north of the Arkansas River. Earlier that month, Union forces concluded their disastrous Camden Expedition and for the remainder of the war in Arkansas were reluctant to launch any large-scale operations outside of defending their own garrisons and supply lines. Shelby had about 1,200 men under his command at the time of his promotion, and during the next three months, he aggressively recruited men of fighting age within his jurisdiction, many of whom were deserters evading conscription or bushwhackers. In a letter to Major General Sterling Price dated July 27, Shelby boasted that he had 5,000 men under his command. The number was likely …

Little Red River, Skirmish at (May 17, 1862)

The Skirmish at Little Red River on May 17, 1862, was one of many that took place as foraging parties of Union major general Samuel R. Curtis searched for much needed provisions. On this rainy Saturday morning, about 100 Rebels, loosely organized but determined to thwart the Federals in their advance toward Little Rock (Pulaski County), attacked the foraging party sent by Colonel George E. Waring Jr. of the Fourth Missouri Cavalry. This skirmish—which took place two days before the most significant engagement in White County, the Action at Whitney’s Lane—coupled with skirmishes continuing into June, ultimately led to Curtis’s abandonment of his assignment to take the capital city and assume military authority over the state. Following the Union victory …

Little Red River, Skirmishes at (June 5 and 7, 1862)

As the Federal forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis attempted to move from Batesville (Independence County) down the Little Red River area toward Little Rock (Pulaski County), the Rebels were determined to keep up the constant harassment of the enemy. During May and June 1862, Rebel forces repeatedly thwarted Curtis’s efforts to advance toward his goal of capturing Little Rock and assuming control over the capital city and the Arkansas River and its tributaries. The skirmishes in early June that occurred near the Little Red River—following the most significant action in White County, the Action at Whitney’s Lane—contributed greatly to the abandonment of Curtis’s objective. The Little Red River flows through north-central Arkansas for approximately 100 miles, merging on …

Little River County Lynching of 1878

According to a letter published in the Arkansas Gazette on December 1, 1878, a lynching was perpetrated in Little River County in late November of that year, precipitated by a murder carried out for the purposes of robbing a man. The names of the principals in the affair were not named in the Arkansas Gazette’s account, although an abbreviated version in other papers named the lynched man as Hilliard and the murder victim as Ferris. The letter in question is written by a person named only as “J. F. B.” and described as a “friend” from the community of Lockesburg (Sevier County). The letter relates that two white men traveling from Texas crossed the Red River together at Harris’ ferry. …

Little River County Race War of 1899

The Little River County Race War occurred in March 1899 in southwestern Arkansas and entailed the murder of at least seven African Americans throughout Little River County. The reported impetus for this race war was the murder of a white planter by a Black man, but white fear of “insurrection” on the part of Black residents quickly manifested itself into a campaign of violence and terror against African Americans. During the last half of the nineteenth century, lynchings were widespread in Arkansas, especially in the southern part of the state. A number of factors contributed to this racial animus. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Black population of Arkansas increased greatly, mostly due to recruiters who canvassed the …

Little River, Skirmish at

Throughout the Civil War, dangerous bands of guerrillas roamed throughout Mississippi County, Arkansas, and the adjacent Missouri counties of Dunklin and Pemiscot, terrorizing citizens with looting, murder, and other forms of lawlessness. Due to the rampant activities of these renegades, composed primarily of Confederate deserters and civilian sympathizers, commerce in affected communities came to a standstill. As part of a concerted effort by Union military commanders to suppress these activities, Captain Valentine Preuitt received orders on April 5, 1864, from Major John W. Rabb (Second Missouri Artillery, Commanding at New Madrid, Missouri) to lead a scouting expedition from New Madrid into the aforementioned districts. Departing camp in the early hours of April 6, Capt. Preuitt’s expedition, comprising Companies G, K, …

Little Rock Arsenal, Seizure of the

The seizure of the Little Rock Arsenal was an event during the secession crisis of 1861. The people of Arkansas were contemplating leaving the Union, and armed volunteer companies from around the state took control of the Federal arsenal from soldiers of the U.S. Army. The crisis began in November 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. In response to the prodding of Governor Henry Rector, the Arkansas House of Representatives passed a bill on December 22, calling for voters to decide if a state secession convention should be held and, if so, select delegates to attend. The state Senate passed the bill on January 15, 1861, and the election was set for February 18. During …

Little Rock Campaign

aka: Arkansas Expedition

The Little Rock Campaign was a Civil War campaign in which the Union army under Major General Frederick Steele maneuvered Confederate troops under Major General Sterling Price out of the Arkansas capital, thus returning Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Federal control in 1863 and giving the Union effective control of the strategically important Arkansas River Valley. Conditions were right for a Federal campaign to capture Little Rock and add it to the list of Union-controlled capitals of states that had seceded. The July 4, 1863, Battle of Helena had cost Confederate attackers heavy casualties and crippled their morale. The fall of Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the same day made thousands of Union soldiers available for duty on other fronts. Authorities in …

Little Rock Convention of Colored Citizens (1865)

With only a month remaining in 1865, not long after the Civil War ended, African-American leaders and their white allies and guests met in Little Rock (Pulaski County). The Convention of Colored Citizens of the State of Arkansas met from Thursday, November 30, through Saturday, December 2. Conventions of African Americans, led by free blacks, had been held frequently in cities in the North in the three decades before the outbreak of the Civil War. Continuing in that tradition, the Colored Convention in Little Rock was an organized effort by African Americans in Arkansas to make their commitment to the duties and rights of full citizenship known to white political and economic leaders, even in the state’s uncertain new postwar reality. …

Little Rock Executions of 1885

A pair of African American men, Rush Johnson and Lige Parker, were hanged together in Little Rock (Pulaski County) on February 12, 1885, after being convicted of first-degree murder. Rush Johnson, described as a “young, muscular black negro,” was employed on the Pulaski County plantation of former governor Henry Massie Rector in the spring of 1884. On May 18, a steamboat arrived at the Rector place on the Arkansas River, and Carrie Johnson, “a heavy-set, copper-colored, depraved woman,” bought whiskey from it and got drunk. She went to the plantation store and got into an argument with superintendent John Wall, who kicked her out, with Johnson accusing him of striking her. Rush Johnson, described as Carrie Johnson’s “paramour,” was heard …

Little Rock Executions of 1892

Tom Bailey and L. D. Slaughter, two African American men convicted of first-degree murder, were hanged together at Little Rock (Pulaski County) on May 6, 1892. J. F. Hackman, a traveling salesman for the Tunison Map Company of Jacksonville, Illinois, arrived at McAlmont Station near Little Rock on December 22 (some sources say December 28), 1889, where he met Tom Bailey, a local man. The two quarreled over the price of a map, and Hackman attempted to strike Bailey, who “then knocked Hackman down and went off, but came back and, while Hackman was in a comatose condition, cut his throat.” Bailey then robbed the salesman’s corpse, dragged the body to a lake, and tied it to a cypress knee …

Little Rock Film Festival

The Little Rock Film Festival (LRFF) was an award-winning showcase festival for Arkansas filmmakers and their fans. Founded by brothers Brent and Craig Renaud along with Jamie Moses and Owen Brainard, the LRFF was incorporated by its founding members on September 13, 2006, as a nonprofit corporation in Little Rock (Pulaski County) and was held every spring from 2007 until 2015. It ended, according to the organizers, “due to lack of funding, resources and time.” On February 9, 2007, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette announced that the first LRFF was planned for May 17–20 in downtown Little Rock. The impetus for starting the LRFF was to showcase the best in “Narrative, Documentary, and Short films from around the World, as well as parties, …

Little Rock Marathon

The Little Rock Marathon, the largest marathon in the state, began in 2003 with 2,527 registered participants and has grown to well over 10,000 runners and walkers as of 2013. It is traditionally held each year on the first Sunday of March. The course begins in downtown Little Rock (Pulaski County) and runs through the River Market District and Quapaw Quarter District, and then by the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Park, Little Rock City Hall, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Philander Smith College, Central High School, the Arkansas State Capitol, and Murray Park before reaching the finish line in Riverfront Park. The Little Rock Marathon began in 2003 as a fundraiser for the City of Little Rock’s …

Little Rock School Desegregation Cases (1982–2014)

aka: Little Rock School District, et al v. Pulaski County Special School District et al.

From 1982 until 2014, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Western Division, handled Little Rock School District, et al. v. Pulaski County Special School District et al. At least six federal district judges presided over the case during this span of time. In 1984, the district court ruled that three school districts situated in Pulaski County were unconstitutionally segregated: the Little Rock School District (LRSD), the Pulaski County Special School District (PCSSD), and the North Little Rock School District (NLRSD). One reason for the ruling was that the population of Little Rock was approximately sixty-five percent white in 1984, while seventy percent of Little Rock School District students were black. Those who brought the case feared …

Little Rock to Bayou Meto and Little Bayou, Scout from

aka: Scout from Pine Bluff to Lewis’ Landing (May 7–11, 1865)

A combined Union force from Little Rock (Pulaski County) and Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) scouted the Arkansas River below Pine Bluff in early May 1865 as several bands of Confederate irregulars sought to surrender amid the collapse of all of the major Rebel armies. Lieutenant Colonel Richard G. Ward of the Seventy-Ninth U.S. Colored Troops (USCT) left the Union base at Little Rock aboard the steamboat Rose Hambleton on the evening of May 6, 1865, with 250 men of his regiment and seventy-five troopers of the Fourth Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (US) and headed for Pine Bluff. Arriving the next morning, Brigadier General Powell Clayton requested that Ward’s troops cooperate with a scouting expedition of the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry under Major …

Little Rock to Benton, Expedition from (November 2–3, 1864)

The November 2–3, 1864, expedition from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Benton (Saline County) was an attempt by Union troops to attack Confederates reportedly foraging in the area; the operation, however, was based on faulty intelligence. Colonel John Logan’s Eleventh Arkansas Mounted Infantry (CS) was based in Princeton (Dallas County) in late 1864, and the troopers spent much of their time gathering forage in Dallas and Saline counties. Union officials in Little Rock received reports in early November that between 700 and 800 of Logan’s men were foraging near a Dr. Morton’s place in Saline County. On the evening of November 2, 1864, Colonel John F. Ritter of the First Missouri Cavalry Regiment (US) left Little Rock leading 369 officers …

Little Rock to Benton, Scout from (March 27–31, 1864)

The March 27–31, 1864, Scout from Little Rock to Benton was undertaken after the bulk of the Federal forces in Little Rock (Pulaski County) marched south on March 23, 1864, to participate in the Camden Expedition, leaving a vacuum in the region that was soon filled by guerrillas and cotton thieves. Captain Enoch H. Vance of Company E, Fourth Arkansas Cavalry (US), led troopers from his regiment out of Little Rock at 3:00 a.m. on March 27, 1864, toward Benton (Saline County). Circling to the west, the party had just passed Brown’s tannery when they spotted two guerrillas. The column’s advance troops gave chase, but the bushwhackers escaped, though Vance observed that “one of them was run so close that …

Little Rock to Benton, Scout from (November 27–30, 1864)

The November 27–30, 1864, scouting expedition from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Benton (Saline County) was undertaken in an effort to engage with Confederate forces south of the Union base in the capital. Captain William Hawley of the Third U.S. Cavalry Regiment led detachments of the Third U.S. and the Third Missouri Cavalry Regiment out of Little Rock on November 27, 1864, taking the road toward Jenkins’ Ferry. After the Federals rode about eight miles, Confederate guerrillas fired on their advance troops. The U.S. soldiers returned fire, and “every effort [was] made to capture them, but without success,” though a citizen riding with the bushwhackers was arrested and sent to Little Rock. The command rode another twenty-eight miles before camping …

Little Rock to Benton, Scout from (September 6–7, 1864)

Union cavalrymen conducted the scout from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Benton (Saline County) to determine what Confederate forces were in the area as Major General Sterling Price began his invasion of Missouri in the fall of 1864. Two women came into Little Rock on September 3, 1864, and reported that they had been detained by Price’s army about nine miles south of the Saline River two days earlier. They said that Price, Brigadier General John Sappington Marmaduke, and one other Confederate general were in the camp, that Brigadier General William Lewis Cabell and his cavalry brigade were in Benton, and that the Confederate troops “declared that they were going to have Little Rock before the end of the week.” …

Little Rock to Clear Lake, Scout from

aka: Skirmish at Clear Lake
aka: Skirmish at Plum Bayou

The March 10–13, 1865, Union scout from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Clear Lake by the Third Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment ended with an ambush by a large group of bushwhackers that left several Federal soldiers wounded—two mortally—and eleven men prisoners of war. On the evening of March 9, 1865, Brigadier General Frederick Salomon sent a message to Brigadier General Powell Clayton, saying, “I am at this hour starting a small scout into the Clear Lake neighborhood”—near present-day England (Lonoke County)—after learning that around twenty-five Confederate guerrillas were gathering there. He warned Clayton that the bushwhackers would likely fall back toward Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) and asked if he could send a force to intercept them, a request Clayton denied since …

Little Rock to Fagan’s Ford, Expedition from

The Civil War scouting expedition from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Fagan’s Ford was undertaken by Union troops to try to determine the strength of Confederate forces based in Princeton (Dallas County) in late 1864. On November 16, 1864, Union headquarters ordered Colonel William Thompson, commander of the Cavalry Division of the Seventh Army Corps’ Second Brigade, to “send a reconnoitering party to Benton, and from thence to Princeton,” leaving “as early tomorrow morning as possible.” The next morning, Major George S. Avery of the Third Missouri Cavalry Regiment (US) left Little Rock at the head of thirteen officers and 490 men of the Third U.S. Cavalry Regiment, First and Third Missouri Cavalry (US), and First Iowa Cavalry, heading for …

Little Rock to Irving’s Plantation, Expedition from

The October 26–28, 1864, Civil War expedition from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Irving’s Plantation proved to be a wild goose chase for the Federal troops involved. Captain Joseph G. Tilford of the Third U.S. Cavalry led around 410 officers and men of the Second Cavalry Brigade out of Little Rock around noon on October 26, 1864, and headed down the Arkansas River to check on the condition of the steamboat Annie Jacobs, which apparently was stranded; they found the vessel safely guarded by about forty Union infantrymen. Local African Americans told Tilford that Jeff Irving had been at Irving’s father’s plantation about five miles away the day before with twenty or thirty Confederates. The elder Irving had wanted the …

Little Rock to Mount Elba, Expedition from

aka: Scout from Pine Bluff toward Camden and Monticello (January 26–31, 1865)

The January 22–February 4, 1865, expedition from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to Mount Elba (Cleveland County), which included two artillery batteries, three cavalry regiments, and six infantry regiments, was the last Union operation in the Civil War in Arkansas involving a relatively large number of combined-arms troops. On January 22, 1865, a Union force of cavalry, infantry, and artillery left Little Rock for southwestern Arkansas to confront Confederates who one Iowan said were “attacking our pickets, making forays upon our baggage trains, and committing depredations generally.” Led by Brigadier General Eugene A. Carr, the expedition would pick up additional troops at Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) and would ultimately consist of the First Iowa, First Missouri, and Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry Regiments; …

Little Rock to the Saline River, Scout from

The scout from Little Rock (Pulaski County) to the Saline River was a guerrilla-hunting operation undertaken by Arkansas Union troops late in the Civil War. Major Harris S. Greeno led 120 men from Companies A, B, C, D, E, and H of the Fourth Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (US) and an additional forty men “of Captain Miller’s company of independent scouts” out from the Union base at Little Rock on the morning of April 26, 1865, and headed south. After reaching Benton (Saline County), they followed the Saline River for twenty-five miles, scouting “the country thoroughly.” When the Federals neared Steel’s Mill on the Saline, they ran into a band of guerrillas. Greeno reported that “we killed one man by the …

Little Rock toward Monticello and Mount Elba, Reconnaissance from

The reconnaissance from Little Rock (Pulaski County) toward Monticello (Drew County) and Mount Elba (Cleveland County) was undertaken to determine the numbers and locations of large Confederate forces reportedly in southern Arkansas. Major General Frederick Steele reported on October 4, 1864, that Confederate major general John B. Magruder was “making demonstrations against” Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), and Brigadier General Powell Clayton, in command at Pine Bluff, reported that four rebel divisions totaling as many as 18,000 men were at Monticello. Steele ordered Colonel John F. Ritter to lead a reconnaissance in force toward Monticello to find out if the reports were true. Ritter left Little Rock on October 4 at the head of 777 men from Ritter’s First Missouri Cavalry …

Little Rock Uprising of 1968

What became known as the Little Rock Uprising of 1968 was triggered by the controversial killing of inmate Curtis Ingram at the Pulaski County Penal Farm. A subsequent community rally protesting the circumstances surrounding the killing and its investigation ended in violence. Three nights of unrest followed until Governor Winthrop Rockefeller imposed countywide curfews that finally brought the crisis to an end. The events ultimately led to changes in the previously discriminatory way that grand juries—which provided oversight for investigations at the penal farm—had been selected in Pulaski County. In August 1968, eighteen-year-old Curtis Ingram, who was African American, was arrested for a traffic violation and later charged with drug offenses. He was sent to the penal farm to pay …

Little Rock, Skirmish at (September 2, 1864)

  The skirmish at the tannery near Little Rock (Pulaski County) proved a minor affair but provided local Union forces with intelligence on the whereabouts of area Confederate movements and posts. On September 2, 1864, Captain Thomas J. Mitchell of the Third Missouri Cavalry reported that approximately seventy-five Confederate troops attacked the Union forces at the tannery but failed to repel them. The number of Confederate wounded is unknown, while Union forces lost several horses but captured a Confederate soldier. The Confederate prisoner informed Capt. Mitchell that he belonged to Colonel John L. Logan’s regiment, consisting of 150 to 200 men, which started its march from Benton (Saline County) that morning. On the south side of the Saline River were …

Livingston, Abe (Lynching of)

Although apparently only one Arkansas newspaper covered it, in late August 1884 an African-American man named Abe Livingston was hanged in Desha County for allegedly robbing and threatening a white man named William Kite. A search of public records revealed no information on either Kite or Livingston. According to an August 26 article in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Daily Independent, which was reprinted a week later in the Batesville Guard, Livingston was a “dangerous negro” who, sometime earlier in 1884, had robbed Kite. He was arrested at the time and put in jail in Arkansas City (Desha County). At some point in July, he escaped from jail. While he was free, he allegedly made several attempts to kill Kite and also …

Livingston, Frank (Lynching of)

Former soldier Frank Livingston was burned alive at age twenty-five near El Dorado (Union County) on May 21, 1919, for the alleged murder of his employer. Livingston’s lynching was among several similar incidents in Arkansas involving returned African-American World War I–era servicemen. In 1900, Frank Livingston was living in Cornie Township in Union County with his widowed father, Nelson. He was five years old at the time. (His mother was likely Lucy Willingham, whom Nelson had married in 1885.)  By 1910, Nelson had remarried, and Frank remained in Union County with his father and stepmother, India.  Although the 1910 census record indicates that he was born around 1893, subsequent draft records give his birthdate as November 1, 1892, in Shuler (Union …

Lockhart v. McCree

Lockhart v. McCree was a 1986 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court holding that it was not a violation of the requirement that a jury be a fair representation of a community if a court removed from the jury pool—prior to jury selection—all potential jurors who had expressed their opposition to the death penalty. Building upon its 1968 ruling in Witherspoon v. Illinois, the Court clarified the concept of fair representation for a jury of one’s peers. The case of Lockhart v. McCree began in 1978 when Ardia V. McCree stood trial in connection with the shooting death of gift shop and service station owner Evelyn Broughton in Camden (Ouachita County) on February 14, 1978. While McCree denied his involvement …

Logan County Draft War

aka: Franklin County Draft War

The Logan County Draft War was an episode of armed draft resistance in Arkansas during World War I. Following on the heels of the more infamous Cleburne County Draft War, the Logan County incident—which actually took place predominately in Franklin County, and later in the wooded area near Mount Magazine—followed the familiar pattern of previous draft skirmishes in which a local posse encountered suspected draft evaders, resulting in a shootout, a death, and then a wider manhunt. On August 5, 1918, authorities from Ozark (Franklin County) assembled a posse of seven men led by a Constable Horton to investigate the farmhouse of J. H. Benson near Cecil (Franklin County). It is unclear from the sources whether this posse was formed …

Logan County Lynching of 1874

aka: Sarber County Lynching of 1874

Brothers William G. Harris and Randolph Harris and their brother-in-law Robert Skidmore were lynched in the early morning hours of August 6, 1874, after a mob took them from the jail in Roseville (Logan County), where they were being held for stealing horses. William Harris, age twenty-four, led a gang that had terrorized the area for several years. He had been arrested for the May 2, 1872, murder of a man named McCoy and McCoy’s son who had recently moved to Arkansas from Alabama; a contemporary newspaper article reported that “the trouble was about a saddle blanket, and was unprovoked by the McCoys.” Harris was freed on $10,000 bond, owing to “the flexible conscience of the judge and prosecuting attorney …