January 17, 2007

In 1862, twenty-year-old Tennessee native Howell “Doc” Rayburn convinced a group of young friends to form a company of Confederate guerillas near the White River town of Des Arc (White County). For the next few years, his unit operated in present-day Lonoke, Prairie, and White counties. A rather small, blond, feminine-looking man, Rayburn once dressed as a woman and entered Union-held DeValls Bluff (Prairie County) to gather information. Joining General Sterling Price on his famous 1864 Missouri raid, he was captured. He died shortly after his release from prison in 1865.

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