November 12, 2010

At age twenty-two, Robert Crittenden became the first secretary of the Arkansas Territory, and due to the governor’s absences, he also was the first acting governor. Though young, he quickly became a major leader in territorial politics. Perhaps he is best known for an 1827 duel in which he killed Henry Conway, a member of the “Family” political dynasty. With his political career on the decline, he died in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on December 18, 1834.