August 13, 2009

Batesville (Independence County) lawyer and politician Fent Noland is best known as a humorist because of letters he published in the nationally known The Spirit of the Times. Noland, shown here in uniform, also had an unsuccessful military career. His dismissal from West Point in 1825 originally brought him to Arkansas. After killing the governor’s nephew in a duel, he left the territory and returned to the military. Growing angry at being passed over for promotion, he left the army, returning to Arkansas by 1836.