July 2, 1868

Republican Powell Clayton was sworn in as the Reconstruction governor of the state. As captain of Company E of the First Kansas Infantry Regiment, Clayton participated in the Union occupations of Helena (Phillips County), Little Rock (Pulaski County), and Pine Bluff (Jefferson County). A founding member of the Arkansas Republican Party, Clayton, as governor, helped secure legislation for public schools, pushed forward a civil rights act, and organized a militia, consisting of both white and black troops, to fight the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).