May 14, 1905

Shortly after his eighty-first birthday, Thomas Churchill, the thirteenth governor of Arkansas, died in Little Rock (Pulaski County). As he requested, Churchill had a military funeral with full honors and was buried in Mount Holly Cemetery wearing his Confederate uniform. He had once sent a telegram to Senator James H. Berry of Arkansas, offering his services to the president of the United States during a diplomatic crisis. When asked why, he replied, “I did this to show that the South and all the old Confederates are loyal to the Union and are willing and ready to defend the Government from all foreign foes.”