June 19, 1885

William Edward Woodruff—the publisher of Arkansas’s first newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette—died. The funeral was held at his home on 9th Street in Little Rock (Pulaski County), and he is buried in Little Rock’s Mount Holly Cemetery. In addition to being a publisher and public servant, Woodruff was also a great promoter of Arkansas. He even influenced the final spelling of the state’s name. Woodruff County, formed in 1862, was named for him. In 1863, he served as the first vice president of the Arkansas Historical Society. When Federal troops stormed Little Rock in 1863 during the Civil War, sixty-eight-year-old Woodruff fought in the trenches to defend the city.