The people of northern Arkansas were strongly attached to the Union, and until December 20, 1860, when a commissioner from Alabama addressed its Legislature, no secession movement took place within the State. Her geographical position classed her with the Western, her productions bound up her interests with the Southern, States.^[113] As late as January 5, 1861, resolutions opposing separate action were adopted almost unanimously by the largest meeting ever held at Van Buren. Mr. Lincoln’s election was not then deemed a sufficient cause to dissolve the Union. Citizens of every party favored all honorable efforts for its preservation, and demonstrations to the contrary were regarded as the work of only an extreme and inconsiderable faction.^[114] So rapid, however, was the succession of events that scarcely two weeks had elapsed when she exhibited signs of resting uneasily in the Union; for on January 16 a bill submitting to popular vote the question of holding a convention passed the Legislature.^[115] At the election of delegates to this assembly 23,626 votes were cast for the Union, against 17,927 for the secession, candidates. Though this convention, which assembled March 4, was organized by the choice of Union officers, the proposal to hold it had been carried by a majority of 11,586 in the election of February 18. While secession was strongly urged, a conditional ordinance was defeated by a vote of 39 to 35.^[116] At Van Buren and Fort Smith salutes of thirty-nine guns were fired in honor of the loyal members. The inaugural of President Lincoln, received two days after organizing, produced a somewhat unfavorable impression. On the 17th an ordinance, reported by a self-constituted committee of seven secessionists and seven coÖperationists, was unanimously adopted.^[117] This provided for an election on the first Monday of August, when the qualified voters in the State could cast their ballots either for “secession” or “coÖperation.” The result, though not wholly satisfactory to either party, afforded time for deliberation.

Tidings of the fall of Sumter, together with the President’s proclamation and a requisition for troops from the Secretary of War, interrupted the brief interval of repose following the adjournment of the convention. In these circumstances the State was compelled to make a choice of sides. Governor Rector’s reply, April 22, to this requisition shows him to have been ardently in favor of disunion; the president of the convention, concurring in this sentiment, issued a call for that body to reassemble May 6, when an ordinance of secession was promptly passed with but one dissenting vote.^[118] By a resolution the convention authorized the Governor to call out, if necessary, 60,000 men, and ordered the issue of $2,000,000 in bonds. Another ordinance confiscated debts due to persons in non-slaveholding States.^[119]

The first military movement, after the ordinance of secession had been carried, aimed to secure Federal property within the State, and their value to the South singled out for seizure the arsenals at Fort Smith and Little Rock. The latter city on February 5 was thrown into a great turmoil of confusion and excitement by the unexpected arrival of a body of troops from Helena with the avowed purpose of taking the arsenal; more soldiers arrived during that and the succeeding day until about 400 had assembled. Though the Governor, in response to their inquiry, informed the city council that this force was not there by his order, the troops believed they were acting under his command; at any rate they came to take the arsenal and were not to be diverted from their object. To prevent a collision, which must have followed a refusal of the commanding officer to surrender to a body of men disavowed by their Governor, the latter was easily persuaded to assume the responsibility of the movement and he consented to demand its surrender in the name of the State. This demand Captain Totten asked until three o’clock the next day to consider; then he made known his readiness to evacuate the arsenal, which about noon of the following day was delivered to the State authorities.^[120]

The delegates of Arkansas on May 18 took their seats in the Confederate Congress.^[121] The convention, it will be observed, assumed at the outset the functions of a law-making body, and, because of further extending its authority by the appointment of a Military Board, soon came into conflict with both the Governor and the Legislature. When the convention empowered the former to call out, if necessary, 60,000 men it divided the State into two districts, an eastern and a western. General Bradley was elected to the command of the former and General Pearce, late of the United States Army, to that of the latter division. Before General McCulloch, stationed in the Indian Territory, could assume any offensive operations the Federal General, Lyon, in pursuit of Jackson, approached the southern boundary of Missouri; upon this the Military Board called out ten regiments for defence. On June 21 it despatched to Richmond a messenger who proposed to transfer to the Confederate Government all the State troops with their arms making, however, a condition precedent: they were to be employed for the protection of Arkansas; but as the Secretary of State could make no promise as to their future disposition the transfer was not then effected.^[122] On July 4 a second effort was made by a member of the Military Board who visited General Hardee, with whom an arrangement was completed by which a vote should be taken among the troops. If a majority of each company consented, those so consenting were to be turned over as a company. If a majority declined, the company was to be disbanded altogether. One entire company was thus mustered out, and from various motives two or three hundred soldiers returned home. This was from the eastern division. The western was not so easily disposed of. The Military Board after the battle of Springfield directed General Pearce to turn over his force to Hardee, who became angry when the agent proposed to submit the question of transfer, and refused to allow it to be done; this insubordinate conduct he followed up by writing an abusive letter to the Board. Pearce then separated his troops from McCulloch’s command and marched them back to Arkansas, where they were informally disbanded and sent home. Fearing such a result, the Board had ordered General Pearce to do nothing further in the matter, but their despatches arrived too late.^[123]

Governor Rector’s account shows Arkansas troops, claimed to be 22,000 in number, to have been at that time in a state of complete demoralization.^[124] The Germans and the Irish, as well as their descendants, showing little inclination to enlist, the Governor ascribed their indifference to a want of opportunity for promotion in the service. If this was not the cause, then, he thought, authority should be given to draft a regiment of each race.^[125]

More than a third of the voting population was in the field, and as late as October they had received no pay except Arkansas war bonds, the worthlessness of which occasioned much murmuring. This discontent was heightened somewhat by the poor equipment of the regiments, many soldiers being without blankets or shoes.^[126] There were other symptoms of unrest within the State. On the charge of attempted insurrection two negro men and a girl were hanged in Monroe County.

All this occasioned much uneasiness, but the chief cause of alarm was the Union sentiment known to exist in the State. In October twenty-seven persons were brought to Little Rock as members of a secret Union organization in Van Buren County and placed in jail to await a civil trial. Many others also were taken about this time, and it was estimated that the “Peace and Constitutional Society” numbered 1,700 members in Arkansas.^[127]

The activity of Federal armies in the West excited so much apprehension that Governor Rector on the 18th of February, by proclamation, called into immediate service every man in the State subject to military duty.^[128] A Confederate force under Price was driven into Arkansas by General Curtis on the same day, and within a week the commandant at Pocahontas issued an appeal to every man “to turn out promptly, shoulder his musket, and drive the vandals from the State.” The Richmond Government being unable to assist Arkansas, she was forced to rely upon her own resources and such aid as might be obtained from Missouri, the Indian Territory and Texas.^[129]

Disaster and a conviction of neglect led the Governor in May, in an address to the people, to express his indignation and threaten to secede from secession. He said:

If the arteries of the Confederate heart do not permeate beyond the east bank of the Mississippi, let southern Missourians, Arkansians, Texans and the great West know it and prepare for the future. Arkansas lost, abandoned, subjugated is not Arkansas as she entered the Confederate Government. Nor will she remain Arkansas, a Confederate State, desolated as a wilderness. Her children, fleeing from the wrath to come, will build them a new ark, and launch it on new waters, seeking a haven somewhere of equality, safety and rest.^[130]

After the battle of Pea Ridge General Curtis moved to White River, and on May 1 occupied Batesville, where he witnessed many demonstrations of attachment to the Union. Judges of courts, clergymen and other leading citizens came forward and voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to the United States. A threatened advance of the Union forces upon Little Rock created the greatest excitement there, and the Governor by proclamation ordered the militia to repair immediately to its defence; but not finding himself sufficiently supported he fled.^[131] The concentration at Corinth of all available Confederate strength was the cause of the weakness of Arkansas at this time. Ten regiments had also been withdrawn from the army of General Curtis to reËnforce the Federal troops in Mississippi. This left him in no condition to march upon the State capital, and for the time it was saved. Twelve thousand poorly equipped men had assembled there in response to the appeal of Governor Rector.

After the occupation of Helena by Federal troops Mr. Lincoln appointed John S. Phelps, of Missouri, military governor.^[132] On August 19, 1862, he left St. Louis for Helena; but as the contemplated movement was not then made his office was of little importance. From the Union refugees at that point two regiments of Arkansas men were organized. The fall of Vicksburg in July, 1863, however, enabled the Union army to assume offensive operations, and the summer had not greatly advanced before a strong column was moving on Little Rock, the capture of which, September 10, 1863, was a fatal blow to Confederate authority throughout the State.

Amidst all its distresses the northern section of Arkansas had maintained its loyalty. Recent reverses to Confederate arms encouraged desertion from their ranks, Union sympathizers became active, and movements begun by them were joined by numbers who now regarded the Confederate cause as lost. Many, however, fearing a restoration of that authority, hesitated to identify themselves with the more pronounced loyalists. A newspaper favorable to the General Government was established at the capital. Meetings were held, and resolutions pledging unconditional support of the Union cause adopted. Citizens, both white and black, were organized, and by December, 1863, eight regiments of Arkansas troops had enlisted in the Federal service.^[133]

A still more encouraging symptom was the return of eminent persons who now came forward to advocate the Union cause. Prominent among these was Brigadier-General E. W. Gantt, of the Confederate army, recently a prisoner of war and pardoned under the Amnesty Proclamation of the President. Toward the close of 1863 he thus describes the feeling of the people:

The Union sentiment is manifesting itself on all sides and by every indication—in Union meetings—in desertions from the Confederate army—in taking the oath of allegiance unsolicited—in organizing for home defence, and enlisting in the Federal army. Old flags that have been hid in the crevices of rocks, and been worshipped by our mountain people as holy relics, are flung to the breeze, and followed to the Union army with an enthusiasm that beggars all description. The little county of Perry, that votes only about 600, and which has been turned wrong side out in search of conscripts by Hindman and his fellow-murderers and oppressors, with their retinue of salaried gentlemen and negro boys, sent down a company of ninety-four men. Where they came from, and how they kept their old flag during these three years of terror, persecution and plunder, I can’t tell. But they were the proudest-looking set of men I ever saw, and full of fight.^[134]

The retreat of General Banks from the Red River country changed greatly the aspect of Federal affairs in Arkansas, for it allowed all the Confederate forces in the vicinity to concentrate against the small army of General Steele, compelling him to act on the defensive at Little Rock. The State coming once more to a considerable extent under Confederate control, loyalists became scarce and gradually lost energy and hope.

Local reverses, however, were not allowed to interrupt the comprehensive policy of the President, and early in 1864 preparations were made to reorganize the State government. This movement, like those in Tennessee and Louisiana, was based upon the Amnesty and Reconstruction Proclamation of December 8, 1863. Even before this step had been taken the President was already moulding the diverse elements into a power that would ultimately undermine Confederate influence in the State. In the preceding summer, July 31, 1863, he had written General S. A. Hurlbut:

I understand that Senator Sebastian, of Arkansas, thinks of offering to resume his place in the Senate. Of course the Senate, and not I, would decide whether to admit or reject him. Still I should feel great interest in the question. It may be so presented as to be one of the very greatest national importance; and it may be otherwise so presented as to be of no more than temporary personal consequence to him.

The emancipation proclamation applies to Arkansas.... I think I shall not retract or repudiate it. Those who shall have tasted actual freedom I believe can never be slaves or quasi-slaves again. For the rest, I believe some plan substantially being gradual emancipation would be better for both white and black. The Missouri plan, recently adopted, I do not object to on account of the time for ending the institution; but I am sorry the beginning should have been postponed for seven years, leaving all that time to agitate for the repeal of the whole thing. It should begin at once, giving at least the new-born a vested interest in freedom which could not be taken away. If Senator Sebastian could come with something of this sort from Arkansas, I, at least, should take great interest in his case; and I believe a single individual will have scarcely done the world so great a service. See him, if you can, and read this to him; but charge him to not make it public for the present.^[135]

Union officers in the West were urged by Mr. Lincoln in October, 1862, to assist and encourage repentant rebel communities to elect both State officers and members of Congress.^[136] As this involved a recognition of existing governments it need scarcely be observed that the march of events forced the President later to occupy somewhat different ground; nor is it more necessary to add, that to his main purpose, to undermine secession and restore the Union, he adhered inflexibly. With this fundamental object all his acts harmonize.

At the time of her secession, W. K. Sebastian represented Arkansas in the United States Senate and abandoned his seat; he was now ready to assist in restoring his State to her old status. Of these evidences of disintegration in Confederate interests within the State the President was very exactly informed, and it was because of his conviction that many persons hitherto supporting that cause were either wavering in their allegiance or had become hostile to secession that he wrote, January 5, 1864, to General Steele:

I wish to afford the people of Arkansas an opportunity of taking the oath prescribed in the proclamation of December 8, 1863, preparatory to reorganizing a State Government there. Accordingly I send you by General Kimball some blank books and other blanks, the manner of using which will, in the main, be suggested by an inspection of them; and General Kimball will add some verbal explanations.

Please make a trial of the matter immediately at such points as you may think likely to give success. I suppose Helena and Little Rock are two of them. Detail any officer you may see fit to take charge of the subject at each point; and which officer, it may be assumed, will have authority to administer the oath. These books, of course, are intended to be permanent records. Report to me on the subject.^[137]

A week had scarcely elapsed when Mr. Lincoln approved the suggestions of General Banks relative to reinaugurating a civil government for Louisiana, and, doubtless, he knew no reason why similar work might not be going on simultaneously in Arkansas; therefore he repeated to General Steele what in substance he had already communicated to the Federal commander of the Department of the Gulf. His instructions, dated January 20, 1864, and quoted below, are self-explanatory, and in no important particular differ from the Louisiana Plan:

Sundry citizens of the State of Arkansas petition me that an election may be held in that State, at which to elect a governor thereof; ... that it be assumed at said election and thenceforward that the constitution and laws of the State, as before the rebellion, are in full force, except that the constitution is so modified as to declare that “there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in the punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; but the General Assembly may make such provision for the free people as shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent, as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class;” and also except that all now existing laws in relation to slaves are inoperative and void; that said election to be held on the twenty-eighth day of March next at all the usual voting places of the State, or all such as voters may attend for that purpose; that the voters attending at each place at 8 o’clock in the morning of said day, may choose judges and clerks of election for that place; that all persons qualified by said constitution and laws, and taking the oath prescribed in the President’s proclamation of December the 8th, 1863, either before or at the election, and none others, may be voters, provided that persons having the qualifications aforesaid, and being in the volunteer military service of the United States, may vote once wherever they may be at voting places; that each set of judges and clerks may make return directly to you on or before the eleventh day of April next; that in all other respects said election may be conducted according to said modified constitution and laws; that on receipt of said returns, you count said votes, and that if the number shall reach or exceed five thousand four hundred and six, you canvass said votes and ascertain who shall thereby appear to have been elected governor; and that on the eighteenth day of April next, the person so appearing to have been elected, and appearing before you at Little Rock to have, by you, administered to him an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and said modified constitution of the State of Arkansas, and actually taking said oath, be, by you, declared qualified, and be enjoined to immediately enter upon the duties of the office of governor of said State; and that you thereupon declare the constitution of the State of Arkansas to have been modified and amended as aforesaid by the action of the people as aforesaid.

You will please order an election immediately, and perform the other parts assigned you, with necessary incidentals, all according to the foregoing.^[138]

By discussion and organization the elements opposed to the Richmond Government aroused so much enthusiasm that Unionists anticipated the wishes of the President by meeting, January 8, 1864, in convention at Little Rock. This assembly, composed of forty-four delegates representing, as they claimed, twenty-two of the fifty-four counties in the State, was made up of members elected at various mass meetings by very meagre votes. This at least was an objection then urged by those who were adverse to the purposes of the convention. They further stated that many of the counties represented were without the Federal military lines. It was admitted that if these counties lay beyond Union lines neither were they occupied by Confederate forces, and that generally the delegates were gentlemen of character and patriotism.^[139]

In a published address the convention stated frankly:

We found after remaining at Little Rock about a week, under a temporary organization, that delegates were present from twenty-two counties, elected by the people, and that six other counties had held elections, and that their representatives were looked for daily. We then organized the Convention permanently, and determined that while we could not properly claim to be the people of Arkansas in Convention assembled, with full and final authority to adopt a constitution, yet, being the representatives, by election, of a considerable portion of the State, and understanding, as we believed, the sentiment of nearly all our citizens who desire the immediate benefits of a government under the authority of the United States, we also determined to present a constitution and plan of organization, which, if adopted by them, becomes at once their act as effectually as if every county in the State had been represented in the Convention.^[140]

An amended constitution was adopted by this convention on January 22. By it the act of secession was declared null and void; slavery was abolished immediately and unconditionally, and the Confederate debt wholly repudiated.^[141] These important changes in the fundamental law of the State indicate the sentiments of the delegates. Isaac Murphy was appointed Provisional Governor; C. C. Bliss, Lieutenant-Governor and R. T. J. White, Secretary of State. These officers were inaugurated on the same day that the convention adopted the constitution; this by its schedule was to be submitted to a popular vote at an election to be held March 14, when State officers and Representatives in Congress would also be chosen.^[142]

Ignorant that the movement to restore a civil government had proceeded so far, Mr. Lincoln had sent his instructions to General Steele. As these had been carefully considered it was feared the work of the convention would differ in some essential particular from the plan outlined for the Federal commander. To prevent such a consequence the President wrote General Steele again on January 27 as follows:

I have addressed a letter to you and put it in the hands of Mr. Gantt and other Arkansas gentlemen, containing a program for an election in that State. This letter will be handed you by some of these gentlemen. Since writing it, I see that a Convention in Arkansas having the same general object, has taken some action, which I am afraid may clash somewhat with my program. I therefore can do no better than to ask you to see Mr. Gantt immediately on his return, and with him do what you and he may deem necessary to harmonize the two plans into one, and then put it through with all possible vigor. Be sure to retain the free-State Constitutional provision in some unquestionable form and you and he can fix the rest. The points I have made in the program have been well considered. Take hold with an honest heart and a strong hand. Do not let any questionable man control or influence you.^[143]

The President’s interest in the proceedings of the convention and his anxiety about the outcome of its deliberations appear in a letter to General Steele written three days after the above.^[144] So favorable were his impressions of the progress reported that he believed the best his subordinate could do “would be to help them on their own plan”; of this, however, General Steele, who was on the ground, was to be the judge. To Governor Murphy he telegraphed, February 6, that his order concerning an election was made in ignorance of any action which the convention might take; also that his subsequent communication to General Steele directed that officer to assist, not to hinder, the delegates.^[145] General Thayer also was informed that the apparent conflict between the President and the convention was altogether accidental.^[146] On February 17, Mr. Lincoln explained the situation more fully to William M. Fishback:

When I fixed a plan for an election in Arkansas I did it in ignorance that your convention was doing the same work. Since I learned the latter fact I have been constantly trying to yield my plan to them. I have sent two letters to General Steele, and three or four despatches to you and others, saying that he, General Steele, must be master, but that it will probably be best for him to merely help the convention on its own plan. Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything, and General Steele, commanding the military and being on the ground, is the best man to be that master. Even now citizens are telegraphing me to postpone the election to a later day than either that fixed by the convention or by me. This discord must be silenced.^[147]

The President evidently had learned something from his recent experience with his friends and subordinates in Louisiana. General Steele from his headquarters at Little Rock issued on February 29 the following address to the people of Arkansas:

The convention of your citizens, held at Little Rock during the last month [says this proclamation], has adopted a constitution and submitted it to you for your approval or rejection. That constitution is based upon the principles of freedom, and it is for you now to say, by your voluntary and unbiased action, whether it shall be your fundamental law. While it may have defects, in the main it is in accordance with the views of that portion of the people who have been resisting the fratricidal attempts which have been made during the last three years. The convention has fixed the 14th day of March next on which to decide this great question, and the General commanding is only following the instructions of the Government when he says to you that every facility will be offered for the expression of your sentiments, uninfluenced by any considerations save those which affect your own interests and those of your posterity.... The election will be held and the return be made in accordance with the schedule adopted by the convention, and no interference from any quarter will be allowed to prevent the free expression of the loyal men of the State on that day.^[148]

The election pursuant to this notice began March 14, 1864, the polls remaining open for three days. For the constitution 12,177, and against it 226, votes were cast.^[149] Isaac Murphy, against whom there was no opposing candidate, was chosen Governor by 12,430 votes cast by the citizens of more than forty counties. As early as March 18 the President appears to have received from the Governor-elect some favorable tidings,^[150] and on April 27, when more complete returns had reached him from the same source, he expressed in a telegram his gratification at the large vote, more than double that required by the Louisiana Plan, and also at the intelligence that the State government, including the Legislature, was organized and in working order.^[151]

Besides a Governor five other officers of the executive and several members of the judicial branch of government together with many county officials were chosen.^[152] At the same time three Representatives in Congress, T. M. Jacks, A. A. C. Rogers and J. M. Johnson, were elected from the First, Second and Third Districts respectively. The Legislature, composed of twenty-three Senators and fifty-nine members of Assembly, met on the 11th of April, and during the session, which ended June 1 succeeding, appointed William Fishback and Elisha Baxter United States Senators to fill vacancies caused by the secession of the late incumbents, R. W. Johnson and William K. Sebastian. After investigation by a committee of Congress, however, they were declared not entitled to seats; but as each possessed such a title to membership as to justify inquiry they were paid mileage. This consideration they were denied when, without new action, they subsequently presented themselves at a special session of the Senate; on that occasion they were accompanied by William D. Snow, who had been chosen to succeed Fishback. It was agreed, March 9, 1865, to postpone till the next session of Congress consideration of the credentials of Mr. Snow. The House, without admitting as Representatives the three claimants for seats, had consented to allow them mileage. Arkansas, unlike Louisiana and Tennessee, did not participate in the Presidential election of 1864, because of a feeling that its electoral vote would not be received even if offered. This course appears to have been adopted on the suggestion of their representatives, who returned with such a conviction from a sojourn in Washington.^[153]

A succeeding chapter, in tracing the origin and progress of the controversy between the Executive and Legislative branches of Government, will describe more fully the attitude of Congress toward Mr. Lincoln’s efforts at reconstruction and afford an opportunity for discussing both the nature of the conventions by which civil government had been restored in Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas, and the constitutionality of the various Executive acts by which this reËstablishment was assisted.