"Arkansas Would Ever Remain Under the Eagle": A Unionist’s View on Secession

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"Arkansas Would Ever Remain Under the Eagle": A Unionist’s View on Secession

In May 1861, a “Western Arkansian” penned a passionate defense of Arkansas Unionism: “The people of western Arkansas, the true people, the bone and sinew of our land, are yet, in sentiment and at heart, for the preservation of our once glorious union.” By exploring the circumstances of Arkansas’s secession, we can better understand the anger of this unknown Unionist and the riven reality of Arkansas’s entry into the Confederacy.

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The Plight and Flight of Unionist Edwin R. McGuire: Divided Loyalties and Violence in Independence County, Arkansas

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The Plight and Flight of Unionist Edwin R. McGuire: Divided Loyalties and Violence in Independence County, Arkansas

On Friday, December 4, 1863, Missouri Corporal John Winterbottom scribbled in his diary that just days before, “20 Rebels attacked the house of a rich unionist 10 miles West of here, by the name of McGuire. He killed two of the Rebels and then made his escape with a slight wound. The Rebels then burned his house, which was the finest in the country.”

The plight of Edwin McGuire and his family owed itself to the confused communal politics and military landscape of Independence County, Arkansas during the American Civil War…

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Chasing Bushwhackers: The 3rd Missouri Cavalry and a "Scout to Hot Spring County," Arkansas

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Chasing Bushwhackers: The 3rd Missouri Cavalry and a "Scout to Hot Spring County," Arkansas

On February 8, 1864, blue-clad troopers of the 3rd Missouri Cavalry rode southwest out of Little Rock, Arkansas on a “scout to Hot Spring County…for the purpose,” explained Private Alexander W.M. Petty, “of driving out a company of bushwhackers reported to be committing all kinds of depredations there upon the persons and property of the loyal citizens.” Over the next week, the Federals journeyed over 200 miles, clashed repeatedly with Rebel guerrillas, suffered casualties, and took enemy prisoners. Their scout through Central Arkansas offers a window in the harsh realities of guerrilla warfare and the difficulties that faced U.S. soldiers in attempting to suppress it.

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The Civil War's Bloodiest Battles West of the Mississippi River

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The Civil War's Bloodiest Battles West of the Mississippi River

What were the bloodiest battles of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River? The largest? Who took the tactical offensive more often in the Trans-Mississippi Theater? By cobbling together an array of data, these questions and more are answered, shedding light on the Civil War from Texas to New Mexico and Louisiana to Missouri…

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Should Indian Territory Be Considered a Border State?

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Should Indian Territory Be Considered a Border State?

Should we consider Indian Territory a border state?

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Editorial: Charleston, America, and the Confederacy's Legacy

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Editorial: Charleston, America, and the Confederacy's Legacy

Last week, twenty-one year old Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people in Charleston, South Carolina’s historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.  An act of violence and racial hatred, the tragedy has sparked a nationwide debate over racism and, in particular, the symbolism of the Confederate flag.  The flag of a now-dead nation dedicated to the defense of slavery, the flag that appears in photographs with Dylann Roof, and the flag that today floats free over the South Carolina Capitol grounds.

I suspect, owing to public outcry and political pressure, the flag in Columbia will come down.  The governor of South Carolina has called for its removal, and yesterday Alabama removed its Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds.  Yet while the flag faces greater scrutiny, the current debate cannot merely rest on the Confederate flag. The discussion instead needs to encompass the Confederacy’s legacy in the United States—what the Confederacy stood for, what it means today, and the place (if any) it should occupy in 21st-century America.

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The Unfortunate Case of David O. Dodd: "Arkansas' Boy Martyr" or Fool?

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The Unfortunate Case of David O. Dodd: "Arkansas' Boy Martyr" or Fool?

Young David O. Dodd hung on the end of a rope in the yards of his alma mater, St. Johns’ College.  His death was not a merciful one, as the rope stretched and nearly five minutes passed before Dodd finally passed away.  Convicted of spying on occupation forces in Little Rock, Arkansas, David had been sentenced to death by Union forces.  The date was January 8, 1864, and David Dodd was only seventeen years old.

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The Long and Wild Ride of William Woods Averell

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The Long and Wild Ride of William Woods Averell

The young second lieutenant stepped out of General Winfield Scott Hancock’s office, having reported for duty and ready for his next assignment—whatever it may be.  He didn’t have to wait long.  That night, lounging in the lobby of the Willard Hotel in the heart of Washington, D.C., Second Lieutenant William Woods Averell was approached by several United States officers, including Majors Irwin McDowell and Fitz-John Porter.  Invited to play a game of pool, William quickly learned that more than billiards was at hand.  “While engaged in the game,” Averell recalled, “the Captain quietly asked me where I lodged and requested me to go to my room when the game should be finished and he would follow me.”  Meeting surreptitiously in Averell’s hotel room, the officers relayed orders and forced the young officer to memorize them.  Helpful suggestions were offered up by those familiar with the area in which Averell would soon be sojourning, and he prepared himself to set out the next day.  It was the night of April 16, 1861, and William Woods Averell would soon be headed west across a disintegrating United States.

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