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Our friend Dr. Carl
Moneyhon writes about the Brooks-Baxter War in The
Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture:
Brooks-Baxter War
The Brooks-Baxter War, which occurred
during April and May 1874, was an armed conflict
between the supporters of two rivals for the
governorship—Joseph
Brooks and
Elisha Baxter. The violence spilled out of
Little Rock (Pulaski County) into much of the
state and was resolved only when the federal
government intervened. The result of the war,
recognition of Elisha Baxter as the governor, brought
a practical end to Republican rule in the state and
thus ended the era of Reconstruction.
Questions concerning the results of
the state’s 1872 gubernatorial election brought about
the Brooks-Baxter War. In that election, Joseph
Brooks—a
carpetbagger with a radical reputation and the
leader of the party faction known as the
“Brindletails”—ran as a Reform Republican, supporting
the national Liberal Republican movement, including
Horace Greeley for president, and advancing a local
plan to end the disfranchisement of former
Confederates, reduce taxes, cut government expenses,
and limit the power of the governor. His program
attracted conservative Republicans and
Democrats, who saw his programs as the best way
for them to recapture power and backed him despite his
radical past. Republican regulars, often called
“Minstrels,” backed Elisha Baxter, a scalawag who ran
on a platform promising many of the same reforms
proposed by Brooks. Central to the campaign was the
issue of disfranchisement and the ability of the
Minstrels to maintain control of the state government.
Brooks may actually have won the subsequent election,
but Baxter’s supporters controlled the election
machinery and declared Baxter and other regulars
victors, despite evidence of widespread
irregularities. Brooks and his supporters refused to
accept the results. They appealed the seating of the
regular party’s candidates in Congress and secured one
seat for a pro-Brooks candidate. Brooks also appealed
the gubernatorial election to the legislature, but the
legislature refused to hear his case.
The General Assembly’s failure to act
on Brooks’s appeal did not settle the dispute, and he
continued his efforts to displace Baxter, taking his
dispute to the state courts. His legal appeals failed
until changing political circumstances and shifting
alliances created a court favorable to his position.
The new condition was the regular Republican leaders’
loss of faith in Baxter, who not only tried to get
former Democratic leaders to support him but adopted a
hostile attitude toward one of the
Republican Party’s major economic programs—state
aid to
railroads. Shortly after Baxter refused to sign
bonds designated for the Arkansas Central Railroad and
raised questions about the legality of all railroad
bonds, Republican regulars, including U.S. senators
Powell Clayton and Stephen Dorsey, met in Little
Rock and determined to remove the governor. After that
meeting, the
Pulaski County Circuit Court of Judge John Whytock
took up a request by Brooks for a writ giving him
possession of the governor’s office that had
languished since June 1873. On April 15, 1874, Whytock
ruled in favor of Brooks and issued the writ.
Brooks acted quickly and marched to
the State House with a group of armed men and the
Pulaski County sheriff. Confronting Baxter, the
sheriff demanded that the governor leave his office.
Alone except for his young son, the governor left
under protest. Baxter immediately went to St. John’s
Military Academy, where he began to gather his
supporters and telegraphed President Ulysses S. Grant,
requesting support from U.S. forces at the Little Rock
Arsenal in his efforts to retake his office. By the
next morning, he had gathered 200 men, and they moved
to the Anthony House, just east of the capitol, and
began to prepare to recapture the State House by
force. From the Anthony House, Baxter proclaimed
martial law in Pulaski County, naming
Thomas P. Dockery military governor of Little
Rock, and called on the state militia for support.
Brooks, in turn, fortified the State
House, using furniture to barricade windows and doors.
Brooks’s adjutant general, Robert F. Catterson, broke
into the state armory to obtain equipment and
ammunition for his men. In addition, Catterson
acquired two six-pounder artillery pieces that he
placed on the capitol grounds, aimed at the Baxter men
in the Anthony House. Brooks also called on militia
companies for support.
The two governors had earlier stated
their intention to hold on to their office even if it
required the shedding of blood. The rapid gathering of
large groups of armed men in Little Rock practically
guaranteed that. After the call for support by the two
parties, military companies loyal to one or the other
began arriving. By April 20, Baxter’s men numbered
more than 1,000, and Brooks had mustered almost as
many. By that day, Baxter’s supporters indicated that
they were ready to move against the State House. With
orders from Washington DC to prevent a clash, Colonel
Thomas E. Rose, commander at the arsenal, deployed
U.S. regulars from the Sixteenth Infantry plus two
pieces of artillery on Markham Street between the
contending parties. Rose indicated his willingness to
use force quickly. On the evening of April 21, after
believing he had secured a twenty-four-hour truce,
Rose confronted H. King White, who had arrived with
Baxter supporters from
Pine Bluff (Jefferson County) outside the Anthony
House. Rose believed White was intent on inciting a
riot. In the confrontation, someone fired a shot. In
the resulting confusion, more shots were fired,
producing several casualties. Rose returned to his
troops, cleared the street, and threatened to open
fire on the crowd. The next day, federal troops began
building a barricade between the two sides to prevent
further bloodshed.
Baxter responded to the intervention
of the army with a complaint to Grant that its
presence prevented him from reclaiming his office. The
federal force’s actions also may have convinced him
that violence would not regain him his office. On
April 22, he informed Grant that he intended to call
the legislature into session to settle the rival
claims. The same day, Grant replied that he approved
any peaceful solution. The war continued, but after
April 22, the real struggle for the office shifted to
Washington DC. The last week of April, Attorney
General George H. Williams began meetings with
representatives of the two factions in Washington.
Prominent Little Rock attorney
Uriah M. Rose, along with
Albert Pike and former senator
Robert W. Johnson, presented the case for Baxter.
Senators Clayton and Dorsey represented Brooks.
In Arkansas, each contender kept his
military force intact while events moved along in
Washington, although their activities tended to center
on preventing the other side from being reinforced.
White was given command of Baxter’s forces at Pine
Bluff, and from that base, he repeatedly intercepted
men trying to get to Little Rock to aid Brooks. On
April 30, he intercepted a contingent of
African-American troops near New Gascony in
Jefferson County. In the clash that followed, his
men killed nine and wounded twenty of the troops. On
May 1, White dispersed Brooks supporters in
Lincoln and
Arkansas counties, and two days later, they fought
another battle near Arkansas Post (Arkansas County),
killing five more men. Several other confrontations
would occur, with skirmishes on May 8 at
Lonoke (Lonoke County) and at the mouth of Palarm
Creek, where Baxter’s troops tried to stop delivery to
Brooks of a shipment of weapons taken from Arkansas
Industrial University (now the
University of Arkansas (UA) in
Fayetteville (Washington County)). Later estimates
put the number killed in all of these confrontations
at more than 200.
At Little Rock, the situation also
remained tense. Baxter’s supporters dug up a buried
Civil War sixty-four-pounder cannon, repaired it,
named it the “Lady Baxter,” and used it to threaten
the opponent. One of Baxter’s commanders,
Thomas J. Churchill, kept the Brooks forces on
edge with periodic orders for residents around the
Lady Baxter to move out in preparation for a
bombardment. As the Grant administration considered
the problem, each side also maneuvered to improve its
position. Serious skirmishing took place on May 12,
when Baxter forces tried to secure a position north of
the Arkansas River, only to be forced back by U.S.
troops.
The beginning of the end came on May 9
in Washington, when representatives of Baxter and
Brooks met with the attorney general. All agreed that
a special legislative session should settle the issue.
On May 10, Baxter and Brooks agreed, although Baxter
replied that he saw no reason for a special session
because he had already called the legislature into
session. Attorney General Williams agreed, but Brooks
objected and declared he would not abide by any
decision of the legislature. Seeing that there could
be no compromise, Grant now asked his attorney general
for a decision on who should be governor. After having
heard the cases of the contending parties, Williams
issued his opinion May 15. He said Baxter was the
legal governor. That day, the president issued a
proclamation indicating that because the legitimate
government of Arkansas, Baxter’s, had asked for
federal aid in suppressing insurrectionary forces, he
would provide assistance and ordered all those opposed
to the existing government to disperse.
With no hope of support from
Washington, Brooks disbanded his forces. He and his
men began moving out of the State House. Many, fearing
retribution, fled the city or hid from their
opponents. Indeed, for a time Baxter considered
prosecuting many of his opponents for treason. On May
19, Baxter returned to the State House, and his
supporters staged a victory parade. Grant had ended
the “war,” and Arkansas once again had only one
governor. The era of Reconstruction had come to an
end.
For additional information:
Atkinson, James H. “The Arkansas Gubernatorial
Campaign and the Election of 1872.” Arkansas
Historical Quarterly 1 (Winter 1942): 307–321.
Smith, John I. Forward from
Rebellion: Reconstruction and Revolution in Arkansas,
1868–1874. Little Rock: Rose Publishing Company,
1983.
Woodward, Earl F. “The Brooks and
Baxter War in Arkansas, 1872–1874.” Arkansas
Historical Quarterly 30 (Winter 1971): 315–336.
Carl
H. Moneyhon
Victory at Davis Bridge!
Jim Lighthizer,
President of the Civil War Preservation Trust, has
recently announced that the CWPT has successfully
closed on 643 acres at Davis Bridge, Tennessee,
helping to create one of the largest Civil War state
parks in the state!
As you may recall
from our appeals earlier this year, the Battle of
Davis Bridge, sometimes known as Hatchie's Bridge, was
fought on October 5, 1862, the final significant
action of the operations around Corinth, Mississippi,
one of - in my humble opinion - the most neglected
theaters of the entire war.
CWPT was able to
purchase this important 643 acres for $1,979,000,
utilizing a federal battlefield preservation matching
grant of $948,600, and a grant of $864,000 from the
Tennessee Heritage Conservation Trust Fund. Plus,
generous CWPT members "dug deep" despite the bad
economy and donated just enough for us to put in our
required portion of the match - $166,400 - meaning
that we saved this pristine battlefield with a
$12-to-$1 of your donation dollar. CWPT will hold the
land until the state of Tennessee is ready to assume
it from us.
Lighthizer thanks
all you who have helped to advance the cause of
battlefield preservation. Other opportunities for
battlefield preservation can be found at the CWPT web
site: www.civilwar.org
Founded in 1987, the
CWPT has over 55,000 members and has preserved over
25,000 acres of hallowed ground. It’s good news that
the CWPT is assisting preservation groups in the West
and the Trans-Mississippi Theater.
|
Raymond
Battlefield Doubles in Size
by Parker Hills
On June 30, 2009, the issue was
settled--the bucolic fields along Highway 18
south of Raymond would remain that way, even
though the fight to save them lasted 1,065 days,
as opposed to the single day of combat on those
hallowed grounds in May of 1863. Friends of
Raymond, a local non-profit volunteer historical
preservation group, working with the Civil War
Preservation Trust, a national organization
dedicated to saving America’s Civil War
battlefields, purchased 66.62 acres of core
battlefield property, thus, ending a three year
process of negotiations and fund-raising. As a
result, the preserved area of the Raymond
battlefield has grown from 65 acres to almost
150, because the purchase of the property brings
with it a preservation easement for additional
acreage on the battlefield.
Facing
southeast, the newly-purchased property is
the darker-colored field behind the state
historic marker on Highway 18, bordered by
the distant trees lining Fourteenmile Creek
to the left and Cidero Road to the right.
Photo by Parker Hills
Retired General Parker Hills was
a guest speaker at the Civil War Roundtable of
Arkansas in July 2008. Related articles can be
found at
www.friendsofraymond.org |
Reed’s
Bridge Battlefield Update
Work continues on the barn and cabin at the 7 acre
core battlefield site on Hwy 161 in Jacksonville.
Steve Shore is leading a group of dedicated friends in
making improvements at the site. There will be a fall
encampment with re-enactors and hopefully a hay ride
in the fall. When the barn is completed would anyone
like to dance a jig?
|
FGS 2009 Annual Conference: Passages Through
Time
at the
Little Rock
Statehouse Convention Center
Little Rock, Arkansas, September 2-5, 2009 |
All friends and members of The Civil War Roundtable
are invited to attend this
All friends and members of The Civil
War Roundtable are invited to attend this action
packed show. Complete with exhibit booths, workshops,
and lectures, this is one event everyone will want to
attend. Members of the CWRT will host a booth. We will
be conveniently located across from the concession
area! Now that sounds good!
I am especially looking forward to
hearing our own Clem Papineau speak on the Battle
of Brownsville at the Thursday luncheon and
Desmond Walls Allen speak at the Friday luncheon on
“Genealogy Tomorrow: The Future of Our Past.”
Other speakers on the program that I
plan on attending are:
Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to noon
Civil War Research, Getting Started with Rick
Sayre
Thursday, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Overview
of Resources at the Arkansas History Commission
with Wendy Richter
Friday, 11:00 to noon Arkansas
Confederate Pensions with Russell Baker
Friday Banquet 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
“Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: A Short Trip
Through Arkansas History” with Tom Dillard
The conference concludes on Saturday,
September 5 at 6:00, just in time for Razorback
Football! Go Hogs! For additional information visit
www.fgs.org
Civil War Seminar
October 9th
and 10th
Springfield, MO
The
Civil War Round Table of the Ozarks is hosting a
seminar at the Clarion Hotel in Springfield, MO. It will begin on Friday
evening with a dinner and a program featuring Richard
W. Hatcher, historian from Fort Sumter National Monument in
Charleston. His talk Friday will be: “The H.L.
Hunley: Then and Now.”
Some of
the other speakers include:
Dr.
Bill Gurley, from UAMS “Yankee Bullets, Southern
Blood” based on the casebook of Dr. Henry Dye
Doug
Scott, retired from the NPS, “Battlefield
Archeology: The Trans-Mississippi Theater”
Blair
Tarr, Kansas Museum of History, “Save the
Flags: the Kansas Civil War Battle Flag Restoration
Program.”
Saturday’s schedule begins with registration at 8:00
a.m. and the first lecture at 8:30 with LeeAnn Whites
from the University of Missouri in Columbia. She will
speak on “Occupied Women: Gender, Military Occupation,
and the American Civil War.”
Cost
for Saturday only is just $35, if paid by Sept 23.
(1 meal)
Friday and Saturday combo is just $65, if paid by Sept
23 (2 meals)
For
additional information call Jeff Patrick at
417-350-7192,
tam1rn@juno.com or
call Gary Brimmer at 417-350-7552,
grimmer@mchsi.com
Special room rates are available at
the Clarion Hotel. Call 417-883-6550. The drive from
Arkansas should be spectacular with all the color in
the Ozarks.
Hope to see you Tuesday night with Ken Barnes and the
Brooks-Baxter War
