(Fort Smith: Cradle of The First Southern Free State - continued)
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secession convention or Confederate state government, including debts occurred that
were incompatible with Federal laws, were declared invalid. One of the last acts of the convention was to establish a provisional government to be in effect until the voters chose permanent successors. The convention unanimously elected Isaac Murphy provisional governor. The convention had used President Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction that had been presented to Congress December 8, 1863, as a model for their own election. According to the Lincoln plan, full pardon, with special exceptions, would be granted to all persons voluntarily taking the oath. The oath said: "I do solemnly swear or affirm in the presence of Almighty God that I will hereafter forthrightly defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union of States there under, and I will in like manner abide by and support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of slaves, so help me God." One-tenth of the number of citizens in any state who cast votes in the 1860 presidential election would be permitted to reorganize their state government and once again receive the benefits promised by the United States Constitution. Lincoln had said in his proclamation that members of Congress who would be elected by a reconstructed state, could only be admitted to Congress by a decision of the two houses of Congress, and this statement was to become important to Arkansas. A large number of loyal Union farmers and tradesmen of Fort Smith area had been preparing to travel north because of what they believed to be no security and little encouragement from union authorities to persevere. General Thayers' arrival on the scene encouraged them to stay. The New Era touted that a better day was dawning for Fort Smith, The Cradle of the First Southern Free State, and that all would be fully provided for. The lack of farmers actually attending farms in the District of the Frontier was becoming a major concern. The food for Fort Smith was dependent on a good water level on the Arkansas to bring in supplies by boat, or a wagon trains' ability to find forage for mules or oxen coming four hundred miles distance from Kansas. It was important that some food be grown locally. Many of the larger plantation owners were Rebels who had left the area. One problem the Union forces had was of their own making. Many rail fences of both Union and Rebel farms had been torn down during the extreme cold of January. The fences were brought to town and used as firewood before orders to stop the practice could be put into effect. But the main reason the farmland was going untended was the dread of bushwackers and the bands of lawless thieves infesting the countryside. There was scarcely a farm that had not been victimized. Shouts of welcome greeted The Leon as it steamed into the wharf of Fort Smith on February 14, 1864. The Leon was the first boat to arrive in three years carrying the stars and stripes. It carried seventy tons of commissary supplies that were sorely needed by the garrison. A story of a band of Rebels in the area was relayed by thirteen refugees from Texas, when they finally arrived in Fort Smith February 16. The refugees had been traveling about twenty miles south of Sugarloaf Mountain, scattered four hundred yards apart, when they were attacked by a Rebel force of Choctaws. The wounded were cruelly butchered and eight were taken prisoner. Other refugees had recently reported atrocities by |
Quantrill'S men, who pulled off an old man's toe nails with bullet moulds and then
blew his head off when he wouldn't tell where the money was. On February 21st, General Thayer brought the detached force that had been at Waldron, closer into the post at Jenny Lind. Lieutenant Colonel Searle of the 1st Arkansas Infantry reported back to the garrison that they were at Jenny Lind, but had been caught in a hailstorm without tents. He then pulled all of the nine-hundred strong troops, including Kansas Cavalry, back to Greenwood to stay in vacant houses. Searle reported the troops suffering through sleet and snow with only knapsacks on their backs. STATE ELECTION FOR THE UNION Feverish preparations were taking place for the state election March 14. The poll books for Fort Smith were late in arriving and The New Era fumed that if they did not hurry with the poll books, the state would lose a lot of good solid Union votes. The preparations for the election went in this order: Citizens in a county who had taken the amnesty oath, appointed a county commissioner of election. The commissioner was authorized to appoint the necessary election judges. He served as the enrollment officer for the county or company if it was a military establishment and he prepared the enrolling poll book. The poll books were to contain information for each voter such as acceptance of the amnesty oath, ratification or rejection of the constitution and the vote cast for different elective officers. Because of the distances many had to travel, the polls were open for three days. The final vote count for the state was 12,177 cast for the Constitution and 12,430 votes for Governor Murphy. This was almost double the amount of votes required by President Lincoln's Amnesty plan presented before Congress. In Fort Smith concern rose among local Radical Unionists when a young upstart, Lieutenant Perkins, 13th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry, who was serving as Provost Marshal of Van Buren decided to run against the popular Colonel James M. Johnson for Congress. Lieutenant Perkins had lived in the state for six months but had married an Arkansas girl.89 Johnson defeated Perkins soundly but the value of the seat won was very much up in the air. Congress would not legally seat the voter- elected Arkansas Representatives and Senators. Local candidates on the county ticket had been nominated to run at mass meetings but many others had decided to run for office who had not been nominated by predominately Union people. No matter how active a secessionist a man had been, if he took the oath to uphold the United States Constitution, he was allowed to vote. As the votes came in and were counted, first in the precincts, the wards and then the counties, there was much jubilation among the radical Union men. The mass meeting that had been held in Fort Smith October 30, 1863, had been responsible for starting the drive to reorganize state government and made Fort Smith truly The Cradle of the First Southern Free State. The local election returns were as follows: Charles Milor, State Senate; Sisson and Smott, State Representatives; Howard, County Judge; Lewis,, County Clerk; John Wear, Sheriff; Watts, Coroner; Murphy, Assessor. In the state, Isaac Murphy was elected Governor; Calvin Bliss, Lieutenant Governor: Robert J. T. White, Secretary of State; James R. Berry, Auditor; E. D. |