Fort Smith: Cradle of The First Southern Free State

(Fort Smith: Cradle of The First Southern Free State - continued)

Lincoln was once again nominated for President of the United States. Valentine Dell of Fort Smith was able to cast his vote for father Abraham. as he was popularly called, through a hard fought credentials fight lead by Senator James S. Lane of Kansas. This was accomplished in spite of Arkansas' House and Senate members not being seated in Congress and the State unrecognized by that body as not having statehood. It had been a long. arduous route to Baltimore for Valentine Dell. and Mr. Hicken and Dr. Bailey who accompanied him. They traveled down the Arkansas to the White river, where they saw gunboats patrolling, to the Mississippi and the Ohio and then overland to Baltimore.
     One of the things Dell learned on this trip to Baltimore and then on to Washington where he interviewed President Lincoln, was that many of the people in the north thought the re-admittance of Arkansas into the Union, which had started with the mass meeting of twenty counties in Fort Smith, had all been choreographed by President Lincoln and the military. Valentine Dell, having been in the big middle of the mass meetings, and having chronicled the other mass meetings of Union People that had taken place over a good part of the state of Arkansas, knew that nothing was further from the truth. Dyed-in-the wool Union people of Arkansas pushed for the Convention of January, 1864, and asked President Lincoln for guidelines in seeking re-admittance to the Union. The Convention in January, 1864, at Little Rock, and the removing of slavery from the State Constitution by sworn vote in March came about through the work of Unconditional Union Arkansas people who believed secession was treason.
     June 29, 1864, President Lincoln sent General Steele in Little Rock a telegram stating that Congress had passed a bill to guarantee certain states which had seceded from the Union by usurption, as Arkansas had without a statewide vote, a method of coming back into the Union. The bill had been presented to Lincoln an hour before Adjournment Sine Die of Congress. Lincoln vetoed it because he thought the Congress was unfair to Arkansas and Louisiana (Louisiana having made the same preparations to come into the Union as Arkansas). Lincoln said the way he presented the re- admittance of seceded states back to the Union in his Proclamation of 1863 wasn't the only way to accomplish coming back into the Union but the bill passed by Congress was unfair to the two states who had in good faith complied with the Proclamation. Lincoln believed the two states were not being allowed to join the Union because Congress felt it would hamper the chances of the passage of the abolishment of slavery amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
     In another telegram to General Steele on the same day, President Lincoln stated: "I understand that Congress declined to admit to seats the persons sent as Senators and Representatives from Arkansas. These persons apprehend that in consequence, you may not militarily support the new state government there as you otherwise would. My wish is that you give that government and the people there, the same support and protection that you would if the member had been admitted because in no event, nor in any view of the case, can this do any harm, while it will be the best you can do towards suppressing the Rebellion.
     The citizens of Fort Smith met in front of headquarters early in July and presented Captain C. 0. Judson, District Provost Marshal, who had been Commander of the District while General Thayer was on campaign in south Arkansas, a carved revolver and belt, in their appreciation of him as a man and officer. Captain Judson played a large part in the running of the District of the Frontier in various capacities during the Civil War.

FORT SMITH CELEBRATES
FOURTH OF JULY, 1864

     Fort Smith's celebration of the 88th birthday of the United States was the first birthday of America that had been celebrated for two years in Fort Smith. From early morning to evening, the sound of bugle, fife, and drum kept the air vibrating. The celebration started at 9:00 A.M. at the southeast of Valentine Dell's school house.138 Reverend Francis Springer, Post Chaplain, implored the blessings of the Almighty, and this was followed by the National Anthem. Mayor F. H. Wolfe read the Declaration of Independence and commented it had never been put into effect until Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves. Other speakers for the occasion were Reverend M. A. East. Father Douglas, Judge Milor, Doctor Swindell, Brigadier General Thayer, Lieutenant Colonel Searle of the 1st Army Infantry, Lieutenant Hover of the 12th Kansas Volunteer Infantry, and Captain Duff of the 6th Kansas. The brass band of the 13th Kansas Volunteer Infantry furnished the music. Resolutions were passed commenting on the painful observation that the present policy of incorporating the Rebels into the Union Army and restoring their rights had caused a lot of problems. Many who had been thought to have been rehabilitated from their previous thinking of secession from the United States were plotting treasonous acts even though they had taken the oath.
     Pay for the troops was notoriously slow in coming to the garrison at Fort Smith and it was sorely needed by soldiers and merchants alike. The last week of July, the paymasters finally arrived on one of the four steamers coming from Little Rock, and they brought six months pay for the troops. The town's economy was stimulated for a brief time.
     By this time in the war, the Sugar Loaf Valley area south of Fort Smith was devastated. Indians and bushwackers were driving off stock, destroying property, forcing Union families to leave. Several older men and young boys were carried off with the Rebels. Many refugees were still departing from the area and the State and the Federal government was sending them by public conveyance at government expense because of their improverishment.

MASSARD PRAIRIE BATTLE

As the sun came up on Massard Prairie, seven miles south of Fort Smith, July 27th, 1864, there were signs of a bloody struggle. About two thousand Confederate troops led by General Gano attacked a battalion of the 6th Kansas Cavalry commanded by Major Mefford. The Union forces finally retreated toward town, with a number taken prisoner, including two Fort Smith citizens. Ten Union men were killed and fifteen wounded. The Rebels had twelve killed and twenty wounded. Colonel Judson at the garrison headed a mounted force out as soon as he heard, but the Rebels had departed from the area an hour and a half before. The Rebels were pursued for five miles, then the Union side halted and sent out their scouts. The Union scouts came upon the enemies' rear at 3 P.M. as they were crossing the Poteau River about ten miles away. Colonel Judson then returned to the Massard Prairie encampments where he found it about three-quarters burned, but a large quantity of Quartermaster stores and transportation were unharmed. It was painfully noted that most of the Union men were also shot in the head.
At noon on the 29th of July, four bushwackers, whose average age was nineteen, were executed by Union Troops. In

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