Pope County Militia War Explained

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, Pope County, Arkansas experienced a tumultuous seven-month period during the Reconstruction era known as the Pope County Militia War. This time was characterized by political and civil unrest, as four county officials, aided by an unofficial militia, purportedly manipulated county affairs to benefit their own agenda. These officials persistently urged the Arkansas governor to impose martial law in the county,[1] with the aim of exerting greater control over voter registration and the November 1872 election.[2] [3] [4]

By the end of this "militia war", three of the four county officials had been killed—and martial law had not been declared.

The fourth official, the county's superintendent of schools, left the state.

This troubling period in Pope County was covered extensively in local, state, and national newspapers, including front-page spreads in the New York Herald, Chicago Tribune, and Memphis Daily Appeal.

On October 10, 1872, a Special Commission appointed by the Arkansas Governor reported, "We are satisfied that much of the bad feeling existing in Pope county has been engendered and fostered by unscrupulous politicians."[5]

Reconstruction

During the military reconstruction period (1867-1868), companies E and G of the Nineteenth Infantry,[6] were stationed in Pope County and headquartered at Dover for a year and a half.[7] Arkansas became the second former Confederate state to be fully restored to the Union in June 1868. However, political and social stability was still years away.

In 1868, a militia law passed by the general assembly authorized the governor to enroll a state guard modeled, generally, after the U. S. Army.[8] Elements of this guard would be used four years later in Pope County, during the period that became known as the Militia War.

Troubles

Between 1865 and 1870, at least five officials in the county were assassinated:[9] Sheriff Archibald D. Napier and Deputy Sheriff Albert Parks on October 24, 1865, County Clerk William Stout on December 4, 1865, Sheriff W. Morris Williams on August 20, 1866, and Russellville Postmaster John L. Harkey on July 27, 1868.

On March 1, 1870, the new Pope County jail in Dover was burned.[10] A man named Glover later claimed responsibility.[11]

Militia War

A period of a little over seven months in 1872 and 1873 came to be known as the Pope County Militia War. However, there were no battles or skirmishes. There were no engagements between organized opponents of any kind. Instead, an irregular armed group sometimes referred to as a militia,[12] and headed by four county officers, exerted excessive and harsh control over the county, including threats to burn Dover, the county seat.[13] [14] By the end of the period, three of the four officials were dead.

In 1872, an Independence Day celebration in Pope County, held at a camp ground at Center Valley, was attended by prominent ministers and county officials, most of whom were aligned with and appointed by the Radical Republican state administration. Many "patriotic" addresses were given "in which much was said in condemnation of 'rebels' in general and those of the county in particular."[15] A day or so after the celebration, news spread over the country that the sheriff's chief deputy, John Herald Williams, after leaving the celebration, "had been seriously, if not fatally, wounded from the brush at his home near Scottsville."[16] Concerned neighbors were told by a physician that there were two holes in Williams' jacket, "one in the left sleeve, corresponding with an abrasion on his arm, the other is in front opposite a dent in his belt buckle and a bruise on his abdomen." There was also a hole in the crown of his hat. After being mortally wounded just two months later, Williams admitted his alleged shooting in July was a ruse, part of a plot "arranged in Little Rock and perfected at the celebration on the 4th of July,"[17] a plot whose purpose was to maintain county officials' control of the county through the 1872 election.

Incident at Shiloh Creek

On July 8, 1872, four men, William Hale (age 32), Nicholas J. (Jack) Hale (age 59), Joe Tucker (age 32), and Isham Liberty "Lib" West (age 34), were arrested and held for a short time at the courthouse in Dover. That afternoon, the prisoners, under the guard of a sheriff's posse of about twenty-four men that included Sheriff Elisha W. Dodson,[18] [19] Deputy Sheriff John H. Williams, School Superintendent W. A. Stuart, and County Clerk Wallace H. Hickox,[20] [21] were moved for the purported purpose of taking them to Dardanelle "for examination" where Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge William N. May resided.[22] Upon reaching the old camping ground at Shiloh, the posse stopped, supposedly for the purposes of gathering forage for the horses and spending the night before proceeding to Dardanelle. After a period of time, the posse remounted with the prisoners at the front and proceeded toward Russellville. Soon after, one of the posse remarked—"It is as dark as Egypt," and another replied "Egypt has no eyes,"[23] immediately followed by shots from unseen parties[24] [25] and the guard opened fire on the prisoners.[26] William Hale[27] and Joe Tucker were hit. When Lib West[28] leaned hard to one side, his saddle shifted and he fell to the ground, scrambling to hide in the brush along the road. N. J. Hale ran his horse forward and made an escape.[29] During the melee, Wallace Hickox was thrown from his horse, suffering a severe injury to his arm.[30] On the ground, Tucker was shot a second time by Dodson with a shotgun. The wounds of Tucker and Hale indicated they had been shot at close range and could not have been from shots fired from the roadside.[31]

Subsequently, Dodson, Williams, Stuart, and Hickox traveled to Little Rock seeking a declaration of martial law from Governor O. A. Hadley under the claim that they had been bushwhacked on the way to Dardanelle.[32] It was widely believed in Pope County that the affair that resulted in the killing of Tucker and Hale and the attempted murder of West and the elder Hale was part of a plot concocted at Little Rock to place the counties with strong anti-Clayton factions under martial law to control voter registration and the upcoming election and that the escape of two intended victims and the sworn statements of Jack Hale, Liberty West,[33] and the mortally wounded William Hale[34] likely prevented the plot from being carried out.

A correspondent for the New York Tribune wrote from Russellville on August 10, 1872:

The gist of the Pope County affair is this: A sheriff and a clerk finding their terms of office about to expire, and nine-tenths of the people determined to put honest men in their places, connive to have martial law declared so that there will be no election, and they could hold over. They take a Deputy-Sheriff and a School Superintendent into the plot. The Deputy fires at his hat and coat one evening and says he has been bushwhacked. The Sheriff, Clerk, and School Superintendent raise a posse. They try to arrest some men against whom they have personal grudges, but not finding them at home, they take others whom they can conveniently lay hands on. They kill two of the prisoners, and immediately start for the State Capitol, saying that they have been bushwhacked, and that the prisoners were shot by their own friends. They raise a hue and cry that the county is in insurrection, and declare that nothing but martial law will put down the insurgents. I cannot believe that this stupid, barbarous piece of business was planned by anyone beside the ruffians who carried it out. Nevertheless the people of Pope County, with almost unanimity, are convinced that the plot was formed at Little Rock by the Ring that controls the State Government. They think a scheme was laid to try the effect of martial law on one county, and in the event of its success to put in force in several of the strong Democratic counties...[35]

After N. J. Hale made it back to Dover before midnight, he roused people in Dover to tell of the prisoners' misfortunes and his escape. By dawn (5:14 A.M.[36]) on July 9, the courthouse square was "a wild spectacle" of armed and angry men and upset citizens. An armed body of about 40 "skirmishers," some mounted, some on foot, had already departed toward Shiloh camping ground and the scene of the shooting with a larger armed party remaining in Dover. The scouting party found the body of Joe Tucker, trampled by horses, next to the road. Young William Hale was found in a home less than half a mile away, mortally wounded and fearful, believing that Dodson meant to hunt him down and finish "the killing of him."[37]

Citizens organized into a protection organization they called a "police force."[38]

The week after the incident at Shiloh Creek, Governor Hadley traveled to Russellville, staying overnight and meeting the next day with leading citizens of the Dover area. He was told that they could not disband their "Dover Guards" until Williams's militia was dispersed. On his way back to Little Rock on July 13, he issued Special Order No. 1 at Perry Station, relieving from the "First Company of Pope County State Guards" and requiring them to return to their homes "as quiet and good citizens."[39] [40]

On July 30, Hadley issued a lengthy proclamation to the citizens of Pope County, stating, "I do not desire to place Pope county under martial law, or subject its citizens to the loss of property consequent upon quartering militia in the county, but the law must and shall be enforced, respected and obeyed, and, if necessary, the entire forces of the state will be employed for that purpose. Citizens must return to their homes, lay down their arms and attend to the daily avocations of life... Two sheriffs of Pope county and one clerk have already been assassinated and murdered, and no attempt has been made, so far as I am advised, to bring the murderers to justice."[41]

=Arrests

=

On the evidence of affidavits by N. J. Hale, William Hale, and I. L. West, arrest warrants were issued for the Sheriff and his posse by Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge William N. May. Appearing before Judge May on July 22,[42] they were placed under the guard of friends. After they were arraigned and waived examination on the 23rd, Dodson, Hickox, and Williams were released on a $5,000 bond each. W. A. Stuart and 21 others were required to each give a bond of $500[43] [44] to answer at the next circuit court to the charge of first-degree murder.[45] No trials were ever held on the case.

Arrest warrants were also issued, on the affidavit of Sheriff Dodson, for ten men living in and near Dover and charged with an alleged attempt to assassinate Deputy Sheriff Williams. Judge May permitted the men to select their own guard to surrender to. The accused men appeared before the court on July 25, 1872,[46] with ten guards, twenty-three witnesses, and some citizens, all armed with shotguns, pistols, or both. All were disarmed except the guards. After the day was spent on another case, they were told to return the next day, but the judge failed to make an appearance. Two prominent merchants from Russellville, Jacob L. Shinn and a Mr. Howell, traveled the six miles to Dardanelle to visit Judge May and determine why he had not made it to court. May said he was sick and unable to attend court and, that, in fact, there was not any evidence against the young men. Judge May sent word with Shinn and Howell that the men were "honorably acquitted."[47] In a July 30 letter to the governor, Judge May wrote, "The prosecution had not, up to that time, had a subpœna issued and intimidated that they did not intend to subpœna any. I instructed the sheriff to discharge the prisoners for failure of the plaintiffs to produce any witnesses to sustain their charges. The same was done, and so the investigation ended."[48]

In his July 30 letter, Judge May also wrote, "Governor, whatever you do, I would urge you not to declare martial law in Pope county, unless there should be more justification for it than now."

Envoys and commissions

In August, Governor Hadley sent General Albert W. Bishop to Pope County "as a commissioner of peace and to discover the actual state of feeling" and report to the governor. Bishop, in a report to Hadley, said that there was "insufficient" cause for a declaration of martial law. He also reported that the people generally believed that peace should be maintained and that County Clerk Hickox and Sheriff Dodson should resign.[49]

A group of men—W. I. Warwick, E. H. English, Sol. F. Clark and James S. Wolfe—commissioned by Governor Hadley to ascertain what steps could be taken to disband the militia and "more speedily restore peace and confidence" determined that the Pope County issues had been "engendered and fostered by unscrupulous politicians."[50]

Unsafe to do Business

Dodson and Hickox next tried, in August, to get martial law declared under the premise that it was unsafe to do county business at the courthouse in Dover. Ordered to close the county clerk's office by Hickox, Deputy Clerk (Rev.) J. M. P. Hickerson instead kept it open.[51]

Many merchants of Dover and Russellville moved their goods out of the county.[52]

Death of County Clerk Hickox

On August 31, 1872, shortly after loading the county records into a wagon and sending them off toward Russellville,[53] Sheriff Dodson, County Clerk Hickox, and former deputy Williams left the courthouse in Dover riding south. A short distance later, Williams reined his horse to the right onto the sidewalk, riding toward the woodshop of William H. H. Pointer, with Dodson and Hickox following. As he got in front of the shop he threw out his hand firing a pistol shot toward the shop and another shot was fired from one of the other two riders.[54] In response, two reports from a shotgun came from the shop. Hickox fell from his horse dead. Dodson and Williams galloped off, shooting back toward the town. Men who had pistols ran from where they had been sitting in front of town stores firing twenty-five to thirty shots. Williams' horse was hit in a foreleg,[55] Williams last seen on the road to Russellville with his horse trotting on three legs.[56] [57]

Later that day, Justice of the Peace Allen Brown was accidentally shot shortly after a jury of inquest on the death of Hickox had concluded. Mortally wounded, Brown claimed that he had been shot by a brother of the late William Hale but recanted after he was told by his daughter that Hale had been with her at supper at the time of the shooting. Before dying, he made a statement that he believed the shooting was purely accidental.[58]

Following the death of Hickox, Jacob L. Shinn, one of the leading citizens of Russellville and the county, traveled with an eyewitness of the killing, Rev. J. M. P. Hickerson, to Little Rock where Shinn met with Governor Hadley on September 4 and arranged a meeting between Hadley and Hickerson. Reports said that Frank Hickox, a brother of the slain clerk and another man waylaid the stage between Russellville and Perry Station, at that time the furthest west terminus of the Little Rock & Fort Smith Railroad, thinking to find Hickerson, remove him from the stage and prevent him from seeing the Governor. However, Shinn and Hickerson bypassed Perry Station, traveling on horseback to Lewisburg, where they took the train. On the evening of the 4th, Hickerson was accosted on Markham Street in Little Rock by Hickox, Pope County Sheriff Dodson, and Deputy Sheriff Williams—who apparently were trying to intimidate Hickerson and keep him from talking to Hadley—, but was able to find refuge in a shop and obtain aid from a policeman.[59]

State Guards and enrolled militia Under General Upham

After a request for help from Sheriff Dodson[60] that misrepresented what had transpired on August 31 in Dover, Governor Hadley issued orders on September 4 to Major General D. P. Upham to provide aid in Pope County "as is or may be necessary to execute the civil and criminal law of the state." The orders gave Upham discretionary power in the use of force and the power to call state guards and enrolled militia into service.[61] On September 6, General Upham with a contingent of eleven members of the state guards commanded by a Lt. Groves traveled to Pope County where Sheriff Dodson met them at their arrival at Perry Station with three companies of his militia.[62]

Joseph H. Battenfield's Russellville Tribune newspaper office was burned on September 8.[63] [64] The paper was conservative and its editor dared publish material uncomplimentary to Sheriff Dodson and the officials behind him.[65] Replacement printing equipment was obtained, with the weekly newspaper resuming publication with only a few issues having been missed.

On September 9, a posse, who had a "writ"[66] for his arrest, attempted to take John H. Williams into custody for attempting to kill Harry Poynter on August 31.[67] Williams refused to be arrested and, outgunned, was shot and captured.[68] [69] Mortally wounded, Williams made a confession that he had "begun the trouble".[70] [71]

During this period, many Pope County families who were able to sought refuge elsewhere.[72] This included one of the wealthiest, Jacob L Shinn, who had taken refuge in Little Rock.[73] Sheriff Dodson's militia terrorized much of the southern part of the county,[74] [75] preying on and plundering the property[76] of Pope County citizens such as Kirkbride Potts,[77] [78] John Bradley, and J. B. Wharton.[79] Merchants in Russellville were forced to provide supplies for Dodson's men, camped two miles from town, with payment only in orders on the county.[80] A small force of state guards under General Upham stood between Dodson's militia and the "crowd" in Dover."[81]

Campaign and Election Fraud

Election campaigns in 1872 found many Arkansas Democrats supporting Joseph Brooks, the Liberal Republican (Brindletail)[82] gubernatorial nominee against Republican Elisha Baxter. There were state-wide fraud and voting irregularities on both sides.[83] [84] State election officials threw out the votes of four counties, and Baxter was declared the victor.[85] [86] Pope County was one of twenty-nine counties where the vote was contested. Numerous citizens gave testimony and depositions about fraud and irregularities witnessed during voter registration and the election in Pope County perpetrated by Sheriff Elijah W. Dodson, County Clerk Wallace H. Hickox, Captain George W. Herriot, an election judge, John H. Martin, the president of the board of registration, Superintendent of Public Schools W. A. Stewart and others. Registration and voting were only done at two of the twelve Pope County townships with the "classes disenfranchised" provision of the 1868 Arkansas Constitution liberally applied.[87] During the November 5, 1872 election, members of Dodson's militia—having given up their "guns, but... retained their pistols"—were "around the polls" in Dover and Russellville all day.[88] Following the election most of the state guards called into service in September returned home.[89]

In October, Sheriff Dodson resigned and the militia was disbanded,[90] [91] However, he was on the ballot for the November 5, 1872 election, where he claimed victory[92] over his opponent, Absalom S. Fowler—late of the state guard and the sheriff appointed in Dodson's place after his resignation—and was commissioned by the governor.[93]

Deaths of Captain Herriott and Sheriff Dodson

The contested election case for Pope County Sheriff between Elisha Dodson and A. S. Fowler was heard at the county courthouse in Dover on February 19, 1873, by Judge Brown, who determined he didn't have jurisdiction to decide the case.

Following the hearing, during a physical altercation between Captain George Herriott and John Hale, initiated by Hale, Herriot was shot and killed by an unidentified third party. Herriott, who had been in Pope County with the state guards during voter registration and the general election, was at the hearing as a witness.[94]

Dodson and Fowler, along with others,[95] had departed for Perry Station where they were to catch a train for Little Rock early on the morning of February 20. As Dodson boarded the train, he was mortally wounded by someone shooting from below the platform.[96]

The killings of Herriott and Dodson and the state of affairs in Pope County were the subject of discussion and resolutions in both houses of the General Assembly on February 20, 1873, after it was learned that Dodson had been shot that morning.[97]

Related Information

Martial Law

While Governor Hadley threatened to institute martial law[98] and despite attempts from Sheriff Dodson and County Clerk Hickox to get the county placed under martial law, it was never delclared. Major General Upham was given the authority to call state guards and enrolled militia into service to aid the local civil authorities in executing state laws, but that authority fell far short of a declaration of martial law.

Assassinations and Murders (and attempts)

In the period between the end of the war and the end of Reconstruction, a number of assassinations and murders of public officials and others occurred in Pope County.

Biographical information of Individuals Involved in Pope County Reconstruction Troubles

Notes and References

  1. News: Clear, Concise and Fair Statement of the Troubles by a Union Soldier . 13 March 2023 . The Memphis Daily Appeal . 275 Vol 32 . John M. Keating . September 25, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . we have a set of county officials that have bankrupted the county (our county scrip being worth but six cents on the dollar) and are determined at all hazards to prevent an election of new officers by the people, that they may hold over for four years more. To accomplish this thing they concocted a plan by which they could secure martial law, prevent an election, and thus hold over..
  2. News: What Rev J. M. P. Hickerson Says of the Matter . 28 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . 247, 53rd year . September 12, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . ... there was a hungry gang of officials, who being uneasy and fearful as to the results of the coming election, sought strategical remedies to secure their reelection. The political fields had been surveyed and the fact ascertained that none of these officers could be reelected with the present registration. No hope remained. Something had to be done to cut the registration down. Some sort of rumpus had to be kicked up to get martial law and prevent a registration until a few weeks before the election.
  3. News: The Plot Thickens . 10 March 2023 . The Missouri Republican . 15552 . George Knapp & Co. . September 24, 1872 . St. Louis, Missouri . 1 . Williams... has made a confession... revealing a plot deliberately entered into... to place the county under martial law for political purposes..
  4. News: Pope County—Truthful Statement of the Cause of the Troubles, by a Republican . 29 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 91, 54th year . Woodruff & Adams . March 6, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . ...there would have been no political outbreak or disturbance up to this day, had it not been brought about by the unworthy officers of this county, who, knowing their unpopularity, and knowing that they could not be fairly elected by the people, contrived and, carried into execution their nefarious schemes for the purpose of iniquitously controlling the registration and election in that unfortunate county.. Note: Writer is J. B. Bezzo, editor of the Dardanelle Transcript and Eye of the West.
  5. News: Report of the Special Commission to Investigate the Pope County Troubles" . 29 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . 272, 53rd year . October 15, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2.
  6. Book: Executive Documents, House of Representatives, 2nd Session of the 40th Congress, Vol.2 . 1868 . U. S. Government Printing Office . Washington, D. C. . 377 . https://books.google.com/books?id=kn5ZAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22companies+E+and+G,+Dover,+Arkansas+%22&pg=PA377 . 31 January 2023 . Report of Major General Ord, Commanding Fourth Military District, September 27, 1867.
  7. Book: Reynolds . Thomas J . Reynolds . John Hugh . Publications of The Arkansas Historical Association, Vol. 2 . 1908 . Arkansas Historical Association . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 174–198 . https://books.google.com/books?id=LdUTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Pope+County+Militia+War%22&pg=PA174 . 16 January 2023 . In the spring of 1867 two companies of 'regulars' under the command of Major Mulligan, United States army, came to Dover, the county seat, to aid the civil authorities and in the interest of the Freedman's Bureau. These soldiers had a welcome reception and after a year and a half departed, regretted by all. The officers of the companies, by their gentlemanly bearing and conservative methods, made friends in every class of people. . Pope County Militia War.
  8. Singletary . Otis A. . Militia Disturbances in Arkansas during Reconstruction . The Arkansas Historical Quarterly . Summer 1956 . 15 . 2 . 142 . 22 January 2023 . Arkansas Historical Association . Little Rock and Fayetteville, Arkansas. 10.2307/40038001 . 40038001 .
  9. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13189 . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 7 . In this period, several county officials were killed, although the citizens disavow the acts, and say that they were private assassinations arising from personal causes. .
  10. News: Pope . 12 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 90, 51st year . Woodruff & Blocher . March 8, 1870 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . On Tuesday night the jail was discovered in flames and in a few minutes was destroyed. The building had just been completed at a cost of $2500. The fire was evidently the work of an incendiary, as the locks were found in the flames with the bolts all drawn. There were four prisoners confined in the jail, all of whom escaped..
  11. News: Killings of Drake and Glover . 12 March 2023 . Memphis Daily Appeal . 275 Vol 32 . September 25, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . Glover... boasted... of what he had done, and told them that he had burned several jails in the western counties since had burned the one at Dover....
  12. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13189 . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 7 . After the new and disfranchising constitution went into operation a lull ensued, and for some time everything was quiet, but the county officials of Pope, who were all republicans and secret leaguers, grew more and more obnoxious to the people and both sides were surly, muttering and threatening. The native republicans, who go by the name of ‘Mountain Feds,’ took sides with their Sheriff and County Clerk, and as the time of another election drew near the county authorities claimed that the insecurity of the times demanded martial law in Pope County..
  13. Book: Affairs . Affairs in Arkansas, Reports of Committees of the House Of Representatives, 2nd Session of the 43rd Congress. 1875-'75 . 1875 . 6 January 2023 . 97–98 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D. C. . Deposition of William F. Grove, taken August 6, 1873...On arriving in sight of Dover I saw quite a number of armed men drawn up in the street, and on arriving in town found there between seventy and eighty men. I asked them why they were armed. They told me that Dodson had threatened to kill some of them and burn the town down. I asked them if they had any idea that he would kill any of them if he got them, or burn their town down. They said they did, for he had already partially carried out one threat by killing Hale and Tucker..
  14. News: Affidavit of Perry West and G. W. Cox . 12 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 197, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 17, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . ".. on or about the 15th of April, 1872, John Williams, deputy sheriff, gave me orders to shoot or lead Nat Hale, John Hale, Reese Hogan, Harry Pointer, and John Young, saying, 'In fact, shoot any of them that impose upon you, come and give yourself up, and the governor will pardon you,' and he went so far as to say that he was going to get rid of the McCune and Hale outfit... The said John Williams said that he had orders to burn Dover, and he intended to do it.". Note 1: West and Cox were members of John Williams' militia company Note 2: The affidavit was first published in the Russellville Tribune which was burned with all its back issues on September 8, 1872.
  15. News: Captain Fitch's Statement . 12 March 2023 . Missouri Republican . 15483 . George Knapp & Co. . July 16, 1872 . St. Louis, Missouri . I went, by invitation, to make an address on the Fourth, to Centre Valley, Pope county. On arriving there I discovered that trouble was anticipated. In conversation with Capt. John Williams, deputy sheriff and captain of the militia, he gave me to understand that he apprehended danger to his life. He asked me to see the sheriff and have his company armed. I did not think danger to him imminent, but promised to see the sheriff. At Dover he again told the sheriff and myself that he understood his life was in danger, and wanted his company armed and a portion of them stationed in Dover. Sheriff Dodson objected to any such action, both on account of the expenses it would involve the country in, and because of the ill feeding it would create. The sheriff told him he had better retire to his farm and stay there and that he (the sheriff) would attend to all the official duties. He left and on reaching home at twilight, he was shot at. This was Friday evening. One ball went through his hat and another struck the clasp of his belt; it stunned and knocked him down. There is no wound but it is thought he is injured internally. On Saturday night last I attended a meeting at Centre Valley. Frank Hickox, a brother of the county clerk, came there from Dover and informed the sheriff of the shooting of his deputy. The business of the meeting being over the sheriff informed the people of the attempt at assassination; said it was necessary to inquire into the matter and ferret out the perpetrators of the deed, and desired all who would volunteer to go with him to meet him there the next evening, and to get as many others as possible; that he desired to see the law vindicated. The sheriff and people met on Sunday night and started for Williams’ farm, which is about 18 miles from Centre Valor and 12 miles, from Dover. I left on Monday morning..
  16. Book: Reynolds . Thomas J . Reynolds . John Hugh . Publications of The Arkansas Historical Association, Vol. 2 . 1908 . Arkansas Historical Association . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 174–198 . https://books.google.com/books?id=LdUTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Pope+County+Militia+War%22&pg=PA174 . 24 January 2023 . Williams neighbors... proposed... to become individually responsible for any harm that might come to him, only to have their reasonable request denied. But from the mountains came men who were in an ill mood and they were chosen as the trusty guards. . Pope County Militia War.
  17. Book: Reynolds . Thomas J . Reynolds . John Hugh . Publications of The Arkansas Historical Association, Vol. 2 . 1908 . Arkansas Historical Association . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 174–198 . https://books.google.com/books?id=LdUTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Pope+County+Militia+War%22&pg=PA174 . 24 January 2023 . Williams, with two companions, went to the woods, buckled the belt around a stump and fired a bullet against the brass plate; they hung up his coat and hat and shot holes through them; then they made slight wounds on his body. Returning home about dark, and while the hired man fed the horse he (Williams) went behind the crib, fired three shots, groaned aloud and sank down. The hired man saw, two men run away; these were his companions. . Pope County Militia War.
  18. Web site: Dodson, Elisha W. - Captain, 3rd Regiment, Arkansas Cavalry (Union), Company A . Soldier and Sailors Database . National Park Service . 23 January 2023. Note: Regiment organized at Little Rock, Ark., February 1864. The regiment mustered out on August 20, 1865.
  19. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866 . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 97 . 24 January 2023 . Elisha W. Dodson, Appointed from private to 1st lieutenant October 18, 1863; promoted to Captain Nov. 29, 1863, dismissed Feb. 13, 1864.
  20. Book: Reynolds . Thomas J . Reynolds . John Hugh . Publications of The Arkansas Historical Association, Vol. 2 . 1908 . Arkansas Historical Association . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 174–198 . https://books.google.com/books?id=LdUTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Pope+County+Militia+War%22&pg=PA174 . 16 January 2023 . Wallace H. Hickox, a Federal cavalry officer from Iowa (?) remained South, and in the county when the war (1861-65) closed,... was pre-eminently qualified to play the leading part in a drama which impoverished a whole county and sent many of its leading citizens into exile for half a year. . Pope County Militia War.
  21. Web site: Hickox, Wallace H. - Quartermaster Sergeant, 15th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, Company H . Soldier and Sailors Database . National Park Service . 23 January 2023. Note: Regiment organized December 25, 1862, Regiment assigned to District of Eastern Arkansas, 7th Army Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to January, 1865. consolidated with 10th Illinois Cavalry January 26, 1865.
  22. News: Statement of Dodson and Hickox . 12 March 2023 . Missouri Republican . 15483 . George Knapp & Co. . July 16, 1872 . St. Louis, Missouri . We marched from Centre Valley and got to Deputy William's place about 7 o'clock in the morning. Had 28 men with us, 4 of whom were colored. We wished to ascertain from Williams who the supposed assassins were and the circumstances of the shooting. He gave names of a number of parties. but only the following were arrested: N.J. Hale, Wm. Hale, Joe Tucker. Tucker lived in Dover, the Hales in a settlement near Williams farm. Having secured the above named we proposed to carry them to Dardanelle for examination. But before leaving Dover we were informed by one J. D. West that the prisoners had better be released or they would be rescued. Arrested West for threats and took him along. Left Dover between five and six in the afternoon. Moved in the direction of Dardenville (sic) six miles and struck camp, but after consultation concluded it wouldn't be prudent to remain there, and so moved on toward Russellville and formed line myself and Capt Hickox in front, the prisoners immediately following us, and the rest of the column bringing up the rear. The guards were instructed in case we were fired upon or an attempt to escape was made by the prisoners to make safe of them if necessary by shooting them. After traveling about a half mile in the direction of Russellville a fire was opened from the brush in right of road, into our ranks, and at the same time the prisoners broke and ran. Our horses broke and became ungovernable; guard fired and Tucker was killed. The other prisoners made their escape and have not been recaptured. None of the guard was hurt as far as we can learn; left for this city next morning. After the action was over could find only about a dozen of our men in place. What became of the others, or where they scattered to, have not had time to ascertain. An effort is making to arouse ill feeling by saying that we had concocted a plan to have a rescue attempted so as to give the guards an excuse for firing on the prisoners. Capt. Scott told us this morning that we would not be safe if we returned to Dover.. (Statement was originally made to a reporter of the Arkansas State Journal and published July 10th.)
  23. Book: Dougan . Michael B. . Confederate Arkansas - The People and Policies of a Frontier State in Wartime . 1976 . The University of Alabama Press . Tuscalooosa, Alabama . 9780817305222 . 83 . 5) The First Year of the War . ... early in the war... secret societies... variously known as the Peace Society, the Peace Organization Society... each had a constitution, an oath, a yellow ribbon or some such for identification, and passwords, one being 'It's a dark night,'—'Not so dark as it will be before morning.'.
  24. News: Townsend . George Alfred . The Pope County Troubles. The Political Murders - Guilt of the Sheriff and Clerk . 13 March 2023 . New York Tribune . 9799 Vol XXXII . Horace Greeley . August 20, 1872 . New York, New York . 1–2 . They sent five men in advance to fire into the air from the bushes by the road. The firing was done as arranged....
  25. Book: Reynolds . Thomas J . Reynolds . John Hugh . Publications of The Arkansas Historical Association, Vol. 2 . 1908 . Arkansas Historical Association . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 174–198 . https://books.google.com/books?id=LdUTAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Pope+County+Militia+War%22&pg=PA174 . 16 January 2023 . Before resuming their march in the darkness an advance guard had been sent forward. On reaching a point about a mile south of the church, a volley was fired from a thicket a few yards from the road side, which... harmed no one. Jack Hale averred that the guns were fired into the air. This volley seemed to be the signal for the officers and men to turn their guns, not on the party in ambush, but upon their prisoners.. Pope County Militia War.
  26. News: Arkansas Iliad . 8 March 2023 . New York Herald . 279 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett . October 5, 1872 . New York . 4 . The horses began to plunge and start in their fright. Hickox was thrown off and hurt his shoulder. Tucker was shot over the left ear, blowing his brains out in front, and also below the back of the neck, so that the buckshot came out at his chin; while young Hale seemed to be shot all over with buckshot in the back, and both he and Tucker tumbled from their horses, and Tucker was ridden over by those in the rear, so that in addition to his wounds he was hideously gashed with hooves of the steeds and mules..
  27. News: Statement of W. T. Hale . 28 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 203, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 26, 1872 . Little Rock Arkansas . 1 . I was arrested on the 8th of July, 1872, by Sheriff Dodson and his posse. The reasons for my arrest were not made known to me, though I demanded them. They said in answer: "Come and go with us to Dover and you will find out." When we got to Dover, they said we were bound to go before Judge May; that I had no right to know the cause of my arrest; that they had seen the law on it, and they could not send for him to come here; then we left Dover for Dardanelle; we traveled on to the Williamson camp ground, about seven miles from Dover. There we were halted, and informed by the officers that we would remain there all night, provided they could get forage. After they had been there about two hours, Dodson and Hickox came in and said they could not forage and would have to move on to Russellville. Dodson called out all his men but two, and left them to guard us prisoners, our horses were brought and we ordered to mount. Dodson told Tucker to fall in and West by his side, and for you two Hales to fall in together. Dodson remarked that part of his men went somewhere. W. A. Stuart said, in answer, that he "did not go into this thing blindfolded. I will stay. You may bet on that." We had marched but a short distance when Dodson passed from the front to the rear, and back again; and as he passed back, somebody remarked that it was as "dark as Egypt," and Dodson said "yes, but Egypt has no eyes." Then the firing began. Immediately, a gun was discharged on my right, and I looked around; and about that time I received a shot in my right shoulder, after which I got off my mare, and got out of sight of the road and sat down by a tree. About that time I heard a man cry out, "oh, Lord!" three times. Then I heard a voice, which I think was Dodson's saying "God d—you, I have you now." Then I heard one more groan, and the hallooing ceased. In a few minutes they alI left, and I heard no more of them. W. T. Hale. Witness: B. F. Baily. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 11th day of July, 1872. J. C. Warren, Mayor of Dover.. Note: Originally published in the Russellville Tribune which was burned on September 8, 1872, along with all back issues
  28. News: Statement of L. West . 28 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 203, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 26, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . On Monday, the 8th day of July, 1972, I was at Scottville at work in my blacksmith shop. As I was returning from dinner I saw several men coming from a northerly direction, meeting me; the men were mounted and armed. I met them at the well, near the store-house formerly occupied by W. C. M'Cune as a dry goods store. Alter the usual salutations E. W. Dodson asked for a drink of water, and I drew a bucketful from the well and gave him some, when I discovered N. J. Hale and his son William T. Hale were with them. They told me that they were prisoners, but did not know what for. The company moved on toward Dover. Mr. John Hickman came up before they left. After they left Mat Hale (son of N. J. Hale) came up, and while he was there John Cox came up and stated that Mrs. N. J. Hale was very much distressed and wanted some one to go to Dover and ascertain what was going to be done with her husband and son, and see if they were to be given a fair trial. I said I would go down for one, and as no other person present had a horse to ride, I told them that I would go alone. Mat Hale told me to tell Mr. Dodson if he would give him a trial at Dover he would go in and stand a trial, but he did not want to go out of the county for he did not think he could get a fair trial, and he did not want his father and brother taken off for the same reason, as he had heard that Williams said that they were ordered by the governor to shoot them and others down and he (the governor) would protect them and see that they were not hurt. I then came down to Dover and found Dodson and his company in the act of starting as they said to Dardanelle. I saw Dodson and told of the distress of Mrs. Hale and son, and asked what he would do with the prisoner. Dodson told me that Judge May had ordered him to arrest these men, and bring them before him for trial. I told him that I thought it would be best to wait till morning, and they might get the matter arranged so as to have the trial at Dover. I told him that Mat Hale would come in if assured of a fair trial. Dodson swore that he would not be bluffed in that way, and would take the prisoners in to Dardanelle. He walked off toward County Clerk Hickox and after a few moments conversation with him, returned, and placing his hand on me told me that I was his prisoner, that he would take me along too, since I was so d—d smart. I told him all right. He ordered me to mount my horse instantly, and we started in the direction of Dardanelle. They had also arrested Mr. Joe Tucker, of Dover, making four prisoners with myself. We were placed near to-gether in the column and closely guarded. On the way down I had a conversation with Dodson, and asked him to release me, as I had harmed no one, and that if what I said had hurt his feelings I was sorry for it; that I was as much in favor of bringing violators of the law to justice as he or any other man; that my wife was unwell and would be very much troubled if I did not get back that night. He said "By God, I have been played off on by your sort too much." He told me if he let me go I would tell a lot of men how many men he had and that he would be bushwhacked on the way. I told him that I would do no such a thing; that I was a law-abiding citizen, and in favor of the enforcement of civil law, and added that I did not think the Hales had anything to do with the shooting at Mr. Williams; I had a better opinion of them that that. Dodson then told me that it was not for the shooting of John Williams, but for the murder of Morris Williams, the sheriff, that these men were arrested, and that they had been working for three years to find out who they were, and now they knew, and he had all the proof he wanted, and now, that they had these men, he would be God d—d it they didn't put an end to them and stop it at once. I still insisted on being released, and he told me that he would study about it till morning, and then would let me know. A short time afterward we arrived at Shiloh church, about three or four miles from Russellville, on the Dover and Russellville road. We were ordered by Dodson to halt, dismount and give our horses up to the guard. The prisoners were taken inside the church and closely watched. Dodson said that he would go and get some forage, and in about an hour he returned and said that he could get nothing there, and that we would have to go to Russellville. During the absence of Dodson from the church I could see him and a lot of his men talking together, and seemed to be consulting about something. Hickox seemed to be one of the principal parties in the conversation. Our horses were brought up, and we were told to mount. Dodson ordered Mr. Joe Tucker and myself to ride upon his left, and Mr. Hale and son in our rear, and what men he had there in the rear of us and himself and Hickox in front, giving the guard strict orders not to let the prisoners get away. Dodson, who was in front, looked back and said: "I'll be d—d if it don't look like half our men are gone," and laughing heartily, marched on. After marching a short distance, we crossed what seemed to be a small creek, when I noticed a road turning off to the left, but we kept on the Russellville road a short distance, when, all at once, one of the party remarked: "It is as dark as Egypt," to which another one of the party replied: "Egypt has no eyes," and immediately firing commenced on the road in the woods. I could distinctly see that the blaze from the guns or pistols went upward as though they were elevated in the air. At this time one of the party in the woods cried, "hold on," when Dodson and Hickoz checked their horses but did not make any attempt to fire on the persons in the woods. I, in a moment seeing what was up and hearing the firing of guns immediately in our rear by the guards, threw myself on the left side of my horse, which caused the saddle to turn a little on that side. I did this in the hope that it would cause them to miss me. My horse then "bucked" until I was thrown to the ground, and I crawled into the brush and remained perfectly quiet. From the place I was hid I could distinctly hear persons laughing and talking, and at the same time heard the voice of Dodson cry out, "where are the prisoners?" Dodon then dashed off toward Russellville about two hundred yards when there was a calm for a short time, except a few words passed, followed by a loud report from what seemed to be a shot-gun. At the same time I could hear a cry of distress "oh, oh, oh," at the same time I heard Dodson say "now, G—d— you, I've got you," followed by another report from what seemed to be a shot-gun similar to the other; this was followed by another cry of distress in a low faint tone, then two more heavy discharges from a shot-gun, and two more smaller reports. The cry of distress ceased before the last firing. I laid as still as possible and heard the men passing up and down the road talking and laughing for a short time when they seemed to dash off toward Russellville. For fear some of them might still be about, I laid still until the moon went down the better to enable me to make my escape. I think Hickok and Dodson were the only parties in the crowd who had large heavy shot-guns. Isham L. West. Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 11th day of July, 1872. J. C. Warren, Mayor of Dover.. Originally published in Russellville Tribune which was burned on September 8, 1872, and all back issues lost.
  29. News: The Pope County Murders—Evidence of Mr. Hale . 12 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . 197, 53rd year . July 17, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . ... stopped near the camp ground near sun down... they seemed to be talking very low about something. The most of them went out of the church (where we had been conducted), and I saw Dodson and Hickox talking together through the window, very low... At this time I felt very much excited, as part of the men had left, and Dodson said to the prisoners if they were fired on they (the prisoners) would suffer for it... Dodson, Hickox and one other man got before us and the remainder of the company behind us... when we got about three quarters of a mile from the camp ground, I heard some one say behind me, "It is Dark as Egypt," and Dodson said, "Yes, but Egypt has no eyes." and just at this time I heard the cocking of guns, and then my attention was called to firing of guns on my right, the blaze of all going up in the air, then Dodson and Hickox whirled their horses to the right between we prisoners and the firing and Dodson said, "Now boys, is the time to do your work," and began firing into us. I ran my horse forward and made my escape..
  30. News: A Sherriff and Posse Fired Upon - Two of their Prisoners then Deliberately Murdered by the Sheriff . Public Ledger . 114, Vol XIV . E. Whitmore . July 11, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 12 March 2023 . Mr. Hale is an old and respected citizen of the county. The others are young men, and generally esteemed as good citizens... Hickox... one of the sheriff's posse... was thrown... and had his arm severely injured..
  31. News: The Pope County Troubles . 8 March 2023 . New-York Tribune . 9799 Vol XXXII . Horace Greeley . August 20, 1872 . New York . 1 . On reading the affidavits relative to the Pope County murders while in Little Rock, I found the evidence that Sheriff Dodson, County Clerk Hickox, and their posse, had massecred their prisoners, and that the two officials had sent a detail of their own party in advance, to fire from the bushes in order to give the appearance of a rescue, was so compelling that no room was left for doubt,.. I found the evidence that Sheriff Dodson, County Clerk Hickox, and their posse, had massacred their prisoners, and that the two officials had sent a detail of their own party in advance, to fire from the bushes in order to give the appearance of a rescue, was so complete that no room was left for doubt... The circumstantial evidence joined to the testimony of the two prisoners, West and Hall (Hale), who escaped, and the woulded man, who afterward died, would convict the sheriff and the clerk of murder in any court...
  32. News: Pope County . 13 March 2023 . The Memphis Daily Appeal . 275 Vol 32 . John M. Keating . September 25, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . The county officials then hurried to the Governor to secure martial law, saying that the people bushwhacked them when taking prisoners to Dardanelle for a trial. The Governor came up here and found it all a lie, and made a great many promises to the people, none of which he has carried out..
  33. News: Statement of I. L. West as sworn to and subscribed before J. C. Warren, Mayor of Dover, on 11 July 1872 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 205, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 26, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1.
  34. News: Statement of W. T. Hale as sworn to and subscribed before J. C. Warren, Mayor of Dover, on 11 July 1872 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 205, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 26, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1.
  35. News: The Pope County Troubles . 18 January 2023 . New-York Tribune . 9,790, Vol. XXXII . Horace Greeley . August 20, 1872 . New-York, NY . 1–2. Note: text is from page 2, column 2
  36. Googe search on "Sunrise on July 9, 1872, Dover Arkansas", search result: 5:14 AM, Tuesday, July 9, 1872 (GMT-5:50:36), Sunrise in Dover, AR
  37. News: Arkansas Iliad . 7 March 2023 . New York Herald . 281 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett . October 7, 1872 . New York . 3 . Little Rock, Ark., Sept. 28, 1872.
  38. News: Arkansas Iliad, Continued History of the Pope County Anarchy . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 281 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett, Jr. . October 7, 1872 . New York, New York . 3 . They organized a little army under their laws of incorporation and called it by the mild name of a police force. A large part of it was mounted; the whole of it was armed, and its magazine was all the powder and ball in that part of the country. This force was commanded by W. B. Young... and his lieutenants were Reese B. Hogan and John T. Haile..
  39. News: Special Order No. 1 . 11 March 2023 . The Chicago Daily Tribune . 58 Vol 26 . The Tribune Company . October 15, 1872 . Chicago, Illinois . 2 . Captain John H. Williams, - Commanding First Company of Pope County State Guards: You will relieve from duty the forces under your command called out to assist the Sheriff of your county in the serving of civil process, and cause all property, such as horses, saddles, bridles, and camp equipage, and all arms taken by your command for the use of such forces, taken from citizens, to be returned to them without unnecessary delay, and require them to return to their respective homes as quiet and good citizens. O. A. Hadley .
  40. News: Gov. Hadley and the Pope County Disturbances . 30 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 204, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 25, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . ... after the issuance of his proclamation requiring the militia to disband. The issuance of this proclamation was a virtual acknowledgment that the militia band who made the arrests had been called into service with the full knowledge of the governor, without whose order it could not have been legally called out..
  41. News: Proclamation by Governor—He Threatens Martial Law . 11 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 210, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . August 1, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . Now, therefore, I, Ozro A. Hadley, as governor of the state of Arkansan, by virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution and laws of Arkansas, do command all persons to return to their homes and their daily avocations immediately, and thereafter demean themselves as peaceable and law-abiding citizens..
  42. News: A Republican Paper on the Situation . 11 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 210, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . August 1, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . They come loaded down with revolvers and double-barrelled shot-guns... forty witnesses appear for the prosecution to expose the damnable plot. The defendants wear their weapons within the very court-room.. (from Russellville Tribune that was burned September 8)
  43. News: The Arkansas Troubles . 8 March 2023 . New-York Tribune . 9779 Vol XXXII . Horace Greeley . August 7, 1872 . New York . 2.
  44. News: The Pope County Troubles . 9 March 2023 . The Wheeling Intelligencer . 285 Vol XX . Frew, Magans & Hall . July 26, 1872 . Wheeling, West Virginia . 1.
  45. News: From the Russellville Tribune of July 27th . 16 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 210, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocker & Adams . August 1, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1. Note: The Russellville Tribune, with all its back issued, burned September 8, 1872
  46. News: A Republican Paper on the Situation . 11 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 210, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . August 1, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . Promptly on that day every one of these defendants appears... They come with a cloud of witnesses. They declare themselves ready to prove that at the time of the pretended ambushing, each of them was miles away, not dreaming of the murderous designs of the sheriff and his mob.. (from Russellville Tribune that was burned September 8)
  47. News: The Pope County Tragedy . 30 March 2023 . The Southern Standard . 27 Vol.V . Gaulding & Clark . August 3, 1872 . Arkadelphia, Arkansas . 2 . (Judge May) stated ... he knew there was not a single witness to testify against the parties, and that they were perfectly innocent....
  48. News: Judge May to Governor Hadley . 8 March 2023 . The Memphis Daily Appeal . 230 Vol 32 . August 1, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . (after... the release of the Sheriff and his posse on bail) Affidavits were then filed by Dodson, charging ten persons, naming them, with bushwhacking his posse at the time Tucker and Hale were killed, warrants were issued, and on Thursday morning the defendants came in and surrendered and were put under guard, bringing with them twenty-three witnesses subpoenaed for the prosecution. I went home Thursday evening, and on Friday morning was taken sick, and have not been able to return to Russellville yet... The prosecution had not, up to that time, had a subpoena issued, and intimated that they did not intend to subpoena any one. I instructed the sheriff to discharge the prisoners for failure of the plaintiffs to produce any witnesses to sustain their charges. The same was done and the investigation ended. I learn that some parties are trying to make it appear that the court was intimidated the last day it was held, and that was the reason of my not putting in an appearance on Friday. It is not so. Sickness alone prevented me. Some capital is attempted to be made in regard to the prisoners from Dover coming in with an armed squad. I am informed that there were ten prisoners, ten guards and twenty-three witnesses in the squad, besides some citizens. When they came in, they were marched to the guardhouse, and all disarmed but the guards. Governor, whatever you do, I would urge you not to declare martial law in Pope county. unless there should be more justification for it than now..
  49. News: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of General Bishop to the Governor on the Situation of Affairs . 10 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 226, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . August 20, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . As a body, the citizens of Pope county are very peaceably inclined at present. They realize the situation their county is in, and that if any more blood is spilled, a resort to martial law will then probably be inevitable. Confidence in each other is most needed now, and if the trials growing out of the attempt to assassinate Capt. Williams on the one hand, and the killing of Tucker and Hale on the other, are permitted to take their course; if such arrests as may be necessary, can be made without resistance, and if Capts. Hickox, Dodson and Williams will be permitted to discharge their official duties, and be protected while doing so (which the people tell me shall be the case), the troubles in Pope county will cease..
  50. News: Official Report of the Pope County Troubles . New York Herald . 13208 . James Gorden Bennett . October 19, 1872 . New York, New York . 7 . Reports have been industriously circulated among the people of that county that Your Excellency’s object was to prevent a registration, or permit only your own political friends to vote; that General Upham was a bad man and unworthy of confidence, and that the life of a citizen falling into his hands would be insecure. These various reports can be traced to the capital, and if not intended to aggravate the trouble have had that effect..
  51. News: Hickerson . Rev. J. M. P. . Another Letter from Hickerson Defending the People . The Cairo Daily Bulletin . John R. Oberly . September 21, 1872 . Cairo, Illinois . 2 . The next step taken to get martial law was to close the clerk's office. Hickox ordered me to close it; said it was unsafe for me to remain in it and do the work. I told him I had no fears. He ordered it closed. I kept it open and done all the business for a month or six weeks... About the fifteenth or twenty-fifth of august (sic) Dodson and Hickox came to Dover and nailed up all the doors of the courthouse except one—locked that one and left. Hickox then sent certain parties with deeds to be recorded, thinking that I had been fastened out and Hickox could then report to Governor Hadley that the office was closed; that his deputy could not feel were secure in the office and had sent deeds and mortgages away without filling or recording the same. But, to his surprise, I took the deeds, unlocked the door with the duplicate key he gave me when I first went into the office—But which he had forgotten—I filed the deed and sent the man away. Here he was foiled again..
  52. News: The Troubles in Pope County - Continued Alarm of the People . 16 March 2023 . The New York Times . 6507 Vol XXI . July 28, 1872 . New York . 1 . Many of the merchants of Russellville and Dover are removing their goods from the county, fearing other outrages by the militia..
  53. News: The Pope County Troubles . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 247, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 12, 1872 . 2 . On a pretense he was fearful of his life, he (County Clerk Hickox) sent for Dodson and Williams to assist in removing, contrary to law, the county records, to Russellville..
  54. News: Another Version of the Killing of Hickox . 8 March 2023 . The Memphis Daily Appeal . 257 Vol 32 . John M. Keating and Matthew Gallaway . September 7, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . (A reliable gentleman) states that Williams, after he got on the train Monday, stated to a number of gentlemen that he shot at Poynter twice before the latter fired, but being told by Dodson that he had told a different tale, agreed not to repeat what he had said..
  55. News: Arkansas Iliad, Continued History of the Pope County Anarchy . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13196 . James Gordon Bennett, Jr. . October 7, 1872 . New York, New York . 3 . ... Williams' horse was limping from a wound in the foreleg, which broke the pastern joint. Williams turned the crest of a hill, abandoned his horse and took to the woods.....
  56. News: J. M. P Hickerson's account of Hickox's death . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 242, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 6, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . Turning his head, (Williams) looked in the direction of a woodshop, about seventy five or one hundred feet in front of him, and on his right, where Mr. Poynter was at work. He appeared to throw himself forward and rode on, keeping his horse on the side-walk until he got in front of the shop, when he threw out his hand and fired a pistol shot into the shop, or in that direction. I saw the smoke rise from his hand. In quick succession another pistol shot was fired from Williams' left, which I thought was fired by Wallace H. Hickox; and in instant, two reports of a shotgun came from the shop. Hickox fell from his horse dead, and Dodson and Williams galloped off, shooting back toward the town..
  57. News: More Bloodshed in Pope County . The Southern Standard . 32, Vol. V . Gaulding & Clark . September 7, 1872 . Arkadelphia . 3 . (from a private letter) I learn this evening that Harry Poynter says he shot Hickox, because Hickox shot at him. It appears that Hickox, Dotson and Williams were in Dover moving the county records... As they left Dover they rode by the shop where Poynter was at work, and Poynter says Williams and Hickox both shot at him. He then grabbed his shot gun which he had in his shop, and shot Hickox killing him. I understand he says he is willing to stand trial, as he says he can procure good witnesses to prove Hickox and Williams fired into his shop at him..
  58. News: The Shooting of Esq. Brown Accidental . 29 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . 241, 53d year . September 5, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . it was reported in town after Hickox was killed and while Mr. Brown was holding the inquest, that Williams had a squad of militia on the outside and threatened to burn the town. A gun was fired about dark by some one, and the most intense excitement prevailed. In the midst of this the gun of one of the parties went off, the shot taking effect in Brown's body..
  59. News: The Firing on Poynter Established . 29 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . 241, 53rd year . September 5, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . "The statement published in yesterday's Gazette, to the effect that Poynter was fired upon by Williams and Hickox before he fired upon them is fully confirmed..
  60. News: Letter from Sheriff Elisha W. Dodson to Governor O. A. Hadley (dated September 4, 1872) . 10 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 244, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 8, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . ...we were fired upon from a house occupied by one Mecham as a wood-shop, and Capt. W. H. Hickox was shot through the head and killed. From the point where Hickox was killed, for a distance of a quarter of a mile, Deputy Sheriff Williams and myself were fined upon by persons secreted in houses, fence corners and alleys near the street we had to travel, and by persons in our rear... nearly all the male citizens thereof are in arms, and, I am informed, wholly refuse to recognize the forms of law or its officers...I am finally convinced that these warrants cannot be served with an ordinary sheriff’s posse..; ask that the officers in charge of the state guards, and reserve militia, be instructed to render me such aid as may be necessary to execute the law.... (Note: Sheriff Dodson's allegations of the Dover incident are not borne out by others and are, in fact, refuted in other accounts and investigations.)
  61. News: Special Orders No. 123 . 10 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 244 - 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 8, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1 . Maj. Gen. D. P. Upham... being advised that the enforcement of the civil and criminal law is obstructed to such an extent in Pope county, Ark., as to render it dangerous, if not impossible, for the sheriff to enforce the same with an ordinary posse, is hereby directed to proceed forthwith to said county of Pope with such aid as is or may be necessary to execute the civil and criminal law of the state..
  62. News: A Commercial Traveler's Experience in Traveling Through Pope . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 249, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 7, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . (Charles E. Donahoe, a commercial traveler) Arriving at the station, sure enough three companies of militia were drawn up in line... 'Then who ordered out this militia? Did the governor authorize you to call them out?'... 'Then, if the governor didn’t authorize you to call them out, you are doing it on your own responsibility?' Dodson—'Yes.'...(Donahoe) says he never saw as mean and rough-looking set of men in his life as Dodson’s militia.
  63. News: Pope County . The Southern Standard . 34, Vol. V . Gauldings & Clark . September 21, 1872 . Arkadelphia, Arkansas . 4 . Dodson's men had threatened frequently to burn it before, because the Tribune had the manliness to lay bare the outrages and wrongs perpetrated by Dodson & Co..
  64. News: Intense Excitement—Tribune Office Burned . Fayetteville Weekly Democrat . 6, Vol. 5 . E. B. & W. B. Moore . September 14, 1872 . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 4 . On Sunday night about 12 o'clock a squad of sheriff's deputies and militia entered Russellville and set fire to the Tribune office, an anti-administration paper, which was burned to the ground. .
  65. News: A Newspaper Squleched . 8 March 2023 . The Daily Phoenix . 168 Vol VIII . J. A. Selby . October 3, 1872 . Columbia, South Carolina . 2.
  66. "a form of written command in the name of a court or other legal authority," a warrant (Google dictionary)
  67. News: By Telegraph - Deputy-Sheriff Williams Refuses to be Arrested and is Mortally Wounded . 10 March 2023 . The Memphis Daily Appeal . 260 Vol 32 . September 10, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . Parties from Pope county report that on Saturday a civil posse, who had a writ for that purpose, attempted to arrest Deputy-Sheriff Williams on a charge of firing at and attempting to kill Harry Poynter, at Dover, at the time the latter shot and killed County Clerk Hickox. Williams refused to be arrested, and was shot and mortally wounded..
  68. News: Intense Excitement—Williams Wounded. Fayetteville Weekly Democrat . 6, Vol. 5 . E. B. & W. B. Moore . September 14, 1872 . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 4 .
  69. News: The Wounding of Williams . 10 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 249, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 14, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . I first saw twenty eight men pass my door, armed with guns and pistols... Those that got off their horses got in the corners of the fence. Directly four men came from another road leading into the lane. As they appeared those men who were in the fence corners placed their guns on the fence and fired at them all at once. The firing frightened the horses of the four men. The later returned the fire... those men who remained on their horses commenced firing on the four... I saw one man fall, I thought dead, but in a few minutes he rose again and commenced firing on the four men, but fell again as though he was wounded.... In about twenty minutes one of the four men came to the house and told me he had severely wounded John Williams, as Williams had shot at him and after threatening his life and waylaying him... Since the fight all four of the men have been to see Williams, and he has told them that he begun the trouble, and told them to go home and be at peace—that there was none to blame but himself, and that if he had been doing what there would have been no difficulty, and all would have been well.. (Letter from Nancy Ann Triggs)
  70. News: Williams Confession . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 250, 53rd Year . Woodruff Blocher & Adams . September 15, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . Williams made a confession before several person, among whom was Mr. M. A. Henthorne, who gives us the following notes of what he stated: 'Mr. Williams expressed a great desire to make a confession. He said he had been an instigator of the troubles in Pope County, and deeply regretted having acted any part in them. He did not blame the men for shooting him, for he shot at them first, and did not desire them to be molested whether by law or otherwise. He had ordered his men to go home and never return again, and said that Dodson and Upham had better disband their men. He wished some one would tell them to never come about him again. If they should come to see him he would advise them to disband their men, for there was no necessity for their presence, or for martial law in Pope county. They were only making a bad matter worse. He affirmed that the affidavits of Perry West and W. O. Cox, as published in the Russellville Tribune, were correct. He expressed a wish to say more and make further disclosure, but was suffering such intense misery that he could not continue.'.
  71. News: The Radical Deviltries in Pope County, Arkansas (Shooting of Deputy Williams) . The Daily Phoenix . 168, Vol. VIII . J. A. Selby . October 3, 1872 . Columbia, SC . ... has made a confession... revealing a plot deliberately entered into by officials of the State for the double purpose of gratifying personal malice, and to place the County under martial law for political purposes..
  72. News: Report of the Special Commission Appointed by the Governor to Investigate the Pope County Troubles . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 272, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . October 15, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . Many good citizens have left the county and are still absent, fearing that on one side or the other they would be drawn into trouble... We are satisfied that much of the bad feeling in Pope County has been engendered and fostered by unscrupulous politicians..
  73. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13189 . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 7 . (Jacob L. Shinn Interview) It's a discouraging thing, I declare. Dr. Russell started our place (meaning Russellville) about 25 years ago, but I put most of the life into it within the past three years, having had the good fortune to make some money, the whole of which I planted right on the spot... the newspaper published by my brother-in-law, Battenfield... the newspaper office, press and all is burned... I am afraid to stay with my goods. We had the prettiest little place in the State... and now the militia is eating us up. The whole of these expenses must come out of the county; they take our stores and pay us in our own scrip, turn their horses and mules into our fields, and it's all because the Governor will not take the responsibility of removing that man Dodson, the Sheriff..
  74. News: Pope County . Daily Arkansas Gazette . September 27, 1872 . ...the 'hurt' is from the side of Dodson, who is in charge or command of one or two hundred men called militia, composed of the tag-rag and bob-tail of humanity... They are not making any effort to arrest any person charged with crime, but are taking and wasting all the bacon, bread, corn, and fodder they can lay their hands upon - more being wasted than consumed, as if they are billeted on the community for no other reason than to impoverish and annoy the people. Their foraging is confined to requisitions upon the smoke-houses and barns of democrats and Greely republicans. Administration radicals go scot-free... Pope county is now almost a waste. Her good old male citizens are mostly refugees, seeking shelter from insult and ruin, for no other cause than that they live in a county where bad men are in power, by appointment, not by election of the people.. Note: "radicals" refers to the political faction aligned to President U. S. Grant.
  75. News: Arkansas . Daily Memphis Appeal . September 25, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . (Governor) Hadley... knows and believes that the bloody-handed Dodson and... Upham have no valid excuse for the employment of the militia that depredate over Pope county like the band of thieves that they are... permits Dodson to roam at will, thieving and plundering and outraging every night the citizens he is sworn to protect..
  76. News: A Foraging Party . 10 March 2023 . The Missouri Republican . 15552 . George Knapp & Co . September 24, 1872 . St. Louis, Missouri . 1 . As we rode by stage the sixteen miles from Russellville to the present terminus of the... railroad, we met a large foraging party of the "minstrel" militia scouring the country for supplies. They were scattered for three or four miles along the road, as hard a looking set of bummers as ever cursed a county with their presence..
  77. News: Latest From Pope County . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 206, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . July 27, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . Luther Cloniger... is one of the ragged militia who went to the residence of the venerable Mr. Potts, in the dead hour of night, and threatened to burn his house if he didn't open the door, which his aged wife did. Then with pistols in hand Cloniger cursing him, jabbing his pistol in Mr. P's breast, taking what he wanted, ordered both Mr. and Mrs. Potts to proceed to the horse-lot about one hundred yards off and look for horses, Cloniger and another following each with a pistol pointed at the backs of the aged couple, both in their night clothes and barefooted..
  78. News: The Pope County Troubles. The Political Murders - Guilt of the Sheriff and Clerk . New York Tribune . 9799 Vol XXXII . Horace Greeley . August 20, 1872 . New York, New York . 1, 2 . ...the stage was stopped by a fine-looking, gray-haired man, who was eager for news and was obviously in a state of alarm. He got in with us and rode a short distance to his house, a large, handsome, two-story frame building surrounded by shade trees. He was clearly the solid man of the neighborhood, and was addressed as "Squire" by the driver... He gave us an account of the plundering of his house by Clonninger's men. Soon after the murders were committed by the Sheriff's posse, he and his wife... had been compelled to wait on the ruffianly gange, and get horses, arms, and provisions for them, and were forced to go to the stable in their night clothes and without their shoes..
  79. News: The Pope County War . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 250, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 15, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4.
  80. News: The Latest from the Scene of War - A Black Outlook . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 246, 53rd Year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . September 11, 1872 . 4 . Dodson and his militia are camped at Stuart's, about two miles from town. Dodson forces the different merchants of the town to give him coffee, flour, etc., for his men, and he pays them in orders on the county. To a lady, whose husband is a merchant but is absent from the town, on remonstrating against letting him have goods on such terms, Dodson said if she didn't like it that martial law would be declared in a few days, then she could get state scrip. He said also, that he intended to force every man to take sides in and bear a part of the expense of the contest. His men ride ruff-shod over the people of Russellville. Mr. J. H. Battenfield, of the Tribune, whose office was burned on Sunday night by the militia, only escaped from being killed by a militiaman by the interference of a friend..
  81. News: Arkansas Iliad, Continued History of the Pope County Anarchy . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13196 . James Gordon Bennett, Jr. . October 7, 1872 . New York, New York . 3 . (General Upham) I have about forty men with me, whom I took up from Little Rock, and we stand between the contending bands of Dodson and the Dover crowd, preventing an outbreak, which might occur any day if they meet each other. I won't let any of Dodson's crowd come to Dover, and meantime the Dover people engage that their young people shall keep off in another direction. We have not martial law in the county... I am ordered there by Governor Hadley to assist the Sheriff in executing the civil and criminal law. .
  82. Web site: Brindletails [Political Faction] ]. Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Central Arkansas Library System . 6 January 2023 . Joseph Brooks, who broke with Governor Powell Clayton and the political machine under his control, formed a faction of the Republican Party known as the “Brindletails,” named because his voice was said to sound like a Brindletail bull..
  83. Atkinson . James H. . The Arkansas Gubernatorial Campaign and Election of 1872 . The Arkansas Historical Quarterly . December 1942 . 1 . 4 . 319 . 6 January 2023 . Arkansas Historical Association . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 10.2307/40037515 . 40037515 . It was soon evident that fraud had been practiced on both sides, but days and even weeks passed before it was definitely decided who was to be governor..
  84. News: Pope . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 298, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . November 14, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . Pope County Politics are funny in the extreme. Col Dodson, and Maj. Fowler, of your city - late of Gen Upham's state guards and present sheriff of this county - are now in awful combat over the sheriff's office... If we had a full registration and a fair election in all the townships, some other fellow would pick up the bone they are quarreling over... We had rather have one sheriff with brains now, than to have two with six-shooters and shot guns..
  85. Web site: Joseph Brooks (1821–1877) . Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Central Arkansas Library System . 6 January 2023 . Baxter’s victory depended on a decision by state election officials to throw out the votes of four counties for alleged irregularities, and had these votes been counted, Brooks would have been elected..
  86. Web site: Elisha Baxter (1827–1899) . Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Central Arkansas Library System . 6 January 2023 . The close and hotly contested race was decided by the legislature in Baxter’s favor due to Clayton’s Minstrels faction having control of that body..
  87. Book: The Constitution of the State of Arkansas . 1870 . State of Arkansas . Little Rock, Arkansas . 3 . 3 February 2023 . Article VIII—Franchise . (from syllabus) Classes disfranchised, viz. :—1st, Persons who, after oath of allegiance, or giving bonds for loyalty, encouraged rebellion.—2d, Persons disfranchised in other States.—3d, Persons who, during rebellion, violated rules of civilized warfare.—4th, Persons disqualified by proposed 14th Amendment to Constitution of U. S., or Reconstruction Acts.—5th, Persons guilty of certain crimes.—6th, Idiots and insane.—Persons in first four classes, supporting reconstruction, relieved from disabilities..
  88. Book: Affairs . Affairs in Arkansas, Reports of Committees of the House Of Representatives, 2nd Session of the 43rd Congress. 1875-'75 . 1875 . 6 January 2023 . 64–67, 97–101, 134–140, 435 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D. C. . Depositions show that legal voters were refused registration, and that militia were present in the county; that registration was had in only two precincts; evidence of fraud &c..
  89. News: In and About the Capitol . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 302, 53rd year . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . November 19, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4.
  90. News: Arkansas . 26 January 2023 . The Wheeling Intelligencer . 39, Vol XXI . Few, Hagans & Hall . October 10, 1872 . Wheeling, West Virginia . 1 . The Pope county trouble has been settled, the militia disbanded, Dodson resigned and peace once more reigns there..
  91. News: Official Report of the Pope County Emeute . 9 March 2023 . The New York Herald . 293 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett . October 19, 1872 . New York . 7 . Many good citizens had left the county and are still absent, fearing that on one side or the other they would be drawn into trouble... We a satisfied that much of the bad feeling existing in Pope County has been engendered by unscrupulous politicians...Sheriff Dodson having resigned his office... has of itself, in great measure, restored confidence....
  92. News: Pope County Troubles . Fayetteville Democrat . 33, Vol V . E. B. & W. B. Moore . March 1, 1873 . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 2 . The manner in which the so called election of November was conducted in Pope County at which Dodson claims to have been elected sheriff, the action of Gov. Hadley in commissioning him, notwithstanding the fact that he knew the election was but a farce, and that if anybody was legally elected it was Fowler, taken in connection with the brutal murder of two innocent and inoffensive prisoners last summer, under the orders of Dodson and his posse, were events by no means calculated to inspire the people of Pope county with any great respect for the State government or love for Dodson..
  93. News: The Sheriff Difficulty . 26 January 2023 . New York Herald . 13,333 . James Gordon Bennett . February 21, 1873 . New York, New York . 7 . ...a contested election case for the office of Sheriff of Pope county came off... held at Dover, Judge Brown presiding. The former sheriff, Dodson, had been declared elected and commissioned by the Governor..
  94. News: Killing of Capt. Herriott, a Militia Officer . 28 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 80, 54th Year . Woodruff & Adams . February 21, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . (from a statement of County Clerk S. C. Robinson on the altercation between John Hale and Herriott and the shooting of Herriott) Hale... commenced swearing and cursing Herriott, asking him to make apologies for something he had done when the militia was at Dover last summer... (Hale [said] that Herriott had.., broken in the windows of his mother's house.) When they got to the door, Hale pulled Harriott's mustache, beard, and hair, also cuffed and hit him on the head with his hands, and either knocked or pushed him down in the court-house door. At this time two shots were fired by some unknown person in the crowd outside, which instantly killed Herriott..
  95. News: The Sheriff Difficulty . 26 January 2023 . New York Herald . 13,333 . James Gordon Bennett . February 21, 1873 . New York, New York . 7 . Sheriff Dodson, with his lawyer, Judge Allen, and A. S. Fowler, together with the Attorney General, Judge Youley, his lawyer, and others, started from Dover for Perry's, the railway station, in carriages that evening..
  96. News: Sheriff Dodson, the Murderer, Murdered - Captain Herriott Assassinated . 26 January 2023 . Memphis Daily Appeal . 52, Vol. 33 . S.T. Seawell & W.N. Stanton . February 21, 1873 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1.
  97. News: The General Assembly . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 80, 54th year . Woodruff & Adams . February 21, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1, Colums 1–3 . In explanation of his vote, Senator Beavers said others besides Dodson had been assassinated in Pope County. While he did not believe in taking men up and hanging them by the wholesale, like the Senator from Lafayette, (Torrans) yet he was satisfied, if reports be true, that from this time forward there would be peace in Pope, for if there was a man in Arkansas who deserved to be hung it was Dodson..
  98. News: Governor Hadley . 8 March 2023 . Public Ledger . 132 Vol XIV . E. Whitmore . August 1, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 2.
  99. Napier, Archibald D., Captain I Compaany, 3rd Regiment, Arkansas Cavaly; Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, 1861-1904 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.Original data:Card Records of Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Civil War Veterans, ca. 1879-ca. 1903; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1845, 22 rolls); Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
  100. Boyett . Gene W. . The Black Experience in the First Decade of Reconstruction in Pope County, Arkansas . The Arkansas Historical Quarterly . Summer 1992 . 51 . 2 . 129 . 10.2307/40025848 . 40025848 . 6 January 2023 . Only six months after Appomattox, both Pope County Sheriff Dodson Napier, a former Union officer noted for his excesses during the conflict, and his deputy were shot and killed on a road east of Dover. Subsequently, state or federal troops, some units of which contained 'large companies of negro soldiers' occupied the town, setting off the Pope County militia war which lasted until the restoration of local Democratic rule in 1873.. Note: It is unlikely that the stationing of troops was specifically connected to the death of Napier and his deputy. The military reconstruction period, which saw the stationing of troops at specific locations through the four military districts, started nearly two years after the assassinations.
  101. Book: Herndon . Dallas T . Centennial History of Arkansas . 1922 . J. S. Clarke Publishing Company . Chicago - Little Rock . 794 . 7 January 2023 . Capt. Dodson Napier, who had commanded a company of Federal soldiers, was appointed the first sheriff after the war. He and a deputy named Parks were shot and killed by unknown parties a short distance east of Dover. Morris Williams was then appointed sheriff and was killed while plowing his field, after which E. W. Dodson was appointed..
  102. News: Murder of a Military Officer . 26 March 2023 . Chicago Tribune . 168 Vol XIX . November 16, 1865 . Chicago, Illinois . 1 . The perpetrators are said to be bushwhackers, who still infest that country..
  103. Web site: Pope County Militia War . Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Central Arkansas Library System . 3 February 2023 . Little Rock, Arkansas . George W. Newton, a former Confederate major and later a Baptist preacher, was the assassin of Napier, though this was unknown at the time..
  104. News: Murder . Weekly Arkansas Gazette . 30 December 1865 . Little Rock, Arkansas . ...on Monday, the 4th inst., Mr. Stout, Clerk of the Court for Pope county, and a very old man, was shot while sitting at his table writing... There is a bad state of affairs in Pope county. It is said that there is a gang of outlaws in the mountains in that county..
  105. News: Assassinations in Arkansas . Baltimore Daily Commercial . 109 Vol. 1 . Wm. Wales & Co. . 5 February 1866 . Baltimore, Md. . 1 . The county clerk, sheriff and deputy sheriff of Pope County, Arkansas, were all recently assassinated. The clerk, Rev. Wm. Stout, was a member of the Free Convention two years ago..
  106. News: Domestic Items . 27 March 2023 . The New York Times . 4458 Vol XV . The New York Times . January 9, 1866 . New York . 2 . ... it was while he was engaged in his office that he was assassinated, at 9 o'clock P. M.... He was shot in the back of the head with ball and buck-shot, through a crack in the wall just large enough to admit a single-barrelled gun..
  107. Web site: Pope County Militia War . Encyclopedia of Arkansas . Central Arkansas Library System . 3 February 2023 . Little Rock, Arkansas . Newton struck again on December 4, 1865, when he killed County Clerk William Stout, who had been elected to office before the Civil War, in his home..
  108. News: Murder of Pope County Sheriff . Little Rock Daily Gazette . 78 Vol. 2 . W. E. Woodruff . 28 August 1866 . Little Rock Arkansas . 1 . W. Morris Williams, Sheriff of Pope County, was brutally murdered at his residence in that county, recently... He was shot dead, from the brush in his own yard... (some believe it was because of) some personal grudge occurring during their career as soldiers together..
  109. News: Murders in Pope County . Dez Arc Citizen . 8 September 1866 . Des Arc, Arkansas . 1 . Morris Williams, Sheriff of Pope County, was killed at his residence, in Dover last week... About the same (day) Gaine Ray was killed at his residence in Gum Log... Both of the murdered men had belonged to the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry (Union).... Note: A meeting of citizens was held in Russellville on the following Saturday to devise means for putting a stop to deed(s) of lawless violence.
  110. News: Murder in Pope County . Weekly Arkansas Gazette . 2,596 . Woodruff & Blocker, State Printers . 25 August 1868 . 1 . ... the death of John L. Harkey, at Russellville... murdered in his store on the night of the 27th, by one Tom Ferguson, a notorious character... Harkey was postmaster at Russellville... a straight out union man, while his murderer is known as an ardent and dangerous rebel... The culprit is in the hands of the military at Dover..
  111. News: Citizens Arrested on a Trumped-up Charge... . Missouri Republican . July 16, 1872 . St. Louis, Missouri . It is boldly asserted in the neighborhood that Deputy Sheriff Williams were not shot at by any one, and that the bullet holes in his clothes were made by his own pistol..
  112. News: Captain Fitch's Statement . Missouri Republican . July 17, 1872 . ... on reaching home, he was shot at... One ball went through his hat and another struck the clasp of his belt; it stunned and knocked him down. There is no wound but it is thought he is injured internally..
  113. News: Statement of Dodson and Hickox . Missouri Republican . July 16, 1872 . St. Louis, Missouri . We started from Centre Valley and got to Deputy Williams' place about 7 o'clock in the morning. Had 28 men with us, 4 of whom were colored. We wished to ascertain from Williams who the supposed assassins were and the circumstance of the shooting. He gave names of a number of parties, but only the following were arrested: N. J. Hale, Wm. Hale, Joe Tucker. Tucker lived in a settlement near Williams' farm. Having secured the above named we proposed to carry them to Dardanell for examination. But before leaving Dover we were informed by one J. D. West that the prisoners had better be released or they would be arrested. Arrested West for threats and took him along..
  114. News: Latest From Pope . Daily Arkansas Gazette . July 25, 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . Warrants have been issued for the arrests of forty persons, charged with the attempt to assassinate Capt. Williams and committing treason against the state..
  115. Ages and occupations, 1870 United States Federal Census
  116. Boyett . Gene W. . The Black Experience in the First Decade of Reconstruction in Pope County, Arkansas . The Arkansas Historical Quarterly . Summer 1992 . 51 . 2 . 130 . 10.2307/40025848 . 40025848 . 6 January 2023 . In his 1921 account of this conflict, Judge J. T. Bullock vividly described the reaction of local citizens to the death of County Clerk Wallace H. Hickox, who was "gunned down" in Dover's streets in August 1872: 'It may sound cruel but good women in the town of Dover looked at the dead man lying in the street and rejoiced feeling that the greatest enemy of their peace had been killed.'.
  117. Encyclopedia: Pope County Militia War. January 8, 2023. Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
  118. News: Statement by Rev. J. M. O. Hickerson . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 242 . Woodruff, Blocher & Adams . 6 September 1872 . Little Rock, Arkansas . It was supposed by the citizens generally, that a posse of men had been left a short distance from town... and that... this posse would make a raid on the town and put into execution the long standing threat of burning the town. The police had been ordered out by the mayor... at dark an alarm was given that this posse was now coming... in the excitement a gun accidentally fired and Mr. Brown was shot through the body. At first it is said that Brown said John Haile had shot him; but on being assured by his own daughter and others that John Haile was at that time eating his supper, Brown said he was shot by accident, and that he did not want any one hurt for it. (He later died).
  119. News: Killing of County Clerk Hickox - Esq. Brown Mortally Wounded . Fayetteville Weekly Democrat . 6, Vol. 5 . E. B. & W. B. Moore . September 14, 1872 . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 1 . Williams left the party and rode up on side of the pavement, drawing a pistol and firing through the window of the shop at Poynter." "The killing of Esq. Brown is said to have been purely accidental..
  120. Twenty-four years old when he was killed, Drake is recorded in the 1870 census as a laborer living in Clark Township, Pope County, Arkansas
  121. News: Killings of Drake and Glover . 12 March 2023 . Memphis Daily Appeal . 275 Vol 32 . September 25, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 1 . On the ninth instant, said Glover came upon Allen Drake sixteen miles west of Dover, on Piney creek, and fired on him, killing him instantly. Glover fled to Dover... boasted... of what he had done, and told them that he had burned several jails in the western counties since had burned the one at Dover... citizens... arrested him and when a party who came in pursuit of a writ, demanded him, they turned him over to them. But they proved to Drakes's personal friends; and, after getting some distance from Dover, they shot and killed him..
  122. News: Townsend . George Alfred . The Law's Assassins . 10 March 2023 . The Memphis Sunday Appeal . 339 Vol 32 . December 8, 1872 . Memphis, Tennessee . 2 . "It happened, strangely enough, that Glover was the man who had murdered Sheriff Morris Williams...General Upham admits that this is the same person...they kept close after him, saying nothing to each other until they got nearly opposite Drake's gate, where the murder had been committed two or three nights before. Then, looking for an instant at each other without saying a word, both men raised their guns and shot Glover transvrsely from behind so that, as General Upham relates, you could have put your arm through him two ways..
  123. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13189 . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 7 . ... a Missourian named Glover... He did it in revenge for the robbery of a woman near Morris's house during the war... arrested... He burned our jail down and got out..
  124. News: Intense Excitement—Williams Wounded. Fayetteville Weekly Democrat . 6, Vol. 5 . E. B. & W. B. Moore . September 14, 1872 . Fayetteville, Arkansas . 4 . (Little Rock, Ark., Sept. 9) To-day an attempt was made to arrest Williams, deputy sheriff, on a warrant regularly issued, charging him with commencing the firing on Poynter, which resulted in the killing of Hickox. He refused to surrender, and after a long resistance was shot and mortally wounded..
  125. News: Another Statement of the Manner of the Death of Captain Herriott . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 85, 54th Year . Woodruff & Adams . February 27, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2 . It seems... Mr. Hale, met Herriott in the court-house, and remarked to Herriott that he had suffered (his) men to break out the windows and burn the palings around a widow lady's house in Dover, and that she desired him to apologize to her for it, and that would end the matter. Herriott, with an oath, swore that he would make apologies to no one, when Mr. Hale told him that he must do it, and from this several words passed, after which they came together, when other parties interfered to part them, and Herriott was shoved out of the court-house door and Mr. Hale pushed inside. As Herriott went out he drew his pistol to shoot Hale, when some one outside fired at him, the shot taking effect in his shoulder, from which he fell, and then rose on his elbow and leveled his pistol a second time to shoot, when another shot was fired at him, taking effect near his heart and killing him instantly..
  126. Date on Dodson's headstone
  127. News: Assassination of the Notorious Sheriff Dodson . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 80, 54th Year . Woodruff & Adams . February 21, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 4 . (from a statement of County Clerk S. C. Robinson) The last person who came on board was Dodson, who got on after the conductor had cried "all aboard!" and came in at the rear door, stopping for a moment to order breakfast for Rial Embry, a colored hack driver. Immediately after this order, the shot was fired, and Dodson came staggering into the car..
  128. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866. . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 97 . 1 February 2023.
  129. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 6 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 274 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 5 . Dodson... an alleged guerilla... was probably a murderer already. His avocation before the war had been that of a horse trader and gambler, and he had deserted the Confederate service and been dismissed from the federal..
  130. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 274 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 5 . After the assassination of Sheriff Morris Williams..., a Mr. Petty was chosen to fill out his term. At the adoption of the constitution in 1868, the son of the murdered County Clerk, Stout, was elected Sheriff. He was to serve four years, but proved to be a defaulter to the county very soon, and one J. T. Clear undertook to fill out his unexpired term. Stout, meantime, was pardoned by Governor Hadley before they could get him to the penitentiary... Clear was speedily stricken with disease, and while he was lying ill his deputy, one Hollinger, performed the duties of the office. The Minstrel party did not trust Hollinger, and by Hickox, the new Clerk's influence, Governor Hadley, acting for Senator Clayton, had Hollinger ousted and Elisha W. Dodson made deputy in his place. Clear, approaching his end, speedily resigned the Sheriff's office absolutely, and Hickox and the Clayton influence had Dodson made Sheriff of Pope county. Dodson has now been Sheriff a year and some months..
  131. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 274 Vol XXXVII . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 5 . Hickerson... was the link between Hickox and the community... All the northern men distrust him, and I found him to be an intelligent but not always reliable authority. There are some points where his word is the only evidence..
  132. Ancestry.com. U.S., Register of Civil, Military, and Naval Service, 1863-1959 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census. Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of the Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service. Digitized books (77 volumes). Oregon State Library, Salem, Oregon.
  133. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866 . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington D. C. . 139 . 2 February 2023 .
  134. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866. . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 121 . 1 February 2023.
  135. Book: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Western Arkansas . 1891 . Southern Publishing Company . Chicago and Nashville . 168–169 . 15 March 2023.
  136. News: Estrays - Pope County . 27 March 2023 . True Democrat . 40 Vol 18 . R. S. Yerkes & Co. . July 4, 1861 . 2 . Taken up by A. D. Napier on the 8th of May, 1861, a bright bay filly, black legs, mane and tail, about 13 hands high, had on a small 75 cent bell, 3 years old. Appraised at $40.
  137. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866. . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 121 . 1 February 2023.
  138. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866. . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 272 . Appendix C.—Roster of Arkansas militia, organized with the approval of Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds, commanding the department of the Arkansas, 1865-66. . 1 February 2023.
  139. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13189 . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 7 . He was a bad man and had been a jayhawker.
  140. News: Mrs. Nancy Newton . Widow's Application for Confederate Pension for surviving spouse of George Washington Newton . State of Texas . 23 September 1930 . Milam County, Texas . Enlisted 1861 - discharged June 14, 1865" "First was a member of Co. B 1st battalion Arkansas and then a member Co. G. Nichols Regiment Mo. Cavalry.. Notarized by Jeff T. Kemp, County Judge, Milam County, Texas
  141. Excerpt from a letter from the War Department Adjutant General's Office in Washington to Jeff T. Kemp, County Judge, Milam County, Texas, "The name George Newton, Sergeant, Company G, Nichols Regiment Missouri Cavalry (Jackman's) appears on a roll of Prisoners of War..., paroled at Shreveport, La., June 14, 1864. Residence Carroll County, Ark."
  142. Arkansas, U.S., County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
  143. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866. . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 121 . 1 February 2023.
  144. 1870 United States Federal Census for John H Williams
  145. News: Arkansas's Iliad . 2 February 2023 . The New York Herald . 13189 . James Gordon Bennett Jr. . September 30, 1872 . 7 . Morris had worn a Confederate cockade earliest in the war, and led a rebel charge at Helena in 1863, but he got dissatisfied to stay a Confederate lieutenant, and he came home and lay out in the woods, like hundreds of people, to avoid arrest... Morris Williams, after the federals got in, joined them, and they made him a captain. He was a good officer, and after the war he was elected Sheriff to fill the unexpired term of Napier, who had been killed. .
  146. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866. . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 121 . 1 February 2023.
  147. Web site: Sergeant William A. Stewart . Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database . National Park Service . 14 March 2023 . Side: Union... Battle of Shiloh April 6-7, 1862.
  148. Web site: Captain William A. Stuart . Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Database . National Park Service . 14 March 2023 . 60th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry... Organized March 11, 1864, from 1st Iowa Colored Infantry. Attached to District of Eastern Arkansas, 7th Corps, Dept. of Arkansas, to April, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 7th Corps, to August, 1865. Dept. of Arkansas to October, 1865..
  149. Web site: Stuart, Wm. A., Capt., Supt. R. F. & A, L. Reports of Freedmen Employed, of Schools & Roster of Off. & Civilians with remarks &c for the month of November 1865 . The Freedmen's Bureau Online . 14 March 2023.
  150. News: Pope County—Letter From Hon. W. A. Stuart . 30 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 102, 54th year . Woodruff & Adams . March 19, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2.
  151. News: Pope County—A Reply to Circuit School Superintendent Stuart . 30 March 2023 . Daily Arkansas Gazette . 108, 54th year . Woodruff and Adams . March 26, 1873 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2.
  152. Book: History of Pope County, Arkansas . 1999 . Pope County Historical Association . 439.
  153. News: A Table Showing the names of members of the State Convention . Arkansas True Democrat . 29, Vol. 18 . R. S. Yerkes & Co. . April 18, 1861 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 1. William Stout is listed as being of Pope County, Dover post office, farmer, age 55, 18 years in Arkansas, originally from Tennessee, Politics: Constitutional Union party, married
  154. News: Arkansas Out Of The Union . True Democrat . R. S. Yerkes & Co. . May 9, 1861 . Little Rock, Arkansas . 2. Article includes text of the Ordinance of Secession as well as the signers and the county that each represented
  155. Book: History of Pope County, Arkansas . 1999 . Pope County Historical Association . 439.
  156. Book: Bishop . Albert W. . Report of the Adjutant General of Arkansas, for the Period of the Late Rebellion, and to November 1, 1866 . 1867 . Government Printing Office . Washington D. C. . 94 . 30 January 2023 . (Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Cameron) I was sustained and re-enforced as often as necessary by the citizens of Pope and Yell counties, under the direction of Burk Johnson and the late William Stout, during which time over five hundred recruits were added to the federal army, and not a single case of treachery on the part of any citizen was discovered..

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