Arkansas' Civil War

                For thirty days in April 1874, Arkansas experienced a civil war. This conflict is known in the history books as the Brooks-Baxter War. 

                The Brooks-Baxter War was fought between supporters of Joseph Brooks and Elisha Baxter. Both men had run for governor in 1872, with Baxter achieving a narrow victory over Brooks. During Reconstruction, Republicans dominated Arkansas politics. Brooks represented the “brindle-tail” wing of the Arkansas Republican party, while Baxter represented the “minstrel” or “carpetbagger” wing. 

                Ohio native Joseph Brooks was a Methodist preacher, newspaper editor, and Little Rock’s nineteenth postmaster. In 1865, Brooks moved to Helena (Phillips County) and leased a cotton plantation there. He began to organize freed slaves and recruited them to join the Republican Party. Brooks served as a delegate to Arkansas’ constitutional convention in 1868 and soon became the leader of the brindle-tail faction of the Arkansas Republicans. In 1872, the brindle-tails nominated Brooks as their candidate for governor.

                Meanwhile, North Carolinian Elisha Baxter moved to Batesville (Independence County) in 1852 and opened a mercantile store. Unfortunately for Baxter, the business was a failure. Baxter became involved in the Whig party and was elected mayor of Batesville in 1853. A year later, Baxter was elected as a state representative and served in the tenth Arkansas General Assembly. During the Civil War, Baxter joined the Union cause and organized and commanded the 4th Arkansas Mounted Infantry.

                In the spring of 1864, Gov. Isaac Murphy appointed Baxter to the Arkansas Supreme Court. In 1865, Baxter opened a law office in Little Rock with lawyer and politician, James Hinds. In 1868, Gov. Powell Clayton appointed Baxter to represent Arkansas’ first congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

                Baxter was narrowly elected governor over Brooks in 1872, in an election tainted by claims of fraud and intimidation. Brooks and his supporters contested the result in the courts, and in 1874, citing election fraud, a county judge declared Brooks the rightful victor. Although Brooks took control of the state’s government, Baxter refused to resign as governor. Thus, Arkansas now had two men claiming to be the state’s chief executive, creating confusion and chaos.

                Both Baxter and Brooks had militia forces that organized to support them in their fight to be Arkansas’ governor. The militias clashed back and forth in several violent incidents throughout central Arkansas. As the conflict continued, black Arkansans gravitated toward Brooks, while white Democrats began to throw their support behind Baxter in an attempt to end reconstruction in Arkansas. 

                The two militias regularly marched and sang through the streets of Little Rock, and the state’s capital city became a battleground. Former Confederate Brigadier-General James Fagan commanded Brooks's men, while former Confederate Colonel Robert C. Newton commanded Baxter's forces. Baxter's headquarters occupied the downstairs area of the Anthony House, a 22-room hotel on the southwest corner of Markham and Scott Streets. Brooks’ men set up camp at the state capitol building on West Markham Street on the Arkansas River.

                Ultimately, President Ulysses S. Grant intervened in the conflict and declared Elisha Baxter as Arkansas’ rightful governor. The Brooks-Baxter War ended on May 15, 1874.

                The conclusion of the Brooks-Baxter War was followed by a total restructuring of state government under Arkansas’ 1874 constitution. The reinstatement of Baxter and the ratification of the new state constitution marked the end of reconstruction in Arkansas. This resulted in a severely weakened Republican Party in the state, as Democrats seized power and controlled the state’s governorship for over ninety years.

                The lone remnant of the Brooks-Baxter War is a sixty-four-pound Civil War-era cannon used by pro-Baxter forces during the Brooks-Baxter War. The artillery piece is known as “Lady Baxter.” This historic cannon sits on the grounds of Arkansas’ first state capitol building, The Old State House, which now serves as Arkansas’ premier history museum.

The Duck Hunting and Rice Capital of the World

                

                Known as the “Duck Hunting and Rice Capital of the World,” the city of Stuttgart lies in Arkansas County and serves as one of its two county seats. Situated on Arkansas’ Grand Prairie, Stuttgart is located on U.S. Highway 165, approximately 45 miles southeast of Little Rock. As of the 2020 census, Stuttgart’s population was 9,326.

                Stuttgart was founded in 1880 by German native and Lutheran minister, Rev. George Adam Buerkle. Buerkle and family moved to the United States in 1852, originally settling in Woodville, Ohio. Buerkle and his family, along with a group of fellow German immigrants, came to the area which is now Stuttgart in 1878. In April 1880, he was appointed postmaster of the settlement’s new post office and needed a name for it. Buerkle chose Stuttgart in honor of the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

                In 1882, the Texas and St. Louis Railroad laid tracks and began operations in the small settlement. In 1884, the city was platted, however, Stuttgart did not initially thrive or prosper. Thomas Leslie, who came to the area in 1887, became a leader in the town and assisted with the start of its economic growth. For example, Leslie opened the first bank in Arkansas County and helped lead the expansion of railroad construction from Stuttgart to Gillett. Stuttgart was incorporated on April 19, 1889.

                Shortly after Stuttgart’s incorporation, residents elected Col. Robert Crockett as the city’s first mayor. Crockett was the eldest son of the legendary frontiersman and politician, David “Davy” Crockett. Robert Crockett had moved to Stuttgart from Memphis at the age of twenty-four.

                While it had been an agricultural town since its inception, Stuttgart’s most popular cash crop of rice was not grown in the area until 1902. As an experiment, local farmer Bill Hope planted a small plot of rice. The small plot yielded 139 bushels per acre. On March 9, 1907, Stuttgart Rice Mill Company was incorporated. The company’s mill was completed in October 1907 and reported a profit of $16,000 on the first season’s crops. The success of the mill began Stuttgart’s rise as the leading producer of rice in the world.

                Riceland Foods, the world's largest miller and marketer of rice, was founded in 1921, and is headquartered in Stuttgart. Producers Rice Mill, also one of the world’s largest millers and marketers of rice, is located in the city as well. Stuttgart is home to the University of Arkansas' Sen. Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center, which is the largest rice research facility in the United States.

                Stuttgart is also home to the Grand Prairie Center, which is located on the campus of Phillips County Community College. The venue hosts several concerts and stage plays throughout the year. Several years ago, my wife and I attended a performance by the country music group, Restless Heart, at the Grand Prairie Center, and it is indeed a great place to hear live music.

                Not only is Stuttgart known for rice, but it’s just as famous for the great opportunities for duck hunting the area provides. With its abundance of flooded fields, swamps, and buckbrush reservoirs, Stuttgart is considered a prime location for duck hunting in the nation. The World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest has been held in the city since 1936 as part of the annual Wings Over the Prairie Festival. Mack’s Prairie Wings, a large retail store specializing in hunting and fishing products, is considered a must-see destination by sportsmen when visiting the area. 

                For history buffs seeking to learn more about the city, the Museum of the Grand Prairie in Stuttgart features exhibits on pioneer life and notable residents, and of course, rice production and waterfowl hunting.

                Whether you’re in town for duck hunting or just passing through the state’s grand prairie, Stuttgart has something for everyone to see and experience.

The Town of Many Firsts

                Formerly known as Old Davidsonville State Park, Davidsonville Historic State Park near Pocahontas (Randolph County) preserves the location of the frontier settlement of Davidsonville. Davidsonville was located in Lawrence County—one of the original counties created in the Arkansas Territory. The town was home to Arkansas’ first post office and county courthouse. 

                Founded in 1815, at the site of several log cabins and buildings, Davidsonville became a bustling riverport, as it was located where the Eleven Point River and the Spring River merge with the Black River. The town also became an important stop on the historic Southwest Trail. 

                Davidsonville was originally known as Lawrence after the county it served as the county seat of. The town was later renamed Davidsonville for John Davidson, a native North Carolinian, who represented Lawrence County in the territorial legislature.

                The first post office in what would become Arkansas began operating in Davidsonville in 1817. In 1820, the first federal land office in the Arkansas Territory was opened in the town. Another first for Davidsonville occurred in 1822, when the first courthouse in the Arkansas Territory, a two-story brick building, was built there. The census taken that year showed the town had 461 residents.

                However, as fast as the town grew, it was nearly abandoned by the mid-1830s. The Southwest Trail was moved to higher ground shortly after the town’s founding, thus greatly diminishing Davidsonville’s importance. In 1828, the federal land office was relocated to Batesville (Independence County). In 1829, the county seat and courthouse were moved to the newly formed town of Jackson. By the time Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state in June 1836, Davidsonville had become a ghost town.

                In March 1957, the Arkansas General Assembly voted to approve Act 148, which preserved the abandoned town’s site for a state park. However, funding for the park was not appropriated until 1979. Under the direction of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, Old Davidsonville State Park was built atop the former townsite. Today, the 163-acre park, now called Davidsonville Historic State Park, offers such amenities as a visitors' center, gift shop, picnic tables, pavilions, and playgrounds. Popular recreational activities in the park include camping, canoeing, hiking, and swimming. In 2016, the park’s visitors’ center underwent an extensive renovation featuring a replica of an 1820s hunter-trapper flatboat and a large display of historic finds from archeological digs at the old townsite. Archeological excavations are still conducted at Historic Davidsonville State Park and continue to uncover roads, streets, foundations, and various artifacts of early-frontier life in Arkansas. 

                Also located within the park boundaries are several historical markers, a walking trail at the old town site, and two pioneer cemeteries. In April 2014, two “ghost structures,” open frameworks that outline the appearance of a two-story dogtrot-style cabin and the two-story county courthouse, were erected on park grounds.

                Throughout the year, park interpreters offer several events for visitors, including the popular Ghosts of Old Davidsonville program held in late October and the biannual Black River Rendezvous in mid-September. The Ghosts of Old Davidsonville event is a one-night event, which includes concerts, food trucks, a hayride, and a bonfire. Historical reenactors portray the ghosts of residents who could have lived in Davidsonville and share legends and stories of the old town. At the Black River Rendezvous, presentations of mountain-man and Native American camps and traders are held, as well as demonstrations of frontier-era crafts and trades.

                Like all of Arkansas’ fifty-two state parks, admission to Davidsonville Historic State Park is free, but hours of operation vary throughout the year. For more information, contact the park’s visitors’ center at 870-892-4708 or visit its website at www.arkansasstateparks.com/parks/davidsonville-historic-state-park.

                If the early frontier history of Arkansas interests you or you’re simply looking for a beautiful place to spend the day, Davidsonville Historic State Park is certainly a must-see destination here in the Natural State.