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.
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