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pg. 57
CLAYTON'S AFTERMATH OF THE CIVIL WAR IN ARKANSAS
By Mrs. U. M. Rose
(Note—Mrs. Margaret T. Rose, of Little Rock, wife of the late Judge U. M. Rose, is too well known on her own account—by
the fruits of a lifetime spent in ceaseless ministering to the welfare of others— to need any chronicling hereof
her many good works. This much is certain. Mrs. Rose lived through the trying scenes of which she ventures to speak.
Poise of judgment and freedom from bias qualify her in the highest sense to answer the indictments brought by the
author of "The Aftermath of the Civil War in Arkansas.")
I have read with regret mingled with indignation Powell Clayton's book, "The Aftermath of the Civil War in
Arkansas"—regret that one should spend his last days in writing a book that could do no good, but on the contrary
only stir up bad feeling and indignation at the nature of the book, it being bitter in the extreme and in many
things contrary to truth. Clayton had served in the Civil War, had been a member of the United States Senate, Embassador
to Mexico, and had served many years as a member of the National Republican Committee, so he might have written
a book that would have been of interest to many people; instead his Aftermath of the Civil War in Arkansas will
be read by a very few people, as only those who lived during the days of Reconstruction—and they are few now—will
feel any interest in it, and perhaps some of his personal friends. He evidently wrote it to justify his reign as
Governor, but that could never be done, and it seems to me the book is very weak in defense of his course, besides
being very bitter and very unfair to the people of our State. It is a very cunning book and to one who had known
nothing of the conditions here it might seem that he gave us a very liberal government, but that is untrue. The
one controlling motive with him seemed to be to humiliate the Southern people, and to make them feel he was their
master, and so he was, for he was upheld by the Federal Government and we could do nothing. He married a Southern
woman and after the war — he had come to the State with the Federal army—he bought a plantation in Jefferson county
and offered himself to the people as a candidate for Congress on the Democratic ticket, but the Southern men scorned
his offer, for the war was just over and feeling still ran too high for Southern men to take a Yankee soldier as
a candidate.
That refusal filled him with resentment and he came into office determined to show people what he could do. The
Constitution adopted by his party gave the Governor almost absolute power and he was ready to take advantage of
it and use his power to the utmost. He knew, and every one knew, he was elected by fraud, a specimen of which came
under my own observation. We had an ignorant, rough negro hired as a yard man, and on the morning of the election
he did not turn up, and we did not see him till the morning of the fourth day—the election lasted three days. When
he came I said, "Stever, where have you been all this time." He said, "I was in dat place out dar,
and they wouldn't let me out till de 'lection was ober." Three hundred negroes were camped out a little southwest
of town and the first day they came in and voted the Republican ticket, the second day they marched in and voted,
claiming to have been driven from the polls in Saline county. The third day they marched in and voted as negroes
having been driven from the polls in Clark county. That is only one specimen of the election that put Clayton in,
and such things were kept up all during the six years of reconstruction. It is a notorious fact that those in office
during those six years stole everything in sight, even to the slate roof off the penitentiary. They bankrupted
the city, the State and many of the counties.
Clayton tells nothing of that in his book. His inaugural promised very fair things, but he was false to all the
fair promises made on that occasion. I do not think Clayton enriched himself as did those under him—perhaps he
had a kind of pride that kept him from it; but he did nothing to check those under him, and he signed all sorts
of bills passed by the Legislature robbing the State and imposing very heavy taxes on the people under the pretense
of building railroads and levees, and had not those bonds been repudiated after we got control of things the State
would still be laboring under an immense debt for which she received nothing. He says the public schools were stopped
after reconstruction was over. So they were for a time, for the State was so entirely out of funds we had to take
time to recover before we could keep up schools or do anything else.
Clayton had not been long in power before he called out his militia to show what he could do, and to humble our
people still further. He says they behaved beautifully, paid for all they had to take to subsist on, disturbed
nobody, and killed nobody; that is, he does not tell of the killing of any one; all of which is most untrue. They
paid for nothing, took what they wanted and killed men wherever they went. Take their raid in Woodruff county for
instance. Clayton says they paid for everything and behaved most orderly, and he says nothing about their having
killed any one, when in fact they went into Augusta, took possession of the town, took twelve of the leading citizens,
put them in jail as hostages for the good behavior of the people, drove wagons up to the stores and took all they
wanted, and before they left—I have forgotten how long they stayed there—they had killed ten men, though there
had been no armed resistance offered or anything done to justify such conduct.
In some cases there was a pretense of a trial by court-martial; in other cases men were taken out of their beds
and shot down without any trial at all; but Clayton tells nothing of these things, but says his militia was most
orderly. Clayton was said to be a very brave man, but "guilt makes cowards of us all." All through his
book he speaks of Ku Klux—it is Ku Klux, Ku Klux, Ku Klux everywhere. I think they must have haunted him by day
and filled his dreams at night. I do not think the Ku Klux ever amounted to much in Arkansas. Colonel Harrell in
his history of reconstruction says there was never but one meeting of Ku Klux in Little Rock, and that Clayton
had a spy in that, and I presume he knew what he was writing about. Clayton pretends he had to be very severe to
keep the Ku Klux down, but I am sure "the wish was father to the thought." A few men left the State,
feeling they were not safe under Clayton's rule, and they may have been Ku Klux, but I do not know the cause of
their leaving. Colonel Shaver, General McRea, Colonel Frolich and perhaps some others left because, as I said,
they did not feel safe under Clayton. Clayton, being a very arbitrary man, soon stirred up opposition in his own
party, the leaders of which opposition were Joseph Brooks and James M. Johnson, lieutenant Governor. Clayton wanted
to go to the United States Senate, but he was not willing, to turn the State over to Johnson, who was not only
opposed to him, but was suspected of being friendly toward the Southern people. It is said that every man has his
price; time proved that Johnson at least had his, for after standing out some time against Clayton, he was won
over, resigned as Lieutenant Governor, and was made Secretary of State, and Ezra Hadley, a puppet in Clayton's
hands, was made Governor. So Clayton went to Washington, but he was as much Governor while there as when present
in Little Rock, for he dictated to Hadley and the Legislature just what was to be done, and in fact as long as
he lived he controlled the appointment of all government officers in the State under Republican presidents. Things
became so bad here in Arkansas as to attract notice in the North and a great deal was said in the newspapers about
the corruption in our State government; so Congress sent a deputation down here to investigate matters. The men
came, were lavishly entertained by the carpetbaggers, never spoke to a Southern man, and went back and reported
that all was right down here; but the New York Herald sent a correspondent, Mr. Nordoff, who mingled freely with
our people and went back and wrote a fair account of things here, which did much to open the eyes of the Northern
people to the true state of things under carpetbag rule.
Horace Greeley, the able editor of the New York Tribune, had been an ardent abolitionist and had done much to bring
on the war, and had been cordially hated by the Southern people. But having carried his point in freeing the negroes,
he seemed to lose his bitterness and really to feel kindly toward the South, and it was greatly through his agitation
that President Davis was released from prison after having been held two years a prisoner without a trial, Horace
Greeley going on his bond. A portion of the Republicans of the North came to feel with Greeley that the South had
suffered enough, and they joined with the Democrats and nominated Greeley as candidate for the presidency in 1872.
Their slogan was, "Honest men for office, thieves to the rear, and the enfranchisement of the Southern whites
—for you must remember that a very large part of the Southern men were disfranchised by Congress, and it was a
notorious fact that under carpetbag rule but few Southern men were allowed to vote, or if they voted, their votes
were not counted. Grant headed the regular Republican ticket and was elected by a very large majority, and it was
said that Greeley was much pained by the fact that the negroes whom he had striven so hard to free nearly all voted
against him. The Clayton faction were for Grant, while the Brooks faction declared for Greeley. Brooks had been
most bitter against the South and almost seemed to think a negro better than a white man, but he declared for Greeley
and came to the Southern people—there was to be an election for Governor and State officers that year—and told
him if they would vote for him for Governor he would give them, if elected, a fair registration and an honest election.
That was all the Southern people wanted, for that would turn the State over to its own people; so as much as they
disliked Brooks they promised to support him, which they did, and he was elected but counted out by the Clayton
crowd. Brooks went over the State making speeches declaring if he were elected he would fill the penitentiary so
full with the thieves then in office their arms and legs would stick out the windows, and more of such talk. The
corruption of officeholders had become so flagrant that it was deemed best to get new material for Governor, so
they selected Elisha Baxter of Batesville as candidate for Governor. Baxter was an honest, good man, a Union man
from principle, and respected by all who knew him. Brooks was elected by a good majority, but Baxter was counted
in; but he had not been Governor long before Clayton found he could not control him and friction began. My husband
had known Baxter while we lived in Batesville, and while he differed from him in politics he respected him and
met him kindly when he came here as Governor, and the friendship between them was unbroken. Baxter told him soon
after he entered upon office that "he meant to do right and would be the tool of no man or party —he had a
name to make for himself and family and he intended to be honest and act the man."
That was more than Clayton could stand, and he must get rid of him. Brooks went before the Legislature and claimed
to have been elected, but they refused to hear his case. He then applied to the Supreme Court, but they decided
that the Legislature alone had jurisdiction in the matter; but by some trickery that decision was not recorded
and Brooks filed suit in the Circuit Court.
Great pressure was brought to bear on Baxter to get him to approve a bill passed by the Legislature granting the
issue of bonds for railroads for several millions of dollars, but he positively refused to sign the bill. Dorsey,
our other Senator, was deeply interested in the issuing of the bonds, as they were for his railroad, and perhaps
Clayton, too, was interested in the railroad, though I am not sure of that. The break between Baxter and Clayton
grew wider and Clayton and Dorsey came home from Washington in the spring of 1874. We knew something was brewing
that meant no good to Arkansas, but we got no hint of what it was till the 15th of April, when it all came out.
Brooks had gone over to Clayton and Dorsey, and they had made an agreement with Whitock, Circuit Judge, to decide
for Brooks as Governor, and circumstances favored their scheme. Judge Dillon, then United States Circuit Judge,
had come, as he did twice a year, to hold court, and he had called the bar together and told them he was much pressed
for time and asked them to give him their time so as to expedite business as much as possible, so the bar agreed
that all business of importance in the other courts should be suspended during the few days Judge Dillon would
be here. In the face of that agreement Brooks, with his attorney, went before Whitock—Baxter, not knowing this
had no representative present—and got a decision in Brooks favor, and Brooks took some of his friends and went
over to Baxter's office, showed him the order of the court and required him to vacate, and Baxter seeing no help
for it left at once. It was pouring rain, and it poured all day; there were few people on the streets, the lawyers
were in the United States Court, so it was not known till late in the day what had taken place as to Governors.
Had Baxter made known what had been done and appealed to the people, the matter would have been settled at once
by ejecting Brooks from the State House, but he made the mistake of going out to St. John's College, in the southeastern
part of town, and telegraphing to President Grant to reinstate him as Governor. That practically put it out of
the power of the people to settle the matter, for President Grant ordered the troops then at the arsenal in the
City Park to see that there was no engagement between the parties. We had a weary, hard month of it. Brooks men,
mostly Negroes, were in the State House, and Baxter's in the east of town, with headquarters in the Anthony House.
There were one or two slight engagements and several men were killed and great fears were felt as to what might
happen, as many Negroes left the plantations and came to town and were loitering around idle and boasting of what
they would do when Brooks triumphed—I do not suppose they had any doubt as to that—and so a whole month wore on,
a month of the greatest anxiety, but at last, on the 15th of May, Grant decided in favor of Baxter, and the great
cloud was lifted and we could breathe freely again.
Clayton treats the matter very lightly in his book, gives but few words to it and ridicules the idea of calling
it a war, and says no one was killed and but one man wounded. But though the Brooks-Baxter war was a hard ordeal,
it proved to be a great blessing, for it ended carpetbag rule. Baxter realized, no doubt, the injustice of keeping
up Republican rule over a Southern people and probably was disgusted with holding office, so he soon called a Constitutional
Convention, an election was held and Mr. Garland was inaugurated Governor, I think in November, so the scheming
of Clayton and Dorsey turned to our advantage and Clayton's rule in Arkansas was at an end.
The book gives such a false impression of Clayton's administration that I felt I did not want anyone who was not
familiar with Reconstruction to read it, so I thought I would burn it, but Mr. Herndon said he would like to have
it as he was trying to collect everything he could relating to the history of the State, and he hoped someone would
be found who would answer it.
There are but few living now who went through that trying period, and the younger generation are busy with the
present, so I fear the falsity of it will never be exposed, but there is comfort in the thought that it will be
read by few and will soon be forgotten. I have written this for the enlightenment of our Memorial Chapter, for
most of you have never known anything of Reconstruction days in Arkansas - Margaret T. Rose.
P. S. I had forgotten to say that where Clayton states facts that are true—and he sometimes does—he puts them in
such a light as to make them appear to the disadvantage of our people, and that is where the cunning of the book
lies, and that was why I did not want any one who was not familiar with those times to read the book.
Mrs. U. M. Rose,
Little Rock, Ark.
Augusta, Ark., August 14, 1915.
My Dear Mrs. Rose:
Replying to yours of recent date in regard to Powell Clayton's Memoirs, will say that almost a half century having
elapsed since this band of marauders visited our county, and in the course of nature all the men and women who
were then in active life having been called over the Great Divide, I find it difficult to procure information from
other sources, so will give you in a brief way what I remember:
On the morning of December 8, 1868, there rode into Augusta, under command of D. P. Upham, about one hundred mountaineers
that had been recruited from the counties of Sharp and Independence, and to which was added floaters from everywhere
attracted by the possibility of pillage. I happened to be in Augusta and saw them. As soon as they had taken charge
of the town, drove their wagons to the front doors of the stores and loaded them with whatever they found, while
each individual helped himself to anything of value which attracted his attention, and you can imagine that it
was not difficult to satisfy the taste of this bunch, dressed in butter-nut and coon skin caps.
One of the first military strokes was to arrest and imprison in an old two story brick store in Augusta, about
ten or twelve of the most substantial citizens in and near Augusta who were held as hostages and the threats scattered
broadcast, that if harm should come to this bunch of free-booters these citizens would pay the penalty with their
lives, which we afterwards discovered was no idle threat, as a part of these men were afterwards taken from this
improvised prison under cover of darkness and shot to death, although no harm had been done to this bunch of guardians
of the peace (who were paying for everything, as Mr. Clayton's Memoirs say).
Now, to be brief, they took any and everything they could lay their hands on, and paid for nothing. They murdered
about ten of our citizens, one of them my uncle, Mr. James Bland. Going to his home under cover of darkness, and
taking him to within a short distance of his gate and within hearing of his family, shot him to death. Also add
to this list Dr. McKenzie, a prominent physician; John Tharp, the sheriff of the county, and an officer of the
English Navy in uniform, whose name I do not recall, and who was a visitor in the country, and of course not a
citizen, was murdered and left on the roadside and afterwards buried by us. They black-mailed my father for a large
sum of money to secure the release of my brother, and this, was only one of many instances.
To sum up, the war had only been over three years and a proud race of people had been asked to do what no other
nation on earth ever attempted. Two utterly dissimilar races on the same soil with equal political and civil rights,
almost equal numerically, but terribly unequal in intelligence and responsibility. One for a century in the servitude
of the other and freed at last by a desolating war that trailed in the dust the flag of this same proud people,
and yet, smarting under the sting of defeat, stripped of everything, our homes burned, we were yet expected to
meet this race of newly enfranchished citizens who were yesterday our servants without friction; and, because we
failed, our county was placed under martial law, our best citizens murdered, our civil offices filled by a horde
of adventurers and carpet-baggers, outcasts at home and most of them thieves everywhere. This, for the Memoirs,
without gloss of romance, but the plain truth.
Hoping that this may be of service to you in learning the true facts, I am,
Your friend - MINOR GREGORY
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