Phillips County Historical Quarterly

PHILLIPS COUNTY
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Published by
The Phillips County Historical Society

The Phillips County Historical Society supplies the Quarterly to its members. Membership is open to anyone interested in Phillips County history. Annual membership dues are: individual active members, $3.00, $3.50 if Quarterlies are mailed; man and wife, $5.00, $6.00 if Quarterlies are mailed (to both man and wife). Institutional, contributing and sustaining membership are $5.00. Single copies of the Quarterly are $1.00.

Neither the Editors nor the Phillips County Historical Society assume any responsibility for statements made by contributors. Correspondence concerning such matters should be addressed to the authors, and concerning other matters should be addressed to Mrs. A. C. Sanders, Secretary, #1 Sanders Drive, Helena, Arkansas.

Dues are payable to Miss Bessie McRee, Membership Chairman, P.O. Box 629, Helena, Arkansas 72342. Make checks payable to Phillips County Historical Society, or payment may be made at County Treasurer's Office, Courthouse, Helena.

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Meetings are held on the fourth Mondays in the month, at 3:30 P. M., at the Phillips County Museum, Helena. No meetings are held in December, June, July, and August. The Quarterly is published in September, December, March, and June.

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PHILLIPS COUNTY
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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I REMEMBER STRINGTOWN ROAD

by

Alma Ewart Faust

Ever and anon, on the homeward way, there comes a great yen as Oakland Avenue is reached to steer to the left and follow the way that leads westward over Stringtown Road. This urge is suppressed except on some occasion when a member of the family is in the car, or a friend who might be imposed upon to share the reminiscing such a ride would bring. It has not been a ride that you take alone, not a place where you would want to have a flat tire or be overtaken by a sudden thundershower and to actually relive some of the charm it formerly held, you need the reassurance that it will be a journey without chance happenings.

For the past half century Stringtown Road has been a desolate and lonesome way, bypassed by progress and deserted by its own. Its comfortable homes that housed happy families have fallen prey to desertion and decay, or destroyed by fire, leaving formerly well kept yards a mass of grass and weeds, with occasionally a flower still trying to push through, or a hardy fruit tree bearing fruit amid ruins. Acres that once flourished with luxurious crops of vegetables are now overgrown with brambles, and where fine dairy cattle pastured the fields look weedy and parched, with watering ponds gone and fences and barns collapsed and rotting.

It was not always like this, and it will not be like this again in the future. After many years, Stringtown Road is again coming into its own, and it seems, therefore, that perhaps this is an appropriate time for remembering, and a time for recording, when there are yet those who can remember. It has been an interesting experience assembling the story of Stringtown Road, beginning first with my own memories of the first twelve years of my life spent there, and supplemented by visits with others whose memories reach further back than mine. I am especially indebted to Mrs. Elizabeth Miller Trainer Porter, Mrs. Curtis Weatherly Edwards, Mrs. Will Trainer, Mrs. Florence Underwood Raff, my sister Ola and my brother Harry Ewart. From abstract records have come facts and dates of former years. It is written not as authenticated history, but rather as a gathering together of stories about people who were the Stringtown Road community from the late 1890's until about 1912, at which time the founding of West Helena and the building of the interurban railway sounded the death knell of a community whose method of travel was hard, and whose young people already were reaching out for the advantages offered by town life.

Strington Road is located geographically as beginning at the point where West Perry Street ends, or branches, with Sulphur Springs Road going to the north, and Stringtown Road on westward. It follows a route that you certainly wouldn't think of as having been laid out by engineers, more likely it would have been a path marked by moccasined Indian feet, yet as you come to the deep cuts through the hills, and realize these had to be accomplished by man and beast without benefit of motor equipment, you admit that it would be a credit to modern engineering. The road meanders on for a distance of four miles, crossing South 7th Street Road after its third mile, and coming to an end with the intersection of the old Little Rock Road. From 7th Street on to the Little Rock Road it is now paved and constitutes a part of Highway 44.

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Leaving Perry Street, the road soon reaches "Cut-Hill," the first of its two steep hills, the roadbed cut deeply through the hill, narrow and overshadowed by high banks on either side. Maybe it is the power of the motor car that makes the difference, but it doesn't seem quite so steep now as in by-gone days, when often it was necessary to lighten the load by those riding alighting and walking up the hill, or let the horse stop for a rest midway up. It was strictly one way, with no room for passing, and the more cautious driver might send someone up ahead to watch and forestall a head-on meeting. The top once reached, the road runs along on fairly level ground, seeming to follow the route of least resistance, leading on to the foot of the second hill. Here is another deep cut through the hill, even more treacherous than the first, in that it curves as it ascends, and leads up "Schoolhouse Hill." Mid-way up a small lane branches off to the north, at least providing a passing place. This second hill is a very contradictory kind of hill - you get on top and there is no going-down side in evidence. You go along for quite some distance, and then suddenly the down side of the hill is reached, so completely different in makeup from the eastern side that it hardly seems the same hill. In fact, it always had a different name, for this side was known as ''Trainer Hill.'' Even today I remember Trainer Hill as the place where the most beautiful dust clouds could be made. Given about six pair of bare feet shuffling down its slope on a hot summer day - and you had the forerunner of the atomic mushroom clouds. By the same token, it was the longest and hottest hill to climb on the homeward journey from an afternoon of hard play, and feet that raced down making the dust clouds later wearily dragged their way back up. From the foot of Trainer Hill it is a short distance on to 7th Street Road, then another slight rise, hardly worthy of the name of hill, and on across the old M. & N. A. Railway line, then follows a wide circular route skirting deep erosions to the south, and Little Rock Road is reached.

The rather unorthodox name of "Stringtown Road" always brings a question as to the origin of the name, and I have never heard the answer to this question. The use of ''town'' in the name would seem to indicate it grew out of a community known as "Stringtown." If there ever was such a community, undoubtedly it was a location at the top of ''Schoolhouse Hill.'' There was found the schoolhouse, which also served as the church, a general store, and the only well on this four mile stretch of road, a very important service for man and beast traveling a hot dusty road. But the community as a whole spread out for miles around, prompting at least one answer to the name question - that it was like a string dropped among the hills.

That the road in the past had one or more other names seems certain. In discussing this with my older brother, I mentioned ''Cut-Hill" and he corrected me with ''Ramsey Cut-Hill."" I had never heard that name and wondered if he was remembering correctly. This location is just a half mile west from Perry Street, and when a little later from an abstract study on some property just one mile from the western end of the road, I found an entry dated 1894, giving description ''Southwest Quarter Section 12, lying south of Ramsey Road," I knew that at least before the turn of the century the road had been known as Ramsey Road. The name Ramsey seemed foreign to any association with this community, until I had the delightful experience of talking with one of Helena's oldest citizens, a charming lady who had spent her early girlhood on the family plantation in the Pillow Hill vicinity, and she recalled having known that a Ramsey family had lived in the neighborhood prior to 1890, but she could not recall ever having heard the road referred to as Ramsey Road, and neither was she familiar with the name Stringtown Road. She said this road was used by her

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family and other plantation owners in the Pillow Hill vicinity, and also from Pillow Station, Barton, and points beyond, and she spoke knowingly of the difficult travel over the road in bad weather, the deep cuts through the hills, and said it was always called ''Little Rock Road."

Stringtown Road is a road without glory and unsung in history, with no historical markers pointing to spots of interest. The story of the Battle of Helena as written by E. T. Crisler, Jr. mentions four roads leading to the city, and a map of the fortifications of the city names four roads without mentioning or locating Ramsey or Stringtown Road. ''Upper Little Rock Road" seems to take a route west from the ''nunnery" (Sacred Heart Academy) in a direction we know as Military Road. The map shows an unnamed and incomplete road going west from about the location of Fort Curtis, which would be Perry Street, leading into Stringtown Road. I wouldn't attempt to enter an argument with historians or map makers, and only say that it is quite evident that the present Stringtown Road was one of the route of travel between Helena and points west, including Little Rock, well prior to 1890, and that it has been known as Little Rock Road, Ramsey Road, and definitely, at least since 1890, as Stringtown Road.

Maintenance of Stringtown Road was for many years a system of volunteer draft, with the head of each household giving so many days work a year, or the equivalent of that in money, to keep the road in repairs. Naturally there was not much efficiency in such a system, and on a road that was dirt all the way through, the general condition was deep dust in summer and deep mud in winter. One particular spot stands out as being the worst. This was at the foot of Schoolhouse Hill on the eastern side, where the road is surrounded on three sides by steep hills, and a season of heavy rains resulted in a great mud hole, that at times seemed bottomless. On the slope of the hill to the south lived Henry and Emma Kendricks, a colored family, and their yard often became a detour around this spot, but at least on one occasion I can recall it became so impassable that the Stringtown "city council" got together and bridged the hole with planks. Later the road was taken over by the county, and a familiar sight along the way was the large two mule drawn grader with Mr. Gonia at the controls, grading and leveling. Better grading meant better drainage and an improved condition. There were also small one mule graders, or scrapers, with a man walking behind to guide, as I well recall from one incident. My sister Ivy and I were riding home in the buggy late one afternoon, and as we came around the curve near the present Tommy Broome home suddenly old Pat, the grey mare that was always as docile as could be, reared up on her hind legs and began snorting. There to one side of the road was a scraper, turned bottom side up, with the late afternoon sun shining on it, making it glisten and sparkle. No coaxing could get Pat back down to earth, and two young girls were mighty scared. Which one had the thought I don't know, but Ivy was driving, and I jumped from the buggy and ran over and sat down on the scraper. Fortunately little girls' dresses then contained many yards, and I spread my skirts out over the scraper. Down came Pat's feet and she began trotting on up the road, with me running to catch up. If you have never sat down on a sun-heated road scraper you should try it sometime!

Many names still prominent in the county are to be found among the early settlers in the Stringtown community. A deed from the United States to Joseph H. Hough is dated 1828 and is for 320 acres in Sections 7 and 18. This same land was sold in 1860 by Mrs. Ellen D. Hough, presumed to be the widow of Joseph H. Hough, to David Weatherly. I have found no information on the

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Hough family from this 1860 date until early 1900, when the Lafayette Hough family was living on the Little Rock Road, just south from where that road and Stringtown Road join. This family had one daughter, Ethelene, who would have been born about 1888. She was married to George Frederick Smith, son of John Smith and Mary Sanford Smith, the latter a sister of Mrs. J. W. Sanford. Mr. G. F. Smith operated a harness shop on Walnut Street. He and Mrs. Smith had three sons. Mrs. Smith died when the sons were quite young, and Mr. Smith lived with them at the Helena Crossing until his death. George Frederick Smith, Jr. is a Baptist preacher in Dallas, Texas, Robert A. Smith, who married Mary Lena Bloesch of West Helena is a Delta Airlines pilot living in Atlanta, and the youngest son, Edwin Smith, died about a year ago. He was an engineer employed on the space project at Huntsville, Alabama. Mrs. Lafayette Hough made her home on West Perry Street for a number of years after Mr. Hough's death.

The house on Little Rock Road occupied by the Hough family was later lived in by the Hugh Nelson family, where son Clarence attended Jefferson School, riding on horseback by way of Stringtown Road, closer than the Little Rock Road. Each morning as we started to school we looked west to see if Clarence was coming, and it was seldom that he failed to meet us and ride along as we did. He was married to Nelda Campbell and is now deceased. I do not have information as to his family.

From records approximately as early as those of the Joseph Hough entries, are deeds for purchase of land in 1848 by Dr. Wm. J. Polk, coming from Maury County, Tenn., covering large acreages on the south side of western end of Stringtown Road. Later Dr. Polk is found buying more property from Wm. H. Carvill and from Chas. M. McGonigle, who had obtained it from the United States in 1834/35. In a will dated in 1860, Wm. J Polk willed this land to various members of his family. This included his son, Allen Polk, and is of particular interest as it was the Allen Polk home, located on "Lower Little Rock Road, '' where gathered the committee to plan strategy for the Battle of Helena in 1863. It is evident the home stood somewhere in the vicinity of intersection of present Little Rock Road and Stringtown Road. Another son of Dr. Wm. J. Polk was the first Cadwallader Leonidas Polk, and the property now occupied by Mrs. C. L. Polk, Sr., just west of the old M. & N. A. Railway on south side of Stringtown Road is a part of the early Polk purchase. During the early 1900's the house was occupied by the family of "Squire" W. J. Polk, father of the late George Polk and his sister, Mrs. Carrie Mae Badinelli, and I am told the Squire rode his horse in daily to his office in Helena. When the Polk family moved into Helena this home was occupied by others than the Polk family for many years, later becoming the home of Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Polk, Sr. and now occupied by Mrs. Polk since the death of Mr. C. L. Polk. A large two story house, almost completely hidden behind trees and shrubs, it remains the last home on Stringtown Road occupied by a descendent of the original owners.

Mr. David Weatherly, an immigrant of Irish and Dutch descent, with his wife Sally Taylor Weatherly and a large family, also came from Maury County, Tenn. to Phillips County in 1852, and was employed by General Pillow. In 1860 he bought land from the Hough family and settled at a location approximately where the Trainer homes later were built. The Weatherly cemetery is but a short distance from where the Will Trainer home was located, and here many members of the Weatherly family are buried. Following his wife's death and his subsequent remarriage, David Weatherly sold portions

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of his land and moved to Lee County, where he died in Haynes, Arkansas in 1889.

Of his many sons, I know of only one living in the Stringtown Community as late as 1900. Gideon Weatherly married Elizabeth Moore of the LaGrange community, and settled on a portion of the family land farther to the east and about a mile south of Stringtown Road. They lived there until their two children, Bob and Curtis, were ready for higher education than offered at Stringtown school, when they moved into Helena. But ''Mr. Gid," as he was called, continued to cultivate his land, and made the trip out each day, driving a team of beautiful grey horses. Curtis Weatherly was married to Harry Edwards, and since his death she continues active in the operation of Edwards Plumbing and Heating Company. Her brother died several years ago, unmarried, and it is believed that Mrs. Edwards' several sons and daughters are the only descendants of David Weatherly now living in the county. Mrs. Edwards continues to own property in Stringtown, although the house itself no longer is there.

Another son, J. M. Weatherly, served in the Civil War, and in 1900 moved to Marianna. Two of his children, Mrs. Bettie Weatherly Miller Beardsley and Mrs. Emma Weatherly Harris, are now living in Memphis.

Mr. John M. Weatherly, well remembered by older Helena residents, was a grandson of David Weatherly. Two daughters of another son inherited portions of land. Nancy Weatherly married Hugh Tilson, and lived on a location now the northwest corner of 7th Street Road and Stringtown Road. The Tilson family lived there for many years, also later moving to Marianna. Children in the Tilson family were Lena, Leora, and Redford. Willie Weatherly married Will Gill, and lived just west of the M. & N. A. Railway, almost directly across the road from the Polk home. Mrs. Gill died when the three children were young, and Mr. Gill maintained a home there until his death in 1955. Two of the children died before reaching maturity, and the property is now owned by the one surviving child, Mrs. Alberta Gill Frederickson of Chicago.

Joseph Trainer (also spelled Trainor) and wife Elizabeth had been brought from Germany as children, and after their marriage had come to Phillips County and lived first on the Coolidge plantation near Pillow Station. They purchased land from David Weatherly and others in the Stringtown community, owning from the road north as far as the present Helena-West Helena highway and part of what is now the Country Club property. Thrifty, hardworking people, who appreciated the opportunities this new land offered, they raised a large family and took care of their own. The first Trainer home was built well back from the road, then later a new one built nearer the road, about 3/4 mile east of 7th Street Road. Their home became the gathering place of the young people of the community. The Trainer family was older than ours, my older brothers and sisters being the age of the younger Trainer children, but there were four in each family, which was the beginning of a crowd. Will Trainer, oldest in the family, married Annie Waters of the Barton community, and built his home out nearer the road, just to the west from the family home. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Will Trainer are Elizabeth, Joe, Jesse, Frances, Teresa, Andrew, Margaret, and Virginia. Margaret died early, Elizabeth lives in Colorado, Joe in Texas, Virginia in Florida, Jesse and Andrew residents of West Helena, and Frances Eastman and Teresa Key are making their home with their mother in Helena. Mr. Will Trainer passed away in 1960 at the age of 90.

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Mary Trainer, oldest daughter of the Joseph Trainers, married Will Banks, step-son of Mr. P. T. R. Miller, and to them went a home up near the school-house. Mr. and Mrs. Banks had no children, but their home was always a mecca for the neighborhood children. They were the first to move to West Helena from Stringtown, with Mr. Banks being employed in construction work. He had formerly been employed in our father's broom factory.

Another daughter, Louise, married Henry Rickey, and lived in DeValls Bluff. She passed away early this summer, the last survivor of the children of Joseph and Elizabeth Trainer.

Joe Trainer (Jr.) was married to Elizabeth Miller, and lived on the south side of Stringtown Road, about halfway down the slope of Trainer Hill. They had five children, Nellie, Charlie, Aileen, Melvin, and Jack. Aileen was the victim of a tragic accident when quite young just after the family had moved to West Helena, Melvin was killed in an automobile accident a few years ago, Nellie (Mrs. Campbell) lives in Memphis, and Charlie and Jack live in West Helena. Mrs. Trainer, now Mrs. Elizabeth Porter, is making her home with her son, Charlie Trainer.

John Trainer married Mattie Houston, of Senatobia, Mississippi, and built his home between his father's home and that of his sister, Mary Banks, on the north side of Stringtown Road. The family later lived on South 7th Street Road. Four children in this family are, Katherine (Mrs. Lee Williams, Sr.), Mildred (Mrs. Otto von Kanel of Barton), Herbert, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Mrs. Mary Lillian Hickingbottom of Orange, Texas. Mrs. Mattie Trainer is now making her home at Barton with Mrs. von Kanel.

Henry Trainer was always the bachelor of the community. He and his sister Kate moved with their parents to West Helena about 1913, where again they had their neighbors from Stringtown days, the Ewart family, living within the same block. Kate later was married to Lewis Hertz and they lived in Jonesboro. They had one son, who with his parents, died in an accident a number of years ago. Following the death of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Trainer, Sr., Henry joined his sister Louise in DeValls Bluff and spent the remainder of his life there.

On the south side of the road, almost directly across from the Will Banks home, Mrs. Florence Underwood purchased land from Joseph Trainer, Sr. in 1896, and it is pleasant to remember the charming home she kept there. She had come out from Helena with two children and her brother, Will Nixon, after the death of her husband, Charles Underwood. Mrs. Underwood was the daughter of T. C. Nixon and his wife, Elizabeth, who had come to Helena in 1860 from Salem, Indiana. She was well educated, a splendid musician, and her home was a delight to a young child who loved the magazines she always had, as well as the treats that were forthcoming for running errands for her. Mrs. Underwood taught the ''village school" for a number of years and had music pupils in Helena. Her daughter Eloise taught at Jefferson School, and spent most of her time in the home of an aunt, Mrs. Johnson. The father of Mrs. Charles Underwood was Quincy Kerby Underwood, a lawyer and editor, who published the ''Southern Shield" in Helena from 1850-1861. Mrs. Eloise Underwood Watson now lives in Florida at an advanced age.

A son, Charles Nixon Underwood, married Josephine Miller, daughter of Mr. John Miller, also of the Stringtown community. They first made their

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home with Mr. Miller, but in 1902 moved into Helena, buying a home on north College Street. Mr. C. N. Underwood was one of the organizers of the World Publishing Company, but following some financial reverses the partnership was dissolved, and he then organized the Underwood Printing Company. He died in 1932 at age 55 following an accident. Mr. and Mrs. C. N. Underwood had seven children, Charles Miller Underwood, now deceased, James Nixon Underwood, William Russwurm Underwood, Mrs. Kathleen Underwood Hale, and Mrs. Mary Underwood Gage, all of Pine Bluff, and Francis Underwood and Mrs. Flornece Underwood Raff. of West Helena. Mrs. Florence Underwood continued to live in her Stringtown home until the infirmities of age compelled her to submit to her daughter's wishes and go to her Florida home to spend her last years. Her old home has since burned and it is now difficult to distinguish the exact location because of the dense undergrowth.

On to the east, on the bluff overlooking south side of the road where the deep cut descended Schoolhouse Hill, was the J. H. Beard home. Mr. Beard and his wife Annie had purchased there in 1896 and lived there a number of years. To me, this place also is just remembered as the ''Beard Place" as the family had moved from the community while I was quite young, but older residents recall the family quite well. They later lived at Clarendon, Arkansas.

In studying land records I found two names I remember well, Mary Youngblood and Mary Minnifield, colored families. I am sure they spent their lives right there, and of their descendants, I do not know.

Just at the top of Schoolhouse Hill, on opposite side of the road from the schoolhouse, a road turns to the south. I don't know that this road ever had a name - it should have been called Miller's Lane, for that was its ultimate destination - but it always was just a part of Stringtown Road and got along without a name. It was on the southeast corner of this junction that our father, Thomas K. Ewart, chose to erect a building for a general store and broom factory when he moved into the Stringtown community about 1898. He and mother had come from Toledo, Illinois, about 1890 to Gilmore, Arkansas, where they lived in the flood of 1897, when that section had to be evacuated, and they sought refuge at Helena. After completing the store building, his next act was to put down a deep well on this corner, which remained a landmark for many years. There were four children in the family when they moved to Stringtown, and when my younger sister Elsie and I were later added to the family we became native ''Stringtowners.'"' The old store building I remember well, large one room built on a sloping hillside, with a lower floor under the back part, used for the broom factory. But before the time of my remembrance the actual store was removed to a site on West Perry Street where the road branched, a more advantageous location as it was accessible to both main roads leading west from Helena. Stringtown never had another neighborhood store. The old store building was lived in by ''Aunt Nancy'' Walker and her husband - she was our colored ''Mammy" and loved by all the family.

The road that turned south at this corner led into beautiful country, much more so than that seen from Stringtown Road, and in this section many families lived. Our home was located on the west side of the road, about two country blocks from Stringtown Road, and like most everything described here, sat on top of a hill, with a large lawn on the north facing the main road. Another deep cut through the hill just past our home led into open country beyond.

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A short distance on an old path branched off and led to a vacant house we knew as the Hinds house, where we often went to gather flowers. It was here that the parents of Mrs. Iva Hinds Brown (Mrs. H. K. Brown, Sr.) lived for a few years.

A quarter mile on brings you to another corner, with a road branching to the south. This road led to the Gideon Weatherly home mentioned in connection with that family. Down this way too lived a couple of the negro families of the community. John Thomas and wife Kate, with their son DeWitt Brunson, lived on the Weatherly place, and the father and mother of John Thomas lived in the log house built by Gideon Weatherly as his first home. Neil Combs and family lived nearby. They migrated with their white neighbors and later lived at Midland Heights, and Neil "went into business" as a yard grader, hauling dirt, a work in demand as new homes in Waverly Wood were established. This road led onto the G. W. Brand home, and from there turned north to connect with Stringtown Road just west of where the Wallace Cox home now stands.

There were three daughters in the Brand family, Lola, Ada, and Carrie Mae. Lola married ---- Carrier, Ada married Allie Smith, and I have been unable to get late information on Carrie Mae. They attended the Stringtown school and church, and I might mention that Mrs. Brand made wonderful pickles. Mr. and Mrs. Brand were among the few residents who remained in the neighborhood.

Coming back to the road "without a name" at the corner where the road turned south, on a beautiful tree shaded knoll to the west, was the community cemetery, dedicated as ''Oaklawn Cemetery" but always known as "Brand Cemetery." I find a record that S. I. Clark deeded to G. W. Brand et al land for Oaklawn Cemetery Association, and Mrs. Edwards tells me that the deed to their family is signed by our father as president of the association. Here are buried many of the early residents, Mr. and Mrs. Gideon Weatherly and son Bob, Mr. Will Gill and children, Josephine and Clarence, and several members of the Brand family. Many of the community families were Catholic and their families are buried in the Helena Catholic Cemetery.

Across the road from the cemetery was the famous sledding hill – the Stringtown winter resort. In those days winter meant snow, and it came and packed down and remained, making a fairyland of wooded areas. On this particular hill ideal conditions existed for the best in sledding and the young people of the community, as well as some not so young, including Mrs. Florence Underwood, took advantage of it. There was a long steep slope, with a long runway at the base, so that a sled loaded with squealing youth gained momentum as it went down, and traveled on down the runway after reaching the bottom of the hill. A broad path between trees going down called for dexterous guidance and usually it was a young man with strong arms who took the front seat on the sled and handled the steering, yet even then spills occurred. A huge bonfire at the top of the hill served both for warmth and light, and when the crowd gathered nightly a carnival air prevailed. My sister Elsie and I were always "too little'' to participate, and it was agony being at home, within sight of the bonfire and within hearing of the laughter and squealing and not be able to join in. It was only on Saturdays that we had the chance to go over and use our small sleds. There was the day - with me riding the front seat - when I lost control, went off the path and spilled the rest of the crew, but myself riding the sled on into a huge thorntree. Those thorns could really puncture!

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From the corner at the cemetery this road led a winding way toward the southwest, and soon came to the John Miller home. Uninhabited for as long as I can remember, the two story home stood alone and lonesome, and for no good reason at all, we called it the haunted house. The home had been built by Mr. Miller when he came to Helena from Phillips Bayou after the death of his wife, Eileen. He brought along his two younger children, Josephine and Charles. Other and older children had married and did not come to Helena, though later a daughter, Mrs. Mary Leftwich, came to make her home with her sister Josephine and family. Mr. John Miller and his wife were of French and German Extraction, and came as a young married couple to America from Alsace Lorraine. They settled first in Shelby County, Tennessee, then moved to Phillips Bayou. Josephine and Charles Miller were educated at Sacred Heart Academy, probably as boarding students, and Charles was later graduated from the University of Arkansas Law School, then located in Little Rock. He engaged in the insurance business in Little Rock, and later joined the National Fire Insurance Company of Hartford, and moved to Hartford, Conn. Josephine Miller was married to Charles Nixon Underwood, their family being mentioned earlier under the Underwood family. Mrs. Josephine Underwood was a woman of strong intellect and left to her children a rich heritage of those things she found of greatest value in life.

Living on this road also were Jonas Baines, colored, and his wife, Tishie. They cultivated their small acreage and lived honorably. For many years, perhaps until her death, Tishie served as State Treasurer of a Baptist Women's Society, and when we saw Jonas go by in the wagon, accompanied by Tishie in her best clothes, we knew she was off for a quarterly or annual meeting. With an Abraham Lincoln sort of build, Jonas sat on the wagon seat with knees well up under his chin, and neither he nor the mule ever got in a hurry.

The road led on, a woodsy way more path than road, overhung with tree branches, and came to the home of the P. T. R. Miller family. Mr. Miller was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, where he acquired a law degree before coming to America. He was first married in Ohio, and following his wife's death came to Helena, and later was married to Mrs. Martha Hipp Banks of Florence, Alabama. He entered into a partnership with Henry Bailey of Helena to operate a stock farm at Poplar Grove. Goodspeed's History of Phillips County describes this stock farm as being the finest in Arkansas at that time, with many pure bred animals. The Miller family lived at Poplar Grove until a disastrous fire destroyed the barns and most of the stock, and being unable to replace the stock, Mr. Miller moved his family to a new house in the Stringtown community, probably about 1895, and began truck farming. Mrs. Miller had three children by her first marriage, including a daughter Georgia, who married Pinkney Vernor and lived close to the Miller home for a number of years. Remembered among early playmates are Maud Essie, Ellie and Henry Vernor. A son, Will Banks, married Mary Trainer. Mr. and Mrs. P. T. R. Miller were the parents of four children, Elizabeth, George, Henry and Edward. Edward died young, unmarried, Elizabeth was married to Joseph Trainer, Jr. and their family is listed among the Trainer families. George was married to Betty Weatherly, a granddaughter of the early David Weatherly. They built a home near the parents' home and lived there with their three sons, Earl, Edward, and Lloyd. Later they moved to West Helena and Mr. Miller did plumbing work. Earl Miller died when about twelve. Edward is retiring this year from a position with the Navy Department in Washington, and Lloyd lives in Memphis. Their mother, Mrs. Betty Miller Beardsley, also lives in

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Memphis.

Henry Miller was married to Hazel Ellis. Mrs. Miller and the son are now living in West Memphis. Mrs. Elizabeth Miller Trainer Porter is the one surviving member of the P. T. R. Miller family.

Refrigeration in those days was quite different from now. A luxury in any home was an ''ice-box,'' a storage space in the top for 50 or 100 pounds of ice, and a lower compartment for storing food. Most homes made out with an arrangement for hanging milk products and such perishables in the well or cistern. A story my brother Harry tells is that he had an "egg route"’ – on Friday afternoon he called on all the neighbors and picked up their eggs, and delivered them to his customers in Helena on Saturday. At the Miller home their refirgerator was an empty or dry cistern, with a ladder in it, and the eggs were stored during the week at the bottom of the cistern, and when he called for them he had to climb down the ladder and bring up the eggs. Considering the distance and the heat, it is wondered how a block of ice survived the trip from the ice house in Helena out three miles, but somehow it did. It seems we always had ice, and certainly homemade ice cream was not an unusual thing.

Branching off from this backwoods road, just before it reached the P. T. R. Miller home, was another road which led on to the Hulburd home, on the Little Rock Road. David Kidd Hulburd and his wife Ada, were natives of Benton Harbor, Michigan. They, like the Hough family, actually lived on the Little Rock Road, but the Hulburds frequently traveled the Stringtown Road into Helena, passing our home on the way. I have fond memories of visiting in the Hulburd home, set in a grove of old walnut trees. They had a wonderful strawberry patch and Mrs. Hulburd made delicious strawberry shortcake. In fact, she was a renowned cook, and when their daughter Lela married my brother Harry in 1906, it became my good fortune to get to visit there often. This was the first wedding I remember - I was quite young, but in my memory stands out how beautiful were the bride and her two bridesmaids, Ethelene Hough and Juanita Lamb. The wedding was on Christmas Day, and our grandfather, the Rev. D. K. Stevenson, had come down from his home in Illinois to perform the ceremony. Alden Sanford served Harry as best man, and an aftermath of this wedding was the marriage of Alden and Juanita Lamb a few months later. Harry and Lela named their firstborn son Hulburd Stevenson Ewart - and there have been one or more Steves in the family ever since.

Life in most small communities centers around the church and school and this was certainly true of Stringtown community, where one building served both purposes. A land record shows that in 1889 Gideon Weatherly sold 1/2 acre to School District # 6. The one room school house was built on top of Schoolhouse Hill, with a steep descent sloping down to Stringtown Road in front. When I read Whittier's ''In School-Days" I see Stringtown School. Miss Kate Napier from Bolivar, Tenn. was the teacher for a number of years. She boarded with the P. T. R. Miller family, and taught the school for four months each year. Mr. H. G. Stephens was one of the school board members. Mrs. Florence Underwood also taught in the school, and shortly before the school disbanded, Miss Carrie Almer (Mrs. Frank Crager) was the teacher. Pupils were becoming scarce, and that year my younger sister, Elsie, not of school age, attended to increase the number. When Miss Almer resigned before the term was out my sister Ola, just out of high school, fin-

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ished out the term as teacher. Her choice remembrance from that experience is that Floyd and Tom Curtis, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Barnes, were then living on the Polk place, attended, even though not of school age, in order to keep the school open. The next year attendance was swelled somewhat by a number of pupils coming over from "new" West Helena, as a school had not yet been established in West Helena, but by the following year its school was in operation, and that was the last year for Stringtown school. I was never a pupil in this school, for my brothers and sisters and I went into Helena to Jefferson School. It was a long three miles, especially on cold snowy mornings. We rode as far as the store on West Perry, then walked on to Jefferson. But there was an occasional opportunity to visit the school, and it was a treat to join our neighborhood friends at school. I will have to admit that perhaps I remember most that underneath the building was the best place to hunt ladybugs (or did we call them doodle bugs?) that we knew about.

Sunday School and church were on Sunday afternoons, with an occasional evening service. Our family went into Helena to First Baptist Church, but also attended Sunday School on Sunday afternoon. Very reverent memories go back to Mr. J. W. Sanford for his faithfulness in coming out and leading the Sunday School, joined later by Mr. J. W. Porter, and without doubt others that I cannot recall. I am sure it wasn't altogether a Baptist church, yet my memory includes only Baptists who came out, so perhaps they did have a monopoly on it. Among the ministers I remember the Rev. Mr. Sledge, Rev. Mr. Tilly, and the beloved young E. D. Solomon and his lovely wife. (The June Phillips County Historical Quarterly quoted the city directory of 1909 as listing the Solomon family living in the Baptist parsonage at 709 Walnut Street). Remembered too are the many visits of these preachers and their families in our home. There would be fried chicken, homemade ice cream and cake, peaches, pears, plums, and berries in season, and while Mother came from the North, she knew all about "Southern hospitality."

Especially to be remembered are the Christmas programs held each year, with school and Sunday School uniting in the arrangements. A huge Christmas tree filled the entire front end of the building, decorations largely made by the children with adult help included strings of popcorn, varied colored paper chains, and tinsel, and most important, a gift for every child. A program of songs and recitations prepared the way for a visit from Santa.

After the school permanently closed, the property was sold to Kate and John Thomas, and is now owned by a sister of John. When we moved to West Helena in 1912 Mother gave to Kate the family ''kitchen safe," with the pierced tin doors and side, and it remained in the schoolhouse-home until after Kate's death. I then went out to get it, and after refinishing, have it in my home.

Horses played a very important part in the life of every family, and acquiring a good horse was the first goal of every young man, just as having an automobile is today. Not only did all farm work require the use of horses, but travel was entirely by horse - horseback, wagon, buggy, or surrey. A good horse was a mighty good recommendation for a young man, and he early learned to give his horse the best care.

In our family I remember the surrey - and it did have fringe on top with the grey mare Pat in the shafts, and the Sunday morning rides into Helena to church, and the long Sunday afternoon rides, particularly over the roads that led through the plantation that is new West Helena. Along with Pat I re-

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member the beautiful horse my brother Everett rode to his job in Helena. She developed a swelling in one leg that came on every evening, and it was found the best remedy was a poultice of mullein leaves. So it became the job of Elsie and me to gather fresh mullein leaves from the pasture every afternoon to put on the horse's leg when Everett got home. By morning the swelling would be entirely gone and the horse ready for another day's trip to Helena. A couple of years ago a strange looking plant appeared in my yard, and for curiosity I let it grow. When the tall spire of yellow flowers developed I began to recognize it as my old friend, mullein, and as it was by then a conversation piece in the yard, I left it. One plant arousing curiosity was fine, but when the next year came with a yard full of the plants, I realized what my sentimentality was causing.

The chapter on horses would be both incomplete and ungrateful unless a tribute is paid to the part horses played in making it possible for doctors to serve the community. I am thinking particularly of Dr. W. C. Russwurm, but feel sure there were others who like him came when needed, by day or by night, usually by buggy in daytime and horseback at night. We had the only telephone in the neighborhood, so calls for a doctor came first to our house, and the doctor's response was to come and bring along the medicines he felt would be needed.

And in concluding the chapter, it might be mentioned that horses played an important part in the romances that budded and blossomed in the community, with no doubt most of the courting done during the buggy rides. That it was done successfully is shown by two Trainer-Miller marriages, one Underwood-Miller, and one Ewart-Hulburd.

Stringtown community ended as you descended Schoolhouse Hill going east to Helena, and from there on to West Perry Street the road was sparsely settled. Henry Kendricks and wife Emma, mentioned as living at the foot of Schoolhouse Hill, were the last until reaching the cabin of old Aunt Mirandy, halfway up Cut-Hill. This disabled old negro woman lived alone, ekeing out a semblance of a living piecing quilts for her white friends. There was no "Welfare" in those days, and we were quite accustomed to having Mother hand us a sack of eggs, a jar of buttermilk, or whatever could be spared that day, to give to Aunt Mirandy as we went by.

For a short time the Gus Hearn family lived just where the Wallace Cox home is located, but their most permanent home was on West Perry Street. From a large family I believe that Lawrence Hearn is the only surviving member since the death of his sister, Mrs. Mable Hearn Lott, about two years ago.

At the eastern base of Cut-Hill were two other families, not a part of Stringtown community, but always a part of the road's residents. The Fuller family lived far back from the road, on the north side. This home still stands, apparently very much as it was then. It is hard to locate because of the dense growth of trees and shrubs, but easily recognized by the window in the front gable placed diamond shape. Mr. Fuller was known as the ''bee"' man, raising bees, and we kept away from that yard not only because of the bees but also because he had dogs of ferecious reputations. There was a daughter in the family named Ethel, and I regret I do not have information of the family.

On the same side of the road, somewhat up the slope of the hill, was the Sigman home. Mr. J. T. Sigman came to Helena with his parents during

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the Civil War, having been born in Holly Springs, Miss. in 1859. The family settled in the LaGrange community. He was married to Martha Jane Gregory, whose family had come to Helena from Bolivar, Tenn. about 1880. They had five children, Amanda, Effie, Sue, Tom, and Nell. Following Mrs. Sigman's death in 1899, Mr. Sigman moved his family to West Perry Street. He was married the second time to Miss Tennie Sutton, and they had one son, Sutton Sigman. Of this family the two sons are living in California, Miss Amanda is with her sister, Mrs. Effie Black, in Jackson, Tenn., Nell is Mrs. Campbell in Memphis, and Sue Sigman Herd passed away a couple of years ago. She and her husband formerly lived in West Helena, where Mr. Herd served as mayor for several years.

In this neighborhood also lived Joe Smith, colored, who as a very young boy began working in our father's store. He died a year ago, and his wife Sarah is still living at the foot of Cut-Hill.

This, then, is the roll call of the Stringtown Road of fifty plus years ago. The passing years have brought little change except an increasing deterioration which has lain over the land like a shroud, hiding from view the beauty and natural charm of this long ago. But underneath it is still there, and a happy conclusion to this story is that it is being reclaimed. Already many new homes are built and under construction along its way, and the surveyor's chain and the bulldozers are preparing many more. Of great significance is the recent inclusion of Stringtown Road as part of the state Highway system. A passing hope would be that this may not result in the road's becoming just a number, for to us who remember we would wish it to remain "Stringtown Road."

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STREET NUMBERS

From Helena City Directory, 1909

RIGHTOR STREET 4th street north from Miss. River west to College.

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From "The Helena Herald," Sept. 19, 1930

"Lovers of hidden treasure stories, of pirates and their bold, bad deeds, of John Murrell and his robber gang that swept through this section in the olden days, will be intrigued to read that only recently unknown persons have continued a search begun 30-odd years ago for buried treasure on the Mrs. Hild Fitzpatrick farm, right outside the city limits of Helena.

According to Mrs. Fitzpatrick, who lives alone on her little hill farm and to Mrs. George Allen, 415 Perry Street, who formerly lived on the place, the hunt was begun that many years ago by unknown searchers, who always visited the place at night and left nothing but gaping holes in the earth to tell of their depredations.

Only recently, they, or more likely some of their associates, for it seems unlikely that one man would keep up the hunt that many years, came back to the farm and left a hole in the shape of the letter T ten feet across and 15 feet long, deep enough to hold a small house.

Only once, according to the ladies have the men been discovered. Years ago as Dan Frank, a neighbor, was returning home from lodge he found the road blockaded by two men with shot guns, who were guarding a large hole in which negroes were feverishly working. The men ordered Frank, who was driving a horse to a buggy, to back down the road and continue another way. When he returned later with help all had disappeared and left the hole with no evidence whether the treasure had been found.

The practice has kept up for all the years, until an area of several acres have been dug over. Each time the searchers work near a big tree, for the most part oaks, that seem to have been standing many years, giving rise to the theory that a tree is concerned with the location of the treasure, if there ever was any.

To residents who remember the stories of Murrell and his men, comes the theory that perhaps someone thinks they have an ''inside'' story of where some of his loot is hidden. There have been vague rumors of a map in someone's possession, describing the hiding place, if so the directions must have been very vague, for they have covered a wide area in their search.

Have these unknown treasure seekers at last found the loot for which they were looking? Will they return again and if so, will it be years later as has often been the case? What really is the story back of the midnight visitors to the lonely spots? One ponders these questions as one stands on the brink of gaping holes, but only the silence of the wooded hills comes back for an answer."

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ARCH S. DOBBINS

by

Bob Dalehite
Galveston, Texas

Note:- This article was previously published in the Independence County Chronicle (Batesville, Ark., January, 1964), but has been revised and up-dated for this printing. References have also been added, along with a bibliography.

The writer, Robert Harris Dalehite, is a great-great grandson of Arch S. Dobbins. A native of Galveston, Texas, he attended Sam Houston State College, the University of Houston, and did his graduate work at Louisiana State University, where most of the research for this paper was accomplished (1960-61). He is with the firm of Ansell, McKinney and Ness, Certified Public Accountants, Galveston. Interests include local history and genealogy. He has compiled indexes to several Louisiana and Texas county histories, one of which has been published, and another in preparation. Besides the Phillips County Historical Society, he is a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity, Sons of the American Revolution, Order of the Stars and Bars, and Sons of Confederate Veterans.

For the sake of heroics, it is best to believe that once the Confederacy accepted defeat, her tired warriors simply stacked their arms, signed the dreaded paroles, and went home to build a new South, as best they could.

The majority of them did just that. A few, however, could not achieve the adjustments demanded of them by Reconstruction, and instead began an exodus to other lands, desperately hoping to find new and favorable opportunities awaiting their talents.

Some left in regimented groups like Shelby's expedition to Mexico. Others, as independent agents, sailed out of the Gulf ports for Cuba, Europe, or South America. Most returned eventually to live and die under the American flag, as very few found either fortune or contentment outside of these United States.

This, though, is the story of one veteran who did not return. I do not think that he found fortune or contentment either, but still he did not return.

Arch S. Dobbins was born near Mt. Pleasant, Maury County, Tennessee, during the year 1827.¹ His father David Dobbins had moved there with a Presbyterian group from South Carolina in 1807. Catherine, his mother, was a daughter of Malcolm Gilchrist, a Scot who had acquired land in Maury, and was also interested in land speculation farther west. David was born in 1781, Catherine in 1792. They married around 1820, and raised a family of eleven children.²

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¹U. S. Census, 1850. Tennessee, Maury Co. Arch and Mary P. Dobbins listed under household of David Dobbins, ages 23 and 18 respectively.

²Family Records, most of which have been published in Historical Southern Families, Vol. V, comp. by John B. Boddie, pp. 235-239. McLean, Angus. Lumber River Scots and Their Descendants. pp. 748-749, 778. Fleming, W. S. A Historical Sketch of Maury County, Tenn.

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Not much can be said about Arch Dobbins' childhood, except that he apparently learned farming from his father, and must have received some formal schooling, as evidenced by the quality of his writing throughout letters preserved by his descendants.³

On February 3, 1850, at the age of twenty-three, Dobbins married Mary Patience Dawson.⁴ She was eighteen, and a daughter of John Dawson, III. The Dawsons had moved to Tennessee from Halifax County, North Carolina,⁵ and considered their background, education, etc., to be several steps above that of the Dobbins clan. According to family stories, the young couple eloped, without the best wishes of the Dawsons.

During the remainder of 1850, Arch Dobbins and his young wife lived with his parents on their farm.⁶ Shortly after that date, he began making plans to leave Tennessee and settle on the newer lands of the west. This decision was undoubtedly affected by the fact that his grandfather Gilchrist, sometime prior to his death in 1821,⁷ had acquired titles to land in Phillips County, Arkansas, and Coahoma County, Mississippi. The land had passed to the various Gilchrist heirs, but none had settled on it. Now, during the early 1850's, Dobbins began buying up the land from these relatives,⁸ and took his wife to Arkansas.

By 1853,⁹ he had ownership of at least a portion of what was then Horseshoe Island, Arkansas, situated on the Mississippi River near Friars Point, Mississippi, and south of Helena, Arkansas, along with some other parcels on both sides of the river. He built his home on the island, choosing Arkansas residence over Mississippi, and named the place Horseshoe Island Plantation.

During the 1850's, the couple remained on the island, and at Friars Point on July 7, 1853, Mary Patience gave birth to her first daugher, Mary Katherine. A second daughter, Naomi Agnes, came in 1858, completing the legacy.¹⁰

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³The letters quoted from throughout this paper, being the writings of Arch S. Dobbins and T. J. Faegin, are in the present possession of the writer. They were found among the personal effects of Mrs. Patience (Dawson) Dobbins, deceased widow of Col. Dobbins, at her residence at Mt. Pleasant, Tenn.

⁴Alexander, Virginia Wood and Jill Knight Garrett, Maury County, Tenn. Marriage Records, 1838-1852, p. 28.

⁵Family Records. Groves, Joseph A. The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina, p. 349.

⁶U. S. Census, 1850. Tennessee, Maury County.

⁷McLean, p. 748. D. A. R. Magazine, October, 1960, p. 594

⁸Two indentures (1852, 1853) and one deed of conveyance (1853). Copies once belonging to Dobbins in present possession of writer.

⁹Deed dated April 2, 1853, on record in Phillips County, Arkansas Records Vol. L, p. 171, per letter dated August 22, 1921 from Judge J. G. Burke of Helena, Arkansas.

¹⁰Lightfoot, Marise B. and Evelyn B. Shackelford. They Passed This Way - Maury County, Tenn. Cemetery Records, p. A-11. Dobbins" parents' graves are also listed in this volume, p. A-3. Acklen, Jeanette. Tennessee Records - Tombstone Inscription and Manuscripts, p. 263.

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In 1860, the Sheriff of Phillips County listed Dobbins' taxable property at $ 95,205.00,¹¹ so the agricultural venture must have been profitable. His wealth and family might well have both grown larger, but as the year 1861 opened, the long-standing issues between the agricultural South and the industrial North finally passed the point of compromise. Arkansas, like most of the slave states, found it necessary to defend her choice to desert the Union.

While most of the Arkansas defenders were involved in the fighting throughout Missouri and Tennessee, some planters, including Dobbins, remained home to harvest crops for the army while the Mississippi remained fairly unhindered by Union gunboats.¹²

By the late spring of 1862, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Memphis and New Orleans had become Union conquests. Even Helena, county seat of Phillips County, was being occupied by General Curtis' army of midwesterners. Having already mortgaged his land to secure payment of an indebtedness amounting to twenty-five thousand dollars.¹³ Dobbins made arrangements to send his family back to Mr. Pleasant, Tennessee, and then crossed the Mississippi himself to join General Hindman's regiment in Beauregard's Army of Tennessee at Corinth, Mississippi. He went with that army from the fever-infested Corinth to Tupelo. There, still transacting business, he sold seven bushels of corn to Biffle's Company of N. B. Forrest's Cavalry on June 20, 1862.¹⁴

As a soldier, he evidently fared pretty well in Mississippi, for when the cocky Hindman was named by Beauregard to take over the military command of Arkansas, he brought Dobbins with him to Little Rock. Sometime in the latter half of 1862, Hindman commissioned Dobbins as a Confederate Colonel, and assigned him to his general staff for the campaign ending at Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862.¹⁵

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¹¹Noted on tax rolls of Phillips County, Arkansas, 1860-61, per note from Mrs. Louise B. Hollowell, Helena, Arkansas.

¹²Letter from firm of Coleman and Withers, New Orleans, dated February 3, 1862, addressed to A. S. Dobbins, Old Town, Arkansas. Refers to shipment of butter received in New Orleans, and mentions need of Confederacy for agricultural produce to support war. Helena-West Helena (Arkansas) World and East Arkansas Record, August 16, 1956. Note: Some published accounts state that Dobbins joined the Confederate Army under Fagan in 1861, and fought in Virginia and Shiloh. The above cited letter, however, disproves this theory, in so far as Virginia is concerned, but there is a small possibility that he may have been at Shiloh. This writer, though, doubts it.

¹³Letter, Judge J. G. Burke, Aug. 22, 1921. Mortgage signed February 11, 1861, A. S. Dobbins to Coleman, Britten and Withers. Phillips County, Arkansas Records, Vol. R, p. 745.

¹⁴( photocopy) Receipt # 12 of Capt. F. A. Malone, Quartermaster, C. S. Army. Original in Confederate Records, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

¹⁵Helena World, Aug. 16, 1956. The War of the Rebellion; A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, XXII, Pt. 1, 143. All future references to this work will be cited as merely Official Records, and will mean the First Series, unless otherwise stated.

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Hindman was to be the first of many commanders of Arch Dobbins. Besides serving under the departmental commands of Hindman, T. H. Holmes, Sterling Price, John B. Margruder, and E. Kirby Smith, he was destined to operate directly under orders from Generals John S. Marmaduke, L. M. Walker, Joseph O. Shelby, James F. Fagan, and M. Jeff Thompson.¹⁶ During the winters, quartered in the vicinity of Helena, Dobbins was more or less his own commander. From his base of operations atop Crowley's Ridge, he directed a program of guerrilla tactics that helped keep northeast Arkansas at least partially in Confederate hands.

Following the service as volunteer-aide-de-camp on Hindman's staff at Prairie Grove, Colonel Dobbins was given a brigade of cavalry composed mainly of northeast Arkansas, and usually termed Dobbins' Brigade, or the First Arkansas Cavalry.

With this brigade, Dobbins participated in numerous raiding parties throughout northeast Arkansas, becomming a pest to both the enemy's army and its transports attempting to navigate the St. Francis, White, and Mississippi Rivers.¹⁷ He led his horsemen through the battles of Helena and Little Rock in 1863, conducted a major raid on the Federal plantations south of Helena,¹⁸ in July, 1864, and joined Price's expedition into Missouri and Kansas during the fall of 1864. In the last named campaign, his brigade was attached to General Fagan's division.¹⁹

Dobbins was far from being a great soldier, but Generals Hindman, Price, and Shelby all commented favorably on his command. To the incomparable Shelby he was the "high-toned and chivalric Dobbin,"' who "performed his duty ably and perfectly.'' The dashing cavalry general once congratulated Dobbins on the ''bravery displayed by your entire command" and for the "brillaint success" of his Helena plantation raid.²⁰ John N. Edwards, an adjutant of Shelby, termed him "the intrepid Dobbins."²¹ Price said he had known Dobbins to be an "officer and a gentleman."²² On the other hand, one Union report advised that the brigade was "made up by the consolidation of the swamp guerillas."²³ Judging from the mentions of Dobbins in the northern records, it is indicative that the enemy did not particularly admire him, or his men.

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¹⁶Letters, Ezra J. Warner to Bob Dalehite, Oct. 26, 1959. Mr. Warner compiled Generals in Gray (L. S. U. Press, 1959), and stated in the letter that Thompson was an officer of the Missouri State Militia, but not of the Confederacy.

¹⁷Official Records, XXII, Pt. 2, p. 869; XXXIV, Pt. 1, p. 1044. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series 1, XXVI, 313, 430, 521, 530, 748.

¹⁸Edwards, John N. Shelby and His Men (1897 edition), pp. 151, 282-285. Thomas, David Y. Arkansas in War and Reconstruction, 1861-1874, pp. 213, 217, 280-281. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1956 edition). Vol. III, p. 461 (Battle Rosters of Helena and Little Rock). Official Records. Numerous references, particularly Vol. XXII. Greeley, Horace. American Conflict, Vol. 2, pp. 554-555.

¹⁹Rea, Ralph. Sterling Price; Lee of the West, pp. 122, 143, and Appendix (Roster). Edwards, p. 315. Official Records, XXXXI, Pt. 1, p. 627.

²⁰Official Records, XXXXI, Pt. 1, pp. 288, 660; Pt. 2, p. 1034.

²¹Edwards, p. 359.

²²Official Records, XXII, Pt. 1, 526.

²³Official Records, XXII, Pt. 2, p. 316

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Not all Dobbins' enemies wore blue uniforms, though. A fued existed between him and Colonel T. H. McCray,²⁴ but they ultimately campaigned together under Shelby during the summer of 1864, and again under Fagan in Missouri and Kansas. Major General John Sappington Marmaduke, however, was critical of Colonel Dobbins during the entire time they served in the same army. After having Dobbins' Brigade under his command near Helena in the spring of 1863, the Missourian hinted that Dobbins was incompetent.²⁵ Afterwards, Dobbins' Brigade was transferred to a division commanded by Brig. General L. M. Walker,²⁶ a fellow Tennessean that Dobbins personally admired.

On the retreat towards Little Rock following the battle of Helena in July, 1863, the outspoken Marmaduke heaped verbal abuse on Walker, and placed much of the blame for Helena upon him. By September, when the army was digging in to defend the capital city, pride finally forced Walker to retaliate. He challenged the other officer, and Marmaduke readily accepted. General Price attempted intervention, but by the close of the day, September 6, Walker lay dying, and Marmaduke had emerged as victor of the most tragic duel in Arkansas history.²⁷

After the duel, Dobbins assumed command of Walker's Division, and did what he could to stop General Steele's oncoming army. On September 10, 1863, he offered the final Confederate resistance to the Federals before they forded the Arkansas River to advance on Little Rock. Falling back from the river, Dobbins met General Marmaduke, who informed him that he had been given command of all cavalry. Dobbins told the general that he would not serve under such a command, in protest to the duel and Marmaduke's release from charges filed against him by General Price, but later reversed. Upon this outburst, Marnaduke placed Dobbins under arrest for disobedience of orders, and sent him to the rear. Arriving at Price's headquarters, he was immediately released by Price, and ordered back to his Brigade.²⁸ He returned as ordered, but still refused to cooperate fully with Marmaduke on the retreat south to Arkadelphia and Camden.²⁹

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²⁴Edwards, p. 257.

²⁵Official Records, XXII, Pt. 1, p. 326.

²⁶Harrell, John M. "Arkansas" in Confederate Military History, Vol. X, p. 174.

²⁷Ross, Margaret. ''Walker Slain in Duel with Marmaduke - As Federals Advance on Little Rock" in Arkansas Gazette, Little Rock, August 25, 1963. Fletcher, John G. Arkansas, pp. I76-I77.

²⁸Ross, Arkansas Gazette, Aug. 25, 1963. Official Records, XXII, Pt. 1, pp. 523-526. Woodruff, W. E. With the Light Guns in '61-'65, p. 100. Edwards, p. 151. Thomas, pp. 217-218.

²⁹In June, 1962, Governor Matthew E. Welsh of Indiana presented Governor Faubus of Arkansas two Arkansas unit Civil War flags that had been captured by Indiana troops during the war. One of the flags was marked ''Dobbins Arkansas Cavalry'' and was taken in a skirmish at Tulip, Arkansas (Dallas County), in Oct., 1863. Following the presentation ceremony, the flag was placed on display in the flag gallery of the Old State House, Little Rock, Arkansas Gazette June 2, 1962, p. 1

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On November 23, 1863, General Holmes, having again taken command of Arkansas' Army, which he had turned over to Price before the fall of Little Rock, issued General Order No. 54 from winter quarters at Camp Bragg. In it he had announced that Colonel Arch S. Dobbins had been found guilty of charges brought against him at a general court martial - - charges drawn as a result of Dobbins' actions on September 10 at Little Rock.

The court evidently recommended some punishment for his impulsiveness, but decided against discharging Dobbins from the army. Helms did not follow the court's decision, however, for at the close of the general order he stated that:

"the offense of which he was convicted is of a character so grave, and in an army like ours, might result in consequences so ruinous, that the recommendation of the members of the court cannot be regarded. Col. Arch S. Dobbins accordingly ceases to be an officer of the C. S. Army, from this date."³⁰

Following the decision, Major General Sterling Price wrote Dobbins that the arrest had not been to his liking, but that Holmes, his superior and a close associate of General Marmaduke, had ordered the arrest.³¹

Dobbins returned to Phillips County following his court martial, and was not engaged in the campaign against Steele during the Red River Expedition. During that same spring of 1864, though, it appears that he was rather active around Helena, and even made an unsuccessful attempt to organize partisan groups operating to the north of Phillips County.³²

It is doubtful that the discharge was ever officially enacted. When General Holmes was relieved of his duties in Arkansas, Price sent General Joseph Shelby into the northeastern section of the state. Shelby issued his first order in May, 1864, calling for reports from the various commanders in the area, including ''Colonel'' Dobbins. Dobbins did report as asked, and his rank was never again in jeopardy. The events at Little Rock, though, in addition to his feud with the influential and capable Marmaduke, most likely ended any chance he might have entertained to become a brigadier general. After the war the people of his home county honored him nevertheless as one of the "Seven Generals" of the Confederacy who enlisted from Phillips County, i. e., Pat Cleburne, T. C. Hindman, J. C. Tappan, D. C. Govan, L. E. Polk, C. W. Adams, and Arch Dobbins. The confusion is understandable, for many authorities cite Dobbins as a General, including the Heitman Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, which included a listing of Confederate Generals supposedly taken from the Richmond archives now housed in Washington, D. C. A current expert on Confederate rank, Ezra Warner, did not include Dobbins in his book Generals in Gray, and wrote to this writer that he was not able to locate proof of Dobbins' commission as General.³³ Also, Dobbins himself signed a parole in July, 1865, and gave his rank as Colonel.³⁴

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³⁰ (photocopy) General Order No. 54 of Lt. Genl. T. H. Holmes, Trans-Mississippi Dept., 1863. Original in Confederate Records, National Archives, Wash.

³¹Ross, Arkansas Gazette, Aug. 25, 1963. Official Records, XXII, Pt. 1, pp. 525-526.

³²Edwards, pp. 260, 262.

³³Letter, Ezra J. Warner to Bob Dalehite, October 26, 1959.

³⁴(photocopy) Parole, A. S. Dobbins, Col. Comd. Brig., Galveston, Texas, July, 1865. Original in Confederate Records, National Archives, Washington, D. C.

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At the close of General Price's hectic retreat from Missouri in October, 1864, Dobbins and Colonel McCray were detached from the main army at Fayetteville, and returned to their bases in northeast Arkansas for the winter.³⁵ Come spring, they were both appointed brigade commanders under the new leader of the Confederates north of the Arkansas River, M. Jeff Thompson. Before any serious activity could take place, however, news reached Arkansas that Generals Lee, Johnston, and Taylor had all surrendered their departments in the East. While Thompson was negotiating with a Union peace party from Memphis, it was learned that E. Kirby Smith had surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department. For northeast Arkansas, the official end occured at Jacksonport, Arkansas, where Thompson, on June 4, 1865, watched the final reporting group of Confederates accept their paroles and free rations.³⁶

As Dobbins' Brigade was under Thompson at the close of hostilities, it could be assumed that he also surrendered with the ''Swamp Fox.'' Some of his men probably did, but Dobbins himself was much farther south, in Falcon, Arkansas, writing his wife that "I am on my way to Anderson County, Texas where my negros are. I expect to send them to Cuba if possible and go to Mexico with my Brigade. I am satisfied that I cannot remain in the United States under the existing state of affairs. What will become of our subjugated country, God only knows." The letter was dated June 6, 1865.

It is improbable that he ever reached Mexico. Most of the Confederate refugees to the land of Maximillan had left Arkansas prior to the time Dobbins was writing from Columbia County, Arkansas. Besides, he signed a parole on July 13, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, still a good distance by horseback from the Mexican border. Shelby and his group crossed the Rio Grande on July 4th.

Another letter dated March 5, 1866, reveals that Dobbins at least contemplated bringing his family back to Phillips County. In the letter he asked Mrs. Dobbins to come to Helena from Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee to acknowledge a deed he had made, and that he was ''going down to try and get the Willie Johnston place."

The other letters written from the United States are from New Orleans and Memphis, all dated at various times during 1866. He had either joined or formed a firm in New Orleans named Dobbins, Pleasants and Company, Cotton Factors and Commission Merchants, with an office on St. Charles Avenue, corner Perdido.³⁷ He did not move the family to New Orlenas, due to a cholera epidemic that he mentioned frequently in the letters, and the high cost of living there under the carpetbag rule.

During the early part of 1867, Arch Dobbins left the Union, never to return. In a letter dated June 5, 1867 from Brazil (apparently Rio de Janeiro), he wrote that "I have been all over Europe and Brazil . . . I never intend to return to the States on account of my political difficulties.'' He asked her to come to Rio, located in what he termed "'the finest country in the world . . this country has been a sealed book until the last two years. No one was permitted to come here but the Portugees, and I think that God has kept this

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³⁵Official Records, XXXXI, Pt. 1, p. 624.

³⁶Monaghan, Jay. Swamp Fox of the Confederacy; the Life and Military Services of M. Jeff Thompson, pp. 99, 102-103

³⁷Gardner's New Orleans Directory for 1867, p. 129.

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country for the Southern people.'' A desire was expressed that “all of my relations would come. The finest land can bee bought here for one dollar pr acre, and the Emperor³⁸ said to me that the government would furnish them six months with provisions."³⁹

By November 26, 1867, the former Arkansas Confederate was at the port city of Santarem, near the juncture of the Tapajos and Amazon Rivers, six hundred miles west of Para.⁴⁰ He related that:

"I have been in a country in which I can make money, but where I could not carry my family. The country of Sao Paulo is the place for us. There you find fine lands, fine climate, fine water and fine society. In this part of the country, no frost, no society, and bad water. There is six miles back of this place an American colony of one hundred and sixty people, but of the scruf of the earth. They are settled on the tablelands and carry their water one mile and many of them further on their heads up the mountain. I did not see anything growing in this colony. Everything entirely burned up."

By the following year, he had experienced a change of heart concerning Santarem, for in a letter to his two daughters dated October 5, 1868, he wrote them that:

"I am now on my own place thirty miles above Santarem . . . I have five thousand acres in this tract, four thousand of which lies perfectly level on the top of a mountain three hundred feet high. The land is perfectly black, very rich, and as loose as an ash bank. My house has four rooms 18 by 18 feet. Fifty yards in front of my house is a beautiful bold running creek of pure cold water just out of the mountain. One hundred yards in front of that is the bank of the Tapajos River which is six miles wide. It is a beautiful clear stream, and abounds in fine fish and turtles."

In the same letter he gave something akin to a hint as to why he left New Orleans by telling them that ''your father was a soldier and did his duty from the beginning to the close of the war faithfully and fearlessly, and hoped after the unfavorable turn of that ungodly war to be allowed to live in peace and make an honest living for his wife and children, but the cursed Yankees were not satisfied but drove him from his wife and children to a foreign land. Should I live ten years I will make a fortune for you in spite of the infernal Yankees."

The last letter still in existance was written on August 29, 1869, from Itaituba, a trading post on the Tapajos, close to one hundred and fifty miles south of Santarem. In it, Dobbins reported that he was trying to construct a saw and grist mill at a falls near Itaituba, and that he had several men with him.

In 1922, a man named T. J. Faegin wrote the Dobbins family from Hawthorne, Alabama, that he had known Arch Dobbins in Santarem, and that he had gone to Itaituba with him. In the letter, Faegin related that Dobbins had

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³⁸Emperor Don Pedro, II of Brazil

³⁹Incorrect spelling is intentional, as in most cases letters were copies exactly as they were written.

⁴⁰Since that time, Para has been renamed Belem, Brazil, State of Para.

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indeed taken a party to the falls of Toppacura Creek, cited by him as twenty-five miles below the larger falls of the Tapajos, and twelve miles from Itaituba, with the intention of installing a saw and grist mill at the location. He further wrote that:

"I was with him theare 12 months . . . the General could not get hands theare to put his mill up. He was told that before he went theare for I did the talking for him myself at Santarem in those days. Theare was only two or three little barks ever run up theare. It was only a tradening place. I staid with Dobbins jest as long as I could. Our companions was Indians and mixed bloods."

A final mention of Dobbins came from his own brother, Dr. Wilson Dobbins. The Doctor had taken his family to Santarem on the basis of his brother's enthusiasm. In the last letter from Itaituba, Arch Dobbins told Mrs. Dobbins that the Doctor was living near Santarem, apparently on land he had received from the Brazilian government. Doctor Dobbins returned to Tennessee around 1870, and told the family that Brazil was impossible. The clinate, he said, was awful, and dependable labor virtually nonexistent. He considered the venture a complete failure, but told Mrs. Dobbins the Colonel had rejected the idea of leaving, still claiming a fortune could be made in timber.

Mary Patience Dobbins was preparing to join her husband in Brazil when the letters stopped. After waiting for further word, and after her brother-in-law returned, she came to accept that he was gone. She remained in Mt. Pleasant and passed away there on September 28, 1916,⁴¹ having spent the closing decades of her long life reminiscing to her grandchildren about her life in Arkansas with Colonel Dobbins.

There are a few descendants of Confederates living in present-day Brazil, but most of them are either at Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, or Vila Americana. Many have prospered, but state that the Southerners who chose Santarem over the southern regions of Brazil have long since vanished. ⁴²

Published accounts of Amazon explorers during the 1870's-1880's mention visiting the American settlement near Santarem. Some state that the Americans were slowly prospering, even after the Brazilian aid was withdrawn and slavery abolished.⁴³ Between 1890 and 1930, however, there are few references to the settlement.

After Henry Ford's ill-fated attempt to exploit the Tapajos Valley for rubber, interest in the area was revived. Dr. W. H. Haas of Northwestern University reported finding the "lost colony of the Confederacy" in the 1930's. According to his account, he could locate only one person, an old woman, who still remembered her Southern heritage. The other younger descendants had been swallowed up completely by the native population, adopting the native speech and customs.⁴⁴

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⁴¹Acklen, p. 263. Lightfoot, p. A-11.

⁴²Basso, Hamilton. A Quota of Seaweed, pp. 113-114. Copeland, W. W. "Town in Brazil Recalls Die-Hard Southerns who Immigrated in '65," Columbia (Tennessee) Daily Herald, November 23, 1954.

⁴³Cunningham, Frank. "The Lost Colony of the Confederacy,'' American Mercury, July, 1961, pp. 37-38. Smith, Herbert H. Brazil - The Amazon and the Coast, pp. 135-175.

⁴⁴Cunningham, pp. 35-36.

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All of these accounts, though, deal with the Americans who came to Santarem in a group, as recruits of the Brazilian government. Dobbins arrived later, alone, and mentions in the letters that though he was friendly to the others, he was not a member of their colony.

Thus the fate of Arch Dobbins remains a mystery. His wife believed he was murdered by either savages or by the halfbreeds who helped him in the commercial venture. Others have asserted after hearing these details, that perhaps he grew weary of waiting for Mrs. Dobbins to join him in Brazil, and deserted her. Lacking any proof to the contrary, I cannot deny this theory, but as a descendant, I of course favor Mrs Dobbins' interpretation. In the letters, he expressed love for his wife and daughters. Also, though at first he told them the country was too wild for them, he later made plans to bring them to Santarem.

Today, tourists flock to the sunny shores of Brazil's costal paradises. But few ever frequent Santarem. The ones that do, however, are usually attracted to the shops where they can purchase pottery made by the Indians of the region. To their surprise, one line of the crude pottery is painted with the replica of the Confederate Battle Flag. The story they are told in relation to the decoration, is that the ancestors of the present Indians learned the design from the Rebels who once lived in the area. The native artists do not understand the significance of the emblem they paint. They copy it, but know not what it means.⁴⁵

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⁴⁵Malone, Wallace D. "Colonists Preserve Southern Way of Life in Highlands of Brazil,'' Birmingham (Alabama) Post-Herald, February 18, 1960.

*******************

New Orleans, Louisiana
February 3, 1862

A. S. Dobbins, Esq.
Old Town, Arkansas

Esteemed Sir:

Your letter of 18th ultimate - with box of butter came to hand on Saturday past, and we sold this butter at .50 per lb. - a good price. This box weighed, per Mr. Raymond's weights:

As ever and truly your friend

COLEMAN AND WITHERS

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Helena, Arkansas
March the 5th, 1866

My Dear Mary,

I have compromised with Rankins, and desire you to come into Helena when convenient to Rightor's office to acknowledge the Deed. I have done so, and paid him for your acknowledgement. I am going down to try and get the Willie Johnston place.

I hope to soon be able to carry you home, and hope you will excuse my seeming neglect of you, as I have been deviled to death for the last month.

Your affectionate Husband,

Arch S. Dobbins

**************

New Orleans
July the 15, 1866

My Dear Mary,

I have been very much engaged since I came to the city in fixing up my office and Company. How is your health and that of the children? Write me and give me all the information you have in regard to relatives and friends New Orleans is very unhealthy at this time. Give my Love to Katy and Tizzie.

Your Husband Affectionately,

Arch S. Dobbins

***********

Memphis, Tenn.
Aug. the 22nd, 1866

My Dear Mary,

I arrive at this place this morning. Will leave this evening for Jackson Port, thence to the Arkansas River, thence to New Orleans. Will send you a check for some money as soon as I return to New Orleans. Write me at that place. My love to Katy and Tizzie as well as all other relations and friends.

Your affectionate Husband,

Arch S. Dobbins

**************

New Orleans, La
October the 6th, 1866

My Dear Mary,

Our city is yet infested with yellow fever and cholera. I long to see the day when the health of the city will admit of your removal to this place. My own health is good. I will write you more fully when I have leisure. I have so much to do that I have no time to be lonely.

Give my love to Katy and Tizzie, and all other relations and friends

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May God bless you my dear wife.

Your Husband Affectionately,

Arch S. Dobbins

**************

New Orleans, La.
November the 15, 1866

My Dear Mary,

My health is good. We yet have a little cholera and yellow fever in our city. I consulted two of our best Doctors today in regard to your coming here at this time. Their advice was for you to remain where you are until frost.

Write me and let me know what clothing, shoes, bonnets, money, etc you and the children want, and I will send them by express.

My love to all.

Your affectionate Husband,

Arch S. Dobbins

***********

New Orleans, La.
December the 19th, 1866

My Dear Mary,

I sent you some several days ago a box by express to the care of Sam Mays at Columbia. The box was directed to Hunter Kittrell. I intended to have sent the cloak and bonnet at the same time, but the box was sent before I knew it. I will try and visit you by the 15th of January. I would have sent for you before this time, but it would cost us five hundred and fifty dollars per month Board here, and we are unable to pay it. Make all necessary arrangements to send Katy to Nashville or Columbia to School by the 15th, and I will either send the money or come myself and bring it. And should you think best, send Tizzie with her. My dear wife, it distresses me to think that we are so poor, but I have the consolation to know that it was not brought on by any fault of ours, and hope we will soon have a sufficient amount of money to make us comfortable and happy. Give my love to all relations and friends, and kiss my dear little children for me.

I am as ever, my Dear Mary,

Your Affectionate Husband

Arch S. Dobbins

****************

Letter of A. S. Dobbins to Wilson Dobbins. Original presented to the late Judge Harry J. Lemley of Hope, Arkansas, for his Arkansas Confederate collection by the writer.

Rio De Jenero, Brazil
June the 5th, 1867

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Dear Brother,

This is the finest country in the world. Come to this place as soon as you can convenitently do so with your family and mine. The Emperor is one of the cleverest men lever saw. He has offered me all the land that I want on three years time for myself and friends. Also six months provisions, and will pay the passage to this place, and give them three years to pay the money back to the government. It is necessary for me to describe the country to you. As I have said, it is the finest in the world. I can pick out one hundred thousand acres of land in this location, perfectly level, and cane twelve inches in circumference growing all over it at forty-two cents per acre. It will seem strange to you that such a country is not yet settled, but you must remember that this county has been a sealed book to the world until the last two years. My love to your wife and children.

Your brother affectionately,

Arch S. Dobbins

NB

When you reach this place enquire for Wright & Co., Commission Merchants, and you will find me. Write me immediately at this place.

A.S.D.

******************

Itaituba, Brazil
August the 29, 1869

My Dear Mary,

I received your letter on yesterday, and was glad to hear that you were all well. I am at the falls of the Topacura, one hundred and fifty miles above where the Doctor is living. I have been here at work on my Saw and grist mill. There is the finest timber here that lever saw, and it is worth when sawed seventy-five dollars per thousand feet. I have six white men at work for me and have engaged a lot of Indians. I hope soon to make money. I know that your lot as well as mine is hard at present, but I hope to be able soon to send for you. You wrote me in regard to where you should ship for if not Rio de Janerio. When you come, ship on the Steamer for Para, and from there up the Amazon River to Santarem. My brother tells me that he made arrangements for money to be sent to you from Louisville, and I hope that you have received the same before this time. I feel for you, but cannot do any more than I am doing. I am at work like a negro. My hands are almost as hard as a horses hoof. I have joined the Church and am trying to be a better man. When you write, direct your letters as here to fore, as my brother will forward them to me. He and family are well. My pen is reachedly bad, and I am in a great hurry. May the Lord bless you and my children and guard you from all harm until we see each other. We are all good cooks and washers, as there is not a woman in four miles of us. For my part, I put a string to my clothes and hang them under the falls, which answers as a washer woman for me. I will write you more fully when I have time. Give my love to all your relations and mine.

Your affectionate Husband,

Arch S. Dobbins

*************

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WILL OF ARCH S. DOBBINS:

In the Name of God, Amen.

I, Archibald S. Dobbins of Phillips County, State of Arkansas, being of sound mind and desposing memory, but not being certified of how long I have to live, do make, execute and publish this as my last will and testament, as follows to wit:

Item first. To my wife Mary P. Dobbins of Phillips County, State of Arkansas, I give and bequeath all of my estate both real and personal of every name and kind whatever to do as she sees proper with during her widowhood. But should the said Mary P. Dobbins marry again, my entire estate shall be taken out of her hands and managed by her brother John Dawson and my brother M. I. M. Dobbins for my children, except a child's part to be laid off to her by three men which her brother John Dawson and my brother M. I. M. Dobbins shall appoint.

Item second. I hereby nominate and appoint my wife Mary P. Dobbins of Phillips County, State of Arkansas my executrix and her brother John Dawson and my brother M. I. M. Dobbins of Maury County, State of Tennessee my executers of this last will and testament.

I hereby revoke and annull all former wills. In testimony whereof I have here unto set my hand and affixed my seal this the 26th day of December, 1856.

Signed and sealed in presence of us and witnessed at the request of the testator -

*********************

Letter of Judge J. G. Burke, Helena, Arkansas, to S. V. Wall, Attorney, Boyle, Mississippi.

Helena, Arkansas
August 22, 1921

Mr. S. V. Wall
Boyle, Miss.

Dear Sir:

In pursurance to your request of yesterday, I have made a partial examination of the land records of this County, to ascertain the exact status of the lands which formerly belonged to Archibald S. Dobbins. I beg leave to make the following report:

1st. All of the lands described in the two deeds executed by Wilson D. Dobbins and wife to Archibald S. Dobbins, dated the 17th day of June, 1853, were sold and conveyed by A. S. Dobbins and wife, Mary P., to Levisa Dobbins, on the 19th day of September, 1854. This deed may be found of Record in Volume ''M' at page 629 of the offical records of this County. The land included in the deeds above mentioned are not any part of the Horse-shoe Island

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place.

2nd. Investigation of the records with regard to the Horse-shoe Island Place discloses that Archibald S. Dobbins acquired title to this property from the heirs of Malcolm Gilchrist on the 2nd day of April, 1853. Said Deed can be found of record in Volume ''L" at page 171 of the records of this county.

On the 1lth day of February, 1861, Archibald S. Dobbins gave a mortgage on all of the lands owned by him in Twp. Four South, Range Three East (T. 4 S - R. 3 E), which included the Horse-shoe Bend Place, to Coleman, Britton & Withers, to secure the payment of an indebtedness amounting to approximately Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00). This mortgage may be found of record in Volume ''R" at page 745 of the official records of Phillips County, Arkansas.

On the 9th day of October, 1868 a decree was rendered by the Chancery Court of this County, in the case of John S. Whittaker vs. Archibald S. Dobbins, foreclosing the mortgage given to Coleman, Britton & Withers, which decree recites that default having been made in the payment of said indebtedness, a request was made by petitioners that said mortgage be foreclosed, which request and prayer of the plantiffs was granted. The sale under this decree was made by John J. Horner, as commissioner in Chancery Court to John S. Whittaker. This deed may be found of record in Volume "W" at page 115 of the official records of Phillips County, Arkansas.

With kindest personal regards, I beg to remain,

Yours very truly

J. G. Burke, Atty.

***********

Helena, Arkansas
August 27, 1921

Mr. S. V. Wall
Boyle, Miss.

Dear Sir:

Yours of 24th instant to hand and contents noted. I will proceed to investigate the title held by Stinger and the Russ Land and Timber Co.

I am quite sure that the property described in the Deed of Trust given by A. S. Dobbins to Coleman, Britton & Withers includes the Horseshoe Bend Plantation, formerly owned by Colonel Dobbins.

Kindly let me hear from you, when you have received a letter from Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee.

Yours truly,

J. G. Burke

Note written across letter (probably by Mr. Wall):

"There is an old Atty. by the name of Vineyard (or Vinson) at Helena, who probably knew your grandfather."

**************

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS:

Copeland, W. W. "Town in Brazil Recalls Die-Hard Southerners Who Immigrated in '65."' Columbia (Tenn.) Daily Herald, Nov. 23, 1954.

Cunningham, Dr. Frank. “The Lost Colony of the Confederacy" in American Mercury, July, 1961

D. A. R. MAGAZINE, Oct., 1960 (Vol 94, #10).

"Flags Taken in Civil Ware Are Returned to Arkansas." Little Rock, Ark. Gazette, June 2, 1962

Helena-West Helena World and East Arkansas Record, Centennial Edition. Helena, Ark., Aug 16, 1956

Hill, Lawrence F. ''Confederate Exiles to Brazil'' in Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol VII, May, 1927.

Malone, Wallace D. ''Colonists Preserve Southern Way of Life in Highlands of Brazil." Birmingham (Ala.) Post-Herald, Feb 18, 1960.

Ross, Madeline Dand and Fred Kerner. "Stars and Bars Along the Amazon" in The Reporter, Sept. 18, 1958.

Ross, Margaret. "Walker Slain in Duel With Marmaduke - As Federals Advance on Little Rock." (Chronicles of Arkansas Series) Little Rock, Ark. Gazette, Aug. 25, 1963.

PRIMARY SOURCES (LETTERS, LEGAL RECORDS, GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS:

Indenture, Alexander McMillan to A. S. Dobbins, Horseshoe Island, Lot # 8, 1852.

Indenture, Cornelius Gilchrist to A. S. Dobbins, Horseshoe Island, Lot #4, 1853.

Letters:

Coleman and Withers to A. S. Dobbins, 1862.

A. S. Dobbins to Mary P. Dobbins, 1865-1869.

A. S. Dobbins to Wilson D. Dobbins, 1867. (Original in collection of Judge Harry J. Lemley, Hope, Ark.)

T. J. Faegin to Dobbins-Harris Family, 1922.

Judge J. G. Burke to S. V. Wall, 1921.

S. V. Wall to John L. Moore, 1926.

National Archives, Washington, D. C. Service records and other papers relating to Col. A. S. Dobbins, 1st Ark. Cav., taken from official Confederate records (photostats).

U. S. Census. 1850. Tenn., Maury Co.

Will, A. S. Dobbins, 1856.

CORRESPONDENCE AND INTERVIEWS BY WRITER:

Judge Harry J. Lemley, Hope, Ark., 1959-1963

Mrs. Louise B. Hollowell, Helena, Ark., 1960-1963.

Mrs. Katherine Harris Lusk, Knoxville Tenn. 1959-1965

Mrs. Lawrence Rush Harris, Birmingham, Ala., 1959-1965.

Mrs. Ezra Warner, La Jolla, Calif., 1959.

PUBLISHED BOOKS:

Acklen, Jeanette Tillotsen. Tennessee Records: Tombstone Inscriptions and Manuscripts. Nashville, Tenn., Cullon and Ghertner Co., 1933.

Alexander, Virginia Wood and Jill Knight Garrett. Maury Co., Tenn. Marriage Records, 1838-1852. Columbia, Tenn. Authors, 1963.

Basso, Hamilton. A Quota of Seaweed; Persons and Places in Brazil, Spain, Honduras, Jamaica, Tahiti, and Samoa. Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday, 1960.

Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Ark. Chicago, Goodspeed, 1890.

Boddie, John Bennett. Historical Southern Families, Vol 5. Redwood City, Calif.

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Edwards, John N. Shelby and His Men. 1897 ed. Kansas City, Hudson-Kimberly Pub. Co., 1897

Fleming, W. S. A Historical Sketch of Maury County. Columbia, Tenn., Excelsior Printing Office, 1876.

Gardner's New Orleans Directory for 1867. New Orleans, Gardner (1867).

Greeley, Horace. The American Conflict. N.Y., 1885.

Groves, Joseph A. The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina. Atlanta, Ga., Franklin Ptg. and Pub. Co., 1901.

Harrell, John M. ''Arkansas" (Vol. 10) of Confederate Military History, ed. by Clement A. Evans. Atlanta, Ga., Confederate Pub. Co., 1899.

Heitman, Francis B. Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army. U. S. House of Rep. Doc. No. 446, 57th Congress, 2nd Sess. Wash., Govt. Ptg. Office, 1903.

Hempstead, Fay. A Pictorial History of Arkansas from Earliest Times to the Year 1890. St. L. and N. Y., N. D. Thompson, 1890

Herndon, Dallas T. Annals of Arkansas, 1947. Hopkinsville, Ky. Historical Record Assn., 1947.

------- The Arkansas Handbook, 1947-1948. Little Rock, Ark. Hist. Comm., 1948. (Contains sketch of Dobbins, but very inaccurate)

------- Centennial History of Ark. Chicago and L.R., S. J. Clarke, 1922.

Johnson, Robert V. and Clarence C. Buel, eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 1956 ed. N. Y., Thomas Yoseloff, 1956.

Jones, Charles C., Jr. Roster of General Officers ... in the Confederate Service During the War Between the States. Southern Hist. Soc., 1876.

Jones, N. W. A History of Mt. Pleasant, Tenn., Nash., McQuiddy Pub. Co., 1903.

La Bree, Ben. ed. The Confederate Soldier in the Civil War. 1959 ed. Paterson, N. J., Pageant.

Lightfoot, Marise P. and Evelyn B. Shackelford. They Passed This Way: Maury Co., Tenn. Cemetery Records. Columbia, Tenn., Authors, 1964.

McLean, Angus, et al. Lumber River Scots and Their Descendants. Richmond, Va., William Byrd Press, 1942.

Monaghan, Jay. Swamp Fox of the Confederacy; the Life and Military Service of M. Jeff Thompson. Tuscaloosa, Confederate Pub. Co., 1956.

Oates, Stephen B. Confederate Calvary West of the River. Austin U. of Texas Press, 1961.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Wash. Govt. Ptg. Office, 1914.

Rea, Ralph. Sterling Price; Lee of the West. L. R., Pioneer Press, 1959.

Rolle, Andrew F. The Lost Cause; the Confederate Exodus to Mexico. Norman, Okla.; U of Okla. Press, 1965.

Smith, Herbert H. Brazil - The Amazons and the Coast. N. Y. Scribner's, 1879.

Thomas, David Y. Arkansas and Its People. N.Y., Amer. Hist. Soc., 1930.

------- Arkansas in War and Reconstruction, 1861-1874. Little Rock, U. D. C., 1926.

The War of the Rebellion; a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C., Govt. Ptg. Office, 1888.

Woodruff, William E. With the Light Guns in '61-'65. Little Rock, Central Printing Co., m 1903.

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SAM CORLEY CAMP # 841, UNITED CONFEDERATE VETERANS

by

Dale P. Kirkman

On June 1, 1896, a group of ex-Confederate soldiers met in the office of Quarles & Moore at Helena, for the purpose of organizing a camp of verterans. Several names were suggested for the camp, but it was finally decided to name the new camp after some soldier who had gone into the Civil War from this place. The group selected for its name that of Rev. Samuel Corley, a brave Presbyterian minister.

Rev. Corley, or Major Corley, was with Dobbins' Regiment, 1st Arkansas Cavalry. He had fought at the Battle of Helena in 1863, and after the Confederates withdrew towards Little Rock, he was killed in the engagement at Fourche Bayou in that same year. Col. R. C. Newton, commanding the 5th Arkansas Cavalry, had this to say about Major Corley: "In the engagement at Fourche, the brave Major Samuel Corley, commanding Dobbin's regiment, was killed while fighting in gallant style. To that command it was an irreparable loss, and in his death the country was deprived of one of its bravest and most devoted officers."¹ Sometime prior to 1886, according to a U. D. C. scrapbook at the Phillips County Library, Major Corley's remains were removed to the Confederate Cemetery at Helena, and his headstone is easily discernible across the roadway from the Confederate shaft.

Major John J. Hornor was elected Commander of the camp, Greenfield Quarles was elected Lt.-Commander, Robert Gordon, Sr., adjutant and Charles Wooten, Treasurer. A call was put out for all ex-Confederate soldiers in Phillips County to join. The first reunion of Confederate Veterans that Helena delegates attended was at Richmond, Va., in 1896, and the new camp's delegates were Major Hornor, Major P. O. Thweatt and Col. Cad Polk.

A reunion was held at Nashville, Tenn. in 1897, and a local committee was appointed to raise funds for the whole camp to go. U. C. V. badges were ordered to be worn by the members and also a uniform hat was selected to be worn at the Nashville convention. A contract was made with the Iron Mountain Railroad to take a special train from Helena to Nashville without having to make a change, cost to be $6.70 round trip. The Paul Anderson Camp of Marianna was invited to go with the men from here. N. B. Turner was elected Commander for the reunion, as Commander Hornor had to serve on Gen. Shaver's staff while in Nashville. The group was ordered to meet at City Hall preparatory to catching the train, with "forty rounds of ammunition and three days rations" to move on Nashville.

A reunion was held at Memphis in 1901. Arrangements were made with the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad to have a special train leave Helena every morning during the reunion, and return the same evening, ticket cost, 1¢ a mile. J. C. Rembert made a trip to Memphis to get places for the veterans to stay. He located some 60 places at the Jefferson St. School, with cots,

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¹John M. Harrell, Confederate Military History, Arkansas.

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sheets and blankets furnished, and also janitor service, at $ 1.00 per person. The Sam Corley Camp requested that their comrade, Gen. James C. Tappan, wear his uniform in the parade at Memphis, as it had been kept in good condition through the years. (At this time, Gen. Tappan was the only general from Phillips County still living, except for Gen. D. C. Govan, who had lived out of the county for many years).

Following is as complete a list of Sam Corley Camp # 841 as could be compiled from several different rosters. By 1919, the list only contained 24 names. As far as can be ascertained, the last remaining members of the camp were Robert Gordon, Sr., died 1929; Clarence Quarles, died 1930; W. A. McClelland, died 1930; C. L. Moore, died 1931. The starred names were the original organizers of Sam Corley Camp.

Regiments with the largest representation of men from Phillips County in the list below were:

Dobbins' 1st Arkansas Cavalry Regiment --- Gen. A. S. Dobbins
15th Arkansas Infantry Regt. (also called 1st) ---Gen. P. R. Cleburne
13th Arkansas Infantry Regiment --- Gen. J. C. Tappan
2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment --- Gen. T. C. Hindman
25th Arkansas Infantry Regiment --- Col. Charles Turnbull
6th Arkansas Infantry Regiment --- Gen. Alexander T. Hawthorne

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REMEMBERING WITH MR. O. D. BUTTERICK

by

Carolyn R. Cunningham

I spent a fascinated hour with Mr. O. D. Butterick, while he remembered aloud some things about his family and himself. The first Butterick came to Phillips County about 1868. He was Mr. Butterick's father, Charles Joseph Butterick, who was then about ten years of age. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1858, the first child of a millwright, who traveled from mill to mill to do repair work. The little boy's mother was a Morris, and her father owned the land that is now the heart of Cincinnati.

When this child was six years old he started to school in Louisville, Kentucky. At noon on his first day, his aunt came to school to get him. His mother had died that morning. That one half day was all the schooling he ever had.

It was impossible for the boy's father to keep him, traveling as he did, so he did as many fathers in those days when they lost the mother of their children -- he farmed his son out, so to speak. His father would place him with a family, they would have him work on the farm all summer, and when winter came, send him on. He developed a stomach ailment and the doctor thought a warmer climate would be good for him, so when his father found a family named Nance who were coming south, he asked if they would bring his son. They agreed to do so, and he started on a venture that was perhaps as exciting to that little boy as the idea of a trip to the moon for our boys of today.

In Louisville, he went aboard a flatboat with the Nance family, and it was many days and nights of floating down the river before he finally came ashore at what is now known as Phillips Bayou. The Nance family farmed, and there are no descendants here now that Mr. Butterick knows about.

One tale Mr. Butterick remembers his father telling was about a fellow by the name of Mitchell, better known as "the Swamp Angel." He lived back in the swamps, and when someone murdered his father, he in turn killed the murderer. He refused to be arrested and shot it out with the law officers. Somehow it came about that Mitchell and Mr. Butterick's father were on the same boat. Three officers converged on the boat; Mitchell got the drop on them, disarmed them, got in a nearby skiff, made Charles Butterick get in it and row him across the St. Francis River. People were in sympathy with the "Swamp Angel" and helped to protect him. He escaped capture at that time and Mr. Butterick does not know the final outcome. But it was a time of great excitement at Phillips Bayou.

On a farm a mile or two north of Phillips Bayou lived Jack Myrick and his niece, Mary Ann. In 1880, she became the bride of Charles Butterick. One of the things they began housekeeping with was a solid walnut bedroom suite. The only piece of it left is a graceful table which has a place of honor in the Butterick living room.

Soon after their marriage, this young couple moved to near Haynes, where he worked on the farm of John C. Lynch, two or three miles from Haynes. The living was hard there in those early days and it was out so far. Three babies were born to them and died there, so in the late 1880's they moved nearer their old home -- they moved to Helena.

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Mr. Butterick went to work for Mr. Si Lingg, who was American and not Chinese as the name indicates. He owned a bottling company and made soda pop. The bottling company was housed in a long narrow building, 50 or 60 feet long and maybe 20 feet wide. It was located on College Street north of Walker. Later on after Mr. Lingg died, the building was cut in half and the back brought up to sit beside the front, and made into residences. They are still standing.

Later Mr. Butterick went into the grocery business. His store was on Arkansas between Pontotoc and Chickasaw Streets. He was there for 25 or 30 years. During this time there were five children born, three of whom are still living. Besides Mr. O. D. Butterick, they are Mrs. A. B. Lewis and Miss Charlene Butterick, both of Memphis.

Orin D. Butterick was born in 1891. When about ten years old, he was riding a newly repaired bicycle and crossing a bridge with no bannisters. He lost his balance and raced head-on into the ditch. He was immediately fished out and rushed home. Dr. Russwurm, who patched up many Helenians, was sent for and upon arrival found Orin had a broken arm. He caught the arm at the elbow and the boy's father caught it at the wrist and they began to pull, to get it straightened and ready to put into splints. About this time, the mother began to scream loudly and Mr. Butterick says that the louder she screamed, the worse the pain got.

Sometime after recovery from the bicycle wreck, Orin rode the train way out to Lexa to spend the weekend with his boyhood chum, Lewis Wells. On the return trip, a negro boarded the train at Latour. He was quite drunk, brandishing a pistol and threatening everyone. It was thought he intended a train robbery, but unfortunately for him, there was a U. S. Marshall hot on his heels. As the Marshall came walking through the car right behind the would-be robber, who was fumbling for his pistol, ten year old Orin hit the floor under his seat. A moment later he heard three shots ring out. When he came our from under the seat, the robber was dead.

The uncle of his friend, Lewis, was Elbert Bonner. He came from Lexa to Helena in a wagon for monthly supplies. One time they wanted Orin and another pal, John H. Sanford, to go home with them for a visit. They started out, walking a while and riding a while, through the hills to Lexa. They would go out College extended through the woods and hills and pick up what is now 4th St. Road.

But Orin got sick and they phoned his parents. His father rushed to Pillow Livery Stable, hired a horse and buggy, and continued to rush all the way to Lexa and back to bring Orin home. He had chills and fever and was naturally doctored with calomel and quinine -- what else? He was luckier than the horse, which fell over dead a day or two later.

In 1921, Mr. Butterick married Miss Clarice Aldridge, step-daughter of Mr. Harry Bloom. She was born near Batesville, Mississippi, but moved to Helena in 1898 with her parents. They have one son, Dr. Orin Butterick, Jr., who was born in 1924. He married the former Miss Jeanette Kimble and they have eight sons and one daughter. They live in Memphis where Dr. Butterick is engaged in thoracic and cardio-vascular surgery.

Mr. Butterick is retired from the cotton business now, but for many years he was a cotton classer and cotton buyer. His first job was with W.A. Short & Co. Mr. Short was the father of Mrs. Sadie Kirkman. This company was located on the third floor of the building on Cherry St. just north of Wayland's Furniture Store. He later went into business for himself.

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PHILLIPS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIP ROSTER FOR 1965-66:

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