Early History of Phillips County

The Land, the Legends and the Lore

by Patty Smith

Published 2020

A Fiesty Little Lady

Emma Rightor

Most are familiar with the name, Nicholas Rightor, who came to Helena very early in the 1800’s, surveyed the land grants, platted the town of Helena in 1820, and with his wife, Minerva Putnam Rightor named the streets of our small town. But few know of his lively, last born child and daughter, Emma Rightor.

Emma was the eighth child of Nicholas and Minerva, and was born in 1842, only months after her father’s death in 1841. With seven brothers and sisters taunting, scolding and spoiling her, she learned to defend herself, albeit gracefully, early in life. She also managed to become fiercely independent as can be witnessed from her escapades during the Civil War.

She was one of the twelve girls who made the first flag for the Phillips Guards of the 13th Arkansas Infantry Regiment. She presented the flag to the Captain during a large assembly. Years after the war, the United Daughters of the Confederacy presented the battle scarred flag to the Phillips County Museum. The flag continues to this day to grace the walls of the museum.

Once the Federals captured Helena, it was strongly fortified and garrisoned. Sixty thousand Union troops surrounded the town and took possession of the many homes and churches. The Rightor home was no exception, and because Minerva Rightor was a deeply religious woman, she often retreated to the cupola to read and pray. Some of her prayers were written on the walls of the cupola, and out of regard for her religious convictions, the Federal General gave orders that the home was not to be destroyed.

Due to her intense rebel sympathies and activities, Emma kept her family in constant anxiety. Her many exploits on behalf of the Southern cause caused the family to often give bond for her lack of observance of Federal regulations. For example, one of the regulations stated that Confederate colors could not be worn, but Emma refused to obey. She was actually arrested in church by Federals while playing the organ and wearing a white dress with a red sash, most definitely the colors of the Confederacy.

Being a vivacious young lady and the belle of Helena, she had many young admirers, most of whom had joined the Confederate Army. When these young men wrote Emma, telling her how badly they needed supplies and equipment, Emma jumped to the task. When she discovered that a local preacher was driving out to preach a funeral, she asked to accompany him, smuggling socks, quinine, blankets, pistols, two pair of rubber boots and other items, hiding them under her hoop skirts. When they reached the ‘picket line’ and were told they had to be searched, she kept her composure and persuaded the guard that they had no contraband and were permitted to pass. In later years, she told her daughter that hoop skirts kept the South fighting as long as it did, because it was “one of the principal supply lines.”

At some point, her escapades caused a Federal Officer to tell her brother, Henry Rightor, to send her out of Helena. She left for Memphis, Tennessee with the officer and two friends on horseback. No sooner had she arrived in Memphis when she was again arrested, but influential friends came to her rescue. They remained in Memphis for several months, and then headed to Milton, Kentucky. At Milton, she was told of an ‘old’ bachelor whom many of the girls had tried in vain to capture. Needless to say, Emma went after him. Soon she married Benjamin Morris, a man about twelve years her senior. Emma and Ben remained in Milton, but every few years she, along with her family made the trip home to Helena. One of her sons exclaimed, “If she was on her way to heaven she’d want to stop by Arkansas.” because her heart was always in Helena.

Emma and Ben raised three children, Mary A (Mayme), Henry, and Emma. Ben died in 1914 in Milton, ten years before Emma died at age 82, in 1924. They are buried together in Milton, Trimble County, Kentucky.

For more information on Emma Rightor, see Phillips County Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, #’s 3 and 4, written by Mary Morris, daughter of Emma and Ben Morris.

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Primary sources for these articles include the Phillips County Historical Quarterlies, Shinn's Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas; Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Eastern Arkansas; Down the Great River by Glazier; Arkansas Historical Documents and Land Grants; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture; Courts and Lawyers on the Arkansas Frontier; Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi; USGenWeb; Ancestry.com; FamilySearch.org; Phillips DNA Project.