Essay On Pope County Civil War

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Treys Smedley The Pope County Militia War During this skirmish bushwhackers and jayhawkers took hundreds of acres. Pope County was in such bad shape that it went into martial law. This period from1865 to 1874 was the rebuilding time after the Civil War. During the civil war, Pope County was divided about slavery. The Northern part of Arkansas didn’t want or need slaves due to the rocky soil that is poor farm land. The Southern half, with mostly agricultural economy, needed slaves to run their farms. These differences led to rising tensions in the state. Following the Civil war Governor Isaac Murphy appointed a Sheriff Archibald Dodson Napier. Soon after both Napier and his Deputy were shot just outside of Dover. His assassin was George W. Newton. Newton later assassinated the county clerk William Stout. Violence broke out on July 5th, 1872, after an attempted assassination on the Deputy, in response Ozara …show more content…

For a while it seemed like everything had calmed down. But, On February 16,1873, Captain Herriot returned to Dover and went to the courthouse. On that day a local group had planned to lure Herriot from the courthouse to the grocery store and murder him there. When this plan failed John Hale went into the courthouse and drug the Captain into the hall. Before Hale could shoot him, George Rye had fired. Following the death of Dodson, J.B. Erwin of Russellville filled Dodson’s spot as Sheriff, until the following election in the fall, when Joseph Petty, a former Confederate soldier took his spot as Sheriff. Would-be murderer, Reece Hogan, was made the Chief Deputy. The next election for governor would mark the end of the Reconstruction period in Arkansas. The next election for governor would result in Elisha Baxter becoming governor. The resurging Democratic Party allowed Pope County murderers to assume high political positions. As violence in the country continued, the peace was soon