Arkansas SCV

Putting the Arkansas Division on the same page!

Arkansas SCV - Putting the Arkansas Division on the same page!

Category Archives: Research

Robert C. Newton Camp Member Remembers Arkansas Soldier

Vernon Cloos, member of the Robert C. Newton Sons of  Confederate Veterans Camp in Little Rock, Arkansas reports on Lt. Omer Weaver, the first known casualty of the War from Little Rock:

On August 10, 1861 at the battle of Oak Hills, Missouri, or Wilson’s Creek as the Yankees call it, the first known casualty from Little Rock was Lt. Omer Weaver of the Pulaski Light Artillery. He fell mortally wounded when he was struck in the chest by a solid shot during a counter-battery duel with a Union battery commanded by his former Artillery instructor Captain Totten; Totten was commander of the Little Rock Arsenal during the Little Rock Arsenal Crisis of February, 1861.

Robert C. Newton was the first Captain of this battery when it was formed as the Totten Battery in Little Rock in December 1860. Omer Weavers’ body was brought back to Little Rock following the battle and was buried next to his father in Mt. Holly Cemetery. After visiting the Oak Hills Battle field last spring I understand the effort put out for Lt. Weaver;  the Ozark Mountains are quiet the drive with today’s roads that they did not have back then. Weaver was from one of Little Rock’s prominent families and his brother George survived in the Capital Guards Co. A 6th Ar.

Vernon Cloos,
Adjutant- Robert C. Newton Camp
Sons of Confederate Veterans

Symposium on James H. Burton, Master Armorer of the Confederacy at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History

 On January 9, 2010, the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History will host a one-day symposium titled, “James H. Burton, Master Armorer of the Confederacy.”  The event features lectures on James Henry Burton and his role in promoting small-arms manufacturing in the South as well as Burton’s Confederate uniform, which has been on exhibit at the museum since its opening in 2001.  This project is supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Admission is free.  In addition to hearing the lectures, participants will have one final opportunity to view “Lee and Grant,” the NEH on the Road traveling exhibit developed by the Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City, Missouri.   The exhibit has been at the museum since November 12 and will close on January 9.   

In 1861, with very few resources, the Confederacy attempted to arm itself.  Several factories and armories were created to help meet these needs.  James Henry Burton played a major role in the South’s venture in small-arms manufacturing.  Born in Virginia in 1823, Burton was apprenticed to a machine shop at the age of sixteen and his abilities and talent were quickly recognized.  Ten years later he became acting master armorer at Harpers Ferry.  Burton’s mechanical genius flourished at Harpers Ferry. He invented an altered form of Claud Minié’s rifle bullet, which became the primary small-arm projectile during the Civil War.  Burton left America for England, where he became chief engineer of the Royal Small Arms Factory producing the Enfield Rifle.  After his return to America, he became the premier small-arms expert in the Confederacy.  Special speakers at this program are Dr. Matthew Norman, author of Colonel Burton’s Spiller and Burr Revolver: An Untimely Venture in Confederate Small-Arms Manufacturing and Jessica Hack, noted textile conservator from New Orleans. 

The museum, located at 503 E. 9th St. in Little Rock, is open 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Saturday and 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. Sunday.  For more information, contact Stephan McAteer at 501-376-4602 or visit the museum’s website at www.arkmilitaryheritage.com

3rd Arkansas Camp (El Dorado) to meet Nov. 9, 2009

MEETING & PROGRAM: Our next meeting will be Monday November 9 at 6:30 p.m. inside the South Arkansas Historical Foundation located at 510 North Jackson Street. Our guest speaker will be David Rockett of Monroe, LA. Mr. Rockett was born in El Dorado, AR and grew up in Moss Point, MS. He was raised in a Southern Baptist family and was a high school jock. After a quick stint in the US Air Force he married his high school sweetheart, finished a double-major at FSU, only to move back to Mississippi and then to Louisiana for work in sales — first as a stock-broker/financial planner, and then as a Charitable Gift Planner using life insurance. He became a Southern/Confederate in the early 80′s reading and learning much, only to become an Agrarian by the early 1990s. The Rocketts live in relative bliss in Monroe, LA as Presbyterians and have eight children — five grown and married and three still at home. Mr. Rockett, in his presentation, will familiarize uswith Agrarianism.

RECENT EVENTS: This past weekend, Old Washington State Park hosted a campaign-style reenactment and was expected to draw reenactors from neighboring states. We hope to have a report from this event at the meeting. The Alf Fuller Camp recently hosted the Battle of Brown’s Plantation. The event was attended by reenactors from the Arkansas and Louisiana Divisions. Along with a battle reenactment, the event featured a mock trial and mock hanging of a captured yankee. UPCOMING EVENTS: Parade season is upon us again. The first parades in our area will be the Natchitoches Festival of Lights Parade on Saturday December 5 followed by the Farmerville Christmas Parade that same evening. More events will be posted as they are announced.

CONFEDERATE HISTORY: Daniel Harris Reynolds, of Lake Village, Arkansas, was a lawyer, Confederate general, and state senator who is remembered as one of the state’s most loyal citizen-soldiers during the War of Northern Aggression. Serving initially in northwest Arkansas, Colonel Reynolds and the Chicot Rangers (a cavalry regiment raised in Chicot County) were dismounted shortly after Elkhorn Tavern. Unhappy about serving as infantry, the regiment soon transferred to the Army of Tennessee and served in the Western Theater (that is, east of the Mississippi River) for the rest of the war. By request from his colleagues, the Confederate government eventually promoted Reynolds to brigadier general. His left leg was amputated below the knee due to a wound received in the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, on March 19, 1865. The bullet entered through his horse’s right breast and exited into Reynolds left leg, causing the bone to shatter. After the war, hereturned to Lake Village, reestablished his law practice, and received a presidential pardon from Andrew Johnson. From 1866 to 1867, he served as a state senator for Ashley, Chicot, and Drew counties until yankee Reconstruction policy forced the removal of Confederate veterans from elected office.

The Truth Behind the Hanging of David O. Dodd by Miss Ellie

From time to time, there is an article submitted to the world-famous Arkansas living historian newsletter Joshes & Chubs that would seem appropriate to share with the Arkansas Division.  This month, Miss Ellie was looking through some research regarding David Owen Dodd’s hanging.  What she found sheds light on why the Union Army chose to hang him.  Below is an excerpt from that article.  The full article can be found here: Click Here For Full Article.

As you all know, I am a fanatic about women in history. For years I have searched for some evidence of the assistance David O. Dodd received from three women, Minerva Cogburn, Mary Dodge, and Mary Swindle. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a book at work, Forever We Remember, A Tribute to David Owen Dodd, by Anthony C. Rushing. There it was, the truth behind the hanging of DOD.

~Miss Ellie- From the 2008 edition of Joshes & Chubs