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Exploration and early
inhabitation
The first
European to reach Arkansas was the Spanish
explorer Hernando de
Soto at the end of the 16th century. Arkansas is one of
several U.S. states formed from
the territory purchased from
Napoleon Bonaparte in the
Louisiana Purchase. The early Spanish or French
explorers of the state gave it its name, which is probably a
phonetic spelling for the
Illinois word for the Quapaw
people, who lived downriver from them.
Other
Native
American nations that lived in Arkansas prior to
westward movement were the Quapaw, Caddo,
and Osage nations. While moving
westward, the Five
Civilized Tribes inhabited Arkansas during its
territorial period.
Early 19th Century territory and
statehood
The region
was organized as the
Territory of Arkansaw on July 4,
1819, but the territory was admitted to
the Union as the
State of Arkansas on
June 15, 1836, as
the 25th state and the 13th
slave state.
Arkansas
played a key role in aiding Texas in its war for
independence with Mexico, sending troops and materials to
Texas to help fight the war. The proximity of the city of
Washington to the Texas
border involved the town in the
Texas Revolution of 1835-36. Some evidence suggests
Sam Houston and his compatriots
planned the revolt in a tavern at Washington in 1834. When
the fighting began a stream of volunteers from Arkansas and
the eastern states flowed through the town toward the Texas
battle fields.
When the
Mexican-American War
began in 1846, Washington became a rendezvous for volunteer
troops. Governor Thomas S. Drew issued a proclamation
calling on the state to furnish one regiment of calvary and
one battalion of infantry to join the United States Army.
Ten companies of men assembled here where they were formed
into the first Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry.
Civil War
Arkansas
refused to join the
Confederate States of America until after
United States President
Abraham Lincoln called for
troops to respond to the attack on
Fort Sumter, South Carolina,
by Confederate forces.
The State of Arkansas seceded from the
Union on May 6,
1861. While not often cited in history,
the state was the scene of numerous small-scale battles
during the American Civil War.
Arkansans
of note during the Civil War include Confederate
Major General
Patrick Cleburne. Considered
by many to be one of the most brilliant Confederate division
commanders of the war, Cleburne is often referred to as "The
Stonewall of the West." Also of note is Major General
Thomas C. Hindman. A former
United States
Representative, Hindman commanded Confederate forces at
the Battle of Cane Hill
and Battle of Prairie
Grove.
Late 19th Century
Under the
Military Reconstruction Act,
Congress readmitted Arkansas in June 1868.
In 1874,
the Brooks-Baxter War shook
Little Rock and the state governorship which was finally
settled when Grant ordered that Joseph Brooks disperse his
militant supporters.
In 1881,
the Arkansas state legislature enacted a bill that adopted
an official pronunciation, to combat a controversy then
raging around the proper pronunciation of the state's name.
20th Century
After the
case Brown v.
Topeka Board of Education in 1957, the
Little Rock Nine incident
again brought Arkansas to national attention when the
Federal government was forced to again interfere in the
Arkansan capital. Orval Faubus,
governor at the time, sent the
Arkansas National Guard
to aid segregationists in preventing nine African-American
students from enrolling at Little Rock's Central High
School. by the fall of 1959.
Bill Clinton, the 42nd
President of the
United States, was born in
Hope, Arkansas. Before his presidency, Clinton served
nearly twelve years as the 50th and 52nd
Governor of Arkansas.
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