The good folks of Prescott and Nevada County are working feverishly to raise the final $70,000 needed to acquire the Prairie d'Ane battlefield site. The prairie, which the French originally named Prairie des anes after the wild burros which grazed there, is just to the west of the Nevada County seat of Prescott. Perhaps the acquisition of the battle site will not only help preserve this historic area, but will also draw attention to the county and its interesting history.
Nevada County was established during Reconstruction on March 20, 1871, the land being taken from Columbia, Hempstead, and Ouachita counties. The legislation creating the county did not address the issue of how Nevada should be pronounced, and visitors today are often surprised to hear the name pronounced with a long "a" in the second syllable--Ne-vay-da.
Nevada County is situated geologically in the West Gulf Coastal Plain where the sandy loam soils are ideal for growing trees, despite the presence of a large natural prairie. The Caddo Indians occupied the area when Europeans arrived. Stephen and Polly Vaughan were early arrivals, possibly as early as 1812, settling on the Little Missouri River.
The southern portion of what would become Nevada County was conducive to large-scale farming, with the result that enslaved people were common in that area. With 99 slaves, North Carolina immigrant Thomas Mendenhall was the largest slave owner in the region.
At first, the Civil War had little impact on local residents. But during the spring of 1864 the Union Army, located in occupied Little Rock, launched the Red River Campaign, sending more than 13,000 soldiers, 800 wagons, 12,000 horses and mules, and 30 pieces of artillery into southwestern Arkansas. The first real engagement took place on Prairie d'Ane, but neither side wanted a full-scale battle, and the two armies threw up defensive earthworks. When the Union forces finally attacked the rebel lines, they discovered that the Confederates had retreated. Later, the rebels struck the Union lines as they marched toward Camden, inflicting some losses during a battle near the village of Moscow--just to the east of modern Prescott.
The end of the war and the advent of Reconstruction brought great changes. In addition to the creation of the county in 1871, the Cairo and Fulton Railroad laid tracks through the area the following year. The new county government was housed in a country church at the village of Mount Moriah, there being no actual towns in the area, but it was soon moved to Rosston, and in 1877 voters selected the new railroad town of Prescott as the permanent county seat.
Prescott was pretty much willed into existence by one man: Robert Burns, recently of Little Rock. Settling in the village of Moscow, Burns convinced railroad surveyors to plat a town consisting of 24 blocks arrayed on each side of the tracks. The precise origin of the town's name is uncertain. Burns erected a store within days.
In 1880, after only seven years' existence, Prescott could boast of 1,253 residents, churches, a bank, and a newspaper, the Nevada County Picayune, which still publishes today.
The Picayune was a feisty little newspaper, its early pages filled with calls for improvements to the town. In the Aug. 27, 1888-edition, the editor demanded that the city authorities do something about "those green mud holes in [a local] brickyard" which the editor believed were "full of malaria." In the same issue the editor complained of the stench caused by the city jailer emptying chamber pots on a vacant lot.
Agriculture and timber are the major economic forces in Nevada County. Established at Prescott in 1891, the Ozan Lumber Co. became one of the largest timber companies in the state.
Nevada County has produced several prominent politicians, the most notable being Gov. Thomas C. McRae. Serving during 1921-1925, McRae was the last Confederate veteran elected governor. Previously, he had served 18 years in Washington as 3rd District congressman.
As both a congressman and governor, McRae was an advocate for progressive causes, including calling for a national income tax. As governor, he worked hard to improve the state's dismal highway system and its pathetic public school system. He failed to get a state income tax approved, but his efforts did result in the creation of a severance tax as well as a tax on tobacco. McRae was successful in creating a tuberculosis sanatorium for black Arkansans, which was named for McRae.
While McRae gets the spotlight, my favorite politician from Nevada County was Rufus King Garland Jr. Rufus was the elder brother of the famed Augustus H. Garland, Whig politician, Confederate senator, Arkansas governor, U.S. senator, and President Cleveland's attorney general of the United States.
Rufus was an outspoken man, in some ways the opposite of his younger brother. Though a member of the Confederate House of Representatives in Richmond, Rufus Garland publicly criticized the conduct of the war. After the Civil War, while his brother found success as a "Redeemer Democrat," Rufus cast aside both political parties and joined the insurgent Greenback Party. He was the Greenback nominee for governor in 1882.
The next time you drive down I-30 to Texarkana, make a detour through Prescott. It is a struggling town, but the Nevada County Depot and Museum alone is worth the visit.
Tom Dillard is a historian and retired archivist living near Glen Rose in northern Hot Spring County. Email him at Arktopia.td@gmail.com.
Editorial on 06/04/2017