Sneed, Arkansas: A ghost town in Jackson County, Arkansas, Sneed was abandoned in 1929 following an F5 tornado. [26] Prentiss was originally intended to be reinforced by three vessels from the Union Navy, but only one, the timberclad USS Tyler,[a] was available when the Confederate attack struck. [17] Price's advance continued to be slowed by the terrain and weather, to the annoyance of Holmes, who rightly believed that the delay had prevented any remaining chance of the movement being a surprise. This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award. After hiding for two days in the woods, the Colemans returned home to find dead bodies of women and children scattered about their community. During the trials, Murphy became ill, and Jones became the principal counsel. [70] Fagan's lines had been badly thinned by not only Union fire but also heat and exhaustion. Rogers, O. When I was a little girl, I remember my father, Willie Hall, receiving a letter from his uncle, Richard Hall, who was his fathers brother. Find directions to Helena, browse local businesses, landmarks, get current traffic estimates, road conditions, and more. THE 5 BEST Things to Do in Helena - Tripadvisor UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Arkansas has a rich history of movie theaters, many that hold a spot on the National Register of Historic Places and are still in operation today. [56] Historian Robert E. Shalhope wrote that the Confederate attacks were repulsed "perhaps less by the powerful Union entrenchments than by their own poorly co-ordinated attack". He made no motion for a change of venue, nor did he challenge a single prospective juror, taking the first twelve called. For newspaper, the world is local - Arkansas Online But officials have not released exactly what happened. 10 Abandoned Places in Arkansas Being Reclaimed by Nature - OnlyInYourState After troops arrived in Elaine on the morning of October 2, 1919, the white mobs began to depart the area and return to their homes. New York: Anchor Books, 1967. Arkansas State Police investigating Helena-West Helena homicide - KAIT As they surrounded his house, another man inside, Charlie Robinson, tried to run away. [64] The advance up the hill had also thrown the Confederates into disarray. 10. They stole Wares cow, two mules, one horse, a farm wagon, his Ford car and various household goods. For additional information: Rate and review titles you borrow and share your opinions on them. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2020. Brough, who had ridden on the train with the troops and accompanied them on a march to the Hoop Spur area. The trials were a joke. Carrying an ax with their guns, they then moved to another home, where they murdered yet another union member, Frances Hall. As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 6,323 people, 2,312 households, and 1,542 families residing in Helena. The heroism of black soldiers in the war enhanced the struggle for black freedom, causing industrialists and plantation owners to brace themselves for the return of black veterans. Butts, J. W., and Dorothy James. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. The Elaine Massacre and Arkansas: A Century of Atrocity and Resistance, 18191919. According to Christ, Prentiss lost 220 of the 4,129 men he took into battle: 57 killed, 127 wounded, and 36 missing. Differing interpretations of Holmes' order to attack at daylight resulted in Brigadier General James F. Fagan's troops attacking Battery D unsupported, and Major General Sterling Price's attack against the Union center was made after Fagan's had largely fizzled out. [21], The Union troops in Helena were commanded by Major General Benjamin Prentiss and consisted of the Thirteenth Division of the XIII Corps. [101] The Helena Confederate Cemetery includes burials of Confederate soldiers killed during the battle, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,[102] as are the remains of the Union batteries.[103]. Americans have yet to reckon with this horrible past. In June 1863, Confederate Commander Theophilus Holmes sought to take pressure off of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by attacking the Union-held town of Helena, Arkansas. [88] The unit had not completed formation at the time of the battle and was poorly trained, so it had been positioned in an area where it was unlikely to be directly engaged. They aimed to hire a lawyer to represent them with the landlords. Black people were thus blamed, sentenced and jailed for their own massacre. Elaine: A Premeditated Massacre. MA thesis, Southern New Hampshire University, 2022. Seventy-nine-year-old Ed Coleman had remained at home with his wife when people fleeing Hoop Spur came to his house and warned them to leave. [7], Helena built a reproduction of Fort Curtis in 2012 that is free to the public. The community, originally settled in 1797 and first called Monticello and then St. Francis, grew around a warehouse built for barge shipping. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Williams, Lee E., and Lee E. Williams II. Krugler, David F. 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. Ark. pharmacist arrested after 'violent episode' at Walmart - WREG.com The wife of Frank Moore had hidden for four weeks. Federal Troops and the Elaine Massacres: A Colloquy. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 61 (Autumn 2002): 272283. 1E, 6E. To Those Known and Unknown: The Elaine Massacre Memorial. Arkansas Times, August 2019, pp. Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Massacre of 1919. Without Clayton's men first being driven from behind the levee, Rightor's Hill could not be taken. [57] Confusion was initially caused by the two brigades being separated by a ridge and unable to see each other. I first learned of the Elaine Massacre today, February 7, 2017, and I am both saddened and angered. The median income for a household in Helena is $18,662, and the median income for a family was $21,534. They secured new trials for six of the men, known as the Ware defendants, based on the fact that the trial judge had not required jurors to indicate the degree of murder on their ballot forms.The convictions of the other six men, known as the Moore defendants, were affirmed. Men and women migrated to Northern factories or joined the military, creating a labor shortage in the cotton fields and lumber mills. McWhirter, Cameron. At least two historians, including myself, have settled on a reasonable estimate of 200, recognizing that the toll was most likely far greater. This was murder on the part of the white population. Hostility toward him was so great from local white residents that, out of fear for his life, he was said to sleep at a different black familys house every night during the trials. Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. Helena is home to the longest running daily radio program in the U.S., King Biscuit Time. Believing that the Confederates were preparing to attack again, Prentiss requested reinforcements, which arrived from Memphis, Tennessee, on July 6. The Edwardian Inn is located on land occupied by Union forces during the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[14]. 2431. Stopford, Annie. On September 29, 2019, a memorial to those who died during the massacre was dedicated in downtown Helena-West Helena. Thrown into this highly combustible mix was the return to the United States of black soldiers who often exhibited a less submissive attitude within the Jim Crow society around them. In Moore v. Dempsey, the court in 1923 overturned the convictions of six of the Elaine 12, arguing that the confessions had been secured through torture. The Massacre: What Happened? - Elaine Race Massacre When my father arrived at the address that was on the letter, a lady answered the door, but she said his uncle didnt live there. The Elaine, Arkansas, Race Riots, 1919. Special Issue. The 1920 census lists my great-great-great-grandmother as a widow. He praised his troops for their restraint in suppressing the rebellion. Marmaduke paused his men, who were fighting dismounted, to wait for artillery to be brought up and for Walker's men to arrive in support. Still others described the barbarism of cutting off the ears or toes of dead negroes for souvenirs and the dragging of their bodies through the streets of Elaine. Gerald B. Lambert, the founder of Listerine, who owned 21,000 acres near Elaine, saw white men spread throughout the woods, firing at any suspicious person. Special thanks to the Department of Arkansas Heritage. We Have Just Begun: Black Organizing and White Response in the Arkansas Delta, 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 265284. HELENA WEST HELENA, Ark. Update (July 30): HELENA-WEST HELENA, AR - A man found shot to death on a city street earlier this week has now been identified. Many families described how they had run into the woods for safety from bloodthirsty mobs, hoping to surrender themselves to the federal troops for safety. Paul Hall was one of the twelve men who were slated to be electrocuted, and I believe he was my relative. Additional support provided by the Arkansas General Assembly. Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 19682022, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/, http://history.msu.edu/files/2010/04/Mark-Ellis.pdf, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/18/a-rural-town-confronts-its-buried-history-of-mass-killings-of-black-americans, https://lynching.cnsmaryland.org/2021/11/14/two-narratives-how-a-1919-massacre-tore-elaine-ark-apart/, https://prospect.org/justice/arkansas-reparations-elaine-race-massacre/, https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/10/descendants-arkansas-elaine-massacre-victims-push-restorative-justice, https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown, https://www.npr.org/2022/12/11/1137090651/elaine-massacre-tulsa-race-riot, https://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2018. Among the musicians who regularly visited and performed in the area at that time were Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Nighthawk, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Memphis Slim and Roosevelt Sykes. In their view a deliberately planned insurrection had occurred, where black sharecroppers had intended to murder the plantation owners to seize the land. Calls went out to the governor for federal troops. Instead, the troops either shot or arrested them. Though accounts of who fired the first shots are in sharp conflict, a shootout in front of the church on the night of September 30, 1919, between the armed black guards around the church and three individuals whose vehicle was parked in front of the church resulted in the death of W. A. Adkins, a white security officer for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, and the wounding of Charles Pratt, Phillips Countys white deputy sheriff. [60] The failure of the attacks on Batteries A and D allowed those positions to fire on Price's men, and Tyler and Fort Curtis added artillery fire as well;[61] Tyler had moved to a different location that allowed for better fire on Graveyard Hill after suppressing Brooks' men. Invest in the future of great journalism in Arkansas [87] Almost all of the Confederate losses were from the brigades of Fagan, Parsons, and McRae, who took 32 percent of their attacking forces as casualties. The county was named for Sylvanus Phillips, and the settlement was renamed (1821) for his daughter. [45], Price's attack had been delayed. Little Rock: Parke-Harper Publishing Company, 1925. This picture of the Magnolia Inn on Roosevelt Road in Little Rock was taken in 1969. Little Rock: Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, 2002. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. 1808-11-10 Osage Treaty / Treaty of Fort Clark, Osage Nation cedes territory in Missouri and Arkansas to the US. Livingston, Kelly, and Madison Peek. [30] The Confederates had support from the local white populace. No one even took the time to confirm the number of kills, as if these people were as worthless as termites. Selecting a player's name will bring up his statistics page and selecting a column title (Birthplace, Debut Year, Final Year) will allow you to re-sort the data. 14 Best Things to Do in Helena-West Helena (Arkansas) According to police, deputies were dispatched to the 1000 block of Cherry Street in regard to a shots fired complaint when they discovered 50-year-old Cornelius Borum on the front porch. That was 97 years ago but little has changed in the hearts of people. [31], On July 3, Holmes, Price, Walker, Fagan, and Marmaduke gathered to formulate the plan of assault. Telephone lines to Elaine were cut. Volunteers rush to aid animals at closed Ark. shelter - WREG.com The economy, traditionally based on cotton and lumber, became increasingly industrialized after World War II, especially at West Helena (founded 1909, incorporated 1917). Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. If we dont teach ALL AMERICAN HISTORY we miss a opportunity to learn about our part, examine our present, and plan and prepare for our future as, ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. [4] [Editors note: A professor at UA Little Rock is working to compile such a list.]. If we cant get people to recognize we matter, we will never get past the color of our skin being the reason for unemployment, violence, and intolerance by authorities simply because were black. [24] The Union garrison would face the coming attack with 4,129 men. As racialized violence spread in both Northern and Southern cities during the Red Summer of 1919, Delta planters were paying close attention. The Malco theater in Helena has served as both a place to see a movie and as a movie location in Arkansas. [46] Obstructions on the line of approach also disorganized Price's ranks. Attorney Jacob Fink, who was appointed to represent Frank Hicks, admitted to the jury that he had not interviewed any witnesses. The history of lynching in Arkansas (and its troubling modern-day Advancing his men through ravines and over hills, Price decided that his artillery would have to be left behind, although picked men from his batteries were to accompany the infantry to man the Union pieces that the attack expected to capture. In Little Rock and at the headquarters of the NAACP in New York, efforts began to fight the death sentences handed down in Helena, led in part by Scipio Africanus Jones, the leading black attorney of his era in Arkansas, and Edgar L. McHaney. [48] The 43rd Indiana Infantry Regiment had been facing Fagan's Confederates, and was reinforced by parts of the 33rd Iowa Infantry Regiment and the 35th Missouri Infantry Regiment, under orders from Salomon. The decision by the justices was aided by two white men involved in the massacre who reversed their previous testimonies. Union troops captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. To be released, the men would have to plead guilty to second-degree murder and a sentence of five years from the date they were first incarcerated in the Arkansas State Penitentiary. For example, H. F. Smiddy, one of the white witnesses to the massacre, swore in an eye-witness account in 1921 that several hundred of them began to hunt negroes and shotting [sic] them as they came to them. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the troops from Camp Pike engaged in indiscriminate killing of African Americans in the area, which, if true, was a replication of past militia activity to put down perceived black revolts. The obligations of the past weigh heavily upon the present. Helena-West Helena mayor explains how town got $1 million grant to [12] On June 22, Holmes revised the plan, ordering Price to concentrate at a location known as Switzer's, instead of Cotton Plant. [69][b], With Price's men shredded, Fagan's men exhausted, and the cavalry not making any progress, Holmes decided to order a withdrawal at 10:30 am. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. The 1919 cotton crop was the most profitable in history and they stood to make a good amount of money. In contrast, the correspondent for the Memphis Press on October 2, 1919, wrote, Many Negroes are reported killed by the soldiers. Other anecdotal information suggests that U.S. troops also engaged in torture of African Americans to make them confess and give information. She had been driven from her home in Memphis to Chicago because of her activism. When she came back to her neighborhood, a plantation manager, Billy Archdale, told her if she did not leave, he would kill her, burn her up, and no one would know where she was. Most of those who survived found their homes emptied of possessions that appeared in white peoples homes. [7], On June 9, Holmes learned that the strength of the Union forces in Helena was about 3,000 or 4,000 men, and decided against an attack. The convictions were again affirmed. Elaine Race Massacre: Red Summer in Arkansas. Burke, Jordan C. White Discipline Black Rebellion: A History of American Race Riots from Emancipation to the War on Drugs. PhD diss., University of New Hampshire, 2020. The white power structure in Phillips County formed a Committee of Seven, made of influential planters, businessmen, and elected officials, to investigate the cause of the disturbances. Upset about unfair low wages, they enlisted the help. Others had their charges dismissed or ultimately were not prosecuted. Edgar Hoover and the Red Summer of 1919. Journal of American Studies 28 (April 1994): 3959. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Any information would be helpful. One idea was an attack on Helena. Online at https://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot (accessed August 16, 2022). Holmes and Price arrived on the hill, and finding that the Union guns could not be used, ordered Tilden's Missouri Battery and Marshall's Arkansas Battery to begin to come up. [42] The Confederates came under fire from the 29th Iowa Infantry Regiment, which had been sent to reinforce the position at Rightor's Hill, and became disorganized. [32] Their plans were also hampered by poor reconnaissance. In 1925, Sharpe Dunaway, an employee of the Arkansas Gazette, alleged that soldiers in Elaine had committed one murder after another with all the calm deliberation in the world, either too heartless to realize the enormity of their crimes, or too drunk on moonshine to give a continental darn.. The trial had occurred in a setting dominated by a mob spirit, violating the prisoners right to due process. Creating an account gives you access to all these features. (Students Tapping Academic Resources for Success) Academy (alternative school), This page was last edited on 26 April 2023, at 19:58. Race, Labor, and Violence in the Delta: Essays to Mark the Centennial of the Elaine Massacre. A Rural Town Confronts Its Buried History of Mass Killings of Black Americans. The Guardian, August 18, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/18/a-rural-town-confronts-its-buried-history-of-mass-killings-of-black-americans (accessed February 22, 2023). As a result, sixty-five others quickly entered plea-bargains and accepted sentences of up to twenty-one years for second-degree murder. It was founded in 1833 by Nicholas Rightor and is named after the daughter of Sylvanus Phillips, an early settler of Phillips County and the namesake of Phillips County. The Memphis Press stated that white locals were so enraged that they were firing bullets into black corpses as they left Helena en route to Elaine. [8], Helena is located at 343134N 90365W / 34.52611N 90.60139W / 34.52611; -90.60139 (34.526223, 90.601377).[9]. By days end, countless black women, men and children had been slaughtered. [91][c] Holmes accused McRae of "misbehavior before the enemy", and in his report placed part of the blame for the failure on McRae, but McRae was cleared by a subsequent court-martial. A Union counterattack retook the hill and captured many prisoners,[79] with over 350 prisoners taken on Graveyard Hill alone. News of the shooting quickly reached the county seat of Helena. Major League Baseball Players Born in Arkansas What is certain is that the massacre cast a long shadow for decades, with fear of reprisals silencing those who witnessed and survived the terror. Damaged Heritage: The Elaine Race Massacre and a Story of Reconciliation. Their initial task was to appeal the sentences given to the Elaine Twelve and ask for a new trial based on errors committed by the trial court. Little Rock, AR. Two white members of the Phillips County posse, T. K. Jones and H. F. Smiddy, stated in sworn affidavits in 1921 that they committed acts of torture at the Phillips County jail and named others who had also participated in the torture. The Massacre of Black Sharecroppers That Led the Supreme Court to Curb Wikipedia On April 10, 1929, an F5 tornado struck northern Jackson County. How could anyone treat people with such horrendous disregard and violence? He began moving towards Jacksonport and met Major General Sterling Price and Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke on June 18. Walter White, of the N.A.A.C.P., reported first that more than 100 African-Americans were killed, later changing it to 250. Two Narratives: How a 1919 Massacre Tore Elaine, Ark., Apart. Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, November 15, 2021. https://lynching.cnsmaryland.org/2021/11/14/two-narratives-how-a-1919-massacre-tore-elaine-ark-apart/ (accessed August 16, 2022). Additional support provided by the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation Inc. [59] The cannons in Battery C were manned by men from the 33rd Missouri Infantry Regiment, and they, along with a portion of the 33rd Iowa, poured a deadly fire into Parsons' men, while Battery B fired at McRae's brigade. Workers also had to buy food, clothing, household wares, tools, seed and fertilizer at the plantation commissary, which charged exorbitant interest rates.
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