In June 1863, Confederate Commander Theophilus Holmes sought to take pressure off of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by attacking the Union-held town of Helena, Arkansas. Fort Curtis was not directly attacked at the Battle of Helena since the Confederacy focused its attacks on the outlying batteries. In 1811 the steamboat New Orleans called there, opening a prosperous era of river traffic. [33] Holmes made a pledge that he would take personally responsibility for the results of the assault if it failed. As you know, our black history is very limited in some areas. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. [8] He thought the attack would be too costly, and instead suggested placing an artillery battery along the Mississippi river to intercept Union shipping. The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. Visualizing the Red Summer. Helena, city, seat (1830) of Phillips county, eastern Arkansas, U.S., port of the Mississippi River, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and adjacent to the city of West Helena. [10], Once formed, the plan called for Price, with his 3,095 infantry, to move from Jacksonport to Cotton Plant on June 22, along with Marmaduke's 1,750 cavalry; that 1,339 infantry commanded by Brigadier General James F. Fagan would move from Little Rock to Clarendon, and that Brigadier General Lucius M. Walker would screen Helena with his 1,462 cavalry. More atrocities were later reported, including cutting souvenirs from black bodies and . 10. Arkansas Residents Make a Case for Reparations 100 Years after the Elaine Massacre. American Prospect, September 30, 2019. https://prospect.org/justice/arkansas-reparations-elaine-race-massacre/ (accessed August 16, 2022). Details remain difficult to verify. Elaine was probably the largest massacre of black people in post-Civil War history, yet no federal investigation was ever conducted. The Nevada County Depot in Prescott was photographed circa 1960 with the Reader Railroad engine in the foreground. The cases of the Elaine Twelve were litigated on two separate tracks. In December 1860, the state of South Carolina seceded from the United States, as a result of several disagreements with the federal government, slavery chief among them. Price was to attack the Union center, focusing on Battery C on Graveyard Hill. [13], Helena, Arkansas is home to historic buildings such as the Sidney H. Horner House and the Centennial Baptist Church. A shooting incident that occurred at a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union escalated into mob violence on the part of the white people in Elaineand surrounding areas. New York: Anchor Books, 1967. [20]. I am wondering if any group, agency, or government entity ever developed a list of the 100 or 237 black lynchings in 1919 in the Elaine area during that evil time in black history. [4] After, a loss of rail service in early 2015, a successful effort was launched by the Helena-West Helena/Phillips County Port Authority to have freight service restored. Elaine Race Massacre: Red Summer in Arkansas. 100 years after hundreds of African Americans were reportedly killed in Elaine, Arkansas, a memorial is set to bring details of the tragedy to light Some observers say the number of people who. Joseph Bledsoe's Missouri Battery was brought up to provide artillery support, and two of its guns opened on the Union positions. [47] Price's advance was led by the 9th Missouri Sharpshooter Battalion, who sighted the Union positions on Graveyard Hill. Police say that Borum was . 5. Crime fighting efforts in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas are getting a big boost from the federal government. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. 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]. 1831-12-25 Louisiana & Arkansas are first states to observe Christmas as holiday. By early morning Oct. 1, the sheriff sent white veterans from the American Legion post to suppress what he deemed an insurrection. Brough, requesting that U.S. troops be sent to Elaine. The converging attack would be difficult, and the generals interpreted Holmes' order to begin the attack at "daylight" differently. By contrast, 16 white males were lynched during the same time. While its deepest roots lay in the states commitment to white supremacy, the events in and around Elaine (Phillips County)stemmed from tense race relations and growing concerns about labor unions. There is no danger of any lynching. [53] Bledsoe's two guns were driven off, but neither side could defeat the other. Watson was but one of 97 Black people lynched in Arkansas in the decade spanning 1891 to 1900 93 males and 4 females. The research below is a comprehensive historical analysis of every major league baseball player born in Arkansas. 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. They aimed to hire a lawyer to represent them with the landlords. 1859-02-28 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery. [4] Gov. I first learned of the Elaine Massacre today, February 7, 2017, and I am both saddened and angered. 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. Any information would be helpful. St. Francis National Forest is immediately to the north. McWhirter, Cameron. A willow tree memorializing the African American lives lost in a 1919 massacre in Elaine, Arkansas, in one of the deadliest racial conflicts in U.S. history, was chopped down this week . On the other hand, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in New York, which had sent Field Secretary Walter White to investigate the events in Elaine, contested such allegations from the outset. He also told how soldiers brought a suspected union leader to his company store for interrogation, poured kerosene over his body and tossed a match. They shot him and left him to die. 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. A couple in Garland County is suing Officer Ryan Wingo in Garland. Roberts, Michael. There were 1,636 Confederate casualties and 205 Union casualties.[6]. Williams, Lee E., and Lee E. Williams II. [5], By early 1863, holding Helena provided the Union with significant advantages, such as serving as a supply depot for the ongoing Vicksburg campaign, providing a marshalling point for a future advance against Little Rock, and securing northeastern Arkansas. Robert Palmer noted that in the mid-1930s Helena was "the blues capital of the Delta". One of the convicted 12 wrote to her from prison, requesting help. Whitaker, Robert. HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Hard on the banks of the Mississippi River, the World still turns, one page at a time. That was 97 years ago but little has changed in the hearts of people. 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. It was a system intended to keep black people in debt and dependent upon planters. Low Villains and Wickedness in High Places: Race and Class in the Elaine Riots. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 285313. [86] Prentiss claimed the capture of more than 1,100 Confederate soldiers and stated that over 300 dead Confederates were buried by Union troops. The Elaine Race Riot. Masters thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers (now Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University), 1927. There she interviewed the 12 prisoners accused of murder, their wives, and many others, publishing her findings in a 1920 pamphlet. 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. Updates? Taylor, Kieran. [82] Either around the time that Battery C fell to Price's attack[83] or as Fagan's withdrawal was ending, Brooks placed a 6-pounder field gun on a hilltop and began to fire on the Union positions, but Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery and Tyler drove it off. All Rights Reserved. No one even took the time to confirm the number of kills, as if these people were as worthless as termites. They described the wholesale massacre of hundreds of unarmed and defenseless black people, and the torture used to secure confessions. [51] His dismounted cavalrymen were pushed back by the 29th Iowa and part of the 36th Iowa Infantry Regiment, and his flank was threatened by the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Indiana Cavalry Regiment, which were commanded by Powell Clayton. It is impossible to establish an accurate death toll. Brough responded by gaining permission from the Department of War to send more than 500 battle-tested troops from Camp Pike, outside of Little Rock (Pulaski County). [59], Holmes lost 1,636 of the 7,646 men he had taken into the battle: 173 killed, 687 wounded, and 776 missing. Wormser, Richard, director. In their view a deliberately planned insurrection had occurred, where black sharecroppers had intended to murder the plantation owners to seize the land. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. Online at https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/ (accessed November 9, 2022). The community, originally settled in 1797 and first called Monticello and then St. Francis, grew around a warehouse built for barge shipping. [2] Fighting occurred to the north in Missouri during 1861,[3] but in early March 1862, Confederate forces were defeated in northern Arkansas at the Battle of Pea Ridge. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. Give a donation in someones name to mark a special occasion, honor a friend or colleague or remember a beloved family member. They scorched and burned homes with families inside, slaughtered and tortured others. [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". All the white people had to do was stay away from the church while the meeting was going on. [9] Further vacillation by Holmes ended when Confederate cavalry reported on June 14 that the garrison at Helena had been weakened. He brought the men and women deemed insurrectionists to the Phillips County jail in Helena. The Elaine, Arkansas, Race Riots, 1919. Special Issue. Race, Labor, and Violence in the Delta: Essays to Mark the Centennial of the Elaine Massacre. Legal disfranchisement stripped them of the vote and an ability to share in any benefits of citizenship. Creating an account gives you access to all these features. Confident that a single regiment could hold off Walker, Salomon pulled the 1st Indiana Cavalry towards Fort Curtis and a new line was formed in that vicinity using the Indiana cavalrymen and parts of the 33rd Iowa, 33rd Missouri, and 35th Missouri. Helena is the eastern portion of HelenaWest Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. I have been trying to close a chapter in my family history. [56], Around the time Fagan's men approached Battery D at 7:00 am, Price's attack began. As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 6,323 people, 2,312 households, and 1,542 families residing in Helena. [13] Rains and high stream levels slowed Price's approach,[14] and though Marmaduke's men reached Switzer's on time, the infantry was delayed at the crossing of the Cache River. According to several accounts from white witnesses, both vigilantes and the troops committed acts of barbarism. Here are some tips. The next morning, the Phillips County sheriff sent out a posse to arrest those suspected of being involved in the shooting. On Oct. 31, a grand jury indicted 122 black men and women for offenses ranging from murder to night riding. - Police in Helena-West Helena are investigating a deadly shooting that happened on Friday night. [88] The historian Ed Bearss reports Union losses as 57 killed, 146 wounded, and 36 missing for a total of 239,[89] and historian Thomas W. Cutrer provides the same figures as Bearss. Union, Reaction, and Riot: The Biography of a Rural Race Riot. Anthony, Steven. Cortner, Richard C. A Mob Intent on Death: The NAACP and the Arkansas Riot Cases. In Phillips County, this struggle directly challenged planter dominance. Founded in 1871, the Helena World is one of Arkansas' oldest newspapers. Wells-Barnett, Ida B. The economy, traditionally based on cotton and lumber, became increasingly industrialized after World War II, especially at West Helena (founded 1909, incorporated 1917). The conflict began on the night of September 30, 1919, when approximately 100 African Americans, mostly sharecroppers on the plantations of white landowners, attended a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America at a church in Hoop Spur (Phillips County), three miles north of Elaine. Krug, Teresa. http://visualizingtheredsummer.com/ (accessed August 16, 2022). [16] Holmes and Fagan reached Clarendon on June 26. The Underlying Causes of the Elaine Riot of 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 20 (Spring 1961): 95104. Men and women migrated to Northern factories or joined the military, creating a labor shortage in the cotton fields and lumber mills. [45], Price's attack had been delayed. 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. 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. Anyone can read what you share. [36] Brooks' Confederates also encountered a camp of African-American refugees. Some of the refugees were killed, some were taken prisoner, and the camp was burned by the Confederates at some point during the battle. [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. With labor conflicts escalating throughout the country at the end of World War I, government and business interpreted the demands of labor increasingly as the work of foreign ideologies, such as Bolshevism, that threatened the foundation of the American economy. Elaine: A Premeditated Massacre. MA thesis, Southern New Hampshire University, 2022. 14 Best Things to Do in Helena-West Helena (Arkansas): Arkansas Welcome Center Phillips County Museum Fort Curtis Delta Cultural Center Robert Nighthawk Gravesite Quapaw Canoe Company King Biscuit Time Marker Sonny Boy Williamson's Boarding House Helena Confederate Cemetery Pillow Thompson House Freedom Park Frank Frost Gravesite Jackson: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1972. 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. The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. This was a . The governor, who was reported as saying he was going to Elaine to obtain correct information, accepted the authority of the committee in return for its commitment that no lynchings would take place in Helena (Phillips County). Instead, the troops either shot or arrested them. Troops and vigilantes, he noted, went into the canebrakes in search of negro desperadoes, leaving dead bodies lying in the road a few miles outside of the city. Salomon would make many of the decisions in the upcoming battle. [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. Authorities say Wallace and other police officers were looking for Howard, who was wanted on charges in connection to a shooting in Helena-West Helena about a week ago. [25] Trees were felled in front of the Union lines, although it is unclear if they were simply left where they fell as an obstruction or were converted into abatis. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. New York: Crown, 2008. Holmes planned and executed three different failed attacks on the town. [99], Helena was reinforced and in mid-August, Union forces began a campaign against Little Rock, with Helena as the staging ground. Washington is where we met. ; and in the plantation region of the Arkansas Delta. Consequently, plantation owners and lumber mills had to pay higher wages to have the cotton picked or timber milled. [90] Casualties were heaviest among the 33rd Iowa and the 33rd Missouri, while the 2nd Arkansas Infantry Regiment (African Descent) saw the first combat wounds suffered by African American soldiers in Arkansas during the war. Rev. [84] Marmaduke received orders to withdraw at about 11:00 am, but being angry at Walker over Walker's failure to support his attack and believing that Walker faced only a small force, decided against informing Walker of his retreat. On November 5, 2019, the Elaine Twelve were memorialized on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail in Little Rock. [69] Believing a full-fledged attack to be a suicide charge, McRae had his men simply fire on the rifle pits in hopes of diverting attention away from Fagan's command. [25] Prentiss' men had advantages over the Confederates through their defenses, batteries, and naval support. The Arkansas Democrat sent . [74] Holmes ordered Parsons to attack Battery D to support Fagan, but as Parsons' men were too badly disorganized at the time, McRae was given the order to attack. [40] At 4:05 am, Fagan's skirmishers sighted the Union position, and with the day dawning, Fagan attacked with three infantry regiments. [50] Price's command consisted of the brigades of Brigadier Generals Dandridge McRae and Mosby Monroe Parsons, and was led by the 9th Missouri Sharpshooter Battalion and a company of Arkansans local to the Helena area. The violence occurred not only in the more familiar urban centers of Chicago and Washington, but also in the hinterlands of Omaha; Charleston, S.C.; Longview, Tex. The Helena time zone is Central Daylight Time which is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). They ushered her out the door." Helena-West Helena Police confirmed they were called to the Walmart Thursday just after noon to a report of a subject having a. The Delta city has been awarded a $1 million grant speci [18] The Confederate columns finally united on July 3,[19] and that day began the final movement towards Helena. Johnson, J. Chester. 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. Believing that the Confederates were preparing to attack again, Prentiss requested reinforcements, which arrived from Memphis, Tennessee, on July 6. [22] Although Prentiss was in command of the general district around Helena, the garrison itself was operationally commanded by Brigadier General Frederick Salomon, the commander of the division. The charges ranged from murder to nightriding, a charge akin to terroristic threatening (as defined by Act 112 of 1909). Upset about unfair low wages, they enlisted the help. Jones began to raise money in the black community in Little Rock for the defense of the Elaine Twelve, as the convicted men came to be known. [21] Walker lost only 12 men; historian Mark Christ attributes this to the weakness of his attack. The Confederates withdrew on July 4 of 1863. The perpetrators suppressed coverage of the events, and the victims, terrified black families, had no one to turn for help. 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. The. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. To Those Known and Unknown: The Elaine Massacre Memorial. Arkansas Times, August 2019, pp. Hundreds of black citizens were killed in Elaine, Ark., a century ago this week. [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. One hundred years ago this week, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history unfolded in Elaine, Ark., a small town on the Mississippi. One union member, Ed Ware, told her that men had fired into the Hoop Spur church, killing several people, then burned it down the next day with bodies inside. A memorial to those killed in the Elaine massacre of 1919 was dedicated on Sunday. The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. [8] There they formed a plan to concentrate Confederate forces against Helena, although Holmes was still nervous about the proposed attack, as he was worried that it might fail. #7 of 8 things to do in Helena Historic Sites Write a review About Suggested duration 2-3 hours Suggest edits to improve what we show. Brough once again stayed their executions until the Arkansas Supreme Court could again review the cases. The City of Helena is located in Phillips County in the State of Arkansas. Vigilantes from Mississippi seized another union member, Lula Black, and her four children from her house, knocked her down, pistol whipped and kicked her, then took her to jail. As of the 2000 census, this portion of the city population was 6,323. On September 10, Union troops took Little Rock. New York: Pegasus Books, 2020. Race relations in this area of Arkansas are currently quite strained for a number of reasons, including the events of 1919. https://ualrexhibits.org/elaine/ (accessed August 16, 2022). On September 29, 2019, a memorial to those who died during the massacre was dedicated in downtown Helena-West Helena. [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]. Descendant of Arkansas Elaine Massacre Victims Push for Restorative Justice. Facing South, October 7, 2020. https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/10/descendants-arkansas-elaine-massacre-victims-push-restorative-justice (accessed August 16, 2022). On September 29, 2019, a memorial to those who died during the massacre was dedicated in downtown Helena-West Helena. [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. Later in the year, Union troops used Helena as a staging ground for their successful campaign to capture Little Rock, Arkansas. Woodruff, Nan Elizabeth. [46] Obstructions on the line of approach also disorganized Price's ranks. When Abraham Lincoln, the newly elected President of the United States, called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion, this proved the catalyst for the southern state of Arkansas to secede and join the Confederacy. 2431. So sad. 1861-02-12 State troops seize US munitions in . After Marmaduke's withdrawal, Union troops attempted to attack Walker's flank, but the Confederate cavalrymen withdrew from the field before they were caught. Price's men fell back and abandoned Graveyard Hill. The committee met with Gov. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. In 2 U.S. Cities Haunted by Race Massacres, Facing the Past Is Painful and Divisive. NPR, December 11, 2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/11/1137090651/elaine-massacre-tulsa-race-riot (accessed December 12, 2022). If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. America cannot address the inequality, poverty, inadequate education, the racially biased criminal justice system, and the limited life chances of black people that define contemporary society until the nation confronts and acknowledges this history. The official narrative presented a picture at odds with reality. [48] They were now in front of Battery D.[50], Marmaduke has his own problems in his sector on the line. By days end, countless black women, men and children had been slaughtered. Charles H. Brough of Arkansas and a World War I veteran, Col. Issac Jencks, personally escorted 583 soldiers, including a machine gun battalion, from Camp Pike in Little Rock, the state capital, to Elaine. Elaine sits in Phillips County, on one of the many bends in the Mississippi, roughly 95 miles southwest of Memphis. [14], Late on July 3, Fagan sent a patrol commanded by Colonel William H. Brooks to secure the junction of the two roads leading to Little Rock. Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. The trial had occurred in a setting dominated by a mob spirit, violating the prisoners right to due process. The Helena-West Helena Police Department says the body of Fredrick Willis, 23, of Helena-West Helena, was found late Tuesday evening. The assaults failed, and Vicksburg fell the same day. Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. [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. Since Prentiss was aware of a coming attack, the Confederates would not have the advantage of surprise. Helena, city, seat (1830) of Phillips county, eastern Arkansas, U.S., port of the Mississippi River, about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and adjacent to the city of West Helena. Telephone lines to Elaine were cut. Police say detectives have interviewed several people who might have been with . [75] Price then ordered Parsons to attack Battery D, but was informed that McRae had already been ordered to do that. News of the shooting quickly reached the county seat of Helena. Ellis, Mark. In Helena, the age distribution included 32.5% of the population under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older.
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