|
Augustus Hill Garland
Born: June 11, 1832, in Tipton County, Tennessee
Died: January 26, 1899, in Washington, D.C.
Buried: Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock
Served: 1874-1877
Arkansas’s twelfth
governor was born in Tennessee and
graduated from St. Joseph's College,
Bardstown Kentucky, in 1849. He was
admitted to the Arkansas Bar in 1853.
Garland was a delegate to the 1861
Secession Convention and to the Provisional
Congress. He served in the Confederate
States' House of Representatives from
1861 to 1864 and the Confederate Senate
from 1864 to 1865. In 1867 Garland
was elected to the U.S. Senate, but
was not allowed to take his seat because
Arkansas had not been readmitted to
the Union. He served as deputy secretary
of state, supported the 1874 Constitutional
Convention and was elected Governor
of Arkansas in 1874. During his single
term, he was faced with the state's
financial problems, which he substantially
reduced by the time he left office.
He implemented legislation that led
to the creation of the Branch Normal
College, where black teachers were
trained. He also advocated financial
support for schools for the blind and
deaf and led the effort which resulted
in the award-winning Arkansas pavilion
at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia. Garland did not run for
re-election in 1876, but was elected
to the U.S. Senate in January 1877.
He served until March 1885, when he
resigned his seat to become U.S. Attorney
General, a position he held until 1889.
Augustus H. Garland died on January
26, 1899 while arguing a case before
the Supreme Court; he is buried at
the Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock,
Arkansas.
|
|
William Read Miller
Born: November 23, 1823, near Batesville, Arkansas Territory
Died: November 29, 1887, at Little Rock, Arkansas
Buried: Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock
Served: 1877-1881
Miller, the first native Arkansan elected governor, studied law and entered
politics in 1848, when he was elected clerk of Independence County. He served
as clerk until 1854, and then was appointed state auditor. He was re-elected
in 1858, 1860, 1862, and again, in 1874. In 1876 Miller was elected Arkansas’s
12th governor and won a second term in 1878. During his tenure, he demonstrated
a strong commitment to public education and fought for programs that addressed
the state's financial problems. His reluctance to reverse jury-determined death
sentences earned him the sobriquet of “the hanging governor.” With
his support, the Legislature enacted measures to fund maintenance of the State
Blind Asylum and the Arkansas Industrial University. His personal honesty and
insistence on sound accounting practices led him to oppose the repudiation
of much of Arkansas’s bonded indebtedness by adoption of the so-called “Fishback
Amendment.” Passage was delayed, due to opposition from Miller, former
governor Garland and other prominent fiscal conservatives, although the bonds
were ultimately repudiated. Miller left office on January 13, 1881, and served
as the deputy treasurer of Arkansas from 1881 to 1882. In 1886 he was elected
state auditor and died late in the following year.
|
|
Thomas James Churchill
Born: March 10, 1824, near Louisville, Kentucky
Died: May 14, 1905, at Little Rock, Arkansas
Buried: Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock
Served: 1881-1883
Thomas James Churchill,
a native of Kentucky, graduated from
St. Mary's College in Bardstown in
1844 and studied law at Transylvania
University in Lexington. After serving
in the Mexican War, he migrated to
Arkansas in 1849, married the daughter
of Senator Ambrose Sevier and took
up farming near Little Rock. He was
appointed postmaster of Little Rock
in 1857, serving until 1861. During
the Civil War Churchill raised a regiment
of cavalry for the Confederacy and
in battle distinguished himself by
his combination of bravery and competence.
After the war he returned to law, farming
and politics: a Democratic supporter
of Elisha Baxter, Churchill was elected
state treasurer, serving from 1874
to 1880. In 1880 he was elected Governor
of Arkansas. During his term, regulations
were enacted for the practice of medicine
and surgery and a State Board of Health
was established. Funds were approved
for an insane asylum and for the construction
of a new school at Pine Bluff, and
short-line railroad freight and passenger
rates were regulated. Several controversies,
however, marred Churchill’s tenure
in office. In 1881, political violence
in Perry County led Churchill to direct
militia to restore order there, a highly
unpopular move. Also, during its 1881
session the legislature appointed a
special committee to audit the records
of Churchill’s tenure as state
treasurer. The committee found a shortfall
in the state funds, and a lawsuit was
brought against Churchill. He was ordered
to repay the missing money. After leaving
the governor's office, Churchill retired
from public life, farming and remaining
active in Confederate veterans’ organizations.
|
 |
James Henderson Berry
Born: May 15 1841, in Jackson County, Alabama
Died: January 30, 1913, at Bentonville, Arkansas
Buried: City Cemetery, Bentonville
Served: 1883-1885
James Berry moved with his family to Arkansas in 1848, where he was educated
in local schools. In 1861 Berry enlisted in the Confederate army, served as
second lieutenant, was wounded, and lost his right leg in the battle of Corinth,
Mississippi. After the war, Berry taught school, read law and entered politics:
he was admitted to the state bar and was elected to the state House of Representatives
in 1866, 1872 and 1874. In 1882 he was elected governor. During his tenure
the state reduced its indebtedness, short-term loans were repaid, and some
bonds were retired. Berry also pressed for collection of claims against former
state officials, including his predecessor, Thomas Churchill. A racial moderate
by the standards of his time, Berry personally intervened to prevent the lynching
of several African-American Howard County farmers accused of murdering a white
farmer. Also during his administration, the State Hospital for Nervous Disease
was established and the Arkansas Bar Association was chartered. In a less progressive
development, the “Fishback Amendment” was submitted to the voters
in 1884 and was ratified as Constitutional Amendment 1; under its terms the
state repudiated general revenue, railroad aid and levee construction bonds
sold during Reconstruction. Berry did not run for re-election and left office
in January 1885, only to be selected in March to fill the vacancy created in
the U.S. Senate when Senator Augustus Garland resigned. He occupied the Senate
seat for the next 22 years. In 1910, he was appointed commissioner of the Arkansas
History Commission and was given the assignment to mark all the graves of Confederate
soldiers who had died in Union prisons. Berry completed this task in December
1912, and died the following January in his home in Bentonville. |
|
|
