12/21/2023 0 Comments Ben adair strangelandWeĬould get nothing to eat, so we soon found a patch of blackberries and made our evening meal, and under some bushes on a soft bed of leaves we slept till morning's soft sun rays touched our weary brows and reminded us that another day's travel was awaiting us. I wore a pair of new boots that soon had my feet blistered. The afternoon sun shone very warm, and we walked very fast for a while. After consulting an old citizen and getting the desired information as to the route we should travel, we soon left the city of Little Rock in our rear, I having concluded to go home with the Texas boy, as at that time I had no place in view to go, and one place seemed as inviting to me as another. We were soon joined by two more of the vanquished from Arkansas. While we were talking, and he was insisting that I go with him to his Texas home, we were joined by two young men from Louisiana trying to make Walking up Markham street, reflecting upon the sins of rebellion and the vastness of the Yankee army, I met another one of the vanquished army of Tennessee trying to make his way back to his home and mother in Texas, where he had left when a boy, four years ago, and had not seen his home since, which place he swore, if he ever reached, he would never leave again. Up to this time has never been done, and if I was ever out of the Union (as we were all accused) I am still out, for so far I have never done anything to get back, or if any one did anything to put me back I am not aware of it. One very hot July afternoon in 1865 I could have been seen walking up Markham street, carrying all my earthly possessions, consisting of an old oilcloth satchel containing a very limited wardrobe, an old pocketbook in my pocket, containing considerably less than five dollars in cash, and a parole from a Federal officer, stating that I had been a soldier in the Confederate army and in rebellion against the United States Government, and promising not to violate this parole until lawfully exchanged, which To give out nothing but the facts as they came under my observation, or have been related to me by some old-timer long since gone to his reward.Īs to how I came to be in Arkansas at that early date does not figure in or belong to this sketch, but as some of my most vivid recollections of Arkansas carry me back east of Sevier County, I will commence this sketch on Markham street, Little Rock. However, as I have made this agreement, I will proceed and do the best I can, hoping that I may not be criticised too severely, for I propose After this agreement with the editor, and reflecting over the matter, I have concluded that I have agreed to do something overreaching my abilities. I have been importuned by some of my old friends, as well as the editor of the DeQueen Bee, to give the public my recollections of this part of the country, dating from the close of the war until a more recent date. History of the early days of Sevier County, especially the western part of it. No man was better qualified for the task than he, having been born at Ultima Thule and having spent all of his days at or near that place, except the four years of the war between the States, which time he served in the Confederate army, but owing to ill health and disabilities of age, this task was never finished, and with his death passed away the possibilities of some interesting McKean agreed to write some reminiscences of the early days of Sevier County, Arkansas. The Arkansas Historical Association, edited by John Hugh Reynolds, Vol. Early Days in Sevier County, Arkansas and MURDER OF THE WRIGHT FAMILY
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