what happened to helena, arkansas

5. 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. Others had their charges dismissed or ultimately were not prosecuted. Hundreds of black citizens were killed in Elaine, Ark., a century ago this week. Further Deep South states seceded early in the next year, forming the Confederate States of America. Rogers, O. [9] Further vacillation by Holmes ended when Confederate cavalry reported on June 14 that the garrison at Helena had been weakened. Though some local white residents of Phillips County still contend that white people at the time acted appropriately to prevent a slaughter in the Elaine area in 1919, the modern view of most historians of this crisis is that white mobs unjustifiably killed an undetermined number of African Americans. [33] Holmes made a pledge that he would take personally responsibility for the results of the assault if it failed. 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). The economy, traditionally based on cotton and lumber, became increasingly industrialized after World War II, especially at West Helena (founded 1909, incorporated 1917). In the interim, Jones had secured the release of the other Elaine defendants. The Elaine, Arkansas, Race Riots, 1919. Special Issue. [20] Overall, the Confederates had 7,646 men. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. Historical Events. In June 1863, Confederate Commander Theophilus Holmes sought to take pressure off of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by attacking the Union-held town of Helena, Arkansas. In the last nine months, Elaine's last grocery store and restaurant closed. Clancy, Sean. [24] The Union garrison would face the coming attack with 4,129 men. The Malco theater in Helena has served as both a place to see a movie and as a movie location in Arkansas. During this Red Scare, the threat of Bolshevism seemed to be everywhere: not only in the labor strikes led by the radical Industrial Workers of the World but also in the cotton fields of Arkansas. Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Price was to attack the Union center, focusing on Battery C on Graveyard Hill. Estimates have ranged from 25 to 853, the latter from an Arkansas Gazette reporter who named no source. She was able to go one way. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. On Oct. 7, Colonel Jencks declared the insurrection over and withdrew his troops. These 15 Photos Of Arkansas In The 1960s Are Mesmerizing On the Laps of Gods: The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade a Nation. There, in the early fall of 1919, a different struggle for democracy was taking place. 10 Abandoned Places in Arkansas Being Reclaimed by Nature - OnlyInYourState [8], Helena is located at 343134N 90365W / 34.52611N 90.60139W / 34.52611; -90.60139 (34.526223, 90.601377).[9]. Updated: Aug. 19, 2020 at 8:40 AM PDT. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2022. [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. The Forgotten History of America's Worst Racial Massacre - New York Times From 1906 to 1946, Helena was a terminal point on the former Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, which provided passenger and freight service to Joplin, Missouri. Instead of pursuing a new hearing in federal court, in March 1923, Scipio Jones entered into negotiations to have the Moore defendants released. 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. So sad. Grif Stockley [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. . Bearden, Russell E. "Arkansas' Worst Disaster: The Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927." Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies 34 (August 2003): 79-97. [43] Meanwhile, on the Lower Little Rock road, Brooks ran into trouble, taking fire from Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery Regiment and Tyler. Telephone lines to Elaine were cut. . Sneed, Arkansas: A ghost town in Jackson County, Arkansas, Sneed was abandoned in 1929 following an F5 tornado. The Confederates withdrew on July 4 of 1863. [78] Including the men of the 37th Arkansas, about 250 Confederates surrendered in Fagan's sector. Some of the refugees were killed, some were taken prisoner, and the camp was burned by the Confederates at some point during the battle. Major League Baseball Players Born in Arkansas The Elaine Race Riot. Masters thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers (now Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University), 1927. Inc. town, 1833; city, 1856. Flood of 1927 - Encyclopedia of Arkansas The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. [4] Beginning in late April, Union (United States) forces followed up on the victory at Pea Ridge by moving into Arkansas, threatening the state capital of Little Rock, and occupying the Mississippi River town of Helena on July 12. [34] To protect Fagan's flank, Brooks' men were sent up the Lower Little Rock Road at around 1:30 am;[35] the detachment opened the battle in the early dawn by clashing with Union pickets. [25] Prentiss' men had advantages over the Confederates through their defenses, batteries, and naval support. [93][94] The battle also destroyed any positive relationships remaining between Holmes and Price,[95] with the former believing that the latter should have reinforced Fagan. 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. The Elaine Riot: Tragedy & Triumph. Online at https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/ (accessed November 9, 2022). During the American Civil War, the Battle of Helena was a deadly encounter. 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. Watson was but one of 97 Black people lynched in Arkansas in the decade spanning 1891 to 1900 93 males and 4 females. As for me, I have a timeline of ten years, 1910 to 1920, in the Delta of Bogy Township, Jefferson, Arkansas, just below Elaine, Arkansas. Eliza Miller Junior High School and Central High School, the designated secondary schools, were in West Helena. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life. Women received domestic allotment checks from men in the military, giving them cash beyond the control of planters. [13], Helena, Arkansas is home to historic buildings such as the Sidney H. Horner House and the Centennial Baptist Church. 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. I know for a fact my fathers people were involved in the Elaine Riot. J. Helena-West Helena School District operates schools in what was Helena. [46] Meanwhile, Fagan's men attacked the second Union line of works. Encyclopedia of Arkansas Helena is the seat of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (1965). 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. Enraged citizens fired at the bodies of the dead negroes as they rode out of Helena toward Elaine.. As of the 2000 census, this portion of the city population was 6,323. Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Massacre of 1919. Praying at the dedication of the Elaine Massacre Memorial. If you can, provide 1-2 sources of information backing up this correction. [47] Price's advance was led by the 9th Missouri Sharpshooter Battalion, who sighted the Union positions on Graveyard Hill. My anger comes from this being hidden/erased from history like the lives that were taken that day. According to Christ, Prentiss lost 220 of the 4,129 men he took into battle: 57 killed, 127 wounded, and 36 missing. Update (July 30): HELENA-WEST HELENA, AR - A man found shot to death on a city street earlier this week has now been identified. 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. If Elaine residents need something, they must drive to Helena, 30 minutes away - past silver metal silos with angled tops, modest one-story houses, John Deere tractors and the Lake View community, where a number of trailers and motor homes are parked along Old . One idea was an attack on Helena. ed. Price's men fell back and abandoned Graveyard Hill. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The Union guns concentrated on this attack and inflicted heavy casualties on it. To the north, Confederate cavalry commanded by Brigadier Generals John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker failed to act in concert and accomplished little. Since Prentiss was aware of a coming attack, the Confederates would not have the advantage of surprise. New York: Crown, 2008. Little Rock, AR. About 38.4% of families and 41.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 54.9% of those under age 18 and 24.1% of those age 65 or over. By November 5, 1919, the first twelve black men given trials had been convicted of murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair. Even worse from the planters perspective, the much-feared radical Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies, were rumored to be organizing in the fields and mills. Historian Robert Kerby describes the Confederate plan as "a model of brutal irresponsibility". The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. This article is about the Civil War battle. Trauma and Repair: Confronting Segregation and Violence in America. [30] The Confederates had support from the local white populace. [29] Remembering the surprise suffered by men under his command in the earlier Battle of Shiloh, Prentiss ordered reveille blown daily at 2 am. The. The city was a Union supply depot during the American Civil War, and the Battle of Helena (July 4, 1863) was a futile attempt by the Confederates to capture it. HWH Mayor Kevin Smith took to Facebook Wednesday morning saying the fatal shooting happened on North 6th Street. [5] The service was restored on October 1, 2015, and two new freight customers were quickly gained. As they ran from the posse, the Colemans saw his neighbor, Jim Miller, and his family burned alive in their house. Walter White, of the N.A.A.C.P., reported first that more than 100 African-Americans were killed, later changing it to 250. Joseph Bledsoe's Missouri Battery was brought up to provide artillery support, and two of its guns opened on the Union positions. Omissions? The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta. PhD diss., University of WisconsinMilwaukee, 2019. [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. The community, originally settled in 1797 and first called Monticello and then St. Francis, grew around a warehouse built for barge shipping. A jury convicted 12 black men in the murders of three white men, even though two of the deaths had occurred from white people accidentally shooting each other in a frenzy. No one even took the time to confirm the number of kills, as if these people were as worthless as termites. 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. The descendants of the wealthier white perpetrators, they insist, have profited, and continue to do so, from the suffering and loss that their families endured in 1919. [45], Price's attack had been delayed. Helena-West Helena mayor explains how town got $1 million grant to Once there, Holmes provided further orders for the advance: Walker was to screen Fagan's movement to Helena with part of his command, while Price continued on to Helena from Switzer's. [38] Either at 3:30 am[29] or shortly after 4:00 am, Fort Curtis fired a warning shot, alerting the Union defenders to the Confederate approach. 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. Arkansas governor Charles Hillman Brough told a St. Louis, Missouri, audience during the war that there existed no twilight zone in American patriotism and called Wisconsin senator Robert LaFollete, who opposed the war, a Bolshevik leader. In Phillips County, this struggle directly challenged planter dominance. The military placed several hundred African Americans in makeshift stockades until they could be questioned and vouched for by their white employers. The cases of the Elaine Twelve were litigated on two separate tracks. [65] Carried by momentum, some of Price's infantry charged down the hill towards Helena itself, but were driven off. Find directions to Helena, browse local businesses, landmarks, get current traffic estimates, road conditions, and more. Finally, on January 14, 1925, Governor Thomas McRae ordered the release of the Moore defendants by granting them indefinite furloughs after they had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Although the exact number is unknown, estimates of the number of African Americans killed by whites have ranged into the hundreds; five white people lost their lives. [54] Walker's men had encountered the felled trees across their path of advance, and though he threw forward a skirmish line, most of his men remained back at the barricades. He lost 121 acres of cotton and corn. Sharecroppers worked the land for a small share of the crop and were forced to sell their cotton to the landowners, who paid less than market prices. In previous months, racial conflict had occurred in numerous cities in America, including Washington DC; Chicago, Illinois; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Indianapolis, Indiana. He brought the men and women deemed insurrectionists to the Phillips County jail in Helena. 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. State police say Officer Wallace was shot around 6:11 p.m. Thursday outside the Delta Inn on U.S. Highway 49 in Helena-West Helena. Families of union members found no welcome when they returned to their homes. The white citizens of the county deserve unstinting praise for their actions in preventing mob violence., From this point forward, two versions of what occurred at Elaine exist.

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