Holmes planned and executed three different failed attacks on the town. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2020. Fort Curtis was not directly attacked at the Battle of Helena since the Confederacy focused its attacks on the outlying batteries. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2018. [18] The Confederate columns finally united on July 3,[19] and that day began the final movement towards Helena. [78] About 100 men remained behind on the hill, pinned down by Union fire. The twelve men were: Frank Moore, Frank Hicks, Ed Hicks, Joe Knox, Paul Hall, Ed Coleman, Alfred Banks, Ed Ware, William Wordlaw, Albert Giles, Joe Fox, and John Martin. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Anatomy of Four Race Riots: Racial Conflict in Knoxville, Elaine (Arkansas), Tulsa and Chicago, 19191921. Over 7,500 Confederate troops led by Lieutenant General Theophilus Holmes attempted to capture Helena in hopes of relieving some of the pressure on the Confederate army besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi. [75] Price then ordered Parsons to attack Battery D, but was informed that McRae had already been ordered to do that. 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. How could anyone treat people with such horrendous disregard and violence? 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. Mitchell, Brian K. Soldiers and Veterans at the Elaine Massacre. In The War at Home: Perspectives on the Arkansas Experience during World War I, edited by Mark K. Christ. Helena is the eastern portion of HelenaWest Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. The decision by the justices was aided by two white men involved in the massacre who reversed their previous testimonies. The Confederates charged Fort Curtis in their last attack, but the heavy artillery inside kept the attack from reaching the fort. Helena-West Helena Police investigate a deadly Friday night - FOX16 1859-02-28 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery. Within days of the initial shoot-out, 285 African Americans were taken from the temporary stockades to the jail in Helena, the county seat, although the jail had space for only forty-eight. We Have Just Begun: Black Organizing and White Response in the Arkansas Delta, 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 265284. Online at https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown (accessed August 16, 2022). There, in the early fall of 1919, a different struggle for democracy was taking place. On September 29, 2019, a memorial to those who died during the massacre was dedicated in downtown Helena-West Helena. Courageously, she dressed up as a sharecropper and went to Arkansas. [30] The Confederates had support from the local white populace. The fire from the artillery battery did little damage, but the gunboat's shots were more effective. On the third try, the Confederates managed to overrun Battery C, but the men from the 33rd Missouri had time to spike one cannon and take supplies necessary for firing before the Confederates captured the guns. Smith, C. Calvin, ed. As they surrounded his house, another man inside, Charlie Robinson, tried to run away. 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 - Police in Helena-West Helena are investigating a deadly shooting that happened on Friday night. 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). This picture of the Magnolia Inn on Roosevelt Road in Little Rock was taken in 1969. The cases of the Elaine Twelve were litigated on two separate tracks. These 15 Photos Of Arkansas In The 1960s Are Mesmerizing [45], Price's attack had been delayed. For newspaper, the world is local - Arkansas Online Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020. Krugler, David F. 1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back. Phillips County Arrest, Court, and Public Records | StateRecords.org (Union leader Robert Lee Hill was hidden by friends during the violence and later escaped to Kansas.) The union had contracted with lawyer Ulysses S. Bratton, whose son, Ocier, was at this meeting. UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Additional support provided by the Arkansas General Assembly. The City of Helena is located in Phillips County in the State of Arkansas. Some of the refugees were killed, some were taken prisoner, and the camp was burned by the Confederates at some point during the battle. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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. American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta. South of Price, Fagan was to attack Battery D on Hindman's Hill, while Marmaduke, supported by Walker, was to attack from the north, take Rightor's Hill, and then use the hill as an artillery position to fire on Batteries A and B. Although the United States was on the winning side of World War I, supporters of American capitalism found in communism a new menace to their security. The Forgotten History of Americas Worst Racial Massacre, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/opinion/elaine-massacre-1919-arkansas.html. 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. By November 5, 1919, the first twelve black men given trials had been convicted of murder and sentenced to die in the electric chair. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.28. Price commanded the Confederate forces during the campaign, as Holmes had fallen ill.[100] Events during this campaign worsened the split between Marmaduke and Walker, and the former killed the latter in a duel on September 6. On October 31, 1919, the Phillips County grand jury charged 122 African Americans with crimes stemming from the racial disturbances. Elaine sits in Phillips County, on one of the many bends in the Mississippi, roughly 95 miles southwest of Memphis. Encyclopedia of Arkansas [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. The Elaine Massacre was by far the deadliest racial confrontation in Arkansas history and possibly the bloodiest racial conflict in the history of the United States. 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. Police say detectives have interviewed several people who might have been with . The Elaine massacre occurred on September 30-October 2, 1919 at Hoop Spur in the vicinity of Elaine in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. I have been trying to close a chapter in my family history. Central Arkansas Library System, Little Rock, Arkansas. Consequently, plantation owners and lumber mills had to pay higher wages to have the cotton picked or timber milled. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [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. As a result, sixty-five others quickly entered plea-bargains and accepted sentences of up to twenty-one years for second-degree murder. The CALS Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. https://ualrexhibits.org/elaine/ (accessed August 16, 2022). 14 Best Things to Do in Helena-West Helena (Arkansas) [16] Holmes and Fagan reached Clarendon on June 26. Neuman, Scott. McRae sent about 200 men to attack the battery, but they were unsuccessful. With the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, the Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi were cut off from the rest of the Confederacy. The Massacre: What Happened? - Elaine Race Massacre Sandy Diggs or Toby Diggs was the name father and son, Im trying to find what happened to them. (WMC) - Arkansas State Police were on the scene of a homicide investigation Tuesday night in Helena-West Helena. 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. The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America. In 1811 the steamboat New Orleans called there, opening a prosperous era of river traffic. Magnolia Inn LR. As of the 2000 census, this portion of the city population was 6,323. When he returned home, 150 men came to ransack his house, seizing his union meeting minutes and his Masonic lodge books. ed. The research below is a comprehensive historical analysis of every major league baseball player born in Arkansas. 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. [8], Helena is located at 343134N 90365W / 34.52611N 90.60139W / 34.52611; -90.60139 (34.526223, 90.601377).[9]. The Elaine Riot: Tragedy & Triumph. For the next year, it served as a command post for the Union since it was centrally located on the Mississippi River. New York: Peter Lang, 2008. Battle of Helena - Wikipedia [33] Holmes made a pledge that he would take personally responsibility for the results of the assault if it failed. On Oct. 7, Colonel Jencks declared the insurrection over and withdrew his troops. E. M. Allen, a planter and real estate developer who became the spokesman for Phillips Countys white power structure, told the Helena World on October 7, The present trouble with the Negroes in Phillips County is not a race riot. 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. The trials began the next week, with John Elvis Miller leading the prosecution. [8] He thought the attack would be too costly, and instead suggested placing an artillery battery along the Mississippi river to intercept Union shipping. 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). Fort Curtis 12 Points of Interest & Landmarks By Altekameraden The troops were aided by seven machine guns. One of the convicted 12 wrote to her from prison, requesting help. 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. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. 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. Honor or memorial gifts are an everlasting way to pay tribute to someone who has touched your life. They came to discuss membership in an organization called the Progressive Farmers and Household Union, which would help them secure a fair price for the cotton they picked and to buy land. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. [53] Bledsoe's two guns were driven off, but neither side could defeat the other. Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Massacre of 1919. The Elaine Legacy Center, in conjunction with the Dewitt Proctor Conference, held a Truth Hearing in February where 12 commissioners heard several descendants convey powerful stories of the massacre handed down through their families. White attorneys from Helena were appointed by Circuit Judge J. M. Jackson to represent the first twelve black men to go to trial. 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. Workers also had to buy food, clothing, household wares, tools, seed and fertilizer at the plantation commissary, which charged exorbitant interest rates. There were 1,636 Confederate casualties and 205 Union casualties.[6]. The assaults failed, and Vicksburg fell the same day. During the 1910 census, my great-great-great-grandfather was listed. [12] On June 22, Holmes revised the plan, ordering Price to concentrate at a location known as Switzer's, instead of Cotton Plant. Founded in 1871, the Helena World is one of Arkansas' oldest newspapers. It was a system intended to keep black people in debt and dependent upon planters. Marmaduke followed up the bombardment with an attack against Battery A, but fog that had concealed the advance dissipated and the attack was repulsed by the 29th Iowa, who mounted a counterattack. My sadness comes from the senseless murder of human beingsso many that there isnt an exact number, which is wrong on so many levels. Smith, a 1980 graduate of Helena-West Helena Central High School, graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1984. Taylor, Kieran. [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". Creating an account gives you access to all these features. Downtown Helena - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go - Tripadvisor Any information would be helpful. [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. In June 1863, Confederate Commander Theophilus Holmes sought to take pressure off of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by attacking the Union-held town of Helena, Arkansas. [78] Including the men of the 37th Arkansas, about 250 Confederates surrendered in Fagan's sector. [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. Union troops captured the city in July 1862, and had been using it as a base of operations. The Confederates withdrew on July 4 of 1863. The median age was 32 years. Americans have yet to reckon with this horrible past. Mulder, Brandon. [52] The two Union cavalry regiments were holding a position behind a levee. Brough once again stayed their executions until the Arkansas Supreme Court could again review the cases. Richard Hall asked my father to come to Mississippi to visit him. As they ran from the posse, the Colemans saw his neighbor, Jim Miller, and his family burned alive in their house. [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. The Elaine Lynchings: A Visit to Elaine, Arkansas, 100 Years After Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. For historic sites related to the battle, see. 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. 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. [36] Brooks' Confederates also encountered a camp of African-American refugees. My mother said she believed his uncle Richard was there, but he was afraid to come outside for fear someone would be there to take him back to Arkansas. The community, originally settled in 1797 and first called Monticello and then St. Francis, grew around a warehouse built for barge shipping. Williams, Lee E., and Lee E. Williams II. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2012. They stole Wares cow, two mules, one horse, a farm wagon, his Ford car and various household goods. 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. Inc. town, 1833; city, 1856. Stockley, Grif, Brian K. Mitchell, and Guy Lancaster. Women received domestic allotment checks from men in the military, giving them cash beyond the control of planters. Sneed, Arkansas: A ghost town in Jackson County, Arkansas, Sneed was abandoned in 1929 following an F5 tornado. [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 next morning, the Phillips County sheriff sent out a posse to arrest those suspected of being involved in the shooting. Wormser, Richard, director. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Elaine Massacre of 1919 - Encyclopedia of Arkansas Low Villains and Wickedness in High Places: Race and Class in the Elaine Riots. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 285313. 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). Jackson: University and College Press of Mississippi, 1972. The Moore defendants were granted a new hearing after the U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of Moore v. Dempsey, ruled that the original proceedings in Helena had been a mask, and that the state of Arkansas had not provided a corrective process that would have allowed the defendants to vindicate their constitutional right to due process of law on appeal. Local officials and businessmen conducted their own investigation of what had transpired in the Elaine area. [11] Holmes would accompany the attack. It is impossible to establish an accurate death toll. Research Materials for Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Race Massacres of 1919. What a travesty of justice. More controversial is the view that the military participated in the murder of blacks. Scipio A. Jones. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 31 (Autumn 1972): 201219. [70] Fagan's lines had been badly thinned by not only Union fire but also heat and exhaustion. The information you have provided is great for families that lost people and is greatly needed. 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. 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. Red Summer 1919: Tree honoring black victims cut down in alleged crime [18][19], Helena previously had a Catholic grade school for black children, St. Cyprian School; it closed in 1963. [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. Gov. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Major League Baseball Players Born in Arkansas Since Prentiss was aware of a coming attack, the Confederates would not have the advantage of surprise. [37] The felled trees slowed Fagan's main attack,[38] which was on the Upper Little Rock Road,[39] and forced the Confederates to leave their supply wagons and cannons behind. The committees narrative appeared in newspapers all over the country. Edgar Hoover and the Red Summer of 1919. Journal of American Studies 28 (April 1994): 3959. 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. He returned to Little Rock the next day and told a press conference, The situation at Elaine has been well handled and is absolutely under control. She was able to go one way. [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. Whayne, Jeannie M. Black Farmers in the Red Autumn: A Review Essay. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 68 (Autumn 2009): 327336. 10 Abandoned Places in Arkansas Being Reclaimed by Nature - OnlyInYourState The Elaine massacre was among the worst instances of racial violence in American history, and it took place in a region, the Delta, that defined itself by its violence and oppression. Crime fighting efforts in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas are getting a big boost from the federal government. Evidence shows that the mobs of whites slaughtered African Americans in and around Elaine. Fort Curtis was built in August 1862 by Union soldiers and freed slaves in Helena. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Helena was a deadly encounter. For additional information: Anthony, Steven. School children are now bused to Marvell 30 minutes north. Cortner, Richard C. A Mob Intent on Death: The NAACP and the Arkansas Riot Cases. The re-trials of the Ware defendants began on May 3, 1920. They still believe non-whites are a threat to their way of life. [86] Prentiss claimed the capture of more than 1,100 Confederate soldiers and stated that over 300 dead Confederates were buried by Union troops. 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.. 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. I first learned of the Elaine Massacre today, February 7, 2017, and I am both saddened and angered. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. The violence even claimed those who had nothing to do with the union efforts, such as brothers David Augustine Elihue Johnston, Gibson Allen Johnston, Lewis Harrison (L. H.) Johnston, and Leroy Johnston, who were returning to Helena from a hunting trip when they were attacked and killed on October 2. [62] Price's Missouri sharpshooters found positions from which they could pick off the gunners in Battery C.[63], Price's first attack was repulsed, as was a second. It was effectively an invasion. [59], Holmes lost 1,636 of the 7,646 men he had taken into the battle: 173 killed, 687 wounded, and 776 missing. [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. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988. But World War I brought changes to the Delta, as it did in Northern urban centers. He was elderly and handicapped, and ran too slowly. 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. and the Arkansas Riot Cases; Ida Wells Barnett, The Elaine Race Riot; Guy Lancaster, The Elaine Massacre and Arkansas: A Century of Atrocity and Resistance, 1819-1919; Grif Stockley, Blood in Their Eyes: The Elaine Arkansas Race Massacre., Nan Elizabeth Woodruff us an emeritus professor of African American studies and modern United States history at Pennsylvania State University and the author of American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta.. Corrections? (2000) 6,323; (2010) 12,282. In a final act of disrespect, they tied her dress over her head and left her body on the side of the road for several days. There she interviewed the 12 prisoners accused of murder, their wives, and many others, publishing her findings in a 1920 pamphlet. The 1920 census lists my great-great-great-grandmother as a widow. 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. The economy, traditionally based on cotton and lumber, became increasingly industrialized after World War II, especially at West Helena (founded 1909, incorporated 1917). [71] Both Price and Holmes were issuing orders independently,[72] and Holmes' orders were making things worse for the Confederates. 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. Wikipedia On April 10, 1929, an F5 tornado struck northern Jackson County. 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). This article is about the U.S. city. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. J. [5] The service was restored on October 1, 2015, and two new freight customers were quickly gained. By contrast, 16 white males were lynched during the same time. The findings blamed outside agitators for stirring up ignorant sharecroppers. Ms. Wells Barnett gathered testimonies that described the sheer horror of the massacre from those who endured and lived to tell their stories. [24][28] Prentiss also cancelled a planned celebration of the Fourth of July as a precaution,[19] and ordered the roads into town barricaded with felled trees. In June 1863, Confederate Commander Theophilus Holmes sought to take pressure off of Vicksburg, Mississippi, by attacking the Union-held town of Helena, Arkansas. The charges ranged from murder to nightriding, a charge akin to terroristic threatening (as defined by Act 112 of 1909). The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. She had been driven from her home in Memphis to Chicago because of her activism. The purpose of the meeting, one of several by black sharecroppers in the Elaine area during the previous months, was to obtain better payments for their cotton crops from the white plantation owners who dominated the area during the Jim Crow era. Little Rock: Parke-Harper Publishing Company, 1925. More atrocities were later reported, including cutting souvenirs from black bodies and . Black sharecroppers were often exploited in their efforts to collect payment for their cotton crops.