The Civil War in Lawrence County

Lawrence County's 1860 census counted 8,875 white residents, three free people of color and 494 enslaved people. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says sentiment leaned Confederate and more than seventeen units were organized. The county's biggest change came after the war, in politics. In 1868 Reconstruction legislators carved Sharp County from Lawrence's western half, and the county seat moved from Smithville to Clover Bend. When Democrats regained power the next year it moved again, to Powhatan, where it stayed until voters sent it to Walnut Ridge in 1963.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Powhatan Historic State Park — 10 mi
  A river port and county seat on the Black River whose 1888 courthouse, 1873 jail, log house and academy still stand where they were built, with a state archives branch in the same park.
• Davidsonville Historic State Park — 15 mi
  The ghost-town site of Arkansas's first post office, courthouse and federal land office, on the Black River, with open-frame outlines of the courthouse and a dogtrot house.
• Old Independence Regional Museum — 28 mi
  A Batesville museum in a 1936 WPA sandstone National Guard armory, telling the story of the twelve counties that once formed Independence County, with a research wing for local records.

More markers nearby

• Skirmishes in Lawrence County — steps away
• Capt. Wiley C. Jones — steps away
• Skirmish Near Smithville — steps away
• Oldest Town Site in Arkansas — 15 mi