Governor Henry Rector sent all Arkansas troops (the state militia) to Pocahontas, because the Military Road, the primary government-built road for entry into Arkansas, entered the state just north of Pocahontas, at Pitman’s Ferry. There were many slaves held in Randolph County, however, and slavery was considered as “normal” here as it was in the deep south. Since most of Randolph County is hill country, we didn’t have huge flat land plantations with hundreds of slaves on them. While the Randolph County residents in 1861 did not thirst for separation from the United States, they did oppose Federal coercion of states that did secede, and felt a kinship with other southerners. But after holding a state convention on the subject in 1861, Arkansas declared its secession from the Union on May 6, 1861. Like many other states in the upper American south, Arkansas was not eager to separate itself from the United States.
The Pocahontas Civil War Monument was erected in remembrance of the great suffering by all the people of Randolph County during the American Civil War.
