On September 10, Union troops took Little Rock. Many denied the massacre had occurred, leaving accounts of the slaughter to witnesses, reports from Wells Barnett, and stories passed down through families of the victims. One hundred years ago this week, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history unfolded in Elaine, Ark., a small town on the Mississippi. The few who made it close to Fort Curtis were easily repulsed. Holmes noted that the defenses of Helena were stronger than he expected, but carried on with the attack anyway. The death toll was listed at 23, and many others were seriously injured. The Arkansas Gazette reported at least fifteen black bodies in Helena's streets and it's outskirts. Colonel Jencks sent all of the white women and children to Helena by train, ordered the immediate disarming of everyone and authorized the killing of black insurgents who failed to disarm. Watson was but one of 97 Black people lynched in Arkansas in the decade spanning 1891 to 1900 93 males and 4 females. [70] Fagan's lines had been badly thinned by not only Union fire but also heat and exhaustion. The converging attack would be difficult, and the generals interpreted Holmes' order to begin the attack at "daylight" differently. [42] The Confederates came under fire from the 29th Iowa Infantry Regiment, which had been sent to reinforce the position at Rightor's Hill, and became disorganized. Rogers, O. [74] Holmes ordered Parsons to attack Battery D to support Fagan, but as Parsons' men were too badly disorganized at the time, McRae was given the order to attack. #7 of 8 things to do in Helena Historic Sites Write a review About Suggested duration 2-3 hours Suggest edits to improve what we show. Two white members of the Phillips County posse, T. K. Jones and H. F. Smiddy, stated in sworn affidavits in 1921 that they committed acts of torture at the Phillips County jail and named others who had also participated in the torture. The decision by the justices was aided by two white men involved in the massacre who reversed their previous testimonies. Donations made to the CALS Foundation are tax-deductible for United States federal income tax purposes. Soon, word spread that blacks were attacking whites in Elaine. [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. Price was to attack the Union center, focusing on Battery C on Graveyard Hill. Wells-Barnett, Ida B. Helena is the eastern portion of HelenaWest Helena, Arkansas, a city in Phillips County, Arkansas. The Helena time zone is Central Daylight Time which is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This project is funded in part by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant award. [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. [66] Many men from the 7th Missouri Infantry Regiment (Lewis') were captured at this time. Late in the evening of Sept. 30, black sharecropper families gathered in the Hoop Spur church near Elaine. [96], Most of the Confederates withdrew from the area the next morning,[97] falling back to Jacksonport,[59] although Walker's men remained behind to harass any Union troops that sallied forth from the city. Dillard, Tom. American Congo: The African American Freedom Struggle in the Delta. They stole Wares cow, two mules, one horse, a farm wagon, his Ford car and various household goods. Barry, John M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. Through a partnership with local government and the federal government more than 20 crimes committed in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas have landed federal charges over the last two years. The Malco theater in Helena has served as both a place to see a movie and as a movie location in Arkansas. Anyone can read what you share. They shot him and left him to die. A willow tree memorializing the African American lives lost in a 1919 massacre in Elaine, Arkansas, in one of the deadliest racial conflicts in U.S. history, was chopped down this week . For example, H. F. Smiddy, one of the white witnesses to the massacre, swore in an eye-witness account in 1921 that several hundred of them began to hunt negroes and shotting [sic] them as they came to them. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that the troops from Camp Pike engaged in indiscriminate killing of African Americans in the area, which, if true, was a replication of past militia activity to put down perceived black revolts. The Battle of Helena was fought on July 4, 1863, near Helena, Arkansas, during the American Civil War. Ferguson, Bessie. They now verified that the planters had gone to the Hoop Spur church to destroy the union and that the posse had killed their own men, instead of the black people who had been accused. Livingston, Kelly, and Madison Peek. The Confederates charged Fort Curtis in their last attack, but the heavy artillery inside kept the attack from reaching the fort. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. Gov. Charles H. Brough of Arkansas and a World War I veteran, Col. Issac Jencks, personally escorted 583 soldiers, including a machine gun battalion, from Camp Pike in Little Rock, the state capital, to Elaine. 1808-11-10 Osage Treaty / Treaty of Fort Clark, Osage Nation cedes territory in Missouri and Arkansas to the US. The main attack broke through Battery C, but Union troops fended off the attackers and sealed the breach. The City of Helena is located in Phillips County in the State of Arkansas. Salomon would make many of the decisions in the upcoming battle. Major support provided through a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism. The trials were a joke. Facebook/Historic Arkansas Facts and Photos. [91][c] Holmes accused McRae of "misbehavior before the enemy", and in his report placed part of the blame for the failure on McRae, but McRae was cleared by a subsequent court-martial. Crime fighting efforts in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas are getting a big boost from the federal government. Voogd, Jan. Race Riots and Resistance: The Red Summer of 1919. Brough issued a stay of the executions to permit an appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court after the motions were denied. In their view a deliberately planned insurrection had occurred, where black sharecroppers had intended to murder the plantation owners to seize the land. [59], Holmes lost 1,636 of the 7,646 men he had taken into the battle: 173 killed, 687 wounded, and 776 missing. By days end, countless black women, men and children had been slaughtered. Vigilantes from Mississippi seized another union member, Lula Black, and her four children from her house, knocked her down, pistol whipped and kicked her, then took her to jail. The union had contracted with lawyer Ulysses S. Bratton, whose son, Ocier, was at this meeting. There were 1,636 Confederate casualties and 205 Union casualties.[6]. Online at https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown (accessed August 16, 2022). The convictions were again affirmed. As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 6,323 people, 2,312 households, and 1,542 families residing in Helena. Black guards returned the fire, killing a white agent of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Walter White, of the N.A.A.C.P., reported first that more than 100 African-Americans were killed, later changing it to 250. The heroism of black soldiers in the war enhanced the struggle for black freedom, causing industrialists and plantation owners to brace themselves for the return of black veterans. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. 2023 Encyclopedia of Arkansas. On the Laps of Gods: The Red Summer of 1919 and the Struggle for Justice that Remade a Nation. Colonel Jenckss report of his mission supported this view, claiming only two black people and one of his corporals had died. [80] Between 10:30 and 11:00 am, Fagan received orders to retreat from before Battery D. Part of the 37th Arkansas Infantry Regiment was trapped during the retreat and was captured. Anthony, Steven. In fact, local police were complicit in the killing of untold numbers of African-Americans. During the American Civil War, the Battle of Helena was a deadly encounter. Ellis, Mark. The wife of Frank Moore had hidden for four weeks. New York: Crown, 2008. [45], Price's attack had been delayed. J. 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.. 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). Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. 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). [21] Walker lost only 12 men; historian Mark Christ attributes this to the weakness of his attack. 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 Elaine Race Riot. Masters thesis, George Peabody College for Teachers (now Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University), 1927. 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. [98] The Confederate repulse at Helena had preserved the Union bridgehead in eastern Arkansas, and had parried an attempt to break Union control of the Mississippi River. [71] Both Price and Holmes were issuing orders independently,[72] and Holmes' orders were making things worse for the Confederates. This neglect by the government came in the face of people who merely sought to exercise their basic rights to secure a lawyer to defend their property. [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. Pop. [36] Brooks' Confederates also encountered a camp of African-American refugees. In contrast, the correspondent for the Memphis Press on October 2, 1919, wrote, Many Negroes are reported killed by the soldiers. Other anecdotal information suggests that U.S. troops also engaged in torture of African Americans to make them confess and give information. Historian Robert Kerby describes the Confederate plan as "a model of brutal irresponsibility". [7], Helena built a reproduction of Fort Curtis in 2012 that is free to the public. My anger comes from this being hidden/erased from history like the lives that were taken that day. [72] Many Confederates surrendered. Update (July 30): HELENA-WEST HELENA, AR - A man found shot to death on a city street earlier this week has now been identified. Ultimately, the Ware defendants were freed by the Arkansas Supreme Court after two terms of court had passed, and the state of Arkansas made no move to re-try the men. In the interim, Jones had secured the release of the other Elaine defendants. [64] The advance up the hill had also thrown the Confederates into disarray. http://visualizingtheredsummer.com/ (accessed August 16, 2022). New York: St. Martins, 2011. 1861-02-12 State troops seize US munitions in . Hundreds of black citizens were killed in Elaine, Ark., a century ago this week. They secured new trials for six of the men, known as the Ware defendants, based on the fact that the trial judge had not required jurors to indicate the degree of murder on their ballot forms.The convictions of the other six men, known as the Moore defendants, were affirmed. [88] The historian Ed Bearss reports Union losses as 57 killed, 146 wounded, and 36 missing for a total of 239,[89] and historian Thomas W. Cutrer provides the same figures as Bearss. By contrast, 16 white males were lynched during the same time. [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". ; and in the plantation region of the Arkansas Delta. 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. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. . In Helena, the age distribution included 32.5% of the population under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 22.1% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. 2431. Williams, Lee E., and Lee E. Williams II. On November 5, 2019, the Elaine Twelve were memorialized on the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail in Little Rock. 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. Read our Privacy Policy. [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. (WMC) - Arkansas State Police were on the scene of a homicide investigation Tuesday night in Helena-West Helena. [88] The unit had not completed formation at the time of the battle and was poorly trained, so it had been positioned in an area where it was unlikely to be directly engaged. Prentiss ordered the other three batteries to fire on Graveyard Hill, as well as Tyler, two cannons in reserve, and four cannons from Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery emplaced on Lower Little Rock Road. The Elaine Riot of 1919: Race, Class, and Labor in the Arkansas Delta. PhD diss., University of WisconsinMilwaukee, 2019. The first time you log in to our catalog you will need to create an account. Military reports were intentionally vague. [46] Obstructions on the line of approach also disorganized Price's ranks. 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. Both Holmes and Marmaduke accused Walker of dereliction of duty. The 1920 census lists my great-great-great-grandmother as a widow. By late November, Jones was working with Murphys firm to save the Elaine Twelve. [82] Either around the time that Battery C fell to Price's attack[83] or as Fagan's withdrawal was ending, Brooks placed a 6-pounder field gun on a hilltop and began to fire on the Union positions, but Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery and Tyler drove it off. [9] Further vacillation by Holmes ended when Confederate cavalry reported on June 14 that the garrison at Helena had been weakened. 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. The Elaine massacre occurred on September 30-October 2, 1919 at Hoop Spur in the vicinity of Elaine in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. All the white people had to do was stay away from the church while the meeting was going on. Further Reading: Richard C. Courtner, A Mob Intent on Death: The N.A.A.C.P. The findings blamed outside agitators for stirring up ignorant sharecroppers. Helena is the birthplace of many notable people including prominent African Americans and Arkansas' former senior United States senator, Blanche Lincoln. [23] Prentiss originally dismissed rumors of a Confederate attack, but by late June gave more credence to the reports. 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. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. 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. [48] They were now in front of Battery D.[50], Marmaduke has his own problems in his sector on the line. Race relations in this area of Arkansas are currently quite strained for a number of reasons, including the events of 1919. Historical Events. The economy, traditionally based on cotton and lumber, became increasingly industrialized after World War II, especially at West Helena (founded 1909, incorporated 1917). Little Rock: Butler Center Books, 2018. 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. Helena is the seat of Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (1965). A memorial to those killed in the Elaine massacre of 1919 was dedicated on Sunday. As they surrounded his house, another man inside, Charlie Robinson, tried to run away. [21], The Union troops in Helena were commanded by Major General Benjamin Prentiss and consisted of the Thirteenth Division of the XIII Corps. Calls went out to the governor for federal troops. To be released, the men would have to plead guilty to second-degree murder and a sentence of five years from the date they were first incarcerated in the Arkansas State Penitentiary. This article is about the Civil War battle. For the American Civil War battle of the same name, see, U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Helena, Arkansas, "H. Glenn Mosenthin, "Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad", "Helena Harbor celebrates return of rail service to Phillips County - Talk Business & Politics", "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990", "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014", "CENSUS 2000 Block Map: WEST HELENA city", "State's last black Catholic school to close", "Saxophonist Red Holloway Dead at 84 Chicago tenor was prolific leader and sideman for six decades", "Helena, a city and the county-seat of Phillips county, Arkansas, U.S.A.", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Helena,_Arkansas&oldid=1151874553, Arkansas populated places on the Mississippi River, Populated places in Phillips County, Arkansas, 1833 establishments in Arkansas Territory, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox settlement with unknown parameters, Pages using US Census population needing update, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, S.T.A.R.S. As they ran from the posse, the Colemans saw his neighbor, Jim Miller, and his family burned alive in their house. 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. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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. Online at https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/ (accessed November 9, 2022). Taylor, Kieran. 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 . On Oct. 7, Colonel Jencks declared the insurrection over and withdrew his troops. Enraged citizens fired at the bodies of the dead negroes as they rode out of Helena toward Elaine.. Ms. Wells Barnett gathered testimonies that described the sheer horror of the massacre from those who endured and lived to tell their stories. The Memphis Press stated that white locals were so enraged that they were firing bullets into black corpses as they left Helena en route to Elaine. One hundred years ago this week, one of the worst episodes of racial violence in American history unfolded in Elaine, Ark., a small town on the Mississippi. America cannot address the inequality, poverty, inadequate education, the racially biased criminal justice system, and the limited life chances of black people that define contemporary society until the nation confronts and acknowledges this history. These records cover murders, rapes, burglaries, arson, motor vehicle theft, assaults, and crimes of a sexual nature. Inc. town, 1833; city, 1856. Believing that the Confederates were preparing to attack again, Prentiss requested reinforcements, which arrived from Memphis, Tennessee, on July 6. [43] Meanwhile, on the Lower Little Rock road, Brooks ran into trouble, taking fire from Battery K, 1st Missouri Light Artillery Regiment and Tyler. Workers also had to buy food, clothing, household wares, tools, seed and fertilizer at the plantation commissary, which charged exorbitant interest rates. [56], Around the time Fagan's men approached Battery D at 7:00 am, Price's attack began. This article is about the U.S. city. White wrote in the Chicago Daily News on October 19, 1919, that the belief there had been an insurrection was only a figment of the imagination of Arkansas whites and not based on fact. He said, White men in Helena told me that more than one hundred Negroes were killed. Famed journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett secretly interviewed some of the prisoners in Helena, from which she produced the pamphlet The Arkansas Race Riot. This work also challenged allegations of an insurrection and documented the torture and other depredations the prisoners had suffered. We Have Just Begun: Black Organizing and White Response in the Arkansas Delta, 1919. Arkansas Historical Quarterly 58 (Autumn 1999): 265284. Fort Curtis 12 Points of Interest & Landmarks By Altekameraden Animal rescue groups from across the country are converging on the Humane Society of the Delta in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, faced with the challenge of evaluating . Because Price had not yet attacked, Fagan's men came under fire from both Battery D and Battery C.[49] Fagan's Confederates broke through the second Union line, then a third and fourth, but then halted at about 7:00 am, their attack spent. [26] Prentiss was originally intended to be reinforced by three vessels from the Union Navy, but only one, the timberclad USS Tyler,[a] was available when the Confederate attack struck. McWhirter, Cameron. 1E, 6E. [7], On June 9, Holmes learned that the strength of the Union forces in Helena was about 3,000 or 4,000 men, and decided against an attack. Elaine was probably the largest massacre of black people in post-Civil War history, yet no federal investigation was ever conducted. [1] The American Civil War began on April 12, when Confederate troops bombarded Fort Sumter. [18][19], Helena previously had a Catholic grade school for black children, St. Cyprian School; it closed in 1963. The military placed several hundred African Americans in makeshift stockades until they could be questioned and vouched for by their white employers. [53] Bledsoe's two guns were driven off, but neither side could defeat the other. 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. The obligations of the past weigh heavily upon the present. HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. 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. As you know, our black history is very limited in some areas. [75] Price then ordered Parsons to attack Battery D, but was informed that McRae had already been ordered to do that. Krug, Teresa. 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. Major funding provided by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. Online at http://history.msu.edu/files/2010/04/Mark-Ellis.pdf (accessed August 16, 2022). News of the shooting quickly reached the county seat of Helena. One of the convicted 12 wrote to her from prison, requesting help. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. School children are now bused to Marvell 30 minutes north. It was effectively an invasion. Attorney Jacob Fink, who was appointed to represent Frank Hicks, admitted to the jury that he had not interviewed any witnesses. Pre-European Exploration, Prehistory through 1540, European Exploration and Settlement, 1541 through 1802, Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860, Civil War through Reconstruction, 1861 through 1874, Post-Reconstruction through the Gilded Age, 1875 through 1900, Early Twentieth Century, 1901 through 1940, World War II through the Faubus Era, 1941 through 1967, Divergent Prosperity and the Arc of Reform, 19682022, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/2544/, http://history.msu.edu/files/2010/04/Mark-Ellis.pdf, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/18/a-rural-town-confronts-its-buried-history-of-mass-killings-of-black-americans, https://lynching.cnsmaryland.org/2021/11/14/two-narratives-how-a-1919-massacre-tore-elaine-ark-apart/, https://prospect.org/justice/arkansas-reparations-elaine-race-massacre/, https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/10/descendants-arkansas-elaine-massacre-victims-push-restorative-justice, https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/2019/08/02/to-those-known-and-unknown, https://www.npr.org/2022/12/11/1137090651/elaine-massacre-tulsa-race-riot, https://archive.org/details/TheArkansasRaceRiot.