Hempstead County Historical Society meets

HOPE – The Hempstead County Historical Society met Tuesday night. The meeting started with a discussion of the Trail of Tears. Joshua Williams discussed the bus tour that was held on the 3rd Sunday of October. There is another bus tour planned on November 16th, starting at 2 pm. The next meeting will be November 25th, the last one for the year. There will be a Veterans Day event held at the old courthouse on November 11th. The Veterans Day parade will be held the day before. There will be a Civil War reenactment battle held at the D’Ann Battlefield on November 1st. After the battle, things will shift toward Washington, where the theme will be what it was like on the home front. That will be November 1st as well. There will be a Christmas movie held on December 19th at 7pm. There is a new exhibit about free black slaves in antebellum Hempstead County.

Joshua Williams discussed Arkansas’ history surrounding the Civil War. He discussed the “Hempstead Rifles”, an Arkansas militia group, which was formed not long after Abraham Lincoln was elected. The group disbanded after one battle and the “Hempstead Rifles 2” was formed. A local doctor, Nathan D. Smith recorded in 1864 the low was -10°. There is a fort near Fulton that is one of the best-preserved forts in Arkansas.

There were several different currencies around during the Civil War. There was discussion about the monetary crises due to the Confederates losing the war. The meeting was then adjourned.