Pitman's Ferry

Pitman's Ferry. . William Hix operated the first ferry in Arkansas sometime around 1803 over the Current River, which separates northeastern Randolph County from Missouri. It was on the Natchitoches Trace, also known as the Old Southwest Trail. This important road had been used for centuries by Native Americans and could have been an animal and Paleo-Indian migration trail as early as 10,000 years ago. It was the main transportation artery west of the Mississippi River, and traversed from St. Louis, south to Texas, and then to Mexico. In the government survey of 1817, Hix's Ferry was called the "Gateway To Arkansas", an important geographical landmark for the early pioneers immigrating west during the early 1800s. The ferry was visited and described on record by early explorers Henry Schoolcraft, Major Stephen Long, George Featherstonhaugh, Frederick Gerstaecker, and Dr. George Englemann. Dr. Peyton Pitman acquired the Ferry from Hix in the late 1820's, and by the 1830's, the Southwest Trail had been designated the National Military Road, with a post office at Pitman's Ferry. The first circus performance in Arkansas was at Pitman's Ferry in 1838 by the W. Waterman Company on route to Little Rock. On July 22, 1861, Confederate General William J. Hardee, commander of more than 6,000 troops for the protection of the Upper District of Arkansas, established headquarters and training at Pitman's Ferry. It was reported that a fort existed there with military well, trenches, earthworks, mass Confederate burials, and that a newspaper was published by the Confederates while there. Three engagements were fought at Pitman's Ferry in 1862. Excerpt from the diary of Wallace Benson, Algonquin, IL, 36th Illinois, Company H: May 15, 1862: "We traveled 28 miles and camped on the Current River. A portion of General Street's division has just passed over the river. The report is that patients here are sick with small-pox. Mail came in with the news that Memphis was taken. We passed men constructing telegraph. We learned that this place Pitman's Ferry was occupied by about four thousand of Hardee's forces and that this was his headquarters. There is abundant evidence, for many a board, some of them hastily marked, stands at the head of a grave that was caused by this accursed rebellion. A portion of our boys crossed before the regiments came up and on returning, the boat sprung a leak, and the boys were frightened, and rushed for one end of the boat and sank it. I saw five that were taken out dead from the 15th Missouri, and the report was that twelve were drowned."