Loyal to the Old Flag

Loyal to the Old Flag. . While the vast majority of Helena's white population favored secession, there were also men and women loyal to the Union in Phillips County., White Unionists Rally in Helena , Not only fugitive slaves, but white Unionists joined General Samuel Curtis's Army of the Southwest on its march through Arkansas. On July 4, 1862, Curtis formed the loyal men into a regiment. After Curtis marched into Helena on July 12, local Unionists flocked to the city. , On July 19, 1862, Abraham Lincoln appointed John Smith Phelps Military Governor of Arkansas. Lincoln ordered Phelps to "provide the means of maintaining the peace and security of the loyal inhabitants of the state, until they shall be able to reestablish a civil government." Lincoln's political experiment failed. Unionist support in the Delta never grew in the numbers needed for success. , Serving Against Great Odds , Though the numbers of Unionists in Helena was small, they served their country against great odds. The 1st Battalion Arkansas Infantry mustered in the summer of 1862. Most of its members were men from the Batesville area who had followed Curtis to Helena. This short-lived organization mustered out of service that December., Within weeks of the Union army's arrival in Helena, nearly 400 men enlisted into what became the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry (U.S.). Commanded by Colonel John E. Phelps, the son of the military governor, the regiment was one of the most successful of the Arkansas Union regiments. Serving against friends and neighbors could not have been easy. In August 1862, a Union man paid the ultimate price. Taken from his home in Marianna, Lt. Benjamin F. Shepherd was killed when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. He had been recruiting for the Union army. , "The loyal citizen in a rebel state is placed between two fires, and flanked beside." An Arkansas Unionist, [Photo captions] , Bottom left: John E.Phelps, son of Arkansas' military governor, organized the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry in Helena. This picture of Phelps and his wife was apparently made here in 1863. , Top middle: A Civil War-era U.S. flag , Bottom middle: John Smith Phelps, a longtime Missouri congressman, raised a Union regiment and fought at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862. Cotton politics and personal illness doomed his attempt to establish a Union government during his short tenure as military governor of Arkansas.