Journey to the Indian Country, Part 2

The following data is extracted from Life Among the Choctaw Indians.

Boat came, and the old planter took his boy and dogs and returned homeward, thoroughly disgusted with Napoleon and the contiguous swamp. In less than two hours after his departure the ardently-desired Arkansas boat came, and our relief and joy at getting away were without bounds.

Our hearts swelled with grateful emotions at our deliverance from the foul water, the tainted meat, the intolerable heat, the malarias atmosphere, and the countless myriads of noxious insects that swarmed on the margin of that pestilential lagoon. Our devout prayer was that we might never again be doomed, in midsummer, to spend three days upon the border of a Mississippi swamp. On going aboard the boat we were introduced to two of the dignitaries of the sovereign state of Arkansas-Colonel Sevier, of the United States senate, and Judge Johnson, of the house of representatives. They were returning from Washington City. Colonel Sevier we knew to be a man of marked ability, whose influence was felt and fully recognized in the senate. He was in the meridian of life, a stout, well-developed, social gentleman, quite communicative, jovial, and somewhat facetious in his intercourse with his friends.

Judge Johnson was a brother of the Hon. R. M. Johnson, of Kentucky. He was tall, lean, and bony in person; dignified and gentlemanly in deportment. It was impossible to form a judgment with reference to his talent, for he was by no means inclined to enter into conversation with any one-- his reserve amounted to taciturnity.

There was one other gentleman on board scarcely less distinguished than Sevier and Johnson. It was General Arbuckle, at that time Commander-in-chief of the Southern Division of the United States army; his headquarters were in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was going up to his farm in the vicinity of Dardanelle, some distance above Little Rock city. He had a servant, a fine horse, a supply of guns and ammunition, and a pair of dogs. His purpose was to spend the summer season in shooting and hunting the game in the neighborhood of his cotton plantation. The General was a single man, about eighty years of age, tall and well-formed, with a bright countenance, indicating perfect health and temperate habits. He was very affable and gentlemanly, and seemed devoted to literature and the ladies.

Shortly after that period General Arbuckle was succeeded by General Zachary Taylor in the Southern Division, and he was placed in command of the South-Western Division, making his headquarters at Fort Smith, where I afterward frequently saw him.

In ascending the river toward our point of destination, We first entered White river at Montgomery's point, and running up a few miles, we came to what is known as the " Cross Cut," which is a natural canal uniting White river with the Arkansas. Our boat passed through the "Cross Cut" into the Arkansas river. We might have entered the latter river at its mouth; boats enter either the one or the other as they choose. White river, though not large, is navigable up to Batesville, a distance of about four hundred miles.

For many miles we were passing through low, level marsh lands, that were subject to frequent inundations, to an extent that rendered them worthless for agricultural or grazing purposes. The river seemed to be without current, having the appearance of a pool or lagoon formed from the waters of the Mississippi.

As we ascended the river we saw but few indications of settlement or civilization. All was wild, rough, and desolate, on both sides of the river, as far as sight could extend. The soil was a deep, rich alluvial deposit of unsurpassed fertility. The growth of cottonwood, willows, swamp oak, cane, and brush­wood was of the most astonishing character; but there was a dearth of inhabitants--the solitude was undisturbed.

Late in the afternoon of the first day after leaving the Mississippi we came to the "Arkansas Post," where the French, in an early day, located a small colony, and made some improvement. The "Post" was older than Cincinnati, yet was an insignificant village, and utterly destitute of all legitimate claim to taste, thrift, or enterprise. Our boat came to and tied up for an hour, to deliver a few packages of goods to an old French merchant, who, in appearance, very much resembled the old Hollanders of New York, and might readily have been mistaken for a lineal descendant of the venerable Rip Van Winkle. His black servants came down to take charge of the goods. They were a tatterdemalion set of boys, clothed in garments supposed to have been made of cast-off gunny-bags. But as the boys were remarkably jolly and garrulous, and exhibited their shining ivory, making their thrusts of wit and repartee with indescribable gusto, we concluded that their Gallic lord was merciful in his treatment of them, and so we refrained from shedding tears of sympathy.

Supper being announced, the venerable Monsieur took a seat at the table, and went to work with a relish and an energy that did honor even to a Frenchman. Before the supper was finished he had disposed of two entire bottles of wine. It was evident that he had been thirsty for a length of time.

As we continued our journey up the river we saw an occasional field, with a smoky logcabin, and then a swamp or considerable stretch of forest. We rarely saw a cotton field till we had reached the Pine Bluffs neighborhood. In that country agriculturists do not reside upon farms--they are all "plantations." Even the small squatter in the woods or canebrake, with his smoky but and few acres of corn and pumpkins, aspires to the dignity and title of a planter.

Around Pine Bluffs we saw a few fine farms, in a good state of cultivation. There were large and comfortable family residences, surrounded by orchards, ornamental shades, and other evidences of taste and intelligence.

We finally came to Little Rock, the capital of the state. We had ascended the river three hundred miles, passing only two small villages, the united population of which could not exceed three hundred souls. The capital had a respectable statehouse, a courthouse, and a prison, and a number of other permanent and tasteful edifices. There were a few elegant family residences in the outskirts of the city, and good farms in the neighborhood. But we could not resist the conviction that we were journeying through a wilderness region, which neither industry, enterprise, nor wealth would ever redeem from its barren, rugged, and inhospitable condition. Subsequent travels through various portions of the state only served to strengthen the conviction, that a very considerable part of that country is, and must be regarded as waste lands for ages to come. The lands generally would be of some value for grazing purposes, and a few of the counties have rich, arable, and well-watered lands; but the sterile sections are much more extensive, while the fertile bottoms, on the large rivers, are rendered almost worthless by reason of the floods to which they are liable in midsummer. As we continued to ascend the Arkansas we narrowly watched for evidences of enterprise and indications of promise for the future; but we looked almost in vain. In the journey of three hundred miles, from Little Rock to the western border, there were but three or four small villages, the entire business of which would probably not equal that of a single country store and blacksmith shop located at a cross-roads, in any populous community in a northern state.

Van Buren and Fort Smith are not included in these remarks, as they were situated on the border, and dependent for their success on the Indian trade. The former stands on the north side of the river, three miles from the Cherokee line. It was unquestionably, in point of commercial importance, the first town of the state. Fort Smith was also a brisk and stirring village, on the south bank of the river, three miles further up, and directly on the Choctaw line.

Those towns were both built up and sustained by the Indian annuities, and the moneys expended in erecting the military fortifications and for the support of the troops. Let the annuities and the army appropriations be withheld, and those rapidly increasing and flourishing cities will be abandoned before five years. The sources of wealth are not in the country; they are external, borne to it, and then divided out among the most enterprising and unscrupulous, not a few of whom are genuine Yankees, born and bred in the vicinity of Plymouth Rock and almost within sight of the Bunker Hill Monument.

At these points there were many intelligent, well­-educated, and interesting families--a few of whom were pious and devoted to the work of advancing and building up the Redeemer's cause and kingdom in that land. Nearly all of those who had been born and educated in New England were slaveholders. Men who in Massachusetts would have been not merely antislavery in sentiment, but uncompromising abolitionists, were now slave masters, and ready to buy and sell negroes without any compunction of conscience whatever. We found a few who would speak of slavery as "a great evil," condemning it in the abstract; but we scarcely saw one who from principle alone refused to avail himself of the conven­ience and profits of the institution.

Such, alas! is human infirmity. We are bold and fearless in the advocacy of truth when no sacrifice is demanded and no selfdenial to be practiced. We are ready and courageous in wielding the sword of the Spirit when we may smite and pierce our enemy, or neighbor even, but incapable of enduring trial, and "counting all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord."

At one o'clock on the morning of the twenty-sixth of June the boat arrived at Fort Coffee, and we were put ashore, with our trunks and baggage. The captain took his lantern, and kindly conducted us up the hill to the buildings, where we succeeded in arousing the cook, who gave us a room in which to pass the remnant of the night. Thus ended our long and tedious journey to the Indian country.

Source: Life Among the Choctaw Indians

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