Antebellum Arkansas | Spared & Shared 23

Less than a year following Arkansas Statehood, 22 year-old John Covington Burch (1815-1875) penned the following letter from the new state capitol to his sister America Glovinia Emeline Burch (1813-1893) in Washington City, District of Columbia. Covington and his older sister were the oldest of several children born to Col. Samuel Birche (1787-1846) and Susannah Maria Wilson (1790-1873).

Samuel Burch was a government clerk in Washington City who also served in the militia during the War of 1812. A story posted by a descendant in Ancestry.com claims that when the British army were marching on Washington, Samuel attempted to be excused from his duties as a soldier to stay in the city and do what he could to rescue House documents to prevent them from destruction. He was finally relieved of his duties so that he could accomplish the task but by the time he arrived back in the city, nearly all of the wagons and carts had been taken up for hauling valuables away by the citizens. He was finally able to secure one ox and cart and remove some few things but much was lost that might have been saved had he been relieved sooner.

From this letter we learn that Covington entertained the idea of relocating to the frontier state of Arkansas, beyond the Mississippi. I can’t find any evidence that he ever moved there, but if he did, he did not remain long for he eventually accepted an appointment to serve as the Journal Clerk of the U. S. Senate—a position he held until June 1850 when he was dismissed and replaced by a Democrat from Indiana. There is also evidence in the newspapers that, like his father, Covington worked as a “General Agent” at Washington to assist veterans in securing their claims for pensions or land claims.

Having secured land in Arkansas, it seems that Covington intended to return to Arkansas by January 1, 1838. He apparently took a slave with him to Arkansas when he traveled there in 1837 and left him there to be hired out with Col. Lockart in Little Rock until he returned.

Transcription

*Stampless cover addressed to Miss A. G. E. Burch, Care of Col. S[amuel] Burch, City of Washington, D. C., Postmarked Little Rock, Arkansas*

Little Rock, Arkansas
April 27th 1837

My dear sister,

Having an idle moment to spare, I know not how I can better employ it than by scribing a few lines to you, and the other “dead ones” at home.

I have just returned to the Rock from a visit to a Mr. Bradley’s—a young gentleman living on the Arkansas [River] about twenty miles from the Rock, who came out to Arkansas last fall and settled. He is a friend of mine. I went to Mr. Bradley’s for the purpose to look at land, and, Oh such a time as I had of it, through cane brakes and swamps, swimming bayous, wading creeks, and as Major Peay says: so forth & so forth & so forth. I think it probable that I will purchase of Mr. Bradley as he has made me an excellent offer.

Tell father that I have redeemed Uncle Artis’ land. ¹ Tell him though not to tell Uncle Artis of it until I come home. I believe that both of the tracts are good.

I have become acquainted with pretty much all the big people of Arkansas such as Gov. [James Sevier] Conway, ² Judge [Charles Anthony] Caldwell, ³ &c. &c. &c.

I intend to leave tomorrow for the Wachita [Quachita] country and shall be absent about twelve days and after my return to this place, shall turn my steps homewards.

I have hired John to Col. [William S.] Lockart, ⁴ one of Judge Caldwell’s son-in-laws, for six dollars per month, from now until January. He gave me his note for the amount due 1st January.

Give my best love to Father, Mother, brothers, relatives and friends one and all. Also to the servants and receive for yourself the renewed assurances of affection and esteem. From your brother, — Covington

P. S. Excuse mistakes as I write in a hurry.

¹ Uncle Artis was likely John Artis Willson (1776-1841), brother of Covington’s mother. He was a resident of Washington City in the 1830 census. He was a lawyer and a US Marshal of the District during the Jefferson and Monroe Administrations. He is believed to have fathered several children with Maria Ford, his slave.

² James Sevier Conway (1798-1855) served as the 1st Governor of Arkansas from 1836 to 1840. Conway was born in Tennessee and migrated to Arkansas Territory in 1820, purchasing a large cotton plantation in Lafayette county.

³ Col. Charles Anthony Caldwell, or Judge Caldwell, (1785-1844) was a native of Virginia but came to Kentucky with his parents as a child and was married in Fayette county to Ann Nancy Venable (1788-1813). After her death, he married Sarah Anderson (1799-1837). He appears to have relocated to Arkansas Territory about 1830 and served as a state representative from Saline county prior to his appointment as Judge.

⁴ Col. William S. Lockart (1810-1850) was married to Georgia Anderson Caldwell on 23 August 1836 in Saline county, Arkansas. For Lockart, it was his second marriage; his first wife, Nancy M. Kellum died in 1831. Lockart was born in South Carolina but lived in Alabama for a time before coming to Arkansas in the mid 1830s.

*Three decades later, Jeff Davis is depicted with an “Arkansas Toothpick” under his garments as he flees capture at war’s end.*

This letter was written by 22 year-old Edward Rice (1814-1850), the son of Levi Rice (1775-1853) and Annie Hayes (1777-1845) of Granby, Hartford county, Connecticut. He wrote the letter some weeks (possibly months) after his arrival in Helena, Phillips county, Arkansas—some six months after it had become the 25th state to join the Union. According to the 1850 Mortality Schedules, Edward Rice died in Helena from “congestion of the lungs” in May 1850. I have not been able to ascertain whether Edward remained in the dry goods business at Helena for the entire thirteen years period he remained in Helena until his death.

Edward wrote the letter to his boyhood friend, Stillman Allen Clemens (1816-1875), the son of Allen Clemons (1793-1868) and Catherine Helen Stillman (1796-1856) of North Granby, Hartford county, Connecticut. At the time this letter was written, Stillman was attending Yale University. After graduation, he was employed as a teacher.

Not only is the letter a good “travel” letter but Edward shares his impressions of Helena, Arkansas, and its inhabitants—an early statehood glimpse of the Mississippi river port town.

I note that the Clemens name is sometimes spelled Clemons and it appears to have been written that way by Edward.

Transcription

*Addressed to Stillman Clemons, Esq., New Haven, Connecticut*

Helena, Arkansas
January 31, 1837

Friend Stillman,

It was a day or two since that after a visit to the P. O. as usual unsuccessful, I sat thinking of my friends in Connecticut, blaming them one moment for neglect and the next denouncing the whole Post Office Department from the backwoodsman who officiated as postmaster at Crowtown up to old Amos [Kendall] himself, that I called to mind the old adage, “reformation should begin at home” and amongst the balance of broken promises recollected one of writing to you. And having an opportunity to send to the North in a few days by Mr. Cossitt, I conclude—although at the eleventh hour—to redeem my pledge and send you a short epistle hoping that you will receive it sooner than we get letters from Connecticut, which is commonly something less than six months from the time of their being mailed.

I had as pleasant a journey to this place from home as I could have expected in my feeble state of health. The route from New York to Philadelphia and thence by railroad and canal to Pittsburgh, crossing the Allegheny Mountains, was very pleasant affording a fine view of scenery, beautiful and sublime.

I spent one day in Philadelphia very pleasantly, being detained by business, and in company with an acquaintance about the city and its environs until I was heartily tired and yet was not satisfied with seeing. It is a splendid city. I have never seen its equal. We spent a morning in the Navy Yard where the far famed ship Pennsylvania is being built. She is a splendid specimen of naval architecture and well-calculated to make an American feel proud of his country.

*The USS Pennsylvania warship (large ship left center) was launched in the summer of 1837*

The voyage from Pittsburgh to Louisville and then to this place was very lengthy owing to the low state of the river. I was nearly two weeks from Pittsburgh to Helena. It was nevertheless a pleasant trip—very much so—and I enjoyed it much. The Ohio is a beautiful river and runs through strikingly beautiful and fertile country.

A person meets with a great variety of character on board the steamers in the Western waters. Gambling in abundance, backwoodsmen & hunters, the rich planter of the South, and the Yankee of wooden nutmeg and horn gunflint notoriety, with various others too numerous to mention.

I have been in tolerable health since leaving home and have been able to attend to business without loss of time. I obtained a situation as clerk in a dry goods store immediately on my arrival.

Helena is improving very fast at this time. There are now ten stores in the place and several more will be started in the spring. Society here is not like that of New England, you may suppose. It is yet a new country and I was surprised to find the morals of the place so low. Almost every man here carries his Bowie knife, pistols, Arkansas Toothpick, one and all. ¹ And there are men daily walking the streets—men of respectability too—who have buried the knife more than once in the heart of a fellow being. Gambling & drunkenness &c. are so common that they are almost unnoticed and will you believe it, I have not been in church since I left home—because there is none here!

But a change is taking place in Arkansas for the better and good and wholesome laws will soon be adopted and these frontier scenes will soon pass away before the march of civilization and improvement. I have scribbled over most of my paper and must close though I have not written half as much as I wish, but enough to try your patience I suspect.

I have not heard a word from home since I left and my patience is almost exhausted. I wish you to write immediately on getting this and give me a sketch of college life in the City of Gardens.

Your sincere friend, — Edward Rice

[to] S. Clemons.

¹ There is some debate over whether or not an Arkansas toothpick is technically a Bowie knife. The Arkansas toothpick is a type of large dagger with a straight blade that is used for thrusting. It is named after the American frontier state of Arkansas where it was supposedly created. Bowie knives, on the other hand, are typically larger knives with a curved blade that is good for both slicing and thrusting. Some people argue that the Arkansas toothpick is simply a smaller version of a Bowie knife and thus can be classified as such. Others maintain that the two knife types are distinct enough to warrant their own separate classification. Since Edward mentions both types of knives in this letter, they must have had a different meaning at the time. As near as I can tell, the term “Arkansas Toothpick” came into popular usage about 1835.