Authentic Arkansas is
a series written by the staff of the Arkansas State Archives that explores the
state’s cultural heritage through unique documents and artifacts.
In
this election year, most citizens will likely see or hear hundreds of political
advertisements, and thousands of dollars will be spent in an effort to attract
the support of voters. Remarkably, one of Arkansas’s governors was elected
without even campaigning for the office. In 1862, during the Civil War, voters
chose Harris Flanagin as the state’s governor as he served during some of the
most tumultuous years in American history.
Flanagin
was born in New Jersey in 1817. He moved first to Pennsylvania and then to
Illinois before settling in the Clark County seat of Greenville in 1839 to
begin practicing law. In 1841, he became a deputy sheriff, and in 1842 was
elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives. He moved his law practice to
Arkadelphia when it became the county seat of Clark County. He was elected to
the Arkansas Senate a few years later.
Following
the beginning of the Civil War and Arkansas’s secession from the Union in 1861,
Flanagin joined the Confederate cause and saw a great deal of active service,
including participation in battles at Wilson’s Creek and Pea Ridge. Arkansas’s
new constitution provided for the election of a governor in 1862. Even though
he continued to serve in the military and was out of the state with the Army of
Tennessee at the time, Flanagin was elected, defeating incumbent Gov. Henry
Rector. A telegram notified him of the election results.
Flanagin’s
time at the helm of state government was not an easy one. Following the
occupation of Little Rock by Union forces in September 1863, he moved state
operations to Washington in southwest Arkansas. The war ended in 1865, and
while he received a presidential pardon, he remained disfranchised for a number
of years.
Eventually,
the former governor became a member of Arkansas’s Constitutional Convention and
helped craft the document that brought Reconstruction to a close in the state.
While working on the new constitution in Little Rock, Flanagin became ill and
returned to Arkadelphia. He died October 23, 1874, and was buried in Rose Hill
Cemetery in Arkadelphia.
Tangible
reminders of Flanagin’s significance in Arkansas history still remain. His law
office stands across the street from the Clark County Court House: the building
was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. The original
1874 Arkansas Constitution that Flanagin helped prepare for the state continues
to be used today. That original document is preserved by the Arkansas State
Archives in Little Rock. To view the 1874 document and the state’s other
constitutions visit http://ahc.digital-ar.org/.
