Fort Smith to the West
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Fort Gibson: Fort Smith to the West The Plight of Civil War The 1985 Calamity Orphans and the founding Fort Smith’s On Van Buren’s of the Rosalie Tilles Great Awakening Main Street Children’s Home: Part I Vol. 37, No. 2, September 2013 MISSION: The mission of the Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc., founded in 1977, is to publish The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society and through The Journal and other activities to locate, identify and collect historical data; to publish source materials and historical articles, all pertaining to the City of Fort Smith and the immediate surrounding area. Preservation of Fort Smith history is our primary mission and to this end, we always welcome the loan of Fort Smith historical material and will return it promptly. MEMBERSHIP & ORDERS: Journal back issues are QUESTIONS pertaining to the Fort Smith Historical available. Cost for the current issue is $7.50 plus a $2 Society or The Journal should be addressed via e-mail to: mailing charge per copy. Cost for past issues is $4 plus Mary Jeanne Black [email protected] the $2 mailing charge. A composite index for Volumes I Carole Barger [email protected] through IX is available for $10 plus a $4 mailing charge. Joe Wasson [email protected] Cost for the complete set of Journals, Volumes 1 through 36, is $225. Volumes I and II will be reproduced copies, as these copies are no longer available in original form. VISIT OUR WEBSITE! http://www.fortsmithhistory.org Our website is updated regularly and contains information Membership in the Fort Smith Historical Society on the Organization, Membership, Back Issues: How includes a subscription to The Journal of the Fort Smith to order, Tables of Contents of Back Issues, Contacts & Historical Society, which is published semi-annually. Links, Archives, and a Gallery of Historic Images: Views Correspondence concerning current or back issues of of old Fort Smith. The Journal, membership dues, and all business matters, should be sent to: See the Google group, Fort Smith History Forum, for a bulletin board of current research questions. Readers may Fort Smith Historical Society post their own research questions or topics in hopes of Attention: Nancy Ciulla, Treasurer furthering their own research. P.O. Box 3676 Fort Smith, AR 72913-3676 Webmaster: Al Whitson, [email protected] MANUSCRIPTS: Submissions of all types of Fort Smith, Arkansas, related materials including previously unpublished family Bibles, diaries, journals, letters, old maps, church minutes or histories, cemetery information, family histories, and other documents are welcome. Manuscripts, including quotations and footnotes, must be double-spaced, using The Chicago Manual of Style (University of Chicago Press). Footnotes should be numbered consecutively in the text, assembled at the end of the article, along with a list of any additional sources. The author’s name, address, phone number and e-mail address should appear only on the title page. Manuscripts may be submitted on CD disks, using word-processing programs supported by Windows. Photographs should be duplicates or submitted in digital format, documents should be photocopies, as they cannot be returned. Manuscripts are subject to editing for style and space requirements. All articles and images accepted will become the property of the Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. unless return is specifically requested. Submit to: Managing Editors The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society P.O. Box 3676 Fort Smith, AR 72913-3676 Neither the Fort Smith Historical Society nor the editorial staff assumes any responsibility for statements, whether of fact or opinion, made by contributors. AMELIA WHITAKER MARTIN Journal Editor & Co-Founder 1977-2004 EDITORIAL BOARD: Billy D. Higgins, Editor Carole Barger Wincie Hendricks Steven Kite George McGill Loren McLane Clara Jane Rubarth Contents Bob Willoughby VOL. 37, NO. 2 SEPTEMBER 2013 DESIGNING: News & Opportunities ............................................................................... 2 Cathy Peterson Fort Smith’s Great Awakening .................................................................... 3 INDEXING & PROOFING: By CSM Charles Smith Shelley Blanton The Plight of Civil War Orphans and the Founding OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS: of the Rosalie Tilles Children’s Home ........................................................ 7 Chuck Girard, President By Carole Barger Calline Ellis, Corresponding Secretary Sherry Tolliver, Recording Secretary Fort Gibson: Fort Smith to the West .......................................................... 13 Wincie Hendricks, Membership Chairman Nancy Ciulla, Treasurer By Jeremy Nguyen Mary Jeanne Black, Inquiry Coordinator and Researcher War on a Flying Cloud: Tactical Innovation on the Fort Smith Jerry Akins Campaign of 1863 ...................................................................................... 20 Jo Ann Campbell By Thomas G. Waller Jr. Jimmy Ciulla Aleese Craig Nicol L. Wintory: Part III — A Career in the Apparel Business .................. 28 Jerry Hendricks Interview by Billy Higgins & William Hargis Billy Higgins Brad Kidder The 1985 Calamity on Main Street in Van Buren ....................................... 40 Steven Kite Joanne Swafford By Colby Garr Sherry Toliver Joe Wasson Mystery Photos ........................................................................................... 50 Rena Westbrook Al Whitson 1913 Newspapers ...................................................................................... 51 Bob Willoughby By Wincie Hendricks & Crystal Pope Membership in the Fort Smith Historical Society includes subscription to The Journal Who Knew? ................................................................................................ 54 of the Fort Smith Historical Society, which By Mary Jeanne Black is published semi-annually. Membership year begins January 1 and ends December 31. Index ........................................................................................................... 56 For membership, send dues with your name and mailing address to: The Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. COVER: Main photo: Fort Gibson today. Photo by Jeremy Nguyen P.O. Box 3676 Lower left photo: Frank Bates looking at destroyed hardware store in downtown Press Argus Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913-3676 Van Buren in 1985. Photo courtesy of the Lower middle photo: Rosalie Tilles Children’s Home, Fort Smith Historical Types of memberships: Society photo Annual. $ 30.00 Lower right photo: Gipsy Smith Sr. advertising endorsement, Fort Smith Senior Citizens (62 or older). .15.00 Historical Society photo Annual Sustaining. 50.00 PRINTING: Midwest Type and Printing, Fort Smith, Arkansas Joint Membership with Fort Smith Museum of History. .100.00 © Copyright 2013 ISSN 0736 4261 Annual Business Sponsor. .200.00 by the Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. Life (Individual). 350.00 c/o Fort Smith Public Library Journal Back Issues . Each Copy 4.00 3201 Rogers Avenue (For mail orders, add $2.00 mailing charge per copy.) Mailing address: P.O. Box 3676 Composite Index Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913-3676 for Volumes I thru IX. 10.00 (For mail orders, add $4.00 mailing charge per copy.) CHANGE OF ADDRESS We welcome the loan of Fort Smith historical Change of address cards are free at your post office. material and will return promptly. If you move, please fill one out and send it to: P.O. Box 3676 • Fort Smith, Arkansas 72913-3676 The Fort Smith Historical Society, Inc. is a nonprofit organization under Sec. 501 (c) (3) No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any form, except for of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. Gifts brief excerpts for review purposes, without the consent of the editors of and legacies are tax deductible. The Journal. 1 News & Opportunities Mark Your Calendars The Fort Smith Historical Society Quarterly Meeting will be: Wednesday, October 9, 2013, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Fort Smith Public Library Community Room. Al Drap will present “The Butterfield Overland Mail Route through Fort Smith, 1858 to 1861.” The public is welcomed. Please come and bring a guest. Clayton Brothers Will Be Topic Of October 27 Event VIEWING THE ANN WOODS PATTERSON exhibit at the The Fort Smith Heritage Foundation will present Fort Smith Museum of History “The Clayton Brothers: Arkansas History Makers” by Gene McVay on Sunday, October 27, 2 p.m. at Fort Smith Museum Of History The Clayton House Announces ‘The Divergent Path: 514 North Sixth Street, Fort Smith 479-783-3000 Women in Arkansas History’ www.claytonhouse.org Featured are such influential women as Anne Woods *** Patterson, Carolyn Pollan, Betty Bumpers, Hattie Caraway, Hattie Trent Smith, Melanie Holt Speer, Louise Thaden, and Ocie Payne. Journal Wins Award The exhibit will run through October 31, 2013. The Journal of the Fort Smith Historical Society 320 Rogers Avenue won the following State Award for 2012 from the Phone: 479-783-7841 Arkansas Historical Association: ❖ Open Monday-Saturday Best Edited Document: Eden Buergler, “From Berlin to Fort Smith: Nicol Wintory’s Journey,” Part I. 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Vol. 36, No. 2, September 2012, 5-21. *** Book Looks at UAFS History Billy D. Higgins, Stephen Husarik, Henry Rinne, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith: The First 85 Years, 2013, 145 pages, $25.00, is now available at the UA Fort Smith Barnes & Nobles bookstore in the Smith- Pendergraft Campus Center. This concise and cogent account of the making of the present university from its start in 1928 as a