page_title: Brooks–Baxter War
section_title: Clayton Administration
hierarchical_section_title: Brooks–Baxter War / Background / Clayton Administration
caption_attribution_description: English: Photoportrait of Senator Powell Clayton of Arkansas, 1870s
context_page_description: The Brooks–Baxter War was an armed conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the United States, in 1874 between factions of the Republican Party over the disputed 1872 state gubernatorial election. The victor in the end was the "Minstrel" faction led by Elisha Baxter over the "Brindle Tail" faction led by Joseph Brooks.
  It came at the end of a struggle between white Republican residents in the state before the war, known as scalawags, and newer Republican arrivals called carpetbaggers, over power in state government during Reconstruction after the American Civil War.
  The struggle began with the ratification of the 1868 Arkansas constitution, rewritten to allow Arkansas to rejoin the United States after the Civil War. Congress's 1867 Reconstruction Acts required rebel states to accept the 14th Amendment – establishing civil rights for blacks – and enact new constitutions providing suffrage to freedmen while temporarily disenfranchising former Confederate Army officers. Some conservatives and democrats refused to participate in the writing of the constitution and ceased participation in government.
context_section_description: Powell Clayton, a 35-year-old former Brigadier General in the Union Army who remained in Arkansas after marrying an Arkansas woman, was elected governor as a Republican in April, 1868. The election was scarred with irregularities. For example, the return of votes in Pulaski County exceeded the number of registered voters. Also, the registrars, who controlled the distribution of ballots, admitted that they had given ballots to voters from other counties if they could show a valid registration certificate. Both sides claimed election fraud and voter intimidation: armed parties had been stationed on roads to keep voters away from the polls. General Gillem, commander of the military district that included Arkansas, wrote to General Grant that it would take months to sort out which side had committed the greater election fraud.
  In July 1868, Arkansas rejoined the union and Clayton was inaugurated governor.  The new general assembly had already begun meeting in April, but had been unable to do anything other than prepare legislation for the time when the state was readmitted. The prior governor, Isaac Murphy, whose administration was not recognized by the Federal Government, continued to act as executive of the state during this time. Both Clayton and Murphy managed to draw a paycheck as governor at the same time. When Clayton took office, he appointed most of the key Republican politicians to positions within the new state government; however, he failed to find a place for Joseph Brooks.
  Rivalry between Brooks and Clayton predated the 1868 election. Clayton saw Brooks as his strongest competitor for preference and distinction and did not want him to become too entrenched with the party leadership. Brooks felt that his ability and service to the party were not being recognized or appreciated, and he grew bitter and resentful of the other Republicans, including Clayton.
  The Democrats in the state, calling themselves "the Conservatives" to differentiate themselves from the Radical Republicans, were incensed that freedmen – former slaves – had been not only emancipated, but cloaked with the status of citizens, with full civil rights, by the 14th Amendment.  Worst of all, in the view of Conservatives, freedmen were permitted to vote. Even though the Freedmen, whom Conservatives considered inherently inferior, were allowed to vote, former Confederate officers were not. This was especially infuriating since they were expected to pay taxes to fund newly proposed infrastructure changes without any ability to vote against it. They even saw this as an attempt by the Radicals to circumvent the will of God.
  Violence soon erupted throughout the state.  Former Confederate Army officers in nearby Memphis, Tennessee, formed the Ku Klux Klan to fight against the new order. The Klan quickly spread into Arkansas. Republican officials, including Congressmen James Hinds, were attacked, as were black citizens seeking to exercise their new civil rights.  Hinds and Brooks were ambushed by gunmen on the road in Monroe County, while traveling to a political event. Brooks was severely wounded and Hinds was killed. Hinds was the first sitting member of congress to ever be murdered, and his murder created national disgust for the ongoing political violence in the South. A Coroner's Inquest identified a local Democratic official and suspected Klan member as the killer.  Most contemporaries blamed the Ku Klux Klan, which had threatened to kill Hinds and was actively killing and assaulting other Republicans.  Reflecting the times, no-one was ever arrested for the murder. As more violence spread throughout the state, Clayton declared martial law in 14 counties.
  Many Democratic newspapers denied the existence of the secretive Ku Klux Klan while still reporting on the violence. 20th-century research shows the Klan was responsible for most of the violence in the state at this time. A state militia was organized to put down the violence, although it was poorly equipped. With no uniforms and irregular weapons and mounts, the militia was often mistaken for wanderin
caption: Powell Clayton pictured in the 1870s
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