some notes on robert crittenden

Some Notes on Robert CrittendenAuthor(s): Farrar NewberrySource: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Autumn, 1957), pp. 243-256Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40027547 .

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SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN

By Farrar Newberry* Arkadelphia, Arkansas

"Don't make him out a saint, for he wasn't," cau- tioned a friend to whom I recently said that I was under- taking a preliminary paper on Robert Crittenden.

"Neither the Territory nor the State of Arkansas has ever had a son, the superior in all those points which make the true and great man," wrote Charles Fenton Mercer Noland in the Arkansas Gazette in 1857.

"Clean of speech, clean of dress, open-handed and open-minded," says Josiah Shinn in his Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas; "he was the best loved among his votaries and the most hated man among his adversaries."

Such statements reflect the widely divergent views, then and now, of the subject of these notes, for Critten- den was an extremely controversial figure. We should re- member, too, in discussing the man and his work, that partisan politics absorbed the thinking of the people from the time of his coming to the Post of Arkansas in 18 10 until his death in 1834, to an extent rarely, if ever, equalled since that time.

John Crittenden, father of Robert, was born and grew 110 in Wales and came to Virginia as a very voimg man. "Rarely acclimated to his new environment, he heard of the shooting at Lexington and Concord and hurried North to join the armv being assembled bv General Washington. He evidentlv acquitted himself with credit, for at the close of the Revolution he held the rank of Major. (Crit- tenden Memoirs by H. IT. Crittenden).

Out of military service, he returned to Virginia, un- certain where to permanently settle and make his career. Invited by a neighbor to live with him until he could de- termine the matter, John soon met and married Judith Harris and the couple moved to Woodford County, Ken- tucky.

*This paper was read by the author at the 1957 annual meeting of the Ar- kansas Historical Association at Arkadelphia.



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Of the eight children born to them, John, Jr., was evidently considered the best equipped for public life, for in the family sketches I have seen he is accorded more space than all the others. John entered the law, practiced with great success, turned to politics and rose to distinc- tion as United States Senator from Kentucky and as U. S. Attorney General under W. H. Harrison and John Tyler.

Robert, the third and youngest of the sons, was born near Versailles on January i, 1797. I regret I have as yet found few details on his bringing up, but we do know that while still in his teens he studied law in the office of brother John at Russellville, in Logan County, where the latter had removed from Versailles because there were more lawyers in Wood ford County than were needed to take care of the available legal business.

The lad's studies, however, were interrupted by the War of 18 1 2 and, like his father before him, he heeded the call of the trumpets to serve his country during the last year of that conflict. At its end he found himself a lieutenant. He was eighteen and it so happened that his service was in the North and under the command of Col. James Miller, with whom he was to be associated later in the affairs of Arkansas Territory.

Robert came back to Kentucky and resumed the study of law, but the lust for war was evidently still strong in him, for during 1817 and 1818 we find him fighting with General Jackson in the Seminole War as Captain of a home-town volunteer company which he himself recruited.

Back from the wars a second time, the young man applied himself with great concentration, shortly winning his license to practice law and, as one might suppose, ready to settle down to a career in Kentucky.

Exactly what diverted him I do not know, but Rich- ard M. Johnson, a fellow Kentuckian of prominence, was soon writing to President Monroe strongly recommending him tor the position of Secretary of the Territory of Ar- kansas "whenever that office shall be created by act of Congress." It may be that James Miller, hero of Lundy's Lane and soon to be named first Governor of the Territory,



SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN 2**

also wrote a letter of commendation, for it is believed that he personally knew and liked the young soldier who had so recently served under him. It is conjectured that com- plimentary letters may have passed between them follow- ing their respective appointments.

Miller, glorying in the aftermath of his now famous "I'll try, sir" slogan, took his own good time in visiting the homefolks in New Hampshire before setting out for Arkansas Post, temporary capital of the new Territory. Though he was expected to arrive by July 4, 1819, he had first to organize a retinue of "camp followers/' stop en route for military supplies and equipment and otherwise pr/epare for a journey in state, Thus it was the last of December when the pudgy new executive arrived ''full panoplied" in a gaily decorated vessel, to be acclaimed with due pomp by the assembled populace at the capital's boat landing.

But the ambitious, quick-witted Crittenden - the "at- tractive young man with the sparkling, penetrating eye" - had hurried to Arkansas and was on hand to organize the territorial government and get things generally under way. For in the absence of the Governor the duties of the executive devolved on the Secretary, and Crittenden was no person to either shirk responsibility or overlook an opportunity.

His meeting with Superior Court- Judges Charles Jou- ette, Robert Letcher and Andrew Scott for organization work continued for several days and is referred to by some as the first, though provisional, legislature of Ar- kansas Territory. These four gentlemen, all appointees of the President, declared the Missouri laws to be in force in Arkansas, divided the newly made territory into two judicial districts, set the presiding judges' salaries at $1200 a year (Crittenden's was only $1000), created the posi- tions of Auditor and Treasurer at $300, and appropriated $4,816 to pay these salaries and all other expenses for the next year and a half. Crittenden named James Woodson Bates and Neil McLane as judges, George W. Scott as Auditor and James Scull as Treasurer.




It should be mentioned here that some work had already been done; for Judge George Bullitt, who had held court for the previous five years in the "District of Ar- kansas" while it was still a part of Missouri, might be said to have organized the four counties - Larence, Clark, Pulaski and Hempstead - and due credit must be given this worthy man. "Crittenden," says Josiah Shinn very caustically, "is given an absolutely unwarranted credit for organizing the Territory. ... It was organized by Bullitt and Congress. ... It is time that the hoary chest- nut about Crittenden's arduous task be relegated to the junk establishment." But Historian Shinn admitted that "no fault can be found with Crittenden's performance of duty. He was a good officer, one of the very best." (Pioneers and Makers of Arkansas, 99).

Perhaps we had better let Crittenden speak on this subject for himself. In his campaign for congress fourteen years later, he said: "I reached the seat of government and found, to my consternation, that the failure of the Gov- ernor to reach his post had imposed on me the onerous and highly responsible duty of organizing the Territory. The presence of the Superior judges divided the responsibility but for a few days, when they all departed - Judge Scott for his family and the others never to return."

Left thus alone, after their five-day meeting as a provisional legislature, to operate a government to serve the 14,000 widely scattered inhabitants of the area, Critten- den very shortly called for the election of a Council and House of Representatives, to comprise the first regular session of the Territorial legislature. Though probably neces- sary, this call was in part illegal, for under the creating act Arkansas Territory was not of second grade, which meant that while representatives should be chosen by the electors, the councilrnen must be selected by the President from a list of names submitted to him by the House of Representatives.

Whether the Acting Governor committed the error through ignorance of the law or because he felt an urgency to gtt things going, I do not know. Probably he was bold enough to believe the matter would either be entirely over-



SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN 2 *j

looked or else speedily straightened out when the legislature should be called to meet by the eagerly awaited Gov- ernor Miller.

Miller, arriving six months late, did in three days call the body to assemble the coming February. Apparently outraged that the young "up-start" had assumed so much authority, he let it be known that a grievous delay to the proper functioning of the government had been caused by Crittenden's error. When the law makers came together the animosity between the two men flamed in hostile speeches and in manipulation, a field in which James Miller proved no match for Robert Crittenden.

There seemed only one way to get the matter straightened out, and that was to petition Congress to declare Arkansas a territory of the second grade and so to ratify the election of the Councilmen by the voters. After debate, Crittenden pushed through such a resolution, or petition, and then personally and at his own expense made the long journey to Washington, and Congress promptly declared the new territory to be one of second grade.

The young man had won his first victory, but in do- ing so had created an enmity which persisted until the tired Miller finally resigned as Governor in 1824.

Now effectively and legally organized, the legislature passed a few appropriation bills, appointed William E. Woodruff public printer (though Crittenden had recommended another, who had not shown up at the Post), and recessed to meet again in October.

The most notable act of the October session was the removal of the capitol from dilapidated Arkansas Post at the edge of the Territory, to the as yet unbuilt town of Little Rock at its center. During the debate leading to the removal act there developed the second incident in the estrangement of Crittenden and Miller ; for the latter was erecting a beautiful home near Cadron, a few miles away from Little Rock, and wished the territorial headquarters to be located there, while Crittenden, with government funds in his hands, was committing another political error by seeking to purchase, through friends, some choice lots in the capitol-to-be, "as a speculation."




A group of real estate associates did in fact win the fight for removal when they offered to give lots at what is now 5th and Scott Streets, and put up $20,000 of earnest money to construct a "suitable place for the legislature to meet."

This same October session established circuit courts, designated county seats of new counties, changed the man- ner of holding general elections and of assessing taxes and granted authority to borrow $10,000 for territorial expenses. Since Miller was now away on a visit, Crittenden was in complete charge and immediately approved all the acts passed by the General Assembly except that which outlawed duelling. (He was later to engage in the practice himself).

With Miller away from Little Rock, then and for so much of the period of his governorship, it was perhaps only natural that Robert Crittenden should come to think of himself as sole authority and to claim credit for whatever progress was made. It must certainly be said for him that he worked with diligence and dedication, constantly and without fear of censure, nagging the government for lack of attention to Arkansas' affairs - for "de- priving our citizens through refusal to extinguish the Quapaw claims and the sale of our people and country to the Choctaws."

Such discouraging treatment continued until shortly after the legislative session of 1823, when Crittenden said, in reviewing the matter during his Congressional campaign of 1833 : "From it dates the dawning of our prosperity as a people," for "at the succeeding session of Congress a new and liberal policy was adopted. An act was passed granting certain preemption rights, another fixing the western boundary line of this Territory, another providing the expense of treating with the Choctaw Indians, and still another appropriating $7,000 toward the extinguishment of the Quapaw lands in the Territory of Arkansas." (Arkansas Advocate, April 17, 1833).

The latter action of Congress in 1824 made Crittenden the commissioner to treat with the Quapaws. He had not waited for Congressional approval, however, but with chara- teristic boldness had taken on himself the responsibility of



SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN 2,g

making a provisional treaty. Now that he was officially the commissioner, the tribe gave up all their lands, amount- ing to some 3,000,000 acres and when the treaty was pre- sented to the Secretary of War, he pronounced it "the best ever made with an Indian tribe in the United States/' (Arkansas Advocate, April 17, 1833.)

When James Miller, whose intermittent administra- tion as Governor must in all kindness be termed a failure, resigned his post in the fall of 1824, the duties of the office fell again on the shoulders of the able young Secretary, and he served efficiently until the arrival of George Izard to assume the governorship.

Crittenden had hoped that the mantle of Chief Ex- ecutive might be his, and though he made no formal application for the position, must have felt a sharp pang of disappointment and frustration. He knew that Henry Con- way, whom he was later to fight and kill in a duel, had said that he was not only competent for the job, but that his appointment would undoubtedly meet with the general favor of the people. Possibly others had voiced a similar sentiment. At any rate Crittenden felt himself the logical choice.

He was away on a sixty-day visit to Kentucky when Izard arrived at Little Rock in March of 1825. The new Governor, finding neither Crittenden nor operating funds at hand, complained bitterly to Washington, and thus began another "disparity of views" between Governor and Secretary. Izard's aristocratic, hobby-loving tendencies (he is said, for instance, to have had a different razor for each day's use), didn't tend to make him a popular figure, while Crittenden's frequent "appeals to the people" over his head reflected an inordinate ambition to be hailed as the first citizen of Arkansas.

What is more, the Secretary now began to feel that he should not only operate the territorial government, but also choose the Congressman. His friend and partner, James Woodson, Bates, had been the first representative from the Territory, but Henry Conway had defeated him and now, two years later, was engaged in a bitter campaign with another of his friends, Robert C. Oden.



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During the contest Oden charged Conway with holding back $600 of the $7,000 which he brought down from Washington to be used to get the Quapaws out of Ar- kansas - a certainly irregular procedure, but perhaps not to be frowned upon provided the money so withheld was promptly returned, as had been the case in this instance. Conway readily admitted the holding out of the $600, but claimed that he had done so with Crittenden's consent, if not approval.

Crittenden, stung to the quick over the implication involved, denied that he had approved Conway's act, stated that he had receipted the delegate for only $6,400, and went on to say that he had personally loaned him $620 to pay off Little Rock debts and get back to Washington. This question of veracity really opened up the big guns of vituperation. Letters were printed with various pen names in the town's only newspaper, Arkansas Gazette, and Editor Woodruff, who never liked Crittenden anyway, entered the melee. It was now no longer a Conway-Oden contest, but a Conway-Crittenden fight, and new accusa- tions were brought in.

It was charged that the Secretary had personally profited to the extent of $900 in supplies purchased for the Quapaws and that he had used $2,700 of federal money to purchase lots in Little Rock for the "private speculation of himself and one or two others." Judge Samuel C. Roane, also involved, refuted this charge to the satis- faction of many, but not Woodruff, who proceeded to ar- raign the Secretary at great length. Crittenden promptly sued for libel but withdrew the suit before it could come to trial. (Arkansas Gazette, issues from May, 1827 to Janu- ary, 1828).

Upon the decisive defeat of his friend Oden, Critten- den felt that he must vindicate his honor. He challenged Conway and the challenge was accepted and Conway was killed. This affair was fully treated by Edwin Marshall Williams in the Arkansas Historical Review (Feb. 1934). Suffice it to say here that the killing of Henry Conway settled nothing except that a poor shot can sometimes slay a good one, and that a special election had to be called



SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN 2CI

to select a delegate to Congress. But the duel not only did the reputation of Robert Crittenden no good; it de- cidedly lowered the prestige of the man who had striven so valiantly in the establishment and early progress of the territornial government.

Crittenden continued to discharge his official duties as Secretary, and upon the death of Governor Izard in 1828 he again assumed the executive's role until a successor could be named and arrive on the scene. This time he wrote an application for the office of Governor in which he said : "Having once been overlooked, when I had been in the actual discharge of the duties of Governor for two entire years. ... I feel that being again in the line of lineal promotion, I should be degraded in the eyes of my friends and in my own estimation" if I were "told that I am unworthy of the high trust which casualties have alone devolved upon me. I have not been voluntarily a candi- date for the office. ... I owe it to myself and family to present claims to the President, for on his decision my future prospects must depend." (Territorial Papers of the U. S., Vol. XX, 796).

But Old Hickory, apostle of democracy, who had at last achieved the Presidency over Clay, could see no rea- son to select Crittenden or any one else with Whiggish leanings to the position. John Pope was named Governor and William S. Fulton was made the new Secretary. And Robert Crittenden, after ten years of pioneer service, was retired to private life at the age of 32.

Though Woodruff had referred to him as a man of "reported wealth and influence," Crittenden no doubt felt keenly the loss of the Secretary's salary. But having a profession to which he could now give full time, he threw himself with great industry into the practice of law, while continuing to dabble in land and land management on the side. As a lawyer he must have made a profound impres- sion, if we may believe Judge Jesse Turner of Van Buren, who wrote half a century later that "as an advocate he stood in the front ranks of his profession. . . . His speeches at the bar and on the rostrum were models of true eloquence . . . carrying away jury and audience by the power



2q2 ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

and splendor of his eloquence." (Hallum's History of Ar- kansas, 2 $2-2$$). And in a day when substantial fees were likely to result from superb oratory we may be sure that Crittenden did well for himself, notwithstanding the loss of political office and its attendant salary.

In 1827 the Secretary had built a magnificent brick home on property now occupied by the Albert Pike Hotel and the Second Baptist Church, and is said to have en- tertained lavishly in this "finest house in town."

No longer a public official with so many social ob- ligations, he now considered the place a "white elephant," of which he somehow must be rid. And, always alert, he thought he saw an opportunity to make a trade advan- tageous to himself and perhaps of use to the Territory.

For the frame structure at 5th and Scott Streets, which had now been used by every legislature since removal of the capitol to Little Rock, was said to leak every time a hard rain came. It was otherwise in bad repair and must be replaced with a more stable and commodious headquarters for a people now ambitious to become a state. And so ten sections of government land had been offered, the proceeds from their sale to be used in constructing or procuring a new capitol building. Both Robert Crittenden and Chester Ashley, who had built a splendid residence on Markham Street, offered their places to the Territory in exchange for the ten sections. Crittenden, called the "Cardinal Wolsey" of Arkansas politics from his ability to get results through behind-the-scenes manipulations, set to work immediately on a campaign to persuade the pres- ently assembling legislators to accept his offer. He is reputed to have fed the incoming brethren a number of extra fine hams, served no doubt with some excellent beverages. At any rate, he was able to push through both Houses a bill for the trade, and his enemies now added the designation of leader of the "canvassed ham" party to the "Cardinal Wolsey" soubriquet he already carried.

Governor Pope very promptly vetoed the bill assign- ing several sensible reasons, and Crittenden's friends didn't have the votes to override him. In retaliation, the former Secretary got the lawmakers to petition Congress to "de-



SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN 2C*

throne" the Governor and permit the people of Arkansas Territory thenceforth to elect their magistrate. This was refused, and Pope proceeded to sell the ten sections for $32,700, while the "white elephant'

' was some time later disposed of for $6,700. Crittenden had managed to make another big mistake and had added the third Territorial Governor to his numerous enemies.

More and more the political situation veered away from national party lines and became a continuing fight between the Crittendenites and the Conwayites, by whom we mean the Conway family, Chester Ashley, William E. Woodruff and Ambrose IT. Sevier, the able lawyer who, upon the death of Henry Conway, had been chosen Terri- torial Delegate.

The Conway faction had the great advantage of a newspaper and Crittenden proceeded, in 1833, to remedy this lack of printed mouthpiece by establishing the Arkansas Advocate, with his brother-in-law, Charles P. Bertrand, as the editor. While campaigning in Western Arkansas in the summer of 1833, Crittenden met Albert Pike, by whom he was so much impressed that he recommended to Ber- trand that Pike be invited to Little Rock to work on the Advocate.

The finding and bringing to the capitol city Albert Pike may be set down as one of the notable achievements of Robert Crittenden, and this is said without any ref- erence to Pike's sympathetic political leanings.

For the ex-Secretary, smarting under the lash of public criticism, the denial of the governorship, the stigma of having killed a good man, and defeat both in the at- tempted trade of his home to the Territory and his failure to get his new arch-enemy, Pope, removed, had now offered himself for Congress against Sevier.

His announcement circular covers almost the entire front page of the Advocate (April 17, 1833), and is a well prepared and exceedingly interesting document. Omit- ting all mention of the duel and the vetoed bill for the palming off of his house for a capitol, it covers the entire decade of his Secretaryship, "about six years of which I was the Acting Governor." It mentions the "malicious



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venom" of his enemies and the "warm generosity" of his friends, and outlines his platform of proposed legislation should he be "honored by the electorate." He was "speak- ing now the language of 40,000 freemen who before long will demand, in a voice not to be disregarded, that Ar- kansas be engraved upon the proud banner of the Union and be admitted with equal rights as a Sovereign State."

He advocated a general preemption law giving to each settler upon the public domain the right to enter, when brought into the market, 80 or at least 40 acres of land. He championed the building of more roads and the exten- sion of river improvements to include the "Washita" and Little Missouri.

Despite his own errors and the unquestioned popu- larity of his opponent, Crittenden might have had some chance of election had he possessed, along with undoubted brilliance, the graces of the diplomat and the ability to mix well with the plain people whose favor he sought. But these traits he did not have, and quite possibly did! not crave. "He was an inborn aristocrat," says Historian Shinn ... "to the multitude he was an unthinkable quantity. He was above them, and this feeling of eminence barred his entry into the great domain of human nature. . . . His greatest defect was that he mingled too little with the masses of men." {Pioneers and Makers oj Arkansas, 181).

The vote was 6,998 for Sevier to 1,956 for Critten- den - a crushing defeat - and with all political hopes now blasted, he gracefully accepted the situation and plunged again into the practice of his profession. Very soon he was representing clients over the entire Territory, asso- ciating with the most distinguished members of the bar, and was often engaged by litigants in other states.

Thus, in December of 1834, he was pleading causes before the western division of the Mississippi Supreme Court, sitting at Vicksburg. He had just completed a seven- hour argument before this tribunal and had taken his rest. He had spoken rapidly and the Court asked him to re- state his points briefly. Rising to comply, he almost immediately slumped to the floor. Friends carried him to his



SOME NOTES ON ROBERT CRITTENDEN 2Cq

hotel room where he was confined for several days, when, hearing that he had won, he dressed and returned to the courtroom to express gratitude for the kindnesses shown him and, in complete exhaustion, collapsed again. In a few days he was dead. He was 37 years old, and left a widow who returned to Kentucky, some years later married a Presbyterian minister, and lived to an advanced age. This good lady wrote to Historian Hallum half a century after Robert Crittenden's death the simple statement that they had "four children, three daughters and one son, all born in Little Rock," and that "his father died when he was 12 years of age." (Hallum's History, pp. 66-67).

The Vicksbnrg Register, Dec. 18, 1834, gave the cause of death as pleurisy and added : "his friends and ac- quaintances are invited to attend the funeral at Thatcher's Hotel at 10 A. M. tomorrow."

Robert Crittenden left no will. How much of this world's goods he owned at the time of his passing, I do not know and believe it does not greatly matter.

The Arkansas Gazette made a brief announcement of his passing and published the laudatory resolution of a Little Rock Debating society which he had helped to sponsor.

The Arkansas Advocate (Jan. 2, 1835) paid him sin- cere, if somewhat effusive, tribute: "Arkansas has cause to mourn. Her brightest ornament and most distinguished son has gone down to an early grave ... no man ever lived who could boast of warmer friends, or deserved them better. . . In his death the Arkansas Bar has lost one of its most prominent and talented members. As an orator and criminal pleader he stood preeminent and without a rival. . . . As he had his troubles in this life, may we not hope - as we fervently pray - that he is now 'where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest'."

Twenty-three years later, C. F. M. Noland said in the Arkansas Gazette (Dec. 5 and 12, 1857) : "Of Robert Crit- tenden it is a pleasure for me to write. Living when a boy (at Batesville) with one who for some cause or other had become estranged from and was bitter towards him. . . . I had imbibed very bitter feelings. It was not until 1831 that I had an opportunity of knowing him. To talents of



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the very highest order was united a generosity, a noble- ness of soul, which won for him from his friends that sort of love that Old Hal (Henry Clay) did from his. He was brave as a lion, but gentle as a lamb."

I conclude this paper with the estimate given by Al- bert Pike long years after Robert Crittenden had passed from the scenes of this life : "He was an abler man, I think, than his brother, John J. Crittenden .... one to know whom was an honor and to hear whom a pleasure. To meet him was quite an event in my life .... He was a man of fine presence and handsome face (light hair, blue

eyes, under medium height, rather stockily built) ... of unmistakable intellect and genius, frank and gentle .... a thoroughly well bred Kentucky gentleman, a sagacious and well informed man .... conscious of his own greatness/' (Hallum's History, 65-56).



some notes on robert crittenden

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