Contents
General Introduction
Part I. In the Beginning: Exploration and Colonization, 1541–1803
Hernando De Soto (ca. 1500–1542)
How the Governor Went from Alimamu to Quizquiz and Thence to a Large River.
How the Governor Went from Aquixo to Casqui and Thence to Pac[a]Ha; And How That Land Differs from That Behind.
How the Cacique of Pacaha Came in Peace, and He of Casqui Went Away and Returned to Excuse Himself; And How the Governor Made Him and the Cacique of Pacaha Friends.
How the Governor Went from Pacaha to Quiguate and to Coligoa and Arrived at Cayas.
How the Governor Went to See the Province of Tulla and What Befell Him There.
How the Governor Went from Tulla to Autiamque, Where He Wintered.
How the Governor Went from Autiamque to Nilco and Thence to Guachoya.
Of the Message Sent by the Governor to Quigaltam and of the Answer Given by the Latter; And of What Happened during This Time.
How the Adelantado, Don Hernando de Soto, Died and How Luis Moscoso de Alvarado Was Chosen Governor.
Book II: Present Tense: Bronze Age
Book VI: The Great Riding
Book XV: The Great River
Book XVIII: The Fever
The Story of Arkansas
A Look around the Land
A Spaniard Comes to See the Land and Does Not Depart
The French Make a Map and Leave Behind Some Names
from Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida
Paddling the Big River of a New World: La Salle’s Dream Consumes Him
The Sites of Arkansas Colonial Settlement
Part II. Arkansas Backwoods: Territory, Statehood, and Beyond the Civil War, 1804–1884
from Audubon’s America
XI: Breaking up of the Encampment.—Picturesque March.—Game.—Camp Scenes.—Triumph of a Young Hunter.—Ill Success of Old Hunters.—Foul Murder of a Polecat.
XII: The Crossing of the Arkansas.
from Schoolcraft in the Ozarks
Civil Life in Little Rock
Letter No. 37—Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory
Letter No. 38—Fort Gibson, Arkansas
Letter No. 45—Fort Gibson, Arkansas
The Arkansaw Root Doctor
A Cherokee Love Song
To Lizzie
To a Mocking Bird Singing in a Tree
The Still Small Voice
The Stolen White Girl
Courtroom Scenes in Arkansas
John Wells
The Big Bear of Arkansas
A Piano in Arkansas
from Settlers, Real and Mythic
The Making of the Bowie Knife
Preface to the Life and Adventures (1851 Edition)
Chapter I: A Lumping Business
[Devil’s Fork]
Pete Whetstone’s Bear Hunt
from Chapter XIV: The Arkansas Traveler
Every Year
To the Mocking-Bird
Sunset in Arkansas
Night on the Arkansa
The Fine Arkansas Gentleman
Chapter 10: The Storm Breaks
Diary of a Union Soldier
from A Remembrance of Eden
from Life in the Leatherwoods
Part III. Toward the Making of a Literary State, 1885–1969
A Joyful River
Utopia in Arkansas
Chapter 1: Our Home
from Half-Gods
from The Woods Colt
Plantation Life in Arkansas
from An Arkansas Planter
The Woman’s Exchange of Simpkinsville
The Other Woman
In Mount Holly
Arkansas Red Haw
The Farewell
The Fireflies
Thunderstorm in the Ozarks
Hillbilly Philosophy
The Ozarks
Grandfather’s Grave
The Flood Symphony
Journey Day
The Fine Arkansas Gentlemen and Their Day
Raided by Razorbacks
Skinny as a Hog
from Johnswood
Preface
Pissing in the Snow
Old Age in Arkansas
Senator Johnson’s Great Speech
The Pea Ridge Battle
Eureka!
In Arkansas
Benton County, Arkansas
State of Arkansas
Blow the Candle Out
The Gals in Arkansas
Introduction
People of His Own Kind
from Acres of Sky
Goodbye, Sweetwater
Covered Wagons: Frontier
White River Float
About Grandpa, Who Died Poor
Black Law Students
The Crisis of 57
The Battle of Little Rock
from The Long Shadow of Little Rock
Chapter 16: How Long, How Long...?
from Big Doc’s Girl
from True Grit