Editing Arkansas County, Arkansas (section)

==History==
===European settlement and conflict (1686–1804)===
{{Main|Arkansas Post|l1=Arkansas Post National Memorial}}
[[File:Sidney E. King - Counterattack! (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|Depiction of [[Colbert raid|Colbert's raid]], the only [[American Revolutionary War]] battle fought within present-day Arkansas.]]
Arkansas Post was the site of a [[Colonialism|colonial]] [[trading post]], used for negotiating and trading with [[Tribe (Native American)|tribe]]s to the west, all of whom were allies of the [[French colonial empire|French]]. However, to the east, the [[Chickasaw]] and [[Choctaw]] were enemies of the French (the Chickasaw and Choctaw were allied to the [[British Empire|British]].) The tribe in the area who the French traded with the most were the [[Quapaw]]. On May 10, 1749, Arkansas Post was attacked by Chickasaw warriors. The Chickasaw burned the settlement, killed many men, and took women and children as captives. In response to the attack, the French moved the post to ''Ecores Rouges''.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Arkansas">{{Cite web | url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/french-explorers-and-settlers-4974/ | title=Encyclopedia of Arkansas}}</ref>

After the French were defeated in the [[French and Indian War]], [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] was surrendered to the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]]. However, they made no effort assert actual control over the [[Louisiana (New Spain)|province]], and all Europeans present during the Spanish era were French fur traders who had simply stayed behind.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Arkansas"/>

===Westward expansion and the Civil War (1804–1865)===
{{See also|Louisiana Purchase|Arkansas in the American Civil War|l2=Arkansas in the Civil War}}
Napoleon Bonaparte's French army conquered Spain, and Napoleon made his brother the new king of Spain. Napoleon's brother, acting as king of Spain, then "gave" the Louisiana territory back to France.<ref>History of Joseph Bonaparte: King of Naples and of Italy by John Stevens Cabot Abbott · 1869</ref><ref>Louisiana Purchase - Page 3 by Carole Marsh · 2003</ref> Arkansas County was created by the Missouri Territorial Legislature on December 31, 1813. It was called Arkansas after the Arkansas River, and the Arkansas tribe of Native Americans. It is one of seven current counties that have the same name as the state in which it is located.{{#tag:ref|[[Hawaii County, Hawaii|Hawaii County]], [[Idaho County, Idaho|Idaho County]], [[Iowa County, Iowa|Iowa County]], [[Manhattan|New York County]], [[Oklahoma County, Oklahoma|Oklahoma County]], and [[Utah County, Utah|Utah County]].|group=Note}}

Its original boundaries were New Madrid County to the north, [[Louisiana]] to the south, the [[Mississippi River]] to the east, and the Indian Boundary Line south of Fort Clark to the west.<ref name="harvard pictorial" /> Arkansas County was within the Missouri Territory until creation of the Arkansas Territory on March 2, 1819.<ref name="1868report">{{ cite book |last=Daniels |first=Charlie |authorlink=Charlie Daniels (politician) |year=2002 |title=The 1868 Report: A Collection of Historical Documents from Arkansas's First Land Commissioner |publisher=[[Arkansas Commissioner of State Lands]] |location=Little Rock |page=15 |isbn=9781563118333 |lccn=2002111524 |oclc=57004142 }}</ref> The county seat was moved from Arkansas Post to DeWitt, a newly established town created at the request of the Arkansas County Quorum Court on February 19, 1853.<ref>{{harvp|"Pictorial"|1890|p=830}}.</ref> County government officially held court for the first time in DeWitt in October 1855.<ref name="1868report" />

This area was developed for cotton plantations through the antebellum period, based on the labor of enslaved African-American workers. Major planters earned considerable wealth with the commodity crop, for which there was high demand. Citizens of the county supported the Secession Convention to discuss secession from the Union in 1861 by an 80% to 20% margin. The anti-immediate secession delegates negotiated a compromise to put the question on the statewide ballot in August, but to remain in the Union.

Following [[President Lincoln's 75,000 volunteers|President Lincoln's 1861 militia call]] after the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Battle of Fort Sumter|seizure of Fort Sumter]], citizens of several counties (including Arkansas County) formed [[Military volunteer|volunteer]] companies to capture the [[Tower Building of the Little Rock Arsenal|U.S. Arsenal at Little Rock]].<ref>{{harvp|"History"|1978|p=142}}.</ref> Arkansas County initially sent two companies to serve in what would become Company H ("Crockett Rifles") and Company K ("DeWitt Guards") of the [[1st Arkansas Infantry Regiment|First Arkansas Infantry Regiment]]. A third volunteer company ("Dixie Grays") joined the [[6th Arkansas Infantry Regiment|Sixth Arkansas Infantry Regiment]].<ref>{{harvp|"History"|1978|pp=142-143}}.</ref>

===Reconstruction and the 20th century (1865–1999)===
{{See also|Brooks–Baxter War}}
In the post-[[Reconstruction era]], whites directed considerable violence against African Americans, in an effort to restore and maintain [[white supremacy]] after Democrats regained power. At the turn of the century, the state legislature passed measures that effectively [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised most blacks]] for decades. The [[Equal Justice Initiative]] reported in 2015 that the county had 18 [[Lynching in the United States|lynchings]] of African Americans from 1877 to 1950,<ref name="lynching">[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-supplement-by-county.pdf ''Lynching in America''/ Supplement: Lynchings by County]{{Dead link|date=May 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 3rd Edition, 2015, p. 2</ref> most in the decades near the turn of the 20th century. This was the highest of any county other than Phillips, where the [[Elaine Race Riot]] is believed to have resulted in more than 200 deaths of African Americans.<ref name="lynching"/>

To escape the violence and social oppression, thousands of African Americans left the state in the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] to northern industrial cities. They migrated beginning around World War I, increasing the number leaving during and after World War II, when rural jobs had been reduced.