Editing Monticello, Arkansas (section)

==History==
===19th century===
When Drew County was founded on December 18, 1849, when the county seat was moved from Rough and Ready. The first courthouse was built in 1851, and a second courthouse was erected in 1857. Two trials were held in that courthouse in March and September 1859 to consider whether the slave Abby Guy ought to be freed. She said that a former master had manumitted her but that years later, she was illegally kidnapped and re-enslaved by his brother. The first trial in her [[freedom suit]] resulted in a hung jury, but the second jury of twelve local white men found in her favor. Top lawyers worked on her case, and she married another white man who assisted her. The case was appealed to the state supreme court, which ruled in Guy's favor. She was set free as were her children  because they were born to a free woman.<ref>Mahan, Russell, ''Abby Guy: Race and Slavery on Trial in an 1855 Southern Court''; Santa Clara: Utah, Historical Enterprises, 2017.</ref>{{page needed|date=August 2022}}<ref name="democrat">{{cite news|url=https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/feb/04/the-slavery-trials-of-abby-guy-20180204/|title=The slavery trials of Abby Guy| last=Dillard |first=Tom|work=Democrat Gazette (Northwest Arkansas) |date=February 4, 2018|access-date=August 9, 2022}}</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], several small skirmishes were fought around Monticello. The Rodger's Female Academy was used as a [[military hospital]] for [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] soldiers.<ref name="eoa">{{Cite encyclopedia| last = DeArmond-Huskey| first = Rebecca| title = Monticello (Drew County)| encyclopedia = The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture| publisher = Central Arkansas Library System| url = http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=878| access-date = December 9, 2009| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100616010730/http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=878| archive-date = June 16, 2010}}</ref>

===20th century===
In September 1922, a Ku Klux Klan chapter was established in Monticello.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Holley |first=Donald |date=2001 |title=A Look Behind the Masks: The 1920s Ku Klux Klan in Monticello, Arkansas |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40031018 |journal=The Arkansas Historical Quarterly |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=131–150 |doi=10.2307/40031018 |issn=0004-1823}}</ref> The chapter had 404 members, including 52 charter members.<ref name=":0" /> Many of Monticello's business and political elites were officers in the Klan chapter or charter members.<ref name=":0" /> The mayor, the city marshal, and half of the members of the city council were members of the Klan during the period 1921-1925.<ref name=":0" />