Editing Yell County, Arkansas (section)

==History==
{{See also|Prehistory of Arkansas}}
[[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] first inhabited present-day Yell County and the [[Arkansas River Valley]] for thousands of years prior to [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonization]]. They used the open, fertile floodplain of the [[Arkansas River]] for hunting grounds and later farming settlements. During the [[Thomas Jefferson and Indian Removal]] era, many [[Cherokee]] were voluntarily relocating from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] along the Arkansas River, including in Yell County, between 1775 and 1786. A large [[Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)|Cherokee reservation]] across the Arkansas River from Yell County was established in 1815 to encourage further voluntary relocation from Georgia.

The area presently encompassed as Yell County was first settled by European settlers when James Carden built a house in 1819 among [[Cherokee]] farms in the Dardanelle Bottoms, at the [[confluence]] of the Arkansas and [[Petit Jean River|Petit Jean]] rivers.<ref>{{harvp|"Gleason"|2017|p= 12}}.</ref> Lands south of the Arkansas River had been deeded to the [[Choctaw]] in the 1820s when they removed from their homelands east of the Mississippi River, but white settlement and Cherokee relocation continued apace into the 1820s. The peoples competed over the prime river-bottom lands.

In June 1823, a meeting between numerous Cherokee chiefs and acting Territorial Governor [[Robert Crittenden]] was held under two large oak trees.  Long believed by many to result in a "Council Oaks Treaty" reestablishing Cherokee title of {{convert|3.2|e6acre|e6ha|abbr=off}} north of the Arkansas River, Crittenden had no treaty-making authority and the meeting ended with no agreement other than each party sending separate letters to Secretary of War [[John C. Calhoun]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carter |first1=Clarence Edwin |title=The Territorial Papers of The United States, Volume XIX, The Territory of Arkansas 1819-1825 |date=1953 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=525–527 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032317042&view=1up&seq=9 |access-date=January 5, 2023 |quote='''Chiefs of the Arkansas Cherokee to the Secretary of War'''... on this day we have had a talk in council, among other things the boundaries of our nation was discussed.}} The chiefs' letter was signed by marks by John Jolly, Young Glass, Black Fox, Thomas Graves, Walter M. Webber, George Morris, and Water Minnow at the end of the meeting on June 24, 1823.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Carter |first1=Clarence Edwin |title=The Territorial Papers of The United States, Volume XIX, The Territory of Arkansas 1819-1825 |date=1953 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=546–550 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044032317042&view=1up&seq=9 |access-date=January 5, 2023 |quote='''Acting Governor Crittenden to the Secretary of War'''... The Cherokee Indians have returned from Washington discontented and untractable... I announced to them that since their Lands had been allotted... they would be expected to remove to them; and confine themselves at least in agricultural pursuits to their own soil; they in reply said we had no right to the sovereignty of the soil on the South side of the Arkansas, and that they would NOT remove, that they were the tenants of the Choctaws, and not of the Government, and should consult them, not us, on the subject.}} Crittenden's latter is dated September 28, 1823.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Treaty of Council Oaks |url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/treaty-of-council-oaks-4833/ |website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas |publisher=Central Arkansas Library System |access-date=January 5, 2023 |quote=Although this meeting is referred to as the “Treaty of Council Oaks,” it was actually not a treaty-making event. Crittenden, who did not in any event have the authority to initiate treaties with Indian tribes on behalf of the U.S. government without direction from Washington DC, supported the popular desire among non-Indians in the territory to see all Indian lands opened for white settlement and all tribes removed from the territory as soon as possible.}}</ref>

Some Cherokee remained on their farms south of the river, the group identifying itself as [[Black Dutch (genealogy)|Black Dutch]], intermarrying and assimilating with the area's white settlers.<ref>{{harvp|"Gleason"|2017|p= 13}}.</ref>

In 1830, the [[United States Congress]] enacted the [[Indian Removal Act]], leading to further, forcible Cherokee settlement from the Southeast into the Arkansas River Valley. Cherokee, [[Creek (tribe)|Muskogee (Creek)]], and [[Seminole]] were forcibly removed along the [[Trail of Tears]] through Yell County to Indian Territory (present-day [[Oklahoma]]).

Yell County was taken by [[Union (American Civil War)|Union forces]] in the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] in October 1862. A [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] force of approximately 1,500 tried to retake Dardanelle in January 1865, failing after a four-hour battle. [[First Sergeant]] [[William Ellis (Medal of Honor)|William Ellis]] of the [[3rd Wisconsin Cavalry]] received a [[Medal of Honor]] for holding his position despite multiple wounds.