Arkansas Governor Powell Clayton
- Ninfa O. Barnard
- 2 minutes ago
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Arkansas’ ninth governor, Powell Clayton, was a Union army commander who commanded Union troops during the Little Rock Campaign and the Battle of Pine Bluff. As governor he also suppressed Ku Klux Klan violence, created Arkansas first free public school system, established the precursor to the Arkansas School for the Deaf, and much much more.
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Powell Clayton was born in Bethel Township, Pennsylvania, on August 7, 1833, to Ann Clarke Clayton and John Clayton, a carpenter and orchard owner. During his childhood, Clayton attended public schools in his hometown before attending Partridge Military Academy in Bristol, Pennsylvania. He later studied civil engineering in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1855, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, to work as a surveyor. Later, he added speculating land to his resume. In 1860, Clayton began his political career by successfully running for city engineer in Leavenworth.
In May 1861, one month after the onset of the Civil War, Clayton joined the Union army and was elected captain of Company E, First Kansas Infantry. In August 1861, Clayton demonstrated his leadership prowess when his unit was involved in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri. He later received a citation for his leadership.
In February 1862, he became the lieutenant colonel of the Fifth Kansas Infantry after unofficially serving in the role for two months. One month later, he was promoted to colonel. Later that year, the Fifth Kansas Infantry was stationed in Helena, Arkansas. On July 4, 1863, during the Battle of Helena, Clayton commanded the cavalry brigade, later receiving commendations for his leadership during battle once again. During the next two months, Clayton’s regiment assisted General Frederick Steele in the Little Rock Campaign, aimed at bringing Arkansas’ capital under Union control.
In October 1863, Steele gave Clayton command of the Union military post in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. On October 25, 1863, a Confederate force under General John S. Marmaduke attacked the city. Grossly outnumbered, Clayton utilized the city’s population of former slaves to build barricades in the streets and put out fires started by Marmaduke’s Confederate troops. Clayton commanded his post in Pine Bluff until the Civil War ended in 1865. During that time, he led numerous expeditions, including assisting General Steele in his 1864 Camden Expedition. On August 1, 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general. In August 1865, when Clayton was discharged from service, he commanded the cavalry division of the Seventh Army Corps.
During the Civil War, Clayton leased a plantation that was captured and placed into the care of the Treasury Department. Consequently, by 1865, he made enough money to purchase a plantation near Pine Bluff with his brothers, John and William Clayton. Clayton and his brothers relocated to the plantation at the end of the war. Clayton owned the plantation until his debt, accumulating 40,000 acres of land alongside it.
On December 14, 1865, he married Adaline McGraw of Helena. They went on to have five children, including a son who died in infancy.
In 1867, Clayton participated in the formation of the state Republican Party, quickly becoming the leader of the party. In April 1867, he served as the Republican Party’s delegate at the Arkansas convention. Clayton later received the Republican nomination, was elected governor, and inaugurated on July 2, 1868.
During his term as governor, violence intensified because of the Ku Klux Klan. Clayton suppressed this violence by proclaiming martial law in 14 counties, organizing a black militia to restore order, and hunting down members of the Ku Klux Klan. Despite conservative criticism, Clayton’s actions successfully ended Klan activities in Arkansas early in his administration.
During his three-year term, Clayton and his Republican legislators financed the construction of several railroads; created Arkansas first free public school system; helped form the Arkansas Industrial University (the basis for the future University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville); established the precursor to the Arkansas School for the Deaf; and relocated the Arkansas School for the Blind from Arkadelphia to Little Rock.
As Arkansas’ Republican party began to splinter, Clayton was charged with corruption in the issuing of railroad bonds and a misuse of power in his attempts to suppress violence by Lieutenant Governor James M. Johnson. As his term progressed, Clayton increasingly faced more and more opposition from both within and outside of his party.
In 1871, the Brindletails, a splintered Republican faction, tried but failed to impeach Clayton. In January 1871, the legislature elected him to the Senate. In March, the legislature again elected Clayton, and he moved on to the Senate, where he remained until March 1877, when the legislature was won by a Democratic candidate.
Clayton then returned to Little Rock to practice law and support Arkansas’ economic development. In 1882, he moved to Eureka Springs, becoming president of the Eureka Improvement Company. He speculated in land and encouraged the construction of a railroad to the city and the building of the Crescent Hotel. He played a part in the construction of the town’s street railway. As head of the city board, he also developed the sewer and water systems.
From 1872 to 1896, Clayton was part of Arkansas’ delegation to every Republican National Convention. In 1896, he actively supported William McKinley’s presidential campaign. In 1897, the newly elected McKinley rewarded Clayton by appointing him as the United States’ minister to Mexico. In 1899, McKinley named him the first ambassador to Mexico when it became an embassy post. Clayton even held his office during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. In 1905, at the age of 72, Clayton retired from his post and relocated to Washington, D.C.
On August 25, 1914, Clayton died in Washington, D.C. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The year after his death, his book The Aftermath of the Civil War in Arkansas was published.
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