Henry Rector

Governor of Arkansas

The Family passed over Rector as a candidate for the 1860 Arkansas gubernatorial election, choosing instead Richard H. Johnson, a newspaper editor. Rector then gathered support from those opposed to The Family's dominance over state politics (even though he owed his political career to The Family), running as an outsider candidate.^[3] Though Johnson and Rector largely agreed on the issues, the race was mainly a matter of Family vs. anti-Family factions. Rector was portrayed as a friend to the common man, "a poor honest farmer...who toils at the plow", despite the fact that he was a wealthy slaveowner.^[3] Rector won by a narrow margin and became Governor of Arkansas on November 15, 1860, a few days after the Presidential election elevated Abraham Lincoln to office and set off the secession crisis in the South.

Secession crisis

Governor Rector immediately called for secession from the Union, and the state legislature voted in January 1861 to convene a state secession convention to vote on the matter.^[3] That same month, groups of pro-secession armed men began to assemble in Little Rock, surrounding the Federal arsenal that was guarded by a garrison of US Army soldiers.^[3] Rector did not want to make the first move that could spark war, but gave his tacit support to any militia who might attack the arsenal, proclaiming: "The governor has no authority to summon you to take possession of a Federal post, whether threatened to be reinforced or not. Should the people assemble in their defense, the governor will interpose his official position in their behalf."^[6] Absent any reinforcements or orders from Washington, the commander of the arsenal agreed to abandon the post in exchange for safe passage out of the state, and on February 8 a triumphant Rector led a march to seize the arsenal.^[3]

The Arkansas secession convention was held in March 1861, convening the day after Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as president. Rector addressed the convention in an oratory urging the extension of slavery:

The area of slavery must be extended correlative with its antagonism, or it will be put speedily in the 'course of ultimate extinction.' ... The extension of slavery is the vital point of the whole controversy between the North and the South ... Amendments to the federal constitution are urged by some as a panacea for all the ills that beset us. That instrument is amply sufficient as it now stands, for the protection of Southern rights, if it was only enforced. The South wants practical evidence of good faith from the North, not mere paper agreements and compromises. They believe slavery a sin, we do not, and there lies the trouble.

However, the aggressive nature of the arsenal standoff had made Rector and the secessionist position unpopular, and the vote to secede failed, with the convention adjourning while still leaving Arkansas in the Union.^[3] Regardless, events elsewhere pushed Arkansas closer towards secession as other states began to leave the Union and form a Confederacy. After the capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861, President Lincoln asked Rector to supply troops for the Union cause, and Rector refused.^[3] The Governor then moved to capture another Federal arsenal at Fort Smith. The secession convention reconvened as war was breaking out, and on May 6 voted 69 to 1 in favor of leaving the Union.^[8]

Wartime governor and downfall

Rector's antics during the secession crisis made him unpopular with conservatives supported by The Family.^[3] In retribution, the secession convention delegates drafted a new state constitution that shifted power from the Governor to other offices, creating a three-man military board (including the Governor) to control the state's military forces.^[3]

One member of the state military board travelled to Richmond, Virginia, seeking to transfer Arkansas's volunteer regiments to the Confederate Army, but Rector and another military board member opposed the measure, aiming to keep the troops under Rector's control.^[3] An extreme advocate of states' rights, Rector envisioned a quasi-independent status for Arkansas, severely criticized Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and failed to coordinate his efforts with the other Confederate states.^[3] Arkansas contributed troops to aid Confederate forces at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri in August, 1861, but afterwards they returned home and many of the units disbanded. Most of the state's soldiers under Rector's command stayed at home awaiting a Union invasion while other Confederate states were forwarding their volunteers to battlefields elsewhere. Without Arkansas's support, the Confederate forces were unable to follow up on their victory at Wilson's Creek and failed to obtain control of Missouri.^[3]

Economic conditions worsened through the winter, and Rector's call to muster the state militia in January 1862 was largely ignored. Increasingly unpopular and totally failing to provide a useful contribution to the Southern war effort, a newspaper called the Governor "a miserable apology for a high public functionary".^[3] In March, Union troops moved into Northwest Arkansas and clashed with Confederate forces led by General Earl Van Dorn. The Confederates were defeated and Van Dorn retreated across the Mississippi River, leaving Arkansas undefended. Facing invasion by Union forces, the Confederate Army sent General Thomas C. Hindman to take control of the situation in Arkansas, commanding the local troops and issuing orders without consulting with Governor Rector.^[3]

Having lost support from both the population and elites, Rector was easily defeated in the 1862 Arkansas gubernatorial election by the Family-endorsed candidate Harris Flanagin. Bitter at being forced from office, Rector resigned on November 4, 1862, leaving two weeks of his remaining term to be filled by acting Governor Thomas Fletcher.^[3]

Rector left office in 1862 and served as a private in the state militia for the rest of the war. He participated in the 1874 Arkansas Constitutional Convention.