Our Arklahoma Heritage: A trio of Union sympathizers from Pope County met with foul deaths in the aftermath of the Civil War

In the rugged landscape of the Arkansas River Valley, the year 1865 did not bring the immediate peace suggested by the surrenders at Appomattox or Doaksville.

In Pope County, the end of formal hostilities gave way to a localized, internal conflict that targeted the men tasked with transitioning the region back into the Union. Among the most prominent figures of this era were William Stout, Archibald D. Napier, and Albert Parks.

These three men shared a common bond of Unionism that ultimately led to their assassinations during the chaotic dawn of Reconstruction.

William Stout was a foundational figure in Pope County politics long before the first shots were fired. Born in Tennessee around 1803, Stout established himself as a farmer and a man of influence in the Dover area. When the secession crisis gripped the state in early 1861, Stout was elected as the delegate from Pope County to the Arkansas Secession Convention.

He initially stood firm with the "cooperationists," a group of delegates who opposed immediate withdrawal from the United States. While the firing on Fort Sumter eventually forced many unionists to flip their votes,

Stout remained a marked man for his initial hesitation and his known sympathies for the Federal government.

As the war progressed and Union forces took control of Little Rock in 1863, Stout emerged as a leader in the movement to restore a loyal state government. He served in the 1864 Constitutional Convention, which sought to abolish slavery and repudiate secession. His commitment to the Union was not merely political; it was a dangerous personal stance in a county where bushwhackers and Confederate partisans still held significant power in the hills

. In the summer of 1865, shortly after the war's official end, Stout was targeted. He was assassinated by unidentified assailants, a victim of the lingering resentment held by those who viewed his cooperation with the "Yankee" government as an unforgivable betrayal.

Working alongside

Stout in the effort to maintain order were Archibald D. Napier and Albert Parks. Both men had taken up arms for the North, serving as captains in the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry (Union). This regiment was composed largely of Southern Unionists who knew the terrain of the Ozarks and the River Valley intimately. 

Napier and Parks were not just soldiers; they were local men fighting a civil war within their own neighborhoods. When the war ended, they were appointed to civil offices to help rebuild the county's infrastructure. Napier served as the county's sheriff, while Parks held the position of county clerk.

The dual roles of former Union officers and current Reconstruction officials made them primary targets for the lawlessness that pervaded Pope County. In the autumn of 1865, the violence that took Stout claimed Napier and Parks as well. Reports from the period indicate that Napier was ambushed and killed while attempting to exercise his duties as sheriff.

Albert Parks met a similar fate, gunned down in an era where the badge of a Union loyalist offered no protection.

The burial sites of these men reflect the modest, often overlooked nature of the region's Union history.

William Stout is buried in the Stout Cemetery near Dover, his headstone a quiet reminder of a legislator who chose the Union over the prevailing winds of his state.

Archibald Napier and Albert Parks were laid to rest in local plots, their legacies preserved primarily through the pension records filed by their widows and the grim accounts of the "Pope County Militia War" and subsequent unrest that defined the region for a decade.

The families of Stout, Napier, and Parks remained in the area, navigating a social landscape where their fathers and husbands were viewed as heroes by some and traitors by others.

The Arklahoma borderlands remained volatile for years, as the blood shed in 1865 set the stage for further political violence.

These men were the first casualties of a peace that was, in reality, a continuation of the war by other means. Their lives and deaths underscore the reality that for many in Pope County, the Civil War did not end with a treaty, but with the crack of a rifle in the Arkansas timber.