Stone Gardens: Captain Archibald Dodson Napier was a central figure in 1865 "Pope County War"
- Dennis McCaslin
- May 1, 2025
- 2 min read
Captain Archibald Dodson Napier, a Union soldier and sheriff, lived and died in Pope County, during a turbulent time. Born in 1822 in Tennessee, he became a key figure in his community before his assassination in 1865.
His story, pieced together from family accounts and limited records, reflects the challenges of the Civil War and Reconstruction in rural Arkansas.
Archibald Dodson Napier was born on December 26 1822 to Archibald Hubbard Napier and Jane Carter in McMinn County, Tennessee. In the 1840s, his family moved to Pope County, Arkansas, settling near Dover.
They were farmers, like many early settlers in the Arkansas River Valley and census records suggest the family may have lived in Carroll County for at least a few years before migrating to the region.
In 1848, Captain Napier married Mary H. Vaughn, one of six children born to James "Jimmy" and Mary "Polly Vaughn, one of the other prominent pioneer families of Pope County during the early 19th century.
According to ancestral records, at least two other of the Napier siblings married members of the Vaughn family, a common practice in isolated and rural communities in the settlement days of the River Valey.
When the Civil War began, Napier chose the Union side, a risky decision in a region with Confederate leanings. He enlisted in the Third Arkansas Cavalry Regiment (Union), Company I, on November 21, 1863.
Promoted to 1st Lieutenant and then Captain by February 14, 1864, he led with distinction. He also served in Company H, 15th Arkansas Militia, alongside his brother Isaac C. Napier, according to family stories.
On September 2, 1864, Napier commanded a patrol in the Skirmish at Quitman in Cleburne and Faulkner Counties. His unit defeated Confederate forces led by Colonel Allan R. Witt, killing seven and capturing five without Union losses.
Napier was dismissed from service on October 15, 1864, for unknown reasons.
After the war, Governor Isaac Murphy appointed Napier as Pope County’s first post-war sheriff in 1865.
Reconstruction was a volatile period, with Union and Confederate factions clashing. Napier’s Union background made him a target.
On October 25, 1865, Napier and Deputy Sheriff Albert M. Parks were ambushed and killed on the Springfield road east of Dover.
Family accounts, shared by Napier’s great-great-granddaughter Della Napier Qualls, blame “bushwhackers”==guerrilla fighters.
Some sources point to George W. Newton, a former Confederate major, though his role wasn’t widely known then.
Newton was later linked to the murder of County Clerk William Stout in December 1865.
Napier’s death was the first in a series of killings of Pope County officials, including Stout, W. Morris Williams (1866), and John L. Harkey (1868). His brother Isaac was also killed by bushwhackers in 1865 while plowing a field, per family lore.
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Napier was buried in Napier Cemetery, a small family plot north of Hector in Pope County, where other Napiers and Vaughans are interred.
