A fort may be an outpost in enemy territory, a supply depot, a key to the control of a vast area, a base of operations, a political football, a gathering place for refugees, or a military liability. During the Civil War, at one time or another, Fort Smith was all of these things. As Fort Smith was the key to the occupation of a vast territory, so this territory tended to control Fort Smith.
Each change of possession of the fort was accomplished by a forced evacuation, the only actual attack upon it was little more than a raid, and the only firing on the fort itself was for harassment rather than possession. In Arkansas at that time the military events controlled the civilian government. For example, troops of the State of Arkansas took possession of Fort Smith before the state seceded from the United States, but the story should begin with the election of Johnson, in a very close election for the governorship of Arkansas.
Rector had campaigned on a platform of loyalty to the Union. Marshall from , Rector had resigned from the Arkansas Supreme Court to campaign for governor. The Arkansas legislature met in January, , and provided for an election to determine if a Secession Convention should be called on March 4 of that year.
While a majority of Arkansas voters favored a convention, the majority of delegates elected at the same election favored remaining in the Union. The sentiment in and around Fort Smith was Unionist. There were few slaves in Northwest Arkansas and the Washington government was subsidizing the Butterfield Mail Route to the West Coast through this area. Also the Army provided a payroll for Fort Smith. Griffith, a prominent Fort Smith merchant, and William M. Fishback, then a Greenwood lawyer, to the convention as delegates.
Crawford County sent lawyers Hugh F. The election of Fishback reveals the sentiment of the voters. Griffith, Thomason, Turner, and Mansfield were all well known in their communitites, but Fishback had arrived in Greenwood in Shortly thereafter he received a letter from Abraham Lincoln enclosing a fee and promising to share more business should Fishback move back to Illinois.
