By Mark Hubbs
This
month marks the 139th anniversary of the Brooks - Baxter War. Don't feel alone if you have never heard of
this event. Except in Arkansas, it is
all but forgotten. Even there, it is
seldom remembered except by ardent history buffs.
 |
| Lady Baxter at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock (photo by author) |
Lady
Baxter has always been my one of my favorite cannons. She has not belched smoke and fire since
1874, and then it was not a shot fired in anger. She has sat silent in front of the Old State
House in Little Rock, Arkansas for over 139 years.
Lady
Baxter began life as a Confederate copy of a United States Model 1841
"Shell Gun." A shell gun is a
Naval artillery piece that was designed to shoot explosive shells instead solid
iron shot. Essentially it is what the
Army would have called a "Howitzer."
Of
course when she was cast in New Orleans in 1861, she was not known as Lady
Baxter. That would come many years
later. Most of the Lady's sisters never
left the Leeds & Company foundry.
They burst during proof testing.
Only five or six of the sisters survived proofing and were soon put
aboard three new Rebel ships the Maurepas,
Pontchartrain, and the Livingston. All three had been river steamers converted by
the CS Navy into lightly armored gunboats.
 |
| The CSS Pontchartrain as she appeared in her previous life as the "SS Lizzie Simmons" |
Lady
Baxter served until late 1862 aboard the CSS Pontchartrain on the Mississippi,
White and Arkansas Rivers. Her sailing
days were numbered however. When Fort
Hindman was built at Arkansas Post on the lower Arkansas River a severe
shortage of heavy artillery resulted in the Pontchartrain's losing her two 8
inch shell guns and most of her crew.
They were taken off and placed in the battlements of the fort.
Learn
more about the Battle of Arkansas Post here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arkansas_Post
In
January 1863, a large naval and land force under the command of Maj. Gen John McClernand attacked Fort
Hindman to neutralize one of the last Rebel strongholds that could threaten
Federal use of the rivers during the upcoming Vicksburg Campaign. It took two days of heavy shelling and an
attack of over 25,000 infantry to silence the guns and force the surrender of
the 5,000 man garrison.
Lady Baxter had
finished her only big fight of the War.
 |
| The attack on Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post from a contemporary illustration |
The
Union expeditionary force had no intention of occupying Arkansas Post. They loaded their prisoners and what captured
weapons that could be easily removed and departed back to the Mississippi
River. Lady Baxter and one of her
sisters were left behind. The muzzle
face on the big gun was damaged and the trunnions were broken off, but it is
not certain if this damage was inflicted by enemy fire during the battle, or if
the retreating Federal soldiers intentionally damaged the gun before they
departed.
The
Rebels never reoccupied Fort Hindman.
Instead, Lady Baxter and her sister were taken to Little Rock where
makeshift repairs were made to put them back into combat shape. They were soon remounted and guarding the
Arkansas River at Little Rock. There
they sat until Little Rock fell in September,1863 when retreating Confederates
spiked the guns and dumped them into the Arkansas River. They lay there forgotten for eleven years.
In
1874 fighting broke out in Little Rock and other parts of Arkansas over the
disputed 1872 gubernatorial election.
The tension escalated for two years as the case see-sawed back and forth
in the courts. In April and May of 1874,
Arkansas had it own little Civil War when factions of Elisha Baxter and Joseph
Brooks raised militias to battle for the state house. During the fighting troops loyal to Elisha
Baxter remembered the old cannon dumped into the river eleven years
earlier. Soon they were retrieved and at
least one was put back into fighting trim.
She was soon christened "Lady Baxter."
 |
| Brooks troops assemble at the State House during the Brooks - Baxter War |
Lady
Baxter lay in the bed of a large wagon, her muzzle pointed towards the Brooks
barricades that had been set up on the streets of Little Rock. Her new owners never fired a shell at her new
enemies (and we don't know if the Baxter men even had any shells to fire!) but
just the threat seemed to have an effect on the Brooks militia. Only the intervention of President Ulysses S. Grant ended the conflict when he declared Elisha Baxter the rightful governor of Arkansas. Grant threatened the intervention of United States troops to quell the violence of Brooks forces did not disband. The decision came too late for the two hundred people who were killed in the fighting.
After the War was over, and Elisha Baxter was
victorious, a single blank round was fired from the old gun in celebration. The concussion knocked out windows for blocks
around. So ended the military career of
Lady Baxter.
 |
Baxter troops boarding a steamboat before the Battle of New Gascony,
during the Brooks - Baxter War. From a contemporary newspaper |
At
sometime after the cessation of hostilities, she was mounted on a brick pedestal
on the front lawn of the Old State House as a memorial to the Brooks - Baxter
War of 1874.
She
sits there still.
You
can read more about the Brooks - Baxter War here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%E2%80%93Baxter_War
 |
| Lady Baxter in a 1912 post card |
 |
| Lady Baxter as she appears in 2013. Photo by author |
 |
Close up of the repairs done by Confederate troops after the cannon was recovered from Fort Hindman.
A forged iron band was added to replace the trunnions lost during the battle. Photo by author |
