12 августа в истории Арканзаса: от организации афроамериканского полка до рождения будущего сенатора

Important Arkansas historical events and significant anniversaries for August 12, with notable births and deaths of people with Arkansas connections for this date. Information is drawn from state archives, historical societies, contemporary newspapers and other media archives, and legal records. Much of this information comes from the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, an online publication. ChatGPH has collected this data. The Third Arkansas Infantry Regiment (African Descent) was formally organized at St. Louis, Missouri, on August 12, 1863. Its companies were sent to Helena as they were mustered into federal service. The regiment, composed primarily of formerly enslaved Black men, initially performed extensive fatigue and construction work before later serving as the Fifty-sixth United States Colored Infantry. During a Union campaign against Confederate Gen. Joseph Shelby, federal commander Brig. Gen. Joseph R. West had hoped to move troops and artillery across the White River. Heavy rain, the absence of promised steamboats and the danger of attack made the crossing impractical. On August 12, 1864, West ordered troops already on the eastern side back across the river and withdrew toward Searcy. Delegates drafting what became the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 met in Little Rock on August 12, 1874. Records show the convention received correspondence and considered measures concerning the expenses and structure of state government. The completed constitution was later ratified by Arkansas voters and remains the foundation of state government, although it has been amended many times. On August 12, 1925, Hempstead County farmer Hugh Laseter harvested a 136-pound watermelon. Public interest in the enormous melon helped inspire the first Hope Watermelon Festival the following year. The festival eventually became one of Arkansas’s best-known agricultural celebrations. The Lincoln Leader published a report titled “UFO Sighted Here” on August 12, 1965. The report was part of a wave of unexplained-object sightings in northern Arkansas that summer. LINE-OF-DUTY DEATH Little Rock Police Detective Sgt. John W. Cabiness was accidentally shot and killed August 12, 1922. Special Deputy Marshal Will Cross of the U.S. Marshals Service shot Cabiness, mistaking Cabiness for participants in a railroad strike. Cabiness’ partner shot and killed Cross. NOTABLE BIRTHS Dale Leon Bumpers, born August 12, 1925, Charleston. Bumpers served as governor of Arkansas from 1971 through 1975 and as a United States senator from 1975 through 1999. Before becoming governor, he advised the Charleston School District to comply promptly with the U.S. Supreme Court’s school-desegregation ruling. As governor, he consolided 60 agencies into 13 Cabient-level departments. State-supported kindergartens were started during his governorship. Richard Harper Mason, born August 12, 1937, El Dorado. Mason became a geologist, petroleum executive, environmental advocate and historian of Arkansas’s oil industry. His oral history is preserved by the University of Arkansas’s Pryor Center. Jim Hendren, born August 12, 1963, Gravette. Hendren is a businessman, former military pilot and former member of both houses of the Arkansas General Assembly. He served as president pro tempore of the Arkansas Senate. NOTABLE DEATHS Henry Massie Rector, Arkansas governor from 1860 to 1862, died in Little Rock on August 12, 1899. Rector led the state as Arkansas moved toward secession and entered the Civil War. He was buried at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock. Prominent Little Rock attorney Uriah Milton Rose died on August 12, 1913, following injuries from a fall. Rose helped found the American Bar Association and served as its president. He also represented the United States at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. Arkansas state and county offices closed for his funeral. Samuel Claudius Dellinger, a longtime University of Arkansas zoologist, museum curator and archaeologist, died in Fayetteville on August 12, 1973. Dellinger built important collections of Arkansas artifacts and conducted archaeological work across the state, although some of his collecting methods reflected the less rigorous standards of his era. Robert Lee Williams II, an Arkansas-born psychologist and scholar, died on August 12, 2020. Williams was known for challenging cultural bias in standardized intelligence testing and for developing the Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity. He also helped establish Black studies at Washington University in St. Louis.