The first Black AMS Members: John W. Cromwell

John W. Cromwell
Jet Jan 6, 1972

John W. Cromwell
The Crisis May-Jun 2002

September 8, 1914 is a significant date for the American Mathematical Society. On this date, twenty-six years after the society's founding, it elected the first Black mathematician,  John W. Cromwell, Jr, to membership. This was no trivial matter. At the time, joining the AMS involved more than filling out form and paying a membership fee. Membership required securing the endorsement of two members and then a positive vote by the society's governing body. In this blogpost, we will take a look at who Cromwell was.

Notice that Cromwell was elected to AMS membership
AMS Bulletin, November 1914

John W. Cromwell, Jr. was born in Washington, D.C. on September 2, 1883. The family had risen to prominence during the years after the Civil War. His father, John W. Cromwell, Sr., was born enslaved in 1846 in Virginia, but his parents had been able to purchase the family's freedom while John, Sr. was a child, and he grew up free in Philadelphia. A young man at the end of the Civil War, the defeat of the Confederacy and the emancipation of slaves created unparalleled opportunities for him. He attended law school at the newly opened Howard University and then worked as a lawyer, government clerk, and journalist. By the time John, Jr. was born, the Cromwell family was part of D.C.'s elite Black society, and John, Sr. was a nationally recognized Black leader. He was even featured in a 1942 beer advertisement.

A beer advertisement featuring John W. Cromwell, Sr.
The Detroit tribune., June 27, 1942, p. 14

For school, John W. Cromwell, Jr. attended Howard University's college preparatory program. This was essentially a high school run by the university. John graduated in spring 1901. He then enrolled at Dartmouth College.

I haven't been able to find much information about Cromwell's experience on campus. Black students had attended Dartmouth since the early 1800s, although in small numbers. He lived on campus in a single suite in Elm House.

Whatever his experience was like, John was able to succeed academically. He won a campus prize, the Thayer Prize, for mathematical excellence. (At the time, the award was given for "excellence in analytic geometry and calculus." It's unclear whether this was based on class performance or an examination.) He graduated with an A.B. degree in 1906 and then remained at the college for another year to complete an M.A. degree.

After graduating from Dartmouth, Cromwell worked at General Electric. However, he only stayed there a year. He left to return to Washington D.C. and teach high school. He first taught at the M Street High School, but most of his time was spent at the Dunbar High School. Dunbar was an elite school that ranked among the best Black high schools in the nation. 

In the earlier 1920s, Cromwell became interested in accounting. He taught himself the subject and then passed the CPA examination. He was the first Black Certified Public Accountant. However, he did not immediately begin working as an accountant. Instead, he continued to teach at Dunbar. 

Cromwell's teaching career came to an end in October 1930. That month, he resigned his position. His reasons are unclear, although those were clearly contentious. Several years later, Cromwell tried to get himself reinstated as a public school teacher and went so far as to file a lawsuit, but he was unsuccessful.

After leaving the teaching profession, Cromwell worked for a year as controller for Howard University and then, finally, used his CPA license and began working as an accountant. He remained in Washington D.C., working as an accountant, until he retired. Cromwell died of a heart attack in 1981 at age 88. 

Cromwell is best known as the first Black CPA, and he does not appear to have been particularly involved in the AMS or in mathematics more generally. Yet his election to the American Mathematical Society is certainly notable event. Especially during the 1950s and 1960s when conflict over racial segregation became intense, structural barriers limited Black mathematicians participation in the society. Cromwell's early membership is testament to the fact that Black mathematicians have long been part of the society. 

Further exploring Cromwell election to AMS membership may shed further light on the experiences of early twentieth century Black mathematicians. Something interesting appears to have happened regarding Cromwell. He remained the only Black AMS member for seven years, until a number professors at HCBUs were elected. Why there such a long gap in time? Addressing this question will require someone to dig deeper into the AMS archives.

John W. Cromwell at Dartmouth
Black at Dartmouth

John W. Cromwell, Jr. and two sisters as children
Credit: Adelaide M. Cromwell

Sources

1. "Teacher seeking to be reinstated." Evening star, October 31, 1935, Page B-1.

2. Evening star, October 31, 1935, Page B-1.

T. E. Hart: From Germany to South Carolina

A depiction of Heidelberg in the 19th century
From A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

Heidelberg, which was to be the home of T. E. Hart for the next five years, was a college town nestled in a river valley in the Odenwald mountains. While the city was German, Germany, at the time, was a patchwork of small predominately German-speaking states. Heidelberg was part of the Grand Duchy of Baden which was approximately the location of the modern federal state of Baden.

Beyond a name, Heidelberg University had little in common with American universities. While American universities largely focused on imparting to young men a basic knowledge of academic subjects, Heidelberg, like most German universities, was place where people not only disseminated but also created knowledge. Heidelberg University was one of the oldest in Germany, and it had long been a major center for for scholarship in subjects like political science, law, and German studies. The 1850s saw major growth in math and scientific. The chemist Robert Bunsen (the man the Bunsen burner is named after) was employed in 1852, and his colleague, the physicist Gustav Kirchhoff, was brought in two years later. In 1856, they were joined by Kirchoff's former supervisor, the mathematician Otto Hesse.

The university was a much more ambitious institution than the universities T. E. was familiar with. Like American schools such as Furman, the university was run by its faculty, but the Heidelberg faculty were much more accomplished. The typical professor had been elected to his chair after completing a dissertation and spending years, if not decades, holding in low-level educational and research positions. Except for the title, American professors had little in common with their German counterparts. 

Student life was also quite different in Germany. While American college students typically lived on campus under close supervision by the faculty and studied a narrow, manditory curriculum, German students enjoyed a great degree of freedom. At Heidelberg, students had to pay a small fee to enroll and were then allowed to attend whatever lectures they found interesting. Most students had completed the German gymnasium, so they arrived at the university with a strong educational background that had prepared them to attend advanced lectures on topics of personal interest. Students lived off-campus in private dwellings and were free to enjoy a boat ride down the Neckar river or to coffee and beer in the gardens of the Heidelberg Palace. In contrast, simply visiting a bar-room or other place where "spirituous or intoxicating liquor"was sold was grounds for suspension at Furman University. 

A German professor socializing with his students
From A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

At Heidelberg, Hart's studies focused on the mathematics and the natural science. Heidelberg students did not receive grades for coursework completed. Instead, they received by passing comprehensive exams, and Hart passed exams in mathematics, chemistry, and physics. 

The late 1860s were an exciting time to study mathematics at Heidelberg. Hart's classmates included a number of accomplished mathematicians. Paul De Bois-Reymond, Heinrich Weber, and Jakob Lüroth all completed dissertations under Hesse's supervision during this time. Weber later recalled what it was like attending Hesse's lectures: 

Hesse lectured freely and without written notes, but he was exceptionally clear and easy to understand. He taught two semesters of differential calculus and integral calculus during which he also covered the foundations of the theory of differential equations and the analytic geometry of the plane and space. He conveyed to everyone the spirit of symmetry and elegance which he so loved. He also taught Mechanics, Calculus of Variations, and a course titled "Encyclopedia of Mathematics" in which we learned the foundations of the so-called "algebraic analysis," combinatorics, series, higher equations. Of particular interest were the weekly exercise sections where Hesse primarily dealt with geometric questions.

A depiction of a classroom in Heidelberg
From A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

Only a few months after Hart arrived at Heidelberg, his world was turned upside-down by events in America. In October 1860, Abraham Lincoln was declared president, and the state of South Carolina responded by declaring that it was leaving the Union. On January 9, 1861, political leaders in South Carolina demonstrated that they were willing to support their decision by military force if necessary. An unarmed civilian merchant ship, the Star of the West, was sent to Charleston Harbor to resupply a federal army base. This was seen as challenge to secession, and cadets from the Citadel Academy responded by opening fire on the ship. The ship was struck several times, and although the damage was not serious, the captain abandoned his plans to resupply the army base and departed. 

The shots fired on the Star of the West were the first shots of the Civil War. The moment that cadets had been trained for was upon them. Academy graduates turned out in large numbers for Confederate military service. Of the twelve students T. E. Hart graduated with, only one did not serve in the army: a student (J. J. Jenkins) who had died seven years earlier. Some southerners in Germany even returned home to serve in the army. John Julius Pringle, a Heidelberg law student from a Georgetown county rice planation, ran a blockade in order to return to South Carolina and help defend the state.

Hart remained in Germany for the duration of the war. This was no small matter. The Hart family had everything to lose. A Union victory meant the loss of the workforce they enslaved and, with it, the fortunes they had accumulated. Hart's brothers, John Lide and Jesse Hartwell, served as officers in the Confederate army. Both paid dearly for their support of the Confederacy. Both died in 1864 of wounds sustained in battle. 

I haven't been able to any information about T. E. Hart's decision to remain in Germany. It may be that there is not much there. Traveling from Germany to South Carolina during a civil war war no small matter, and Hart was already quite busy. His wife gave birth to his first child, Sophie L, during the second year of the war. A second child, Louise S., was born in 1865. 

Whatever his reasons, Hart flourished as a student. In March 1866, after passing oral examinations and submitted his dissertation Elemente Der Geometry und der Gerade Linie, he was awarded the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy. This was a high honor. His dissertation compared favorable with the best mathematical research being done in America. 

Any enjoyment Hart took over his academic achievements was tempered. When he returned to the United State in 1866, he found his world turned upside down. The state of South Carolina was in ruins, two of his brothers and many of his former classmates had been killed, and his family's financial were ruined. To add to this, his wife died on August 1. 

Hart did his best carry on despite these catastrophic events. Furman University has closed during the Civil War, and when it reopened in 1866, Hart was hired as the professor of chemistry and natural philosophy. He was reunited with his former classmate and brother-in-law J. F. Lanneau, who was now professor of mathematics and astronomy. Hart began his position at a difficult time. Not only had Furman's finances been devastated by the war, but the state government was undergoing earthshaking changes. In 1868, the state was required to ratify a new constitution which enfranchise Black men. The first election held under that constitution resulting in a legislature that included substantial numbers of former slaves and largely excluded the planters who had dominated politics in the antebellum. Perhaps in an effort to escape the resulting turmoil, Hart spent the 1867-68 academic year teaching at college in Kentucky. (The name of the college has gone unrecorded.)

Hart returned to South Carolina in 1869 to serve as a professor at South Carolina College, or rather the University of South Carolina as it had been renamed. Hart must have had mixed feelings about his new position. A professorship at the university had long been the pinnacle of academic success for South Carolinians. This was still the case, but the university had been greatly diminished by the war. The student body was largely former Confederate soldiers. Their studies had been completely disrupted by the war, and many bore physical and mental scars from their military service. Hart and the students were surrounded by reminders that they were living in a state that had been defeated in war. A garrison of Union soldiers was stationed next door to campus, and only a short walk the university was the statehouse where former slaves and ex-Union soldiers served as legislators. 

In many ways, Hart embodied the pinnacle of antebellum South Carolina. A planter's son and the product of the Citadel Academy, he had gone on to complete advanced studies at a center for scientific research and shown that he could hold his own among men who had been educated in Germany's excellent gymnasium system. None of these appears to matter to the public in Reconstruction-era South Carolina. 

Although the press closely followed developments at the university, it paid little attention to Hart. Shortly after he was hired, The Charleston daily news published an article on developments at the university. The bulk of the article was spent deploring how political developments were dragging down what had been an institution with  "an enviable reputation for its high standard of character and scholarship." While Hart's election was mentioned, nothing was said of his qualifications except that "we hope to say more anon." In constant, four full paragraphs were developed to Hart's predecessor. 

The university was allowed carry on with little political interference for a few years. However, in 1872, state politicians began efforts to reorganize the university and put in alignment with their broader political goals. These included curbing the power of ex-planters and former Confederate and empowering freedmen. Most controversially, they began planning the racial integration of the university.

The board of trustees, dominated by politicians hostile to former Confederates, began hiring professors who were more politically reliable. Professors like Hart who had been supportive of the Confederacy became worried about their professorship, and many feared that it was only a matter of time before there was a wholesale replacement of the faculty. 

Once again, personal tragedy struck Hart while he was struggling with heavy professional and political challenges. He began experiencing mobility issues. Around the time he returned from Europe, he began walking with a slight limp. The limp worsened, and he began experiencing serious health problems and was often bedridden. His health was so bad that often had to hold his class at his home.

In June 1872, Hart left the university. Some histories of the university state that he was removed by the trustees for political reasons, but contemporaneous records do not show any political concerns surrounding his departure, and certainly, Hart's health problems were rendering him unable to teach. Regardless of why he left, the circumstances surrounding it were ignominious. Hart was one of the best educated men in the state, and one of the few who had made an original research contribution, yet when it announced the hiring of Hart's replacement, the Anderson intelligencer erroneously called him "John Heart" and simply reported that he had left.

Hart's departure was the end of academic career. His health problems worsened and became partially paralyzed. He spent the remained of his life a bedridden invalid. He and his two daughters moved to Hartsville to live with his sister, Mary, and her husband, Thomas C. Law. On December 3, 1891, while living in Charleston with one of his wife's relatives (Charles B. Lanneau), Hart died of a heart attack. He is buried in First Baptist Churchyard in the town of Darlington. 

Sources

1. "Hotel Arrivals." The daily phoenix. [volume], August 11, 1869, Image 2

2. "Hotel Arrivals." The daily phoenix. [volume], September 01, 1869, Image 2

3. "The South Carolina University." The Charleston daily news. [volume], September 20, 1869, Image 2

4. "The South Carolina University." Abbeville press. [volume], September 24, 1869, Image 2

5. "The South Carolina University." The daily phoenix. [volume], October 01, 1869, Image 2

6. "Recipes for the Working Christian." The working Christian. [volume], May 19, 1870, Image 3

7. "Our Correspondent and the South Carolina University." The daily phoenix. [volume], January 17, 1872, Image 2

8. "The University of South Carolina." The Anderson intelligencer. [volume], June 27, 1872, Image 2

Spartanburg under Presidential Reconstruction

The arrival of Union soldiers in Spartanburg in April 1865 marked the end of the Civil War for the region. Spartanburg County had undoubtably suffered a devastating military loss. Civil government had collapsed, and the entire state had been placed under military rule. The economy was in shambles as the emancipation of slaves – the main source wealth for white men – had wiped out the finances of the wealthiest men in the area and disrupted labor. Although Spartanburg was not the site of any battles, a majority of white men had served in Confederate army, and many had been killed or permanently injured. 

One of the few sources of hope was the nature of the economy. While Spartanburg County unquestionably had been a slave society, its economy was less dependent on slavery than many other parts of the south. A large number of residents were small farmers who owned no slaves, and the economy was relatively diverse. The region was home to ironworks and cotton mills, 

Despite all the ink that was later spilt complaining about "bayonet rule," military rule was mild. The garrison stationed in Spartanburg village was small (twenty-five soldiers in May 1866), and there appear to have been few tensions. The only incident documented by the town council was one in November 1865. Two white men (William Spencer and James Ally) tried to provoke a "general riot" and "raise a difficulty" with some Union soldiers, but the incident does not appear to have any great political significance. The men pled "guilty but drunk" and were fined fifteen dollars plus court costs. In May 1866, the garrison was temporarily removed, and Carolina Spartan newspaper that it "would have preferred that [they] should have remained" as they had been well-behaved. 

For many residents, the divisive politics surrounding the war and secession were an unaffordable luxury. Much more important was restoring civil order and the economy. The prominent Spartanburg politician James Farrow expressed the views of many in a speech he delivered in October 1865. Farrow was running for US senate in the first election held since the war, and he was using the occasion to present himself as a candidate. He argued that there were no differences between the candidates on policy: everyone was running on a platform on restoring civil government and "rebuilding our shattered fortunes." The candidates differed in how palatable their political records were to northern politicians. Like all other candidates, Farrow had served the Confederacy. His strength, he argued, was that he had been pardoned by the president and had advocated for accepting the results of the war as a "settlement of the great issue."

Farrow did not explain what he meant by "the great issue." He likely meant the right of states to secede and perhaps also the right of the federal government to outlaw slavery. What he almost certainly did not mean was extending equal rights to formerly enslaved people. That remained an anathema to white elites. The Carolina Spartan newspaper expressed the opinions of many by publishing the poem "Harry Hopeful Sees the Spartan." The newspaper had closed at the end of the war and recently reopened under a new editor. Most of the poem described how the paper had changed, but it also described the political changes that had recently taken place:

Other changes here [in the newspaper] I find,
But of a very different kind,
Not in the "style of publication."
But in the way they work the nation
So that any moment you may choose,
The Legislative Acts peruse;
Our folks (I fear 'twas by compulsion)
Have made somewhat of a revulsion
Like some folks North (who think it right)
Tha've made the Black, as good as white, 
And as a good old [expletive deleted] said
"It puts the Devil in their head,"
Stealing is common thro' the land,
I guess, the bottom rail was rotten,
So they want the top one on bottom,

A close look at the county's political leaders sheds light into regional political developments. Efforts to restore civil government began in fall 1865 when voters elected delegates to a state-wide constitutional convention and then legislators under the new state constitution.

Freedmen were excluded from voting, so predictably all elected officials were white southerners. However, a close examination of the individuals shows some surprises. Only one of the men elected was a planter. That man was John Winsmith (not to be confused with his son, John C. Winsmith, who also was active in politics). Winsmith worked as a physician, but he also ran one of the largest plantations in the county. He had a deep personal investment in labor relations between planters and freedpeople. Prior to emancipation, he enslaved almost one-hundred people. His election also demonstrated the continued political influence of the county's traditional political leaders: before the war, Winsmith had served two terms in the state legislature.

Other antebellum politicians who were reelected were Gabriel Cannon, James Farrow, and John W. Carlisle. These men were not planters. Farrow and Carlisle were lawyers, while Cannon had ran a cotton manufacturing business. In particular, Cannon's economic interests were different from those of planter's like Winsmith. Cannon was less dependent on the labor of freedmen and more interested in state-supported economic developments like railroad construction.

Other elected officials were new to politics. Two of the men, Andrew Copeland and A. B. Woodruff, had run successful family farms, while M. C. Barnett and D. R. Duncan were professionals (a mechanic and a lawyer, respectively). All of them had served as officers in the Confederate army, and their military service likely had been their entry points into politics.

The hostility of white elites to the rights and interests of freedpeople ultimately doomed early efforts at Reconstruction in South Carolina, and the former Confederacy more generally. In national politics, there was widespread anger and frustration at the continued resistance to political changes in the former Confederate states. Congress refused to seat many ex-Confederates, including Spartanburg resident James Farrow, who won the election for US Congress. After Republicans swept the 1866 election, they imposed harsher conditions for the restoration of civil government. Martial law was restored to South Carolina, and Congress required the state to make further changes to the state constitution – including the enfranchisement of Black men – before civil government was restored.

In the long-term, white elites in Spartanburg County would realize their vision for the region. While freedpeople would ostensibly enjoy full political rights, they remained an economically disadvantaged group that was almost wholly excluded from political decision-making. Former planters would enjoy the cheap labor provided by a political and social system that forced former slaves to labor as sharecropper, while budding industrialists would benefit from development efforts that ultimately make the region a center for cotton manufacturing. 

The short-term impact was very different. Conflict over the enfranchisement of Black men would plunge the county into chaos and violence. Spartanburg would see some of the worst Ku Klux violence in the nation as well as the most punitive efforts by the federal government to curb racial and political violence. 

In his October 1865 speech, James Farrow spoke about his attitude towards the defeat of the Confederacy. He insisted that South Carolinians must accept that the dispute over states' rights and slavery had been settled by the Confederacy's military defeat, but at the same time, they must reject "the craven surrender of all thoughts, feelings and recollections of a Southerner." Voters, he advised, should behave like the King of India, Porus, when he was captured by Alexander the Great: voters should insist that they continued to be treated "like a king!" White elites in Spartanburg County would force the nation to continue treating them like kings but at terrible cost.

1. "Garrison Removed." The Carolina Spartan. [volume], May 03, 1866, Image 2

2. "A New Garrison" The Carolina Spartan. [volume], May 10, 1866, Image 2

4. The Carolina Spartan. [volume], June 28, 1866, Image 2

5. "Hopeful Harry See the Spartan." The Carolina Spartan. [volume], February 15, 1866, Image 2

6. "The War of Races" The Carolina Spartan. [volume], April 19, 1866, Image 2

7. "Speech of Hon. James Farrow." The Carolina Spartan. [volume], September 06, 1866, Image 2

8. "To the Voters of the Fourth Congressional District." The daily phoenix. [volume], October 29, 1865, Image 3

The Civil War at a Pine Bluff plantation

Map of Pine Bluff in 1869. The Taylor plantation was along the road circled in red
From Arkansas Digital Archive

In this post, we'll take another look at Pine Bluff, Arkansas during and after the Civil War. The freedman Robert Williams provided detailed testimony about his experience to the federal government as part of a request for financial restitution for provisions taken by the Union army.

The records of testimony that Robert and others gave need to be read critically. In order to receive compensation, Robert needed to not only convince federal officials that he was accurately describing provisions taken, but he also needed to show that he had remained loyal to the Union throughout the war. The federal officials he was speaking to were largely white men from the north who had served as army officers during the war. While they were hostile to the Confederacy and secession, their attitude towards freedpeople was mixed. Former Union soldiers generally hated the institution of slavery, but they also displayed racist attitudes towards freedpeople, viewing them as a "primitive" and often untrustworthy people who had been debased by enslavement. One interviewer described Robert in his records as a "darky witness." Nevertheless, the claim records provide unique insight into the life of freedpeople living around Pine Bluff.

Life at the outbreak of the Civil War

When the war broke out, Robert was in his late twenties and living on the plantation of John Taylor, one of the many plantations surrounding the town of Pine Bluff. He had been "purchased" by Taylor five years earlier. On the Taylor plantation, Robert was a "mechanic," meaning he performed skilled labor that included blacksmithing and sawing timber. He was able to start his own family. He married an enslaved woman named Charlotte, and together they were raising at least two children, their daughters Mary and Alice. 

The Taylor plantation was located about three miles southeast of the town of Pine Bluff, on the lower Monticello road and about two miles from the Arkansas River. The plantation was a large operation. Approximately one-hundred enslaved workers lived there, and they were supervised by John Taylor's family and a hired (white) overseer. Unfortunately, detailed records of the plantation are unavailable, but farming in the region generally focused on cotton and food provisions (potatoes, corn, and hogs).

Robert's enslaver, John Taylor, was an interesting figure. He and his wife had moved to Arkansas from Kentucky, likely to take advantage of the farm land that became cheaply available after the removal of local native peoples. He experienced considerable financial success. Between the land he owned and the hundred-some people he enslaved, he was one of the wealthiest men in the state. Yet he carried himself quietly and with grace. Residents who knew John described him as "quiet" and a "plain unassuming man" who "did not stand on his riches."

Most remarkably, Taylor opposed secession and was a staunch Unionist throughout the war even though a Union victory meant devastating personal financial loss. In general, political sentiments around Pine Bluff were mixed. The region was home to a number of plantations, and many of the planters supported secession and the Confederacy. But also living in the area were a number of committed Unionists.

The most prominent Unionists living in Pine Bluff included Anthony A. R. Rogers, an acquaintance of Taylor's. Rogers was a merchant who had moved to Arkansas from Tennessee in 1854. He was a delegate to the 1861 state secession convention, where he opposed leaving the Union. During the second year of the war (in fall 1862), he was arrested by Confederate officials on a charge of treason and imprisoned in Little Rock. Taylor traveled to the city to support Rogers and even offered to cover Rogers's bond. 

In general, Unionists like Rogers and Taylor were hated by many residents. John Taylor was called "Yankee John" by Confederates. Tensions became particularly bad in fall 1862 when the Union army began threatening Pine Bluff. Confederate forces were stationed near the town, and Taylor refused to provide them with food provisions, going so far as to bury meat that he had in storage in order to hide it from Confederate authorities. When the Confederate government began pressing enslaved workers into service for the war effort, Taylor warned the enslaved people on his plantation and ultimately sent them temporarily twenty miles away to Bayou Bartholomew so they could avoid Confederate officials. Robert Williams managed to avoid Confederate service, but others on the plantation were not as lucky. Lewis Byers was captured by "rebels" and forced to labor in support of the Confederate war effort until he escaped by running away.

John Taylor, himself, was once captured by bushwhackers (irregular Confederate troops). The bushwhackers were concerned that Taylor would report a raid that they were planning to Union forces. They took Taylor twenty miles away from his plantation, but then released him.

Union army forces began nearing Pine Bluff in the fall of 1863. That September, the Union army occupied the state capital of Little Rock after defeating defending Confederate forces. At the request of Pine Bluff residents, Union forces were sent to the town to protect it from the Confederate soldiers and bandits.  Union control of Pine Bluff meant the emancipation of all slaves in the area. To avoid this, most planters fled to Texas with their enslaved workers. Taylor was one of the few who stayed. He not only was aware that he stood to lose his enslaved workforce, but he was candid about this. He told Robert Williams that, "when Federal forces came [Robert] would be as free as [Taylor] was." True to his word, once the Union army took control of Pine Bluff, he told the people he enslaved that they were free, and he offered to employ them for pay if they remained on the plantation. Many of the newly freed workers continued to work for the Taylor family.

A few months after emancipation (in February 1864), Robert Williams reached a labor agreement with Taylor. In exchange for his services as a sawyer and blacksmith, Robert was given the right to farm a forty-acre plot of land known as the "gin field" (because it contained the plantation's cotton gin). On the land, Robert raised hogs and planted corn and cotton, a typical arrangement for a small farmer in Arkansas. 

Confederates were angry with Taylor for supporting the Union. Before they left Pine Bluff, Confederate soldiers burned seventy bales of cotton which they found on Taylor's farm, a major financial loss. Many white residents of Pine Bluff shunned the Taylor family, and they largely socialized with occupying Union army officers for the remainder of the war. John Taylor's wife, Mary, once heard rumors that Confederate soldiers serving under Major-General John S. Marmaduke were threatening to damage their plantation in retaliation for their Unionism, although nothing came of that. 

The Taylor plantation was protected from Confederate soldiers and bandits by Union soldiers living there. A picket of approximately thirty soldiers were stationed during the last years of the war. The soldiers lived in the former home of the overseer, near Robert Williams' farm. 

The Union soldiers were a mixed blessing. While they protected freedpeople and the Taylor family, they also were a considerable burden on households as they requisitioned food provisions. To supplement their rations, the Union soldiers regularly took potatoes, corn, hay, and hogs from the farms on the Taylor plantation. 

In August 1864, the corn Robert was growing became ready for harvesting, and the soldiers took it for food and fodder. Robert filed a complaint with the commanding officer. The officer was sympathetic. He explained that the soldiers needed the corn to supplement their provisions but offered to provide Robert with a receipt. However, before he did so, he and his troops were called away because of a rumored upcoming attack on Pine Bluff. While he was away, the commanding officer fell ill, and Robert never got the requested receipt.

Life after the war

Unfortunately, the information about Robert becomes thin after the Civil War ended. However, we can extract some information about conditions in Pine Bluff in the years after the war. John Taylor died the year after the war, but his wife Mary and children remained in the area. In 1870, Mary was living on the plantation with her mother-in-law and children as well as four Black women, likely woman who had been enslaved as domestic servants by the Taylor family. Robert and the Taylor family appeared to have remained on good terms. Robert remained farming on the Taylor plantation throughout the 1870s, and he testified in support of financial claims made by Mary. Mary and her son, Forman, returned the favor and testified for Robert. 

Robert also remained in contact with a number of the Union soldiers who had been stationed in Pine Bluff. Quite a few stayed in town after the war as civilians. The soldiers were mostly from out-of-state and were trying to start a new life for themselves. The ex-Union soldiers who testified in favor of Robert's claim were James F. Vaughn, James M. Mahar, and Samuel W. Mallory. The three men were originally from Ireland, Tennessee, and New York respectively. In Pine Bluff, Mahar found work as a carpenter. The other two obtained appointed to state and federal government. Mallory served as a superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau and then worked as a lawyer, while Vaughn was county sheriff. Not only did these men confirm that Union soldiers had taken Robert's provisions, but they also attested to his character. Vaughn said that Robert was an "industrious and honest man."

Robert's efforts to obtain restitution were successful, and he was paid approximately three-hundred dollars by the federal government. Beyond farming near Pine Bluff during the 1870s, it is unclear what became of him. In all likelihood, his life likely became quite difficult in 1874. That year much of Arkansas, including Pine Bluff, descended into chaos and political violence. State politician Joseph Brooks had run for governor in 1872, and after losing the election, he challenged the results. His efforts came to a climax in the summer of 1874 when Brooks and a large group of armed supporters took control of the State Capital and declared Brooks the governor. The elected governor, Elisha Baxter, refused to acknowledge this, and his own supporters armed themselves and challenged Brooks. 

In April, Baxter's supporters imposed martial law in Pine Bluff and the surrounding county. They then arrested Sheriff Vaughn and other influential citizens who supported Brooks' claim. The men spent a number of days in jail, but they were ultimately released, and Baxter, under pressure from the president, ultimately withdrew his claim to the governorship in May. The long-term result of his efforts was the destruction of the Republican Party of Arkansas. Conservative democrats took advantage of the disorder to call a constitutional convention. They then proceeded to revise the constitution and then swept the subsequent election. 

The rise of conservative democrats meant a sharp decline in the fortunes of Robert Williams and many of his friends. Ex-planters and Confederate dominated the political party, and their main political goal was to undo the political changes that had taken in the years after the Civil War. Seeing no place for themselves, many of the pro-Union residents and the ex-Union soldiers left the state. Anthony Rogers left for northern California. Options for freedpeople like Robert were more limited. Many lacked the means to move and continued to live and work in Arkansas within an environment that was increasing hostile to freedpeople.

Sources

1. Year: 1870; Census Place: Vaugine, Jefferson, Arkansas; Roll: M593_56; Page: 502A

2. INDEX TO REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. 1874-'75

3. Year: 1870; Census Place: Pine Bluff, Jefferson, Arkansas; Roll: M593_56; Page: 539B

4. Southern Claims Commission