David Walker Collection, 1834-1879

David Walker Collection, 1834-1879 UALR.MS.0159

UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture
401 President Clinton Avenue
Little Rock, AR, 72201
archives@ualr.edu

Arrangement

Scope and Content

This collection contains correspondence from prominent Arkansans to David Walker, and other miscellaneous documents.

Correspondents include: Benjamin F. Danley, C. C. Danley, Thomas Drew, Elbert English, W. B. Flippen, Absalom Fowler, Benjamin Johnson, Augustus Garland, William R. Miller, James Mitchell, Isaac Murphy, Henry Rector, Logan Roots, R. W. Trimble, George C. Watkins, A. J. Wilson, William Woodruff, and Archibald Yell. The correspondence concerns legal, financial, and political matters from the 1830s until the 1870s, including secession, the Civil War, and the Brooks-Baxter War.

This collection was originally numbered H-12 and is part of the J. N. Heiskell Historical Collection, courtesy Arkansas Gazette Foundation.

Biographical Note

David Walker came to Arkansas in 1830 from Kentucky, where he had worked as a lawyer. Settling in Fayetteville, he became, according to Albert Pike, "the foremost lawyer in northwest Arkansas." Active in local and state politics, Walker was prosecuting attorney for the Third Judicial District from 1833-1835. A Whig, he was elected to the state senate in 1840. In 1844, Walker ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress against Archibald Yell. Four years later, he was elected a judge to the Supreme Court by a heavily Democratic legislature. Prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, he became president of the 1861 Secession Convention and voted for secession. When the war ended, Walker was chosen as chief justice, but was forced out by a hostile state administration. Later, however, he was again elected to the Supreme Court, a position he held until 1878. Walker died at his home in Fayetteville in 1879.

Restrictions

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is available for viewing at the Arkansas Studies Institute.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17-U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The person using this material is liable for any infringement.

Copyright for correspondence in the collections belongs to those correspondents or their beneficiaries. Persons wanting to re-use those materials are advised to obtain permission from copyright holders.

Administrative Information

Citation Notes

Bibliographic citation:

David Walker Collection, 1834-1879, UALR.MS.0159. UALR Center for Arkansas History and Culture, Arkansas Studies Institute, Little Rock

Footnote or Endnote Information:

Description of item, file number, David Walker Collection, 1834-1879, UALR.MS.0159.