LITTLE ROCK — Aphone call from a new friend recently led me to thinking about resistance to the military draft in Arkansas during World War I. Having grown up in north-central Arkansas, my friend had heard stories about armed resistance to the draft. My late mother told me that as a very small child she had been responsible for sneaking food to the dense Sumac thicket hideaway of an older brother who was avoiding serving in that war.
Resistance to the draft during World War I was extensive and widespread. Nationally, a total of 337,649 men either refused to report for induction or deserted after induction. A total of 8,732 Arkansas draftees either deserted or refused to report, representing almost 8 percent of the Arkansas total. Perhaps the most significant resistance occurred across the border in Oklahoma, in what was known as the Green Corn Rebellion.While organized resistance in Arkansas never reached that level, historian James F. Willis has written that “armed encounters occurred in Searcy, Polk, and Cleburne counties during the spring and summer of 1918.”
The best known of these violent encounters occurred in a rural area east of Quitman in the rolling hills of southern Cleburne County. Among the farmers living in the area was Tom Adkisson, whose son, Bliss, had refused to report for military induction. Adkisson was a member of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Russell of Pittsburgh in the late 1870s. This movement evolved into the Watch Tower Tract Society, and in 1931 became known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Among Russell’s teachings was a strict condemnation of military service; indeed, the sect prohibited participation in governmental affairs altogether.
On Saturday, July 6, 1918, Cleburne County sheriff Jasper Duke recruited four additional men to make a raid into the very southern edge of the county, north of Rosebud, in search of draft evaders. Searches of several homes later that night turned up no deserters or delinquents. Toward dawn, the posse reached the home of Old Tom Adkisson.
Keeping to the shadows, the posse slipped into Adkisson’s barn. They were soon discovered, and a shootout ensued. Posse member Porter Hazelwood was shot and severely wounded, but he was abandoned by his comrades, who fled to Heber Springs. Adkisson asked a neighbor to assist Hazelwood, and he was evacuated by mule-but died later in the afternoon. Meantime, the little town of Heber Springs was a scene of great excitement.
Sheriff Duke began organizing a larger posse, and word of the shootout quickly spread among the just-awakening populace. Crowds soon appeared in the streets, many of the men being armed. An appeal for volunteers was sent out tosurrounding villages, and by noon a posse of 25 men from Heber Springs, Searcy, Pearson, and Quitman was ready to resume the battle. But Tom Adkisson had been busy, too.
Adkisson recruited others from the neighborhood to reinforce his family, and he had them strategically placed, including in trees. Soon, shots rang out-and a veritable battle ensued. After 45 minutes of fruitless firing, Adkisson and his seven followers set the thick underbrush on fire and evacuated under the cover of smoke.
Following the battle, the area was gripped by fear and rife with wild rumors. Some feared the town might be attacked. The prevailing apprehension was fed by a general distrust of Russellism-a small sect that was not well known. An Arkansas Gazette reporter wrote of men being “sent to the front.”County authorities sent a plea to Governor Charles H. Brough stating, as historian James Willis has written, “the necessity of machine guns and troops, particularly machine guns.” At 2 a.m. on Monday, July 8, 1918, a contingent of 30 Guardsmen left Little Rock in six Cadillacs headed to Cleburne County, taking along two Vickers machine guns. Also converging on Heber Springs were the sheriffs of Faulkner and White counties, each leading a contingent of volunteers. Home Guard units from Searcy and Pangburn sent troops. At least 200 armed men were searching for eight draft resisters. But, Tom Adkisson and the other resisters could not be found.
As time passed, breaches of civil liberties became common, with a Russellite preacher and his family of nine being jailed for inciting the incident. Families and friends of the resisters were rounded up and held in a Heber Springs hotel.
The situation changed dramatically on Saturday, July 13, when one of Adkisson’s sons-in-law, surrendered in neighboring White County. Over the next few days all the resisters surrendered.
Tom and Bliss Adkisson were prosecuted for the killing of Porter Hazelwood. Tom admitted shooting Hazelwood in defense of his son, and surprisingly, he was convicted only of voluntary manslaughter while his son was found guilty of more serious second-degree murder. They both served prison terms.
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Tom Dillard is head of special collections at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Email him at [email protected].
Editorial, Pages 74 on 02/20/2011