Sen. Robert Johnson was once one of Arkansas’s most powerful politicians.  In a time when the nation was pulling itself apart, Johnson became one of those men pulling hardest of all to bring Arkansas out of the Union, a move that led to the Civil War.  AS a result, his once-promising career was reduced to ashes.

Robert Ward Johnson was born in Kentucky in July 1814.  His father, Judge Benjamin Johnson, was a wealthy planter.  In fact, his family had a lot of powerful political connections.  His uncle, Richard M. Johnson, was a hero of the War of 1812, a U. S. Senator, and eventually vice-president under President Martin Van Buren from 1837 to 1841.  Two of his father’s other brothers were also prominent Kentucky congressmen.

In 1821, Judge Johnson was appointed by President James Monroe to serve as a federal judge in the Arkansas Territory.  The future senator, now 7, moved with his family to the newly established territorial capital of Little Rock. Johnson County, in western Arkansas, would be named for the judge when it was created in 1833.  Judge Johnson enjoyed a great deal of political popularity and sent the younger Johnson back to Kentucky to attend the Choctaw Academy, a boarding school run by his uncle that included many young Choctaws.  He later attended St. Joseph’s College and returned to Little Rock.

In 1835, after apprenticing himself to a local attorney, he became a member of the bar and began practicing law.  He would marry in 1836, a union that produced six children.  He became active in local Democratic politics, and his sister would marry Sen. Ambrose Sevier, one of Arkansas’s first two U. S. Senators.

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In 1840, Johnson, now only 26, became the prosecuting attorney for Pulaski County.  In 1843, the state legislature created the new position of state attorney general.  Gov. Archibald Yell selected Johnson to serve in this new post.  After a few months, Johnson stepped down and moved his family and law firm to Helena, a growing and thriving port city on the Mississippi River.

In 1846, he was elected to Congress.  He came to chair the Committee on Indian Affairs while his brother-in-law, Sen. Sevier, chaired the Senate counterpart.  Johnson was re-elected easily in 1848.  In 1850, with sectional tensions over slavery threatening to split the nation, Johnson opposed efforts to compromise with the North, rejecting California’s bid to become a free state and rejecting the creation of new territories in the Southwest.  He did, however, support newer, stronger federal legislation to capture slaves who had run away to the North.  Johnson was re-elected in 1850 and 1852.

After Sen. Solon Borland was appointed to become ambassador to Nicaragua in 1853, the state legislature chose Johnson to finish his term in the Senate.  Issues surrounding slavery increasingly dominated the American political scene.  Though Johnson initially supported legislation to encourage settlement of the High Plains, he soon turned sharply against it as he saw such laws as an attempt to bring in more northern settlers opposed to slavery to the territories and thus create more free states.

As a bid to counter that, he and other southern senators supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, an act that would open the unorganized territories of the Louisiana Purchase from the Indian Territory to the Canadian border to slavery.  Northerners believed the cooler and drier climate of this area would make the area unlikely to support cotton or tobacco production, so slavery was unlikely.  However, the legislation instead created a political firestorm across the country, ripping apart the nation’s political institutions.  Johnson himself was re-elected by the legislature in 1854 and came to chair the Senate Committee on Public Land and the Committee on Military Affairs.  He declined to run for another term in 1860.

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With secession on the horizon, Johnson worked with Congressman Thomas Hindman to convince leaders to pull Arkansas out of the Union.  When Arkansas seceded from the Union in 1861, he was one of five Arkansans sent to the provisional Confederate capital in Montgomery, Alabama, to set up the new Confederate government.  The secessionist legislature in Little Rock then elected him to serve in the Confederate Senate as it convened in the new capital in Richmond, Virginia, in 1862. However, the political fortunes of Johnson and the Confederacy fell apart after that.  With shortages of food, supplies, and manpower, spiraling hyperinflation, and a lack of foreign support, the Confederacy faced increasing disasters on both diplomatic and political fronts.  The government that Johnson created had little power to combat any of these problems.

By late 1864, with most of Arkansas under Union control and Confederate forces facing one defeat after another, he realized the war was lost.  He declined to return to the Confederate Senate in its last months until it adjourned for the last time in March 1865.

The war cost him everything.  He lost his home, his wife had died, his slaves were freed, his political influence was shattered, and he was left bankrupt.  He spent the next ten years after the Civil War as an attorney in Washington, DC, slowly paying off his debts and rebuilding his finances.  Afterward, he decided to return to Arkansas.  He met up with his old political adversary, Albert Pike, who had led Whig Party opposition to him in the years before the Civil War and who had later become a Confederate general himself.  The two put aside their old differences and began a prominent law firm in Little Rock.

In 1878, with the state legislature back under control of the Democrats, Johnson attempted to regain his old Senate seat and lobbied legislators.  Johnson still found that he had many political allies and rallied them to his cause.  Rumors, however, circulated that Johnson’s allies were attempting to bribe legislators.  No concrete evidence emerged, and nothing more became of the charges.  Nevertheless, legislators elected judge and former Confederate colonel James D. Walker to the Senate instead.

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Disappointed, Johnson continued practicing law and his health declined.  Less than a year later, he died at age 65.

George Lloyd Spencer lived the life of a simple farmer, businessman, and patriot.  Though his career was overshadowed by more famous figures, he served in two world wars and in the United States Senate, always willing to do his duty for the country he loved.

Spencer was born in 1893 in Sarcoxie, in the far southwestern corner of Missouri.  His family moved to Okolona in western Clark County in 1902.  He would later attend Henderson-Brown College (the present-day Henderson State University) in nearby Arkadelphia.

In 1918, in the midst of World War I, Spencer enlisted in the navy.  He served an honorable tour and returned to Arkansas not long after the war ended.

He and his new wife moved to Hope in 1921 where he bought a farm and served as cashier for both the Hope National Bank and the Hope Savings Bank.  As his banking career became increasingly successful, he still wanted to serve his country.  In 1931, he joined the naval reserves, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant commander.

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Despite the difficulties of the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Spencer’s careful management of the banks in Hope helped them stay afloat, something many banks were unable to do at the time.  In 1938, he became president of the newly combined First National Bank of Hope.  The next year, he was elected president of the Arkansas Bankers Association.

In early 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed U. S. Sen. John Elvis Miller as federal judge for the Western District of Arkansas.  Miller, a Missouri native like Spencer, resigned his seat on March 31.  Knowing the vacancy was coming, Gov. Homer Adkins appointed Spencer to fill the U. S. Senate seat for the remainder of Miller’s term.  As a result, Spencer was sworn in on April 1.

Spencer served on several different committees, including the Banking and Currency Committee and the Post Office Committee.  However, most of his time in the Senate was consumed by World War II.  The United States was slowly building up its defenses as war approached.  In summer of 1941, the army began engaging in a series of large-scale war games and training maneuvers in South Arkansas and North Louisiana.  Thousands of troops participated.  Spencer returned to Hope to help organize efforts by the American Legion to provide extra food, drinks, lodging, and entertainment while the troops were in the area.

After the Japanese attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in December, Spencer voted to declare war on Japan and Germany.  He became part of the War Plant Inspection Committee, helping to oversee the transition of civilian manufacturing for military use as well ensuring plant safety and production quotas.

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He continued to serve in the naval reserves during this time.  Though approaching the age of fifty, Spencer decided that he could better serve the country in the armed forces than in the Senate.  He decided not to seek a full term for the 1942 election and entered the navy full-time when his term ended in January 1943.   Spencer’s decision not to run for re-election ultimately paved the way for Sheridan native and attorney John L. McClellan to enter the U. S. Senate and his influential 34-year career in that body.

After World War II, Spencer returned to Hope and resumed his active business and civic career.  He was later appointed director of the Arkansas-Louisiana Gas Co. and commissioner for the Southwest Arkansas Water District.  In his later years, he served as president and chairman of the board of the First National Bank of Hope until his retirement in 1977.  In his later years, he served as an advisor and political mentor to another Hope native, Bill Clinton, future governor and president.

Spencer died in Hope in January 1981.

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 If you go to Arkansas Razorback games, or are an Arkansas fan at all, you probably know of The Catfish Hole. It’s the legendary restaurant that has a full compliment of some of the best chicken, seafood, and good Southern fried, cholesterol inducing foods that you will find in this part of the world.

But even though they have an incredible menu, they may be best known for their appetizer – a bowl of some of the best hushpuppies and relish that you will ever put in your mouth. Many have tried to get that recipe from the Catfish Hole – but no one to our knowledge has ever successfully left with it.

The restaurant started out as a small, hole-in-the-wall place in North Little Rock off of JFK Boulevard. The original owners had a small location on the old Highway 71 north of Alma for a number of years, when Pat Gazzola, an attorney who worked in the oil and gas business bought the restaurant along with his wife Janie. The couple then built a much larger and newer location in west Fayetteville on Wedington Drive

Both were immensely successful over the years, and the restaurant for years has been a household name in Arkansas. In recent years, the Fayetteville location became host to Sam Pittman and John Calipari’s call-in shows on the Razorback Sports Network.

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Pat died in 2017, and there have been changes. The Alma location closed during Covid, as did a third location built outside of Branson. But the Fayetteville restaurant is still going strong, with plans for a different kind of expansion coming down the pipe.

The Catfish Hole green tomato relish hit Wal-Mart shelves in Northwest Arkansas earlier this week. (PHOTO: LinkedIn/Britain White)

Enter into the equation Britain White, who is Pat and Janie’s son. These days, he is the President/CEO of Catfish Hole LLC and has worked hand-in-hand with his mother in re-opening the Alma store, along with other operations of the company. Earlier this week he posted to social media that the legandary relish that goes along with those world-famous hushpuppies has hit the shelves of at least one Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market in Northwest Arkansas, with more stores to follow.

“Big day for Catfish Hole Fayetteville! We are so excited to partner with Walmart and take a 30+ year local NWA restaurant brand beyond the restaurant. Our green tomato relish is served as part of our unlimited “fixins” along with our tasty coleslaw and our legendary hushpuppies.” White said on LinkedIn. “For years, customers have asked us if we sell the relish and several request us to ship all over the country… Well, we are listening! We delivered our first store this morning to Walmart Neighborhood Market Bentonville on North Main St! Huge thank you to the management team for giving us the opportunity! More NWA stores to come!”

While the relish is a welcome addition to the grocery aisles, the move had inquiring minds such as South Arkansas Now co-owner Grant Merrill wondering if anything else was coming down the pipeline, like maybe the hushpuppies that go with that relish when you sit down at the Catfish Hole.

So naturally, he left a comment of congratulations, with the quick comment, “If y’all would just find a way to sell that hushpuppy batter!”

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We’re hoping Mr. White wasn’t planning on keeping anything a secret, but within a few minutes of our company co-owners comment, he replied, “Grant Merrill – working on a frozen option!” and a thumbs up emoji.

You can bet that if there is ever an at home option with the frozen batter as has been implied, Grant will load up his deep fryer and join his colleagues Sandy and Boomer on the Off The Back Porch podcast, and we’ll all be trying Catfish Hole brand hushpuppies for an afternoon with live video included.

Don’t ever say we don’t bring you the stories that matter!!

Congratulations Catfish Hole!

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It has been said that heroism is defined as holding on for one moment longer.  A moment can save a life or change the destiny of a nation.  Travis Watkins, a native Arkansan, was one such hero who took charge and held on against overwhelming odds, saving the lives of his men in the process and receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.

Travis Watkins was born in Waldo, a small Columbia County community, in 1920.  The family would stay in Waldo for only a few years more before leaving for Texas, finally settling in Troup, a small East Texas town near Tyler.  In 1939, he enlisted in the army.

At Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, American forces went on the offensive against Japan for the first time in the war, determined to turn the tide of the fighting.  In August 1942, American forces launched an attack on Japanese positions.  Watkins served with distinction in the battle and was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery.

He served with distinction in many campaigns until the Allied victory in 1945.  Watkins continued to serve in the army in the peacetime years that followed and rose through the enlisted ranks to Master Sergeant.  In 1948, he married Madie Sue Barnett, with whom he had two daughters.

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In June 1950, the peace was shattered when North Korea launched a massive, unprovoked attack on South Korea.  Watkins was called back into action with the Ninth Infantry and sent to shore up their failing defenses.  By the end of August, American, South Korean, and United Nations forces had been pushed into a small pocket of the southeastern corner of South Korea that came to be called the Pusan Perimeter.  Allied forces were facing total defeat.

On August 31, Watkins and his detachment of 30 men were completely cut off from their regiment.  Near Yongsan, he organized his small group into defensive positions, deciding to fight it out.   As they ran low on ammunition, Watkins would charge out of their foxholes to retrieve ammunition from fallen North Korean troops.  Though he was shot, he continued to fight for the lives of his men for three more days.

Watkins and his men deflected wave after wave of attacks.  In one wave, North Korean troops charged his foxhole with grenades.  Critically wounded in the attack, Watkins killed all of his attackers, preventing his position from being overrun.

But he realized he had been paralyzed from the waist down by his injuries.  He knew he would not survive the battle but kept directing his men to give them their chance to break out and rejoin their regiment.  Over the next days, he insisted the men take his share of their dwindling food supply, and on September 3, after seeing an opening, ordered them to make their escape without him, telling them his injuries would only slow them down.  According to his men, he wished them luck and then died.  The remaining troops made it back safely after a battle that took out 500 enemy troops.

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Watkins died two days before his thirtieth birthday.  He was later buried in Gladewater, Texas.

A few months after his death, the army awarded Watkins the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service above and beyond the call of duty.  President Harry Truman gave Watkins’s posthumous award to his widow in a ceremony at the White House.  Watkins would be one of 33,000 Americans to lose their lives in the Korean War and one of 146 men to receive the Medal of Honor during the conflict.  His sacrifice was not forgotten.  In 1961, a housing complex at Fort Sam Houston was named for him.  In June 2000, the navy launched the USNS Watkins, a 950-foot cargo ship named in honor of Watkins, which has been in service ever since.

“The mind once enlightened can never again become dark,” wrote Thomas Paine generations ago.  Progress in education has been an important feature of the development of the United States as it steadily moved to become an economic and scientific leader.  Arkansas faced a difficult transition as it attempted to develop its school system in the twentieth century.  One of the key leaders in Arkansas education was Arch Ford, the former state education commissioner.

Archibald Washington Ford was born in the small Faulkner County community of Wooster in 1906.  The importance of education was emphasized to him at an early age.  His father, Rev. Thomas Noah Ford, was a Baptist minister, farmer, and a leader in public education in Faulkner County in the early 1900s.  He served on the Wooster School Board and later on the Faulkner County Board of Education.

In the early 1900s, most Arkansas communities had schools of some type.  However, the quality differed widely among the hundreds of school districts spread across the state’s 75 counties.  In 1900, there were still no compulsory school attendance laws, few standards for teachers or what was taught, school terms in many districts were only four months, and many communities only had one-room schools educating children of all ages at different grade levels because of a lack of resources.  Most school districts did not offer any education past the eighth grade.  Many children may only have a couple years of education if they had any at all.

Though Arkansas was an agricultural state, and the labor of children was seen as necessary on the farms, the education system in Arkansas was far behind other farming states.  In addition, schools were segregated, increasing costs for districts.

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As a child, Ford was sent to a local two-room school that had only a six-month term so students would be able to help on their family farms.  The family moved briefly to Oklahoma when Ford was 13, where he was able to attend a full nine-month term.  The family returned to Wooster when he was 15, and he had to attend the high school ten miles away in Conway, as that was the only high school in Faulkner County at the time.  In the meantime, his father worked on the county school board to consolidate the patchwork of dozens upon dozens of school districts in the county down to just seven.

Upon graduation, Ford attended Arkansas State Teachers School in Conway (the modern University of Central Arkansas).  Upon his graduation in 1928, he attended the University of Arkansas where he received a masters degree in vocational education.  He spent the next several years as a teacher.  In 1935, he began working with the Civilian Conservation Corps developing and advising the education programs offered to its participants.  He began working for the Arkansas Department of Education in 1941, supervising vocational education and business education programs.

In 1953, Ford became the state commissioner, supervising education programs and teacher training for all districts.  In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional in the Brown v. Board of Education case.  Ford recognized that this would completely change education in Arkansas, and he began quietly crafting policies to comply. Ford, however, was limited as to what he could do as desegregation faced volatile opposition in many communities.  Many districts were later placed under supervision of the federal courts for their resistance to desegregation.  Nevertheless, he assisted districts in adjusting to their constitutional responsibilities regarding equality, providing policy and training input.

His efforts went far beyond the traditional student.  He began programs to provide education to disabled students, starting with an experimental program in Conway in 1959 that spread throughout the entire state by the late 1970s.  He worked with legislators and campaigned for a constitutional amendment to allow state educational funds to allow five-year-olds (for kindergarten) and residents over 18 greater access to educational programs by 1968.  Ford’s efforts were helped by many legislators, teachers, and governors in his long career who shared his passion for educating the next generation.

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In the 1960s and 1970s, recognizing that many students needed job skills beyond high school, he worked with legislators to create 23 vocational schools across the state, offering such programs as welding, carpentry, automotive repair, and even nursing.  Many of these vocational education programs have since been absorbed by local community colleges, who now provide these opportunities for skilled trades and workforce training in their communities.  He further advocated teacher pay raises and funding for education television.

In 1969, Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller had one of the newly refurbished buildings in the Capitol complex renamed for Ford in honor of his work for Arkansas schools.  The building, down the hill from the Capitol, had originally been erected in the 1930s under the administration of Gov. Carl Bailey to house state administrative offices.  The Arch Ford Annex houses many state educational offices today.

In 1978, at the age of 72, he stepped down from his position after 25 years as state education commissioner.  Ford retired to Conway.  He died in 1987 at the age of 81, lauded by educators across the state for his service.  He was further honored with the dedication of the Arch Ford Education Service Cooperative in Plumerville to aid in teacher training.  He became synonymous with public education in Arkansas in a long and distinguished career, and thousands of students forever had their lives improved in part through his efforts.

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