Statesmen, Scoundrels, and Eccentrics: A Gallery of Amazing Arkansans

Sen. S. W. Dorsey

Sen. S. W. Dorsey Cleveland County in southern Arkansas was created in the Reconstruction legislature of  and named for Republican U.S. senator and railroad promoter Stephen W. Dorsey. Dorsey, who left Arkansas not long after his one term in the Senate,was loathed by the Democrats —and they ultimately took revenge. The county name was changed to Cleveland in  to commemorate the election of the first Democratic president since the Civil War. Stephen Wallace Dorsey was born inVermont in ,but the family soon moved to Oberlin,Ohio,where their young son attended public schools. He served in the Union army during the Civil War. After the war, he settled in Sandusky and became president of a small tool company. Dorsey moved to Arkansas to develop one of the many railroad companies being chartered in the aftermath of the Civil War. Prior to Reconstruction, Arkansas was almost bereft of railroads, and Reconstruction leaders viewed the rumbling steam-powered trains as the key to developing the state. Settling in Helena, Dorsey was quickly drawn into the maelstrom of Reconstruction politics. In  he was elected to the U.S. Senate by the Republican-controlled legislature—as senators were selected in those days. His election was not assured because Dorsey was not an ally of Powell Clayton, the Reconstruction governor and boss of the state Republican organization. The legislature spent five days casting ballots to fill the senate seat, but finally Dorsey won a majority when Democrats who had been supporting Augustus H. Garland switched to Dorsey. No sooner had Dorsey taken his senate seat than internal bickering within the ruling Reconstruction Republican Party escalated into outright political warfare.In  the situation imploded in what is known as the Brooks-Baxter War. Both Senators Clayton and Dorsey sided with Joseph Brooks in his attempt to evict Governor Elisha Baxter.  Dorsey turned against the governor when Baxter refused to issue additional state-guaranteed railroad-aid bonds to Dorsey’s Arkansas Central Railroad Company. Baxter, who had been a Unionist lawyer before the Civil War, incurred the wrath of most Republicans when as governor he had named prominent Democrats to many important state positions. In the end, President Grant sided with Baxter, and this ended not only the struggle but Reconstruction itself.In ,resurgent  POSTBELLUM POLITICIANS Stephen A. Dorsey, Reconstruction senator and Western cattle tycoon. Photo courtesy of Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Democrats adopted a new constitution and Republicans were reduced to minority status for the next century. Though the stoutly-built and bewhiskered Dorsey looked the role of a senator, his tenure in Congress was not productive. Given that Democrats held a huge majority in the Arkansas legislature, Dorsey stood no chance of being reelected, and his term ended in March . While many Republican leaders—such as Powell Clayton—stayed in Arkansas when Reconstruction ended, Dorsey quickly left the state and settled in New Mexico. He established a huge cattle herd, and his mining enterprises extended to Colorado and other states. He constructed a huge home at Mountain Springs,Colfax County,New Mexico, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. He also developed the town of Clayton, New Mexico, which he named for his son. Like many entrepreneurs of dubious reputation, Dorsey was known as a charming and lavish host. His New Mexico log and masonry home, according to Dorsey’s obituary in the Arkansas Gazette, cost $,, and the wine cellars were stocked with $, worth of “the choicest wines and liquors.” A spring-fed reservoir high on a mountain provided running water.One startled visitor noted that “he had water all over his house, and the pressure was sufficient to keep a large fountain playing continually in front of the big porch.” One visitor recalled attending a party at the Dorsey mansion, where the “suave Senator” dispensed hospitality that was “the marvel of New Mexico.” Relocation to the far west did not keep Dorsey out of trouble. He was charged with a host of crimes. Indeed, his biography is titled Rogue! Being an Account of the Life and High Times of Stephen W. Dorsey, United States Senator and New Mexico Cattle Baron. Dorsey’s legally questionable ventures were not limited to New Mexico, however . He gained national notoriety in the “Star Route” scandals of the Garfield presidential administration. Dorsey and other conspirators were involved in illegally awarding postal delivery contracts and taking kickbacks. Still, he avoided jail...