Fort Worth Characters

Chapter 1: The Curious Story of Brevet Major Ripley Arnold

5 As the American frontier marched westward in the nineteenth century , a number of obscure, even junior-grade Army officers would make their marks on history. For instance, Fort Worth, Texas, was named for Major General William Jenkins Worth; Dodge City, Kansas, for Major General Grenville Dodge; and Pike’s Peak, Colorado, for Lieutenant Zebulon Pike. None of these men were what might be called giants in history, yet all are remembered today because their names are attached to important landmarks. Then there was Major Ripley A. Arnold who founded three different posts on the Texas frontier: Camp Inge, Camp Thornton, and Fort Worth. No monument marks the first two sites because they are under water (Lakes Waco and Whitney respectively), while the third site, his crowning achievement, is not even identified with its founder because Arnold graciously named it for his department commander. Thus, one of the most vibrant and booming cities in the Southwest today is named Fort Worth not Fort Arnold. Four years after founding Fort Worth, Ripley Arnold had the unique distinction of being gunned down at Fort Graham, Texas, by his own post surgeon, the only time such a thing happened in the entire history of the U.S. Army. Doctors are supposed to be healers, not killers. Arnold’s untimely demise left a wife and three daughters destitute because they were not pensionChapTeR 1 The Curious Story of Brevet Major Ripley Arnold Fort Worth Characters / 6 eligible under the circumstances. Those same dubious circumstances also kept the Army from honoring Arnold by naming a frontier fort after him in the years following. Ripley Allen Arnold’s story begins on January 17, 1817, in Pearlington , Mississippi, where he was born to Willis H. and Nancy Chinn Arnold. On his mother’s side he was related to Daniel Boone, and the blood of French Huguenots also coursed through his veins.1 His life was unremarkable until he got caught up in Manifest Destiny, the driving force behind westward expansion in the nineteenth century, which held it was the divine mission of this great English-speaking nation to “overspread the continent allotted [them] by Providence.” 2 As a specimen of manhood, Ripley Arnold reportedly stood about six feet tall, with gray eyes and a pleasant face. His most notable feature was his hair, said by some sources to be auburn and by others to be red. His reddish hair has often been cited as the key to his fiery temperament, which is well documented. Throughout his life he was impulsive, proud, and had a short fuse. That combination got him in serious trouble more than once.3 Unlike most Americans in the nineteenth century, Ripley Arnold had the benefits of an excellent education growing up. His father was principal of the Pearlington Academy and a big believer in schooling . He saw to it that Ripley learned more than the traditional three Rs, first at Pearlington, then at the Oxford Academy in Ohio, and finally at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Seventeen-yearold Ripley entered West Point as a member of the class of 1838.4 Willis Arnold was a contrarian whose Whig sympathies made him “the only man in Hancock County, Mississippi who dared to vote against General [Andrew] Jackson.” Papa’s well-known Whig sympathies in a Democratic-dominated state during a Democratic administration in Washington made securing one of the prized appointments to West Point for Ripley all the more remarkable. The young man found the picky discipline and lofty academic standards of West Point onerous. He spent most of his four years among the “Immortals,” those hovering near the bottom of the class academically, and piling up demerits for disciplinary infractions. During his freshman year he got into a brawl with two sophomores that escalated from fists to chairs and then knives. Arnold bested the two older boys and successfully argued his innocence on grounds of self- The Curious Story of Brevet Major Ripley Arnold / 7 defense at the subsequent court-martial proceedings. Like many other cadets after 1825, he often sneaked out at night to visit nearby Benny Havens’ tavern. According to legend, he shared credit with Lucius O’Brien for composing the lyrics of the famous “Benny Havens, Oh!” drinking song in 1838.5 West Point cadets could receive up to 200 demerits per school year (100 per semester) before facing dismissal, and Cadet Ripley came dangerously...