WHEREAS: Patrick Ronayne Cleburne was born in County Cork, Ireland and died in service to his adopted state of Arkansas on November 30, 1864 in Franklin, Tennessee. Cleburne immigrated to Helena, Arkansas in April, 1849 where he became a clerk in a drugstore.  He was a staunch opponent of negro slavery and was an early proponent of educating slaves in the aspects of the schoolhouse and the Bible, and pressured the Confederate government to grant slaves their freedom in exchange for service in the military, would rise in rank to major general in the Army of the Confederate States of America. General Cleburne’s life and death are a gallant example of the fortitude and quest for freedom that is evident of all Americans, chiefly of Arkansawyers.

WHEREAS: Robert Edward Lee, a native Virginian and grandson-in-law to President and General George Washington resigned his commission as a colonel in the United States Army in order to avoid taking part in the invasion of his state by Federal troops.  Colonel Lee would soon be offered, and accepted a commission in the Confederate States Army so as to help repel the Federal troops whose goal it was to subject the states of the Confederacy to involuntary statehood.  Lee, who was an opponent of slavery, inherited slaves upon the death of his father-in-law and promptly freed those slaves as soon as the law would allow.  Robert E. Lee would pen many words of wisdom that are still used to instill the qualities of chivalry and manhood among America’s young men and boys today.  General Lee would go on to be named president of Washington University in Lexington, Virginia from 1865 until his death in 1870 and the university was renamed to Washington and Lee University, a moniker it carries to this day.

WHEREAS: David Owen Dodd, a born Texan who adopted Arkansas as his home early in his life, was deprived of his life by invading Federal troops in Little Rock on January 8, 1864.  His crime was assisting his state’s Confederate government and refusing to implicate his friends in a hasty trial that resulted in him being hanged by the neck until dead.  He was 17 years old.

WHEREAS: the Arkansas Articles of Secession, adopted May 6, 1861 declared Arkansas independent of the United States of America without reference or regard to the issue of slavery, instead citing President Abraham Lincoln’s actions in invading the states of the south as the catalyst for her secession.

We, the people of the State of Arkansas, do request the days of remembrance for Arkansas’ days gone by and the men and women who stood on their principles against extreme pressure, and in danger of life and property in our nation’s and state’s darkest hour, not be stricken from our state government.  Furthermore, we do request the third Monday of March be set aside for the remembrance of Patrick Ronayne Cleburne.