Brooks–Baxter War

The Brooks–Baxter War, also known as the Brooks–Baxter Affair, was an attempt made by failed gubernatorial candidate Joseph Brooks of the “Brindle-tail” faction of Arkansas' Republican Party to take control of the state from Elisha Baxter, who was the Republican governor. The victor in the end was the Baxter administration, also known as the "Minstrels", supported by "carpetbaggers" over the Brindle-tails supported by "scalawags" and "freedmen".

The struggle began with the ratification of the 1868 Arkansas Constitution, rewritten to allow Arkansas to rejoin the Union after the American Civil War. The Reconstruction Acts required the rebel states to accept the 14th Amendment – establishing civil rights for freedmen – and enact new constitutions providing suffrage to freedmen while temporarily disenfranchising former Confederates. Some conservatives and Democrats refused to participate in the writing of the constitution and ceased participation in government. Republicans and Unionists wanting Arkansas to rejoin the Union formed a coalition to write and pass the new constitution, and formed a new state government. In the wake of a wave of reactionary violence by the Ku Klux Klan and a poor economy, the coalition soon fractured into two factions: the Minstrels, who were mostly carpetbaggers, and the Brindle-tails, who were mostly scalawags. This led to a failed impeachment trial of the carpetbagger Republican governor, Powell Clayton; he was then elected a U.S. Senator by the Arkansas General Assembly.

The 1872 gubernatorial election resulted in a narrow victory for Minstrel Elisha Baxter over Brindle-tail Joseph Brooks in an election marked by fraud and intimidation. Brooks challenged the result through legal means, initially without success, but Baxter alienated much of his base by re-enfranchising former Confederates and in 1874, Brooks was declared governor by a county judge who declared the results of the election to have been fraudulent. Brooks took control of the government by force, but Baxter refused to resign. Each side was supported by its own militia of several hundred black men. Several bloody battles ensued between the two factions. Finally, U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant reluctantly intervened and supported Baxter, bringing the affair to an end.

The conflict, followed by a complete restructuring of state government under the Arkansas Constitution of 1874, marked the end of Reconstruction in Arkansas, resulting in a significantly weakened Republican Party in the state as Democrats took power and controlled the governorship for 90 years.