Yell’s Last Journey

The body of Colonel Archibald Yell was exhumed from its Mexican grave and placed in a charcoal-lined casket to travel home with some of the returning troops aboard the Hatchee Planter. Yell’s remains were taken by the Little Rock Masons to spend one day in the Arkansas State House before being sent upriver, first to Van Buren and then on to Fayetteville.

Plans were made to ring Van Buren’s church bells with the arrival of the men and Colonel Yell’s remains. All businesses were closed and the Van Buren Minute Men (the militia) met the body at the river front. Yell’s remains were kept at the courthouse for several days, perhaps awaiting the arrival of a company which would take his remains overland to Fayetteville, where he was to be re-interred. On July 30, 1847, a formal procession turned Yell’s body over to the men who would accompany it to Fayetteville, while a canon fired every two minutes and the bells tolled. The procession consisted of military companies, musicians, the committee handling the body’s movement from Van Buren to Washington County, masons surrounding the hearse, various members of the Arkansas volunteers, veterans of the War of 1812, and notable citizens.

About 4,000 attended the Fayetteville funeral for the former Arkansas governor and congressman.