One fact that Baxter leaves out of his narrative is that he personally intervened during martial law in 1868 to prevent violence both by the militia and Missouri Jayhawkers under the command of William Monk. This gained him widespread popularity among Arkansas Unionists and many Democrats. This made him an attractive candidate for the Powell Clayton led Minstrel faction of the Republican Party.
The 1872 election was one of the strangest in Arkansas history. Because slavery had developed late here and Arkansas was a relatively poor state, it had neither the freedmen nor the number of immigrant Northerners - the so-called "carpetbaggers" - of many Reconstruction states. As a result Republican rule in Arkansas was of necessity predicated on the disfranchising of a higher percentage of white Democrats than in any other Reconstruction state. By 1872 this was beginning to unravel. Congress was already beginning to ease voting restrictions and both factions of the Republican Party in Arkansas had pledged to support a state constitutional amendment that was certain to restore the Conservative majority.
As the 1872 election approached the rival Republican factions found themselves in a dead heat. Most of the Liberal Republicans, native Unionists, and Democrats had thrown their support behind the so-called Brindle Tails led by Joseph Brooks. Brooks was an abolitionist minister from Illinois who had come to Arkansas as the chaplain of a black regiment. Powell Clayton and the other Minstrels had kept him out of power, prompting him to form his own faction within the party. Because of his support for the rights of freedmen, Brooks gained considerable initial support from black Republicans who felt they were being neglected by Clayton and his circle. Though few Democrats and moderate Republicans actually liked Brooks, they backed him because they believed he could deliver a sizable minority of the black vote.
For his part Clayton had taken steps to improve his standing with his black constituents. The Minstrel ticket in 1872 featured William Grey and J. T. White, arguably the most prominent black leaders in Arkansas, in prominent positions in the administration. The Minstrels felt they could count on the lion's share of the black vote. In a tight race, however, they were eager to steal as many votes from the Brindle Tails as they could. Realizing that Brooks was not a popular figure, Clayton handpicked Baxter as the Minstrel candidate, confident that he could control Baxter and hopeful that Baxter could attract Democrat and moderate Republican votes away from Brooks.
For their part some of the Democrats so chafed at the notion of supporting Brooks, they tried to bolt at the last minute and nominate Rev. Andrew Hunter for governor. Hunter backed out, however, forcing them to return to the alliance for Brooks.
Thus in 1872 each side found itself supporting a candidate more logically suited to the opposition.
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