Though Clayton was elected in March, he chose not to assume office until July after Arkansas had been readmitted to the Union and martial law limited. This left a leadership vacuum that invited political violence. That such violence occurred is unquestioned. What remains controversial among historians is how extensive the violence was and the degree to which it was organized and not merely spontaneous.
In an address to the General Assembly in November of 1868, Clayton offered this litany of abuses:
"In Ashley County the sheriff was openly assaulted and verbally abused.
"The registrars were driven away.
"The sheriff and the clerk were compelled to resign and appoint deputies to save their lives.
"Several colored men were taken out, beaten and threatened to be hung. Several others missing, supposed to be killed
"Moses Dean and his wife found in the woods since that, hung.
"A freedman, hauling cotton, was shot dead in the road.
"In Columbia County the people were advised publicly to force the registrars to place their names on the registration books, and if the tax collectors should come to their houses, to send them out feet foremost.
"Five men were killed in ten days. Three of them killed in the field and rolled into one hole.
"Aaron Hicks killed. Cause: being a Union man. No fair registration. Armed forces (Ku Klux) riding through the country. The sheriff resisted.
"In Lafayette County there was an organized band of marauders. Several men were killed. Registrar fled to save his life. No civil law
"In Sevier County the sheriff was abused. A Union man murdered in his own house. Hill, a colored man, brutally murdered. Union men are sleeping in the woods or driven out of the county. No fair registration. County officers notified to leave.
"In Little River County, Willis and Andrews shot down upon the road - murdered. Sheriff wounded and colored man killed. No law. No fair registration. Constant threats of assassination made.
"In Monroe County the Hon. James M. Hinds, member of Congress, murdered upon the road. At the same time Hon. Joseph Brooks shot and badly wounded. Other outrages reported.
"In Crittenden County Ku Klux Klan killed six men in ten days. Other deaths reported. Many loyal men driven out of their homes. Hon. E. G. Barker attacked and badly wounded. Shot at on another occasion. The bullet and assassins held the county in terror.
"In Woodruff County, a premium is offered for the murder of Union men. The Ku Klux Klan riding about the county. D. P. Upham and F. A. McClure shot down…. Several freedmen killed. Officers cannot execute the law.
"In Craighead County the rebels were preparing to fight. Captain Edwards shot down from the brush. Judge Carson's office destroyed by the Ku Klux, and he compelled to leave to save his life; dare not return to his family.
"Capt. Simpson Mason murdered in Fulton County and several others killed.
"In Conway County a court was broken up by a mob, county officers compelled to leave, many negroes killed and beaten; Ku Klux raised to oppose the law; State Guards forbidden to drill.
"In White County an assault made upon Hon. S. Wheeler with intent to kill by two desperadoes; several colored men killed; Jordan A. Ball, white Union man and his nephew, both murdered; four other white men killed; Ban Humphries (colored) killed for knowing and reporting the leaders of the plot to murder Hon. S. Wheeler.
"In Drew County deputy sheriff and negro tied together and killed, a reign of terror inaugurated…. Ku Klux took a colored preacher who has not been heard of since….
"The bullets of the assassin, threats, and every species of intimidation were made use of to prevent the execution of the law, and to rob citizens of the rights and privileges of citizenship. A reign of terror was being inaugurated in our State which threatened to obliterate all the old landmarks of justice and freedom, and to bear us onward to anarchy and destruction…."
