Finally on May 26, 1865, the last Confederate forces in the west surrendered. With the coming of peace, Murphy issued an appeal to the people of south Arkansas who had been under Confederate control:
"We have all done wrong. No one can say that his heart is altogether clean, and his hands pure. Then as we wish to be forgiven, let us forgive those who have sinned against us and ours.
"The land is steeped in blood - innocent blood - and defiled with crime. Let us wash it out with tears of sorrow and repentance, works of love, kindness, and charity, that peace, good will, and confidence may return and dwell among us."
Meanwhile the assassination of Abraham Lincoln had elevated Andrew Johnson to the presidency. This prompted some ex-Confederates to imagine that they might persuade the new Democratic president to support a provisional government more conducive of their interests than Murphy's. This scheme fizzled, however, due in no small part to extensive support for Murphy among ex-Confederate newspaper editors.
Instead, encouraged by President Johnson's defiance of the Radical Republicans, ex-Confederate leaders all over the South began to urge their fellow Conservatives, as they called themselves, to sign the required loyalty oath so they might regain the right to vote in time for the 1866 elections. Hundreds in Arkansas applied for amnesty, either from President Johnson or from Governor Murphy, both whom issued the pardons liberally. The result was a virtual sweep of Arkansas offices in the 1866 election by the Conservatives. Murphy and the other constitutional officers still had two years to serve in their terms, but the ex-Confederates took over control of the legislature.
One of the first acts of the new Conservative-dominated General Assembly was to issue a proclamation commending President Johnson for resisting Congressional Reconstruction and another praising Jefferson Davis for his good management of the Confederacy. They did, however, appropriate funds to compensate the federal government for property seized during secession. They approved the creation of a land grant college in Arkansas and other measures enabling public finance of education. They also approved the issuance of bonds to finance railroad construction. The last two were measures the Radicals would later gain credit for having initiated during Reconstruction.
None of this, of course, would ever be carried out.
Next: The Foolhardy Fight against the 14th Amendment
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