Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/350

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\'IRGI.\'IA BIOGRAPHY

kansas denounced him as an abolitionist, he was opposed to the policy of coercion, thinking chat it would provoke civil war. Upon President Lincoln's call for troops tc coerce Soulii Carolina, Mr. Fishback, by advice of his constituents, voted for seces- sion in the hoj)c that when the north saw the withdrawal of all the southern states, it nii,<,dit he forced into accejiting the Critten- den compromise. All efTorts at compromise failing, however, when the war broke out he went north, and during the occupation of Little Rock by the Federal troops in 1863, lie established a newspaper there called the "Unconditional Union." While editing the paper, he, as commander, was raising the I'ourth Arkansas Cavalry for the Federal service. When about nine hundred men had enlisted, he was elected to the United States senate by the Union legislature, and thus was never mustered into service. Un- der the proclamation of President Lincoln the reorganization of the state had been at length accomplished. Mr. Fishback having such influence with the convention in charge that he was called upon to write the greater part of the constitution of 1864, sometimes called the "Fishback Constitution." He was advised that if the word "white" as a pre- requisite to voting was not stricken out, the state would not be received into the Union, and he would not get the seat in the senate to which it was known he would be elected. Helieving, however, that it would not be safe to confer the suffrage upon such a large mass of ignorance, he re- fused to strike it out. His was the first case from the south of an effort to restore representations in congress. President I-in- ci/ln's cabinet recognized the senators, but other leaders of the party in power, headed

by Sumner and Wade, took the ground that as the state had run down like a watch, and could only be wound up by some extran- eous power, that power was congress, and that no scjuthern states should be therefore not seated. In 1865 he was appointed treas- ury agent for Arkansas, a position which he refused to accept until told that by so donig he could save the people many millions of money. His conduct of that oftice added largely to his popularity. In 1874 he was elected to the constitutional convention which framed the present constitution, and in 1877, 1879, and 1885 served in the legis- lature. He was the author of what is known as the "Fishback Amendment" to the con- stitution of Arkansas, by which the legis- lature is forbidden ever to pay certain fraudulent state bonds issued during recon- struction. During the summer of 1892, contrary to the policy of his opponents, he made no canvass for the nomination for gov- ernor. His cause was taken up by the people, however, and he received 540 votes out of 628 in the nominating convention, while his plurality at the polls was larger than that received by any other governor since reconstruction times. Immediately after election he accepted the urgent invita- tion of the national Democratic committee, and coming north, made a number of s]ieeches in New York and Indiana, which met with gratifying success. His adminis- tration was marked by continual prosperity. It was at the instigation of Gov. Fishback that the go\eriiors of the southern states met in convention at Richmond, Virginia, in April. 1893. one of the most important and distinguished assemblies ever held in Amer- ica, and of which he was made president. In 1867 he was married to Adelaide, daugh-