Courtesy of the Arkansas History Commission
|
John Selden Roane was born on January 18, 1817, in Lebanon, Tennessee. His father was a storekeeper and his uncle Archibald Roane had served as governor from 1801 to 1803. The young Roane attended Cumberland College in Princeton, Kentucky.
In 1837 Roane moved to Pine Bluff to study law under his brother Samuel Calhoun Roane, the owner of one of the state's largest plantations. Samuel Roane had served in the Territorial Legislature and the State Senate, had been judge of the First Territorial Circuit Court, and U. S. Attorney.
With his brother's patronage, the young Roane was appointed the first prosecuting attorney for the newly created Second Judicial District at Van Buren in Crawford County. In 1842 he returned to Pine Bluff and was elected to the General Assembly. He then moved back to Crawford County and was elected to the legislature from there. In 1844 he became Speaker of the House for the Fifth General Assembly.
In 1846 Roane raised a company to fight in the Mexican War and was eventually elected second in command of the Arkansas regiment under Archibald Yell. The prominent Whig Albert Pike, who had been passed over for command, began a letter writing campaign vilifying the leaders of the Arkansas troops. While Pike's accusations were largely self-serving, they contained more than a kernel of truth. On one occasion the Arkansans were involved in an atrocity where civilians were killed.
Far more controversial is Pike's description of the Battle of Buena Vista, where the Arkansas regiment found itself bearing the brunt of the Mexican assault. At one point in the fighting, Arkansas troops under Roane had had broken and retreated. In Roane's defense, however, the Arkansas troops had been part of an advance, the bulk of which was comprised of the 2nd and 3rd Indiana Regiments under Col. William A. Bowles. In the midst of the attack, Bowles inexplicably ordered his troops to retreat, leaving the Arkansans exposed. Roane and his men broke and ran when they realized their plight, but managed to regroup with Yell's forces defending the exposed American flank at the Buena Vista Hacienda. Yell even appears to have managed a counter attack that split the enemy's ranks and helped carry the day. Yell died in the process.
Pike's troops, which had been held in reserve, arrived late on the scene and helped cement the American victory. Roane would later claim that Pike held back until the issue was decided. Pike would claim he saved the day and that only his men had acquitted themselves well and blamed the regiment's leaders for humiliating the state.
Roane and Pike continued to trade accusations and rebukes until Pike challenged Roane to a duel. The two men met on a sandbar in the Arkansas River on July 29, 1847. Two shots were exchanged harmlessly before the seconds were able to persuade the parties that honor had been served.
Despite Pike's efforts to tarnish Roane's reputation, less than two years later he was elected governor to replace Thomas Drew. Virtually nothing was accomplished during his administration. After the remainder of the term, Roane chose not to seek re-election in 1852.
Roane married in 1852. During the Civil War he served as a brigadier general and commanded a brigade at the Battle of Prairie Grove. He returned to Pine Bluff after the war and died in 1867.
Next: Elias N. Conway
|
