The Secession Convention convened on March 4, 1861, in Little Rock's Baptist Meeting House. According to the custom of the day, ladies gathered in the balcony and threw flowers down to the speakers they supported. It soon became apparent that the Unionists had a narrow but unshakeable majority, despite attempts at persuasion by speakers such as Gov. Rector, who stated his belief that: "God, in His omnipotent wisdom, …created the cotton plant, the African Negro, and the lower Mississippi Valley, to clothe and feed the world, and a gallant race of men and women produced upon its soil to defend it and execute that decree."
Realizing that they lacked the necessary votes, at one point the secessionists even threatened to have the delta secede from the rest of Arkansas. In the end, however, they were content to secure the convention's agreement to place the measure before the people in an August election. The Unionist majority, however, was not unconditional in their opposition to secession. What united them was their opposition to war. Peace would require constraint by both secessionists and the federal government. As a message to the latter, they passed a resolution condemning any form of military coercion on the part of federal authorities. It contained a provision empowering David Walker, the chairman, to call the convention back into session if such coercion occurred before the August referendum.
The convention had scarcely closed when President Lincoln informed Jefferson Davis of his intention to resupply Fort Sumter, the blockaded garrison in the harbor of Charlestown, South Carolina. The Confederates responded by beginning a bombardment. Fort Sumter surrendered on April 14. That same day Lincoln issued a call to all the states for 75,000 troops to crush the rebellion. Rector responded with anger:
"In answer to your requisition for troops from Arkansas to subjugate the Southern States, I have to that none will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury. The people of this commonwealth are freemen, not slaves, and will defend, to the last extremity, their honor, lives and property against Northern mendacity and usurpation."
That same day Rector sent Solon Borland at the head of a regiment of militia to seize the federal garrison at Fort Smith. Meanwhile pressure mounted on Unionist David Walker to reconvene the Secession Convention. He issued the call with a heavy heart. Like most of those in the Unionist majority, Walker had resisted secession because he feared it would provoke war. Now that war was apparently inevitable, like most he was now prepared to cast his lot with the South.
Next: Secession
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