Military
The military history of Arkansas begins with the Native American nations and the conflicts that arose among them. By the time colonial powers staked their claims in the region, they had made allies of the Indian Nations there. The English stood with the Chickasaws in Mississippi while the French (and later the Spanish) supported the Quapaw. The last gasp of the Revolutionary War took place in 1783, after the peace accords were signed in Paris, when a British-led force attacked the Spanish fort at Arkansas Post. The Spanish and their Quapaw allies prevailed.
While Arkansas was still a part of Missouri Territory, the United States Army established an important outpost at Fort Smith. Among a number of important figures who served at the Fort was Zachary Taylor, who was later elected president of the United States. While the perceived threat from Indians helped to keep the territorial militia active, the first significant military action in the region took place in the Texas Revolution. It was said that Sam Houston did much of the planning for the Revolution in Washington, Arkansas, and some Arkansas citizens joined the effort. In the Mexican War, Arkansas troops were active in the fighting, though not without some controversy. After the War, accusations about the quality of fighting led to a duel between John S. Roane and Albert Pike, though neither was injured in the duel.
The Civil War pulled about 70,000 Arkansas men into military service, with close to 9,000 of them fighting for the Union. Confederate soldiers from Arkansas fought for the Army of Northern Virginia and in the Army of Tennessee in some of the major battles of the War, but significant action took place in Arkansas as well. The Battle of Pea Ridge, called the "Gettysburg of the West," opened the trans-Mississippi area to Union advances. By 1863, Union forces had taken Little Rock. The War did not bring the wholesale destruction visited upon some regions in the east, but significant property and lives were lost.
Arkansas soldiers fought with distinction in both World Wars, but in World War II the most important contribution from the state came not in men but in the aluminum made from Arkansas bauxite. The military airplanes needed for modern warfare were made of aluminum, and with external supplies of aluminum blocked off, Arkansas bauxite became crucial to the war effort.