Arkansas Peace Society

The Arkansas Peace Society was a loose affiliation of local anti-Confederate groups that formed in response to Arkansas’s secession from the Union. The groups operated like secret societies in several north Arkansas counties until late in 1861, when the Arkansas militia began carrying out large-scale arrests in the region.

History

Most Arkansans supported secession, but some, especially in the northern part of the state, remained loyal to the United States. The Arkansas Peace Society was destroyed by the state militia, but resistance against the Confederate government in northern Arkansas remained strong throughout during the American Civil War. In spite of the state having the third smallest white population in the Confederacy, more white Arkansans enlisted in the Federal army than in any other seceded state, except Tennessee.