333 The Arkansas surgeon followed Sherman on his march through Georgia. General Hood was removed from command at Kennesaw Mountain, after he had greatly damaged and almost slaughtered the Southern Army. General Joseph Johnston was placed in command again. Under the leadership of General Johnston, his company surrendered near Greensboro, North Carolina. After his surrender, Captain Arnold began his long journey home. He came by way of the French Broad River, near Knoxville. Here the train ran off the bridge which had been repaired inadequately. Eight soldiers were killed and fifty were wounded. From Knoxville the defeated Confederate soldier came by box car to Memphis. He journeyed down the Arkansas River and up the White River via DeVall's Bluff to Little Rock. "Walking was good from Little Rock to Arkadelphia," and the tired soldier arrived at the home of Walter Norris after eighteen hours of travel. With Charles Tricket, he then visited his cousin, Lucian Ross, who also lived in Arkadelphia. This cousin took him to Elkins Ferry from which place he went to De Ann to visit his sister, Mary, then married to Bill Beard. At the close of the war, Bill Arnold returned to Prescott and married Mary McCollum, who was a sister of the late judge James H. McCollum. He built here a large and lucrative practice. Dr. W. E. Arnold took a decided interest in his patients. His nephew wrote that he "had been sick with slow fever for several weeks and needed the constant care of the doctor in convalescence. My uncle put a mattress in a two-horse wagon and drove the team himself, and took me to his house. There I remained a long time, until complete recovery. He was a great hand for harmless jokes. He said I was so emaciated that he could hear me rattle as I walked around . . . He was a very busy physician and not only gave medical service, but carried food to some of his needy patients." When he retired a few years before his death in 1923, the practicing physicians in Prescott presented him with a beautiful lap robe of mohair. Woven into the robe is a giant deer, representative of his love of the outdoors and sports. On the floor of my hundred year old house, "Frog Level," this lovely rug lies today, near the stage coach trunk from Alabama.           Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next