ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume 30, Summer 1971, p. 161
Journey Though
Southwest Arkansas, 1858
Edited by
GERMAINE M. REED*
Atlanta, Georgia
DAVID FRENCH BOYD, BORN OCTOBER 5, 1834 IN WYTHE-Virginia, received a classical education at the University and hoped to open a select preparatory school in his beloved home county. However, his family suffered heavy losses in the Panic of 1857, his school failed, and Boyd decided to seek his fortune on what was then the frontier. He traveled to Louisiana and Marshall, Texas, hoping to secure a position with a railroad being built west from Shreveport. But the panic reached Texas before Boyd did so he found a position as a school teacher in Homer, Louisiana. There he taught mathematics to the raw and ill-prepared youth whose parents had settled the area only a few years earlier. Like his ignorant pupils, Boyd was ready for a holiday in July of 1858. On the 27th he left the little town of Homer on a trip which would take him on horseback through the southwestern counties of Arkansas, into Indian territory, and as far as the region around Dallas.
The following account is taken from a small leather bound volume kept in pencil by Boyd for the first few days of his journey. Wherever possible the persons and places mentioned have been identified and some additional descriptive material has been introduced. The diary is, unfortunately, very brief. However, the part of Arkansas traversed is described in lucid and interesting fashion.
