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FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS
    
         
   
   
   
Fort Smith, Arkansas
    
    Fort Smith is located at the western border of Arkansas, at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers. Across the river from Fort Smith is Oklahoma. The city began as a military post in 1817 for the purpose of patrolling the Native Americans in the territory. By 1824, John Rogers had established a town alongside the military facility. In 1824, the military gave up its location there, but the settlers decided to stay. It quickly developed a reputation as a law and order city that would allow no favors to the frequently rowdy and sometimes criminal types who were headed west.
    
         
   

Again, in 1838, the fort was taken over by the military. This time the military stayed until 1871 before abandoning it again. The town still continued to grow.

In 1875 U.S. District Judge Isaac Parker took the bench at Fort Smith. In his first term, he tried eighteen people for murder and convicted fifteen of them, eight to hang! He hanged six people on one day! Judge Isaac Parker earned his nickname, “the hanging judge.” Over the course of his career, he sentenced one hundred-sixty people to hang but only seventy-nine would actually meet that fate.

   
     
Judge Isaac Parker
    
   
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