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 keeping the peace between the Osage and the Cherokee. 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.

In 1838, the army returned, moving back into the old fort, this time to play its part in removing Cherokees and Choctaws from their land in the southeast to reservations in Indian Territory. Being so near the Indian Territory, Fort Smith played a pivotal role in allocating reservation land to each of the Indian families. So difficult was this trip from their homes to Fort Smith, that it became known as the Trail of Tears. Many did not survive, but many of those who did settled in Fort Smith.

When the Civil War started, Fort Smith was manned by two companies of the 1st Cavalry, commanded by Captain Samuel Sturgis. He evacuated the fort on April 23, 1861, fearing that Arkansas would secede from the Union and he would be unable to defend the fort. The Arkansas State Militia from Little Rock took control of the fort. Shortly thereafter, Arkansas did secede, making Fort Smith a Confederate post.

In 1863, following Confederate losses at Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove, Fort Smith fell into the hands of the Union again. In July of 1864, the Confederates attempted to retake Fort Smith, but failed. Fort Smith remained in the hands of the Union, as did the Indian Territory.

In 1871, the army abandoned Fort Smith for the last time. The town continued to grow without the military presence.

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 actually met that fate.