Timeline
1858 Railroad Opens for Business
On November 11, the Memphis and Little Rock railroad opened for passenger and freight service from Hopefield to Madison on the Saint Francis River. Although the line would not be completed until 1871, Arkansas had entered the railroad age. The second stop on the line after Hopefield was named Conway in honor of the governor.
Colonel C.F.M. Noland died near Little Rock on June 23, a victim of consumption. Politically, Noland opposed the Democrats and failed in every statewide race he entered, but he left a rare legacy: a series of letters printed in the Spirit Of The Times, a popular New York sporting journal. His sketches of Arkansas, fictionalized under the pen name "Pete Whetstone," or otherwise attributed to "N. of Arkansas," appeared for more than 20 years. Today, they yield a valuable view of early Arkansas.
In the race for Congress, the Democrats nominated Thomas C. Hindman in the first district and Albert Rust in the second; both men won handily. Hindman was only a temporary ally of the "dynasty," and would not receive the support of the True Democrat in the next election.
Abraham Lincoln emerged as a national political figure in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas as both campaigned for the Senate in Illinois. Although Douglas won the election, Republicans made major gains in Congress throughout the North. Republican Senator William H. Seward warned that the United States approached an "irrepressible conflict," while Democrats became increasingly divided over the sectional issue.
