GREEN, Henry Crutchfield

Henry Crutchfield Green was born 29 January 1817 in Orange County, North Carolina, to Robert and Delilah Green. His biography in Goodspeed gives his birth year as 1817, his marriage record to Elizabeth Pugh indicates 1819, while his marriage record to Mary Hart says 1820, as do earlier census records; later census records give later dates, as late as 1824. His full name, including his middle name "Crutchfield," is found on several land patents he perfected in Howard County, Arkansas.

Henry's father Robert Green was identified as "Indian" by Robert's granddaughter Rosemary Stroud Parsons (daughter of Henry's sister Jane Agnes Green Stroud) to her children, and Rosemary's son Forrest was said to have "gone to the courthouse" and found out that Robert was Cherokee, although the source of this information is unknown. Robert, however, was born far to the east of the Blue Ridge and Smokey mountains Cherokee homeland in western North Carolina; he was born in the central Piedmont area of North Carolina, in Chatham County, where the local Native American population was a mix of Tuscarora, Occaneechee, or Saponi origin. Assuming his father, believed to have been William Green, was born somewhere in the Piedmont region, near Chatham County, it's unlikely he would have been a Cherokee. William's exact birthplace however is unknown, so his actual tribal affiliation is unknown. We know Robert's mother, Margaret Crutchfield, was of European ancestry, meaning Robert was of mixed European and Native American ancestry.

By 1830, when he was about 13 years old, or younger, Henry, with his parents and family, had relocated to Maury County, Tennessee. According to Goodspeed's, Henry left home at 17 (about 1834); family tradition has him traveling to Texas. He returned home, to Tennessee, then left home again, on horseback, riding with a wagon train returning to Texas sometime about 1840. On his return towards Texas, Henry was stopped at a ford of the flooded Saline River near Mineral Springs, Arkansas, where he met Mary Vanessa Hart, who, with her family, was traveling west from Mississippi. When his wagon train went on to Texas, he stayed in Arkansas, along with Mary's family, and they married in 1843. His father in law, John Hart, was apparently a fairly well-off land owner, and Henry C. Green became a farmer and rancher, and an "extensive raiser of stock."

Before the Civil War, Henry's ranch spanned at least 550 acres of grazing and farm land, including acreage inherited from his wife Mary's father John Hart, in the northwest corner of Hempstead County, just south of Shiloh. According to Goodspeed's, at the time of his death, He still owned over 400 acres. Goodspeed also recalls that he was one of the area's most successful cattlemen, and very active in the community.

During the Civil War, in February 1863, being exempt from military service (he was 46), he joined a local militia company, the "Paraclifta Home Guard". He may have been elected Second Lieutenant of the company; Goodspeed indicates that was his rank when he later joined a regular Arkansas regiment in 1864, and that he served until the war's end. He had military experience prior to the Civil war, as Arkansas in the early years required mandatory membership in the militia. He may also have served in either the Texas War for Independence, in 1836, or the Mexican War of 1846 - Arkansas raised several militia companies, including one from Sevier County, that fought during the Mexican War. There is no record of any such service though, and Goodspeed makes no mention of any service prior to the Civil War.

Many, perhaps most, of the Paraclifta Home Guard, were incorporated into various companies of Arkansas State troops, mostly with companies in Lt. Col Thomas M. Gunter's "Arkansas Battalion" of mounted troops, and also Lt. Col Allen T. Pettus' battalion, in late 1863 and early 1864.These battalions were joined together, under Gunter's command. These units were formed from the militias of Southwest Arkansas to assist in the defense against the "Camden Expedition" of Federal forces under General Steele, campaigning in Arkansas. While there are no known records of Henry C's state service, and Goodspeed indicates only that he enlisted in an "Arkansas regiment" in 1864, he must have served in Gunter's combined battalions. This "Arkansas Battalion" served with distinction in the defense of southwest Arkansas against the Federal forces during the Camden Expedition, playing a prominent roll in the battles of Prairie D'Ane, Poison Springs and Marks Mills, among others.

The Arkansas Battalion went on to participate in the later battles of Westport and Pilot Knob, in Missouri, in late 1864. They disbanded at the end of the war. Goodspeed notes that Henry returned home after the surrender, so he apparently remained with the "Arkansas" battalion through those campaigns.

Mary died in 1864, while Henry was away in the war. After he returned, Henry remarried, in August 1865, to Elizabeth (Lizzie) Anne Pugh. Henry and Mary had 18 children before she died, and after he remarried to Elizabeth, they had 8 more. Henry's two eldest sons with Mary drowned in the Saline River, about 1870, and 4 more of their children died in the 1870 Yellow Fever epidemic.

Henry fell dead of a stroke in Cole Rhodes' blacksmith shop in Mineral Springs in Dec 1890, when he was about 73. Presumably he was in good health up until the time of his death; he left no will, so his death must not have been anticipated. Henry was buried in the Shiloh Cemetery near Mineral Springs, where many of his children and both of his wives are buried. Henry's headstone was lost, but replaced about 1980, by his great grandson Thomas Eugene Green. According to Eugene, he relied on the Goodspeed account for his date of birth, and was uncertain about his date of death.

This is Henry's bio as it appears in Goodspeed's "Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Southern Arkansas":
"Henry C. Green was born in North Carolina, January 29, 1817. His father, Robert Green, was born in Chatham County, N. C., in 1780, and married Miss Delilah Stokes, of that State. Of their sixteen children only Jane S. and Henry C. are living at present. The subject of this sketch passed his school days in North Carolina, and at the age of seventeen commenced life for himself, turning his attention to agricultural pursuits and meeting always with success. At the time of the war he was a very extensive raiser of stock. He enlisted in an Arkansas regiment, in 1864, being second lieutenant of his company, and surrendered in 1865. At the close of the war Mr. Kennedy once more devoted his time to farming, owning at the present writing 400 acres of the best land in Arkansas, and contributing largely to the support of all worthy causes and the welfare of his community. On December 13, 1843, he married Miss Mary V. Hart, a daughter of John Hart, of Lowndes County, Miss. They had eleven children, of whom Charles A., William U. and Thomas B. are still living. Mrs. Hart died in 1865, and in 1866 Mr. Green married Miss Lizzie Pew. Of their seven children George Allen is dead, and Edward D., Katy H., Nellie J., Walter M., Josephus and Elmer C. are now living."

We have a marriage record for Henry´s father Robert´s marriage to Delilah Simpson, not Stokes. Goodspeed's transcriber also erred in referring to Henry as "Mr. Kennedy" in the body of the sketch.