When the US declared war on Germany in 1917, a few people in Congress and the general populace disagreed with the decision. The Selective Service Act of 1917 did not help the slowly growing anti-war sentiment, and the U.S. government under the Wilson administration feared a reaction to conscription similar to the New York Draft riots during the Civil War. Precautions were taken nationwide to protect the American people and the local and national governments against disturbances, and any protest meetings that popped up were quickly suppressed.
The resistance to conscription during WWI never equaled the riots of 1863. Individual desertions and failures to report between 1917 and 1918 totaled 337,649 nationwide. Roughly 8,700 of that total came from Arkansas. While that number sounds low, it was about 5% of Arkansas's population in 1917. In 1917, much like today, Arkansas did not like Washington D.C. meddling in its affairs or telling the people of Arkansas what they could or could not do. While the draft resistance was not widespread, there were pockets of the state where draft resisters, deserters, and sympathizers existed. Armed encounters happened between the resisters and the local government. The best-known violent encounters occurred in a rural area east of Quitman in the rolling hills of southern Cleburne County. Among the farmers in the area was Tom Adkisson, whose son Bliss had refused to report for military induction in October 1917. Adkisson was a member of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Russell in the late 1870s. This movement evolved into the Watch Tower Tract Society and, in 1931, became known as Jehovah's Witnesses. Russell's teachings included a strict condemnation of military service; the sect prohibited participation in governmental affairs altogether.
On July 6, 1918, Sheriff Duke and two fellow officers prepared to raid Tom Adkisson's house, looking for his son Bliss. They had made previous attempts to capture Bliss but had so far been unsuccessful. They reached the Adkisson farm just before sunrise and quietly slipped into the barn. Reports are mixed about what happened next, but at some point, a shot was fired, and an exchange of gunfire ensued. The Sheriff and his men, outgunned and outnumbered, fled, leaving one man severely wounded. That man, Porter Hazelwood, later died of his wounds. The next day, Sheriff Duke assembled a more extensive group from among the townspeople and surrounding villages. By noon, they had a little over 25 people, and they marched towards the Adkisson farm to bring in the slackers by force. Sheriff Duke had not anticipated that Adkisson would also gather reinforcements full of fellow deserters and delinquents to help him protect his son. The shoot-out lasted about 45 minutes, and even though the sheriff’s group outnumbered the deserters, they could not overtake them due to the thickly wooded area around the home. The gang of deserters used the woods to their advantage by setting the surrounding underbrush on fire and using the smoke to escape the sheriff and his men.
This was the third time that attempts to capture Bliss Adkisson had failed. Rumors began to circulate that the gang contained more than 25 or thirty desperate men and that Heber Springs would be attacked. An Article in the Pine Bluff Graphic reported that “the governor said he would proclaim martial law if the action is recommended.” Sheriff Duke believed it was time to use more drastic means to capture the deserters. The Sheriff enlisted the help of even more people from the surrounding area, but he also requested the aid of the Arkansas National Guard and Bloodhounds to help with their capture. Governor Borough had already publicly stated that he would agree to send out the National Guard if such action was deemed necessary by Colonel Ellis and Adjutant General Lloyd England. It was decided that such measures were required, so the 4th Arkansas Regiment was sent out to render aid. By the time they arrived, a group of more than 100 men had gathered for the final attempt to capture Bliss Adkisson and his fellow deserters.
Over the next week, a few sympathizers were arrested, and stores of food and ammunition were found and confiscated; friends and family of the resisters were placed in Heber Springs’s Edwards Hotel to prevent them from aiding the gang, but other than that, not a lot happened until another search on July 10th of the Adkisson home turned up large amounts of stored food and ammunition. On July 13th, the Fourth Arkansas returned to Little Rock, and that same day, Leo Martin, one of Tom’s sons-in-law, surrendered himself in white county. Sheriff Duke’s plan to starve out the deserters seems to work because, over the next few days, members of the gang surrendered, including Tom and his son Bliss, officially ending the Cleburne County Draft Wars.
Tom and Bliss were charged with resisting the draft and the murder of Porter Hazelwood. Tom defended the murder, saying that he killed the man to protect his son. Tom was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, while Bliss was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to twenty years in prison.
Work Cited
"Cleburne County Draft War." Encyclopedia of Arkansas. CALS, October 25, 2023. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/cleburne-county-draft-war-3637/.
"Three Killed; Battle with Draft Resisters." The Commercial Appeal (Pine Bluff, Arkansas), July 8, 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/767980795/?match=1&terms=Cleburne%20Draft%20war%20.
"Troops and Posse Battle Arkansas Draft Resisters." Pine Bluff Daily Graphic (Pine Bluff, Arkansas), July 9, 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/288454310/?match=1&terms=Cleburne%20Draft%20war%20.
Willis, James F. “The Cleburne County Draft War.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 26 (Spring 1967): 24–39.
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