Today marks the 200th anniversary of the conclusion of the Battle of New Orleans.  It relates to Little Rock in a couple of ways.

First, it made General Andrew Jackson a national hero which helped propel him to the presidency.  It was while he was president that Arkansas was admitted to the Union.

Secondly, one of his soldiers in the battle was a young Roswell Beebe.  Jackson and Beebe became friends and maintained that friendship throughout their lives. Beebe later moved from Louisiana to Arkansas and became a leading citizen of Little Rock.  Using his friendships with Jackson and his successor Martin Van Buren, Beebe was able to navigate the already burgeoning bureaucracy of Washington DC.  Working with the federal government, he was able to straighten out the murky questions of who owned what land in Little Rock.

Beebe received the patent to most of Little Rock’s land. He then laid out streets, set aside land for a state capitol (now the Old State House Museum), set aside land for Mount Holly Cemetery (where he now resides), and sold land at reasonable prices to others.  These actions helped Little Rock continue its momentum as a growing trade town.  Without them, it could have devolved into a frontier town of lawlessness.