Matthew Arbuckle

Matthew Arbuckle (1778–1851) was a career soldier in the U.S. Army closely identified with the Indian Territory for the last thirty years of his life.

Early life

He was born 28 December 1778 in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia), the second of four sons of Capt. Matthew Arbuckle, a veteran of the Battle of Point Pleasant who later distinguished himself in the American Revolution, and Frances (Hunter) Arbuckle.

Military career

Little is known of his early life, but on 3 March 1799 he was commissioned ensign in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, where he advanced to lieutenant within eight months. In 1802, the Army disbanded the 3rd Infantry but transferred him to the 2nd Infantry Regiment, where he was promoted to captain in 1806. He transferred to a new 3rd Infantry as a major in 1812. His regiment was assigned to various posts in the American South during the War of 1812. In 1814, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became the regiment's second-ranking officer. The 3rd Infantry was under the command of General Andrew Jackson during and after the war; a family story exists that Arbuckle served on Jackson's staff during the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, but no evidence has been found for this claim.

In 1820, the Army promoted Arbuckle to colonel and gave him command of the 7th Infantry Regiment, four of whose companies he led in 1821 to reinforce Fort Smith on the Arkansas River. In 1824, he moved the regiment farther west, establishing Cantonments (later Forts) Gibson and later Towson, the first military posts in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). As commander at Fort Gibson, he was responsible for constructing roads and maintaining peaceful relations between the Indian tribes indigenous to the region and those then forced to migrate to Indian Territory. After ten years of this service, he was breveted to brigadier general.

In the spring of 1834, on the eve of the First Dragoon Expedition (also called the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition), Brigadier General Arbuckle was replaced as regional commander by General Henry Leavenworth and, after twelve years on the frontier, he returned to Virginia-—he believed for good. General Leavenworth, however, unexpectedly died in July 1834, and the Army recalled Brigadier General Arbuckle to command.

During the Texas Revolution of 1835-1836, the majority of his troops were reassigned to General Zachary Taylor's "Army of Observation" at Fort Jessup, Louisiana, but Arbuckle managed to maintain order even as the pace of Indian removal accelerated. By the end of the decade, the relocation of the southeastern Indian tribes to Oklahoma was largely complete. Though civil war threatened to break out among some of the tribes, in 1841, when he left Fort Gibson for the second time, Arbuckle ably reported that "I have maintained peace with this frontier."

He was transferred to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he headed the military district but commanded no troops directly. He had developed a considerable professional rivalry with Zachary Taylor, which may explain why he played no significant role in the Mexican-American War. In 1848, he was posted to Fort Smith as commander of the newly-created Seventh Military District. In 1849, his troops began to provide security for Americans active in the California Gold Rush on the southwestern route to California, which he established south of the Canadian River. The same year, Taylor, having been elected president, urged the War Department to close Fort Smith and retire Arbuckle, but he died before this could be accomplished. Arbuckle's superiors immediately confirmed his command and re-designated Fort Smith as headquarters of the Seventh Military District. The General was making plans to extend farther west the security system that he had established to protect Americans traveling to California, when he died suddenly on 11 June 1851 in a cholera epidemic.

Just before his death, several units of troops under his command had built an outpost on Wildhorse Creek in present-day Garvin County, Oklahoma, and the new post was named Fort Arbuckle in his honor. The name soon transferred in common usage to the nearby hills, which still are known as the Arbuckle Mountains.

References

• Bearss, Edwin C. & Arrell M. Gibson. Fort Smith, Little Gibraltar on the Arkansas. 2d ed. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
• Foreman, Grant. Indian Removal; the Emigration of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932.
• Jefferds, Joseph (1981). Captain Matthew Arbuckle: a documentary biography. Charleston, WV: Education Foundation. ISBN 0914498037. http://books.google.com/?id=nK4lAAAAMAAJ. 
• McCue, John Nolley. The McCues of the Old Dominion. Mexico, MO: Missouri Printing & Publishing Co., 1912.

Further reading

• JOURNAL OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BEING THE SECOND SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS EGAN AND HELD AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON DECEMBER 4, 1837. 1837. http://books.google.com/?id=J6cFAAAAQAAJ. 
• McLoughlin, William (1993). After the Trail of Tears: the Cherokees' struggle for sovereignty, 1839-1880. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807844330. http://books.google.com/?id=pR91AAAAMAAJ. 
• "Dedicatory Services at Fort Gibson". The Chronicles of Oklahoma (Oklahoma Historical Society) 14 (4). December 1936. http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v014/v014p518.html. Retrieved August 30, 2009. 
• Rozema, Vicki (2003). Voices from the Trail of Tears. John F. Blair, Publisher. ISBN 0895872714. http://books.google.com/?id=Y7zgcpmg8vcC. 

External links

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Arbuckle, Matthew

Persondata
Name	Arbuckle, Matthew
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1778
Place of birth
Date of death	1851
Place of death