Yes I thought it was very interesting...and to be honest was quite surprized that these men were not hung for treason. I don't think anything was done any more than the hearing at from what I understand they all pretty much said they were willing to fight. It is my understanding that this covered several counties. This is one of the links to a site that tells about some of it... http://gen.texsteve.com/aps1861.htm Note that the names that they still have a record of are predominately born in Tennessee. And that it says they were neither for or against either side....their primary concern was their home and defending it...there intent was to take neither side...but they were ultimately in the end forced to fight for the confederacy. It moves me to read about these men....for I think they were not afraid to fight and did in the end....but that they were intent on defending their homes...& I can just hear them defending themselves in this hearing...I'd like to find more on this...I work in Little Rock and go to the historical archives here on my lunch some time....am thinking I may need to look into it more...am wondering if there may be some actual transcripts of the hearing. Also the list of left is less that 300 but they estimated a following of about 1700 men. This site gives a list of names of men that were supposed to be members... http://www.couchgenweb.com/civilwar/peacelst.htm Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 09:39:53 -0500 From: "Frank Martin" <fmartin@zeecon.com> Subject: Re: [MSTISHOM] Ritter/Peal To: <mstishom@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <002101c79e11$644b0820$6401a8c0@martin> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Wona: This is very interesting. Do you know if the group (Arkansas Peace Society) was formed in the area of the city of Van Buren, or was it in Van Buren County? Frank ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wona Chennault" <lyllye1@yahoo.com> To: <MSTISHOM@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2007 6:18 PM Subject: [MSTISHOM] Ritter/Peal Well I do know something about Arkansas being Confederate. It was a Confederate State but I also know that there were not necessarily sympathizers but folks that wanted to straddle the fence so to say. There was a group supposedly formed in the Van Buren, Arkansas area & it took in several counties but they were called the Arkansas Peace Society. They were a secret society and even had an oath. One of them approached a fella about joining and the group was reported to the authorities. And it went all the way to the governor's office. And the law enforcement at the time was order to round up all the fella's involved...and they were all taken to for a hearing. There are some websites about it and even some of the names that were involved can be found there. I know one was a William Brown and I have Brown's in my family and I know that I can't find my Brown family from 1870 to about 1890 but they were in that area in 1860 & 1900. But I'm not sure if those dates match that period. Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 11:16:26 -0500 From: "Sharon Peel" <speell@earthlink.net> Subject: [MSTISHOM] Ritter/Peal To: <mstishom@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <010201c79d55$bdb7aa60$d5588304@DHG1T7C1> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Frank, My Peels also left Tishomingo Co, MS in the mid- 1850's. The family story goes that they went by wagon train; they settled Peeltown in Henderson (now Kaufman) County, TX. They were looking for "elbow room" and a good place to farm. Now, as to your ancestors leaving Arkansas in the middle of the Civil War -- could they have been Union sympathizers? I don't know much about Arkansas, but I'm assuming it was a Confederate state. Sharon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Martin" <fmartin@zeecon.com> To: <mstishom@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 3:51 PM Subject: Re: [MSTISHOM] Ritter > Lyllye: > My Martin family moved from Tishomingo County MS to Van Buren County AR > between 1850 and 1860. > I couldn't find out why. Later on, they moved (right in the middle of the > war) to Illinois. > Frank Hugs, Lyllye http://360.yahoo.com/lyllye1 Approach Love & Cooking with wreckless abandon.