Upon the approach of the Civil War of 1861-65, many of the best and most conservative men of Phillips County deplored a disruption of the Union of the States, but after the war had actually begun, all the citizens became unanimously in favor of dis-union and the establishment of a Southern Confederacy. The first companies raised in the county for the Confederate service were the Yell Rifles, commanded by Pat R. Cleburne; the Phillips Guards, commanded by Capt. W. S. Otey; the Tappan Guards, by Capt. J. C. Tappan; the Pat. Cleburne Guards, by Capt. Thomas Quinlin; the La Grange Guards, by Capt. D. C. Govan, and the Trenton Guards by Capt. J. W. Scaife. These were all raised early in 1861. Afterward other companies were organized in the county, sufficient in number, together with those named, to compose three regiments—the Second, Thirteenth and Fifteenth, Confederate States army. It must be remembered that at that time Phillips County contained the greater part of what is now Lee County, and it turned out for the Confederate service the three regiments above mentioned, two major-generals—Pat R. Cleburne and Thomas C. Hindman—and six brigadier-generals: D. C. Govan, J. C. Tappan, C. W. Adams, L. E. Polk, Dandridge McRes and Arch Dobbins.

As far back as 1836, the year that Arkansas became a State, the Helena bar consisted of the following resident attorneys: William K. Sehastian and John C. P. Tolleson from Tennessee; William E. Butts from New York; Thomas B. Hanley and William M. McPherson from Kentucky, and John Preston from Virginia. These were mostly young men then, and some of them lived to become distinguished throughout the State. The bar [p.742] of this county has always been noted for its ability, having among its members some of the ablest lawyers and most distinguished generals the State, has produced. The resident attorneys of Phillips County, now composing its legal bar, are Gen. J. C. Tappan, Judges John J. Hornor & Son, E. C. Hornor, Jacob Trieber and M. L. Stephenson, John C. Palmer and R. W. Nicholls, Greenfield Quarles and John I Moore, James P. Clarke, P. O. Thweatt, Jacob Fink, Samuel I. Clarke, James P. Roberts and M. G. B. Scaife. Gens. Pat. R. Cleburne and Thomas C. Hindman were once members of this bar.

http://www.couchgenweb.com/arkansas/phillips/biog.htm