William Meade Fishback was the 17th Governor of Arkansas and U. S. Senator-Elect for Arkansas.
Background
William Meade Fishback was born in Jeffersonton, Culpeper County, Virginia, son of Frederick and Sophia Ann (Yates) Fishback. His paternal ancestor, John Fishback, brought a colony from Germany and settled in Virginia about 1714. A descendant named Frederick moved into Maryland and acquired a farm where the town of Frederick, named for him, now stands. The family soon moved back into Virginia, where William was born.
Education
He was graduated at the University of Virginia in 1855, taught school for a while, and then studied law in Richmond.
Career
In 1857 he moved to Springfield, where he had business relations with Abraham Lincoln. The next year he moved to Arkansas and settled at Fort Smith, Sebastian County. When secession was being agitated Fishback made strong speeches against it, and was elected to the state convention of 1861 as an opponent of disruption; but after the bombardment of Fort Sumter he introduced a resolution to the effect that any effort to coerce a state should be resisted by Arkansas “to the last extremity, ” and he voted for secession.
In June 1862, he and David Walker, president of the convention, went to Missouri and took the oath of allegiance. Fishback then went on to St. Louis, where he acted for a time as one of the editors of the St. Louis Democrat.
After the fall of Little Rock (1863), General J. M. Schofield sent him back to Arkansas to raise a regiment of loyal troops, but he failed to accomplish his mission. When the loyal state government was organized in 1864 under Isaac Murphy as governor, Fishback was elected to the United States Senate. He presented his credentials in May 1864; and Senator Lane of Kansas moved that the oath be administered to him. Senator Sumner of Massachusetts, however, made a speech in opposition and the matter was delayed until February 1865, when the House resolved that neither senators nor representatives from the states lately in rebellion should be seated until both Houses had passed on the matter. A motion to admit Fishback was then defeated.
While waiting for this decision he edited for a time the Unconditional Union at Little Rock and served as special agent of the Treasury Department. He returned to Sebastian County and was elected as delegate to the constitutional convention of 1874. Though he had been loyal since 1862, he had become disgusted with the Carpet-Bag régime and he took a prominent part in undoing its work.
He was a member of the legislatures of 1877 and 1879. In the latter he introduced what came to be known as the “Fishback Amendment” to the constitution, prohibiting the collection of any tax to pay the bonds issued by the Carpet-Baggers in aid of railroads and levees, as well as any new bonds to take up the “Holford” bonds, which were first issued in 1836 to the Real Estate Bank and which were clearly illegal.
The amendment failed to receive the necessary majority, but it was resubmitted in 1884 and adopted. At the same election Fishback was again elected to the legislature.
He died at Fort Smith.
Achievements
Politics
In 1892 he was elected by the Democrats as governor and served one term (1893-95 ).
Connections
On April 4, 1867, he married Adelaide Miller, who bore him six children.