Memphis to Little Rock Road--Henard Cemetery Road Segment National Register of Historic Places Listing

Travelers in the 1830s called it a swampy nightmare. The Memphis to Little Rock Road cut straight through the Delta's worst bogs. Lt. Charles Thomas led the military crew that hacked out this passage, finishing the grueling work by 1828. Only dirt remains. Specifically, a 1.1-mile stretch of unpaved clay and gravel near Brinkley. It looks ancient. It connected the Mississippi River to the capital. Stagecoaches frequently sank to their axles in the thick, black Delta muck, which forced exhausted passengers to get out and push through clouds of mosquitoes.

This stretch saw immense suffering. During the 1830s, the US government forced thousands of Native Americans westward along this route. Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee families trudged through freezing rain and stifling summer heat, leaving behind a trail of unmarked graves in the wet Monroe County woods. Many died. The swampy terrain between the White and St. Francis rivers became a bottleneck of cholera and yellow fever. Then came the Civil War. Union and Confederate troops fought for control of this corridor. In 1862, Union General Samuel Curtis dragged heavy artillery down the road during his march to Helena, churning the soil into a thick soup.