Col. John M. Harrell, Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 10.2, Arkansas
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

At that time Little Rock was a small city of about 3,000 inhabitants. Its chief importance was derived from its official character, as the dwelling place of government officers, State and Federal, the seat of the superior courts, and the place of residence of the leading lawyers of the State. As a commercial center it possessed but little importance. But there were few communities that could boast a more elevated and refined society. Composed of the higher classes, educated by the advantages of travel and favorable contact with the learned and gifted of the older States at the Federal capital, they were trained through an intercourse which made courtesy, forbearance and superior attainments the indispensable elements of success and happiness. No spot of earth ever surpassed it in the generous and unrestricted hospitality of its citizens, which may be compared to that extended by ‘renowned Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son,’ in the Homeric romance. It is needless to say that the results of the war and the commercial growth of the place have obliterated many of these ancient customs and greatly transformed all this.

In the latter part of January, or first of February, after the legislature had taken a recess until March, Maj. H. A. Montgomery, of Memphis, completed his line of magnetic telegraph from that city to Little Rock. A line had already given communication from Memphis to Helena, Ark., on the Mississippi river, in the midst of one of the most productive cotton regions in the State. Montgomery had, the year before, obtained a charter for a company to operate this line, of which Charles P. Bertrand, a wealthy citizen and lawyer, formerly of New York, was president, and James Henry, a merchant, formerly of Massachusetts, was secretary. Major Montgomery was a practical operator, with L. C. Baker for his