Samuel L. Anderson

History of South Arkansas
Goodspeed Publishing Company
Nashville 1884

SAMUEL L. ANDERSON.
A respectable citizen of Little River County and a man recognized and respected as such wherever known is Mr. Anderson. He is the third of eleven children born to William B, Anderson and wife, nee Rosetta Benthal, natives of Tennessee and Mississippi respectively, and his birth occurred in Fayette Co.,TX January 26, 1843, whither his parents had moved in 1839, soon after their marriage which was consummated in Mississippi.The father was a farmer by occupation, and soon after his arrival in Texas he was granted a headright claim under the laws of the Republic, and being among the early pioneers of this State he acquired a fine lot of land. He was a very prominent man in his community and acted in several official capacities, serving as justice of the peace in his county for a number of years.. Although never in any of the wars of the Republic, he was frequently called upon along by the community in which he lived, with others, to protect themselves against the Indians, who were quite numerous and hostile at that time. He was born in 1812 and his wife in 1818, and both are now living at their home in Texas. Of the 11 children born to that marriage, all grew to maturity, their names being Julius C.(died in 1862, leaving a widow and one child, William) Susanna B. (now the wife of Robert L. McCauley), Samuel L., Littleton B., James C., William E., Mary E.(widow of Miles Rhoads),Virginia E.(wife of Joseph Dunsmore),G.W. and John B.(twins), and Robert L. Samuel L. received such and education as the common schools of Fayette County, Tex afforded. In 1861 he left school and joined the Texas Rangers(afterward known as the Eighth Texas Cavalry), being a member of Company F, under Col. Terry, who was killed at Green River, Ky and John A. Whorton who was elected Colonel, he afterward became Major General. He was assigned to the east side of the Mississippi River for twelve months, being attached to the command of Albert S. Johnson, and took part in the Battle of Shiloh. In July of 1862, on account of sickness, he returned to the home in the West, where he remained but a short time, and them joined a command raised by Jack Baylor to scout on the western frontier and Arizona, but was sent to the Indian country, and in 1863, before his 21st birthday, he was elected to the office Lieutenant of Company F of Col. Peter Hardeman's regiment. During this service the company became almost extinct, and the captain having left, the remaining portion of the company was assigned to the artillery service, and young Anderson was assigned to duty as acting Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of acting Brig. Gen. J.M. Bankhead, but was soon after released and assigned as ordinance officer for the brigade. He served in that capacity until the end of 1863, when Bankhead was relieved by Gen. R.M. Gano of KY and then he acted as aide-de-camp on his staff while he was the commander of the brigade. Gen. Gano was wounded at Prairie de Ann, and the brigade was then under command of Charles De Morse, young Anderson still acting in the same capacity. After the Battle of Poison Spring, near Camden,Ark., in which he participated, he returned to the Indian country. During the summer of 1864 he was released from duty and ordered to report to Gen. S.B. Mazey of Doaksville, Choctaw Nation, and was assigned to his staff, and appointed drill master of Gen. Gano's brigade, which went into winter quarters in the winter of 1864-65 on the Red River, and the place is known today as the Gano Camp Farm. In the early part of 1865 he was ordered to report to Col. Hardeman for assignment for duty in his regiment, and was appointed by him to take command of Company E which had been abandoned by its officers, and he served in that capacity until the close of the war. His company disbanded near Houston, Texas. Prior to this, in the fall of 1864, Mr. Anderson had joined his fortunes with those of Mrs. Margaret E. Ward,nee Lane. She was the daughter of B.H. and Margaret(Moren)Lane, early pioneers of this county and natives of Virginia, and previous to her marriage with Mr. Anderson had been twice widowed. She had one child by her first marriage, Villulia E. Brooks, who married J.C. Anderson, a brother of our subject, and she also had one child, a son-John C. Ward- by her second marriage. For some time after the close of the war Mr. Anderson was occupied in teaching school, but in the fall of 1866 he, together with this wife, made a visit to his parents in Western Texas. In 1867 he was engaged as a clerk in a mercantile house at Rocky Comfort, and was thus occupied until the spring of 1869 when he entered upon the duties of assessor, to which office he had been appointed in 1868, and during the spring and summer of that year he visited every man's house in the county. After finishing his term as assessor, he turned his attention to farming, and was thus occupied when he received his second appointment as assessor. He served in this capacity in 180 and 1871 and then he opened his real estate business in Rocky Comfort, this county. He also served as deputy clerk and postmaster for several years. In 1873 he moved to the country on his farm, and there tilled the soil until 1874, when he was again elected assessor of the county and served two years. During the latter part of 1876-77 he was again engaged in teaching the public school, but in 1878 he again returned to his farm and remained there, extensively engaged in farming until 1882, when he was elected county surveyor and he has succeeded himself in every election since then. He is still engaged in agricultural pursuits, having a farm of 250 acres, with thirty-five or forty under a fine state of cultivation, and every since 1871 he has been carrying on a real estate business. He is conceded to be one of the best posted men in the southwestern part of the State in regard to land and land laws of the State and Government. He also hold license to practice law in the State and Federal courts, having been admitted to the practice of law in the State courts in 1873, and in the Federal court in 1878. In politics he affiliates with the Democratic party, and he and his wife are much esteemed members of the Missionary Baptist Church.