 In the fall of 1861, Confederate and State authorities became increasingly concerned about a shadowy organization in north-central Arkansas known as the Arkansas Peace Society.The members of the Peace Society were largely union sympathizers who felt that the large slaveholding planters of southern Arkansas and the deep South had caused the war; they felt that they should be required to bear the burden of the conflict.Governor Rector ordered the 45th Arkansas Militia Regiment (Searcy County) to round up suspected Peace Society members in Searcy and Van Buren counties.