Two tidbits of information revealed themselves to me as a result of my recent timeline post.

Fourth Born

Following the end of the Civil War, the United States Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, which placed the former Confederate states into five military districts overseen by the United States Army.  Each district was governed by a general and under martial law.  Arkansas and Mississippi comprised the Fourth Military District.

James Newton Siler Watts, my great grand uncle (and husband of Eliza Ann Graham), was born on 1 January 1868 in Searcy County, Arkansas during the time when Arkansas was part of the Fourth Military District.

The United States Congress re-admitted Arkansas into the Union on 22 June 1868.  The Fourth Military District was abolished when Mississippi was re-admitted into the Union on 23 February 1870.

Three Brothers, One World War

I had previously recorded in their separate entries that three of my grand uncles, Jessie Cornelius Graham, William Thomas Graham, and John Jasper Graham had all registered for the First World War draft in the city of Marshall, Arkansas.  What I failed to notice until I compiled the timeline was that they all registered on the same day, 5 June 1917.  In retrospect, that makes a lot of sense.  They probably travelled into town together from the family farm in Red River Township.