#Arkansas July 21

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

July 2026 several of us are going to take on the 30-Day America at 250 Coach4aday Challenge. Each day we share something about America’s unique and quirky history. It can be about a place, an event, or person. Today’s story focuses on the State of ARKANSAS and how it is the only state to honor opposing Civil War Generals with county names.

Arkansas provides one of the more fascinating stories of the Reconstruction era because it ended up honoring Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee with counties just four years apart.

Day 21-Arkansas has Lee and Grant Counties

There are 15 counties and county-equivalents in the United States named Grant County. Most are named in honor of Ulysses S. Grant, although a few honor other members of the Grant family or have different origins.

Twelve U.S. states have a county named Lee, but not all of them honor Confederate General Robert E. Lee. For example, Lee County, Georgia, is named after Richard Henry Lee, the Virginia statesman who introduced the resolution for American independence in the Continental Congress on June 7, 1776.

Here is the timeline on how and why Arkansas honored both Generals.

Grant County was created in 1869, during Reconstruction, from parts of Hot Spring, Saline, and Jefferson counties. It was named for Ulysses S. Grant shortly after his election as president by Unionist leaders who supported Reconstruction. They also named the county seat Sheridan after Union General Philip Sheridan.

Lee County was created in 1873 from portions of four eastern Arkansas counties. Although it was established by a Reconstruction legislature that included Republicans, the name “Lee” was chosen largely as a political compromise to gain support from local white Democrats around Marianna. Ironically, the bill creating Lee County was sponsored by William H. Furbush, an African American Republican legislator.