Fort Smith, Arkansas

Everything Fort Smith is known for

8 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in Fort Smith

Songs About Fort Smith

Shreveport
Turnpike Troubadours
49%
""Could you drop me off in Fort Smith, sir? I've got family there""
trail of tears
Pitney Meyer
21%
bass reeves
r.w. hampton
20%
"Judge Parker at the courthouse said, 'Bass, pin this badge on and ride for me'"
Tom Ames' Prayer
Steve Earle
19%
"How they nearly hung me for stealin' a horse / In Fort Smith Arkansas"
Tom Ames’ Prayer
Steve Earle
7%
"How they nearly hung me for stealing a horse In Fort Smith, Arkansas"
What I Really Mean
Robert Earl Keen
5%
"Drove from Albuquerque to Ft. Smith, Arkansas"
Tom Ames’ Prayer
Robert Earl Keen
3%
"How they nearly hung me for stealin' a horse / In Fort Smith, Arkansas"
Big Daddy vs. Dolemite
Big Daddy Kane
2%
"Well Dolemite is my name"

Artists From Fort Smith

J
JD Clayton
country Pop: 20

Rivers & Roads in Song near Fort Smith

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Fort Smith.

Arkansas River 8 songs Highway I 40 20 songs Interstate 49 3 songs U.S. Route 59 7 songs Canadian River 7 songs

History of Fort Smith

Bass Reeves: The Deputy Marshal Who Couldn't Read His Warrants RoadyGoat

1875

You're in the heart of old Fort Smith, where Judge Isaac Parker ran the federal court for the wild Indian Territory, and where one of the West's greatest lawmen pinned on his star. Bass Reeves was born into slavery around 1838 and grew up unable to read or write. When Parker took the Fort Smith bench in 1875, the marshals needed deputies who knew the Territory and could speak its Native languages, and Reeves knew it better than almost anyone. He became one of the first Black deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi. Because he could not read, he had his warrants read aloud and memorized every name and charge, then served them without fail. A master of disguise, he would ride into outlaw country dressed as a tramp or a poor farmer, hiding his badge and cuffs under rags. He was a dead shot who was never wounded, though he had his hat, his belt, and even his horse's reins shot away. In 1878 he ended a long hunt for the outlaw Bob Dozier in a single gunfight. Over thirty-two years he was credited with more than three thousand arrests. A bronze monument to him stands here today. (Sources: National Park Service, Fort Smith NHS; Encyclopedia of Arkansas; TSHA Handbook of Texas.)

RoadyGoat →

Before the Badge: The Fugitive Who Learned the Territory RoadyGoat

1862

Long before he wore a badge, Bass Reeves crossed this country as a fugitive. Taken into the war by the Texas family that enslaved him, he broke away and fled north into Indian Territory, where he lived for years among the Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole. He learned their languages, their customs, and the lay of a land few outsiders could navigate. When emancipation made him a free man, Reeves came to the Van Buren area, just across the Arkansas River from Fort Smith, and built a life as a farmer and stockman, raising a large family of ten or eleven children. That hard-won knowledge of the Territory and its peoples is exactly what made him so valuable when the federal marshals came looking for deputies in 1875. The skills he picked up as a runaway became the foundation of a thirty-two-year career as a lawman. (Sources: TSHA Handbook of Texas; Encyclopedia of Arkansas; National Park Service.)

RoadyGoat → · 5.3 mi away

Van Buren, AR RoadyGoat

Van Buren, Arkansas, a town nestled on the Arkansas River, breathes history. Its strategic location, elevated above the valley floor, made it a crucial transportation point, a role that shaped its early development. The echoes of riverboats and frontier life still resonate, particularly at the Drennen-Scott Historic Site, a window into the 19th century. While the Great Depression dealt a blow to the region's cotton-based economy, the town persevered, evolving into a center for healthcare and retail. But Van Buren isn't just about commerce and history; it's also fostered talent.

7.2 mi away

Fort Smith National Historic Site

1817

Federal courthouse where Judge Isaac C. Parker, the 'Hanging Judge,' presided over Indian Territory justice from 1875 to 1896, sentencing 160 people to death.

Camp Chaffee - Fort Chaffee

1941

Military installation near Fort Smith where Elvis Presley received his famous Army haircut in 1958 and where thousands of Vietnamese and Cuban refugees were processed.

6.6 mi away

Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center

800

One of the most important pre-Columbian archaeological sites in North America, Spiro was a major political and religious center of the Mississippian culture from 800 to 1450 AD.

14.8 mi away

Alma Spinach Capital - Popeye Statue

1987

Alma, Arkansas declared itself the Spinach Capital of the World in 1987 and erected a Popeye statue, thanks to Allen Canning Company processing more spinach than any other facility in the country.

13.1 mi away

Everything Near Fort Smith

48 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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