The first serious trouble from the Mississippi in Arkansas occurred in Phillips county, above the mouth of the White River, where some five hundred people were driven from their homes to the highest points by the backwater, and the cattle, gaunt, wild-eyed, starving, were forced to subsist on cane, twigs of cotton wood and other trees felled for them. Three times the backwater and heavy local rains flooded this region, while the retiring flood left a deposit of mud from one to five feet in depth, precluding the possibility of turning the hungry cattle upon the land for two or three weeks, and rendering it impossible to raise a crop of corn or more than half a crop of cotton. At Cairo, the rivers were one hundred miles in width, covering fifty miles of Missouri lowlands, and extending to the hills in Kentucky; while Cairo itself was partially flooded. The railroads in that section were forced to stop, and the people fled to the hills for their lives. Steady rains fell in Arkansas, Ohio and lower Missouri River valleys, and by the time these began to subside, the floods in the streams below had passed previous records.
The greatest danger and trouble was in the valley from Arkansas City southward. Heavy rains produced a break in the levee at that place. March 28, the levees broke at two points on the eastern shore, between Arkansas City and Memphis, Tennessee, submerging many thousands of acres of land, and sweeping southeastward to the Yazoo River. Greenville, Mississippi, a city of 10,000, is partially protected by a high ridge through the city; but there was no means of holding back the enemy in the rear. The town is situated at the extremity of a sharp eastward curve, and a violent storm at length aided the rapid current in cutting away the front defense, and the town was forced to yield. Strenuous efforts to close the breaks above completely failed; and all that could be done was to secure the ends of the crevasses to prevent their widening. Cattle were herded for a time on the levees and embankments,
but these gradually yielded, and the animals were drowned in droves. Defenses yielded where least expected. By April 3, there was two feet of water in the streets of Greenville. There was nothing left but to make the best of the situation. People took to the upper floors, and appeals for state, national and individual aid were sent out. The telephone lines leading out of the city were destroyed, and communication with the outer world was greatly hindered. Occasional reports of destitution and suffering came from Greenville, but these were contradicted by meetings of leading citizens, who said, “there is no destitution here that home people can not relieve. If the negroes want to wait for government rations and refuse from $1.50 to $2.50 per day to work on levees, their starving arouses no sympathy. While all these sensational reports of destitution are traveling about, the steamboats are running into Memphis and Vicksburg begging for levee hands, and the native negro is sitting on the levee fishing.”