19 Facts About Solon Borland

Solon Borland was an American politician, journalist, physician and military officer.

Solon Borland served as a United States Senator from Arkansas from 1848 to 1853.

Solon Borland's views were generally of a disunionist version, and he was not popular with many Senate members.

Solon Borland discovered soon after his return to Little Rock, Arkansas, that his views were not popular at home, either.

Solon Borland resigned from the United States Senate in 1853 and was appointed as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary.

Solon Borland was reprimanded for this by Secretary of State William Marcy.

Solon Borland returned to Little Rock in October 1854, and resumed his medical practice and operation of his pharmacy.

Solon Borland declined a nomination from President Pierce as governor of the New Mexico Territory.

Solon Borland served throughout the war, having turned over his newspaper business to associates.

Solon Borland was taken as a prisoner of war by the Mexican army on January 23,1847, just south of Saltillo.

Solon Borland escaped, and was discharged when his regiment was disbanded and mustered out in June, but continued in the army as volunteer aide-de-camp to General William J Worth during the remainder of the campaign, from the Battle of Molino del Rey to the capture of Mexico City on September 14,1847.

At the start of the American Civil War, Borland was appointed as a commander of Arkansas Militia by Arkansas Governor Henry M Rector, and ordered to lead the expedition that seized Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the first days of the war, despite the fact that Arkansas had not yet seceded.

Solon Borland was replaced as commander at the Arkansas Secession convention less than a month later, but he was able to obtain a position as a commander for Northeast Arkansas.

Solon Borland helped recruit troops for the Confederacy during this period, helping to raise the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment on June 10,1861, becoming its first colonel.

In declining health and resenting that embarrassment, Solon Borland resigned from further service to the Confederacy in June 1862, moving to Dallas County, Arkansas.

Solon Borland died on January 1,1864, aged 55, in Harris County, Texas.

In 1843, following his second wife's death, Solon Borland moved to Little Rock, where he founded the Arkansas Banner, which became an influential newspaper in statewide Democratic Party politics.

Three years later, Solon Borland challenged the editor of the rival Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, a Whig newspaper, to a duel due to a slander published against him.

Danley, who was an editor for the aforementioned Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, took ownership from William E Woodruff and turned it into a mouthpiece for the Know Nothing party, which Danley and Borland had joined in October 1855.