Page 88 - Arkansas Confederate Women

A SKETCH OF MRS. SOPHIA KANNADY, A
HEROINE OF FORT SMITH.

By W. J. Weaver, of Fort Smith.
Mrs Sophy Kanady was born in Fort Gibson, Indian Ter-

ritory, in 1826. She was the daughter of Aaron and Eebecca
Barling, who came to Fort Smith when this post was established
by Col. Long in 1817, but who removed to Fort Gibson when
that post was established by the government several years after-

ward. When she was two years old her parents returned to

Arkansas, and her father purchased a farm about eight miles
east of Fort Smith. This farm is still in possession of the
Barling family. Not far from the home and upon the road
leading to Little Bock was, and is yet, a spring of strong sulphur
water. The Barling home was a favorite stopping place for trav-
elers in the ante-bellum days and in summer time it was often
a resort for people who wished to spend a few weeks in the invig-
orating air of the country. Young beaux and their sweethearts
would often ride from the town to Barling's Spring on Sunday
afternoons or at such times as might suit their convenience and
pleasure. The doors of the old fashioned country home were
always open, and visitors were always sure of a hearty welcome
fiom its inmates.

It may not be uninteresting to note an incident that occur-

red in the early life of Miss Barling, while she was acquiring an

education. There were no public schools in Arkansas in those
days. The private schools were few and far between, and in them
were taught only the elementary branches of instruction. Miss
Barling's parents were determined on giving her more of an
education than the limited facilities of the country afforded, and
after she had acquired about all there was to be obtained in Fori
Smith, determined upon sending her to a school taught by Pro-

fessor Maro for young ladies, in St. Louis. On her trip to what
is now the great metropolis of the Southwest, but which was

then a comparatively small town, she rode from Fort Smith to