FORT SMITH 



2272 



FORTUNA 



FORT SMITH, ARK., the county seat of 

 Sebastian County, north of the center of the 

 state, on the western state boundary line, 165 

 miles northwest of Little Rock, the state cap- 

 ital. It is in the Ozark Mountains, and on the 

 Arkansas River, at the mouth of the Poteau 

 River, and on the Saint Louis & San Fran- 

 cisco, the Arkansas Central, the Midland Valley, 

 the Kansas City Southern, the Fort Smith & 

 Western, and the Saint Louis, Iron Mountain 

 & Southern railroads. Transfer and shipping 

 are promoted by a belt line within the city. 

 The street car service is extended by inter- 

 urban electric line to Van Buren. The popula- 

 tion in 1910 was 23,975; in 1916 it was 28,638, 

 by Federal estimate. There are many Ger- 

 mans and Irish among the population. 



The rivers are crossed at this point by four 

 steel bridges. The city has a Federal build- 

 ing, erected in 1890 at a cost of $250,000; a 

 Carnegie Library, a Union Station, Masonic 

 Temple and several noteworthy bank buildings 

 and churches. In addition to the public 

 schools, which include a high school building 

 costing $500,000, Fort Smith has a German 

 Lutheran School and Saint Anne's Academy. 

 Electric Park contains seventy-five acres; Cliff 

 Drive is an oiled automobile road forty miles 

 in length. 



Fort Smith is in a rich agricultural section 

 where two crops a year is the rule. Cotton, 

 sorghum cane, sweet and Irish potatoes, grain, 

 hay and fruits are raised. Near the city are 

 forests of yellow pine, oak, hickory, etc. 

 Manufactories are fostered by an abundant 

 supply of natural gas and smokeless coal, both 

 found in the vicinity. Industrial enterprises 

 include cotton compresses, cottonseed-oil mills, 

 smelters, a sorghum syrup mill, canning plant, 

 oil refinery, coffee roasting and extensive manu- 

 factures of wagons, stoves, wheelbarrows, drays, 

 chairs and every kind of furniture, saddles 

 and harness, vitrified paving brick, crackers, 

 peanut butter, etc. The shipping of cattle 

 and hogs and agricultural and manufactured 

 products constitutes an extensive commerce. 



Fort Smith was built as a United States 

 army post in 1817, and until the post was 

 abandoned in 1871 it was the chief depot of 

 the western forts. The town was organized in 

 1821, incorporated in 1842 and became a city 

 in 1845. Near the old fort, which was the 

 scene of several engagements in the War of 

 Secession, is a National cemetery. The city 

 adopted the commission form of government 

 in 1913. G.S. 



FORT SUM'TER, a fort in the harbor of 

 Charleston, S. C., four miles southeast of the 

 city, and distinguished as the scene of the 

 first engagement in the War of Secession. At 

 this period the national defenses in Charleston 



FORT SUMTER 

 Before the bombardment in 1861. 



harbor were in charge of Major Robert Ander- 

 son, whose headquarters were in Fort Moultrie. 

 In 1860, South Carolina seceded and prepared 

 to seize the United States forts in the harbor. 

 Major Anderson, believing he was about to 

 be attacked and realizing the weakness of Fort 

 Moultrie, abandoned it and made Fort Sumter 

 his headquarters. In April, 1861, he refused to 

 surrender to General Beauregard, who vigor- 

 ously bombarded and captured the fort on 

 the thirteenth day 

 of that month. 

 Major Anderson 

 and his command 

 were permitted to 

 leave the fort with 

 honors of war. 

 Sumter was held 

 by the Confed- 

 erates until the 

 evacuation of 

 Charleston in Feb- 

 ruary, 1865, and in 

 the following April 

 the same flag that 

 had been lowered 

 in 1861 was raised 

 over it with im- 

 pressive cere- 

 monies. See FORT 

 MOULTRIE. 



FORTU'NA, in 

 Roman mythology, 

 was the goddess of 

 chance, correspond- FORTUNA 



ing to the Greek Tyche. She differed from 

 Destiny, or Fate, in that she dispensed joy or 



