Note (return) — VII. ORGANIZATION OF THE ARKANSAS AND RED RIVER SUPERINTENDENCY

February 18, 1862, saw the beginning of the first session of the first congress that met under the Confederate constitution. Six days thereafter, Johnson, now senator from Arkansas, again took the initiative in proposing the regular establishment of an Indian superintendency.476 As Senate Bill No. 3, his measure was referred to the Committee477 on Indian Affairs and, on March 11, reported back with amendments.478 Meanwhile, the House was considering a bill of similar import, introduced on the third by Thomas B. Hanly, likewise from Arkansas.479 On the eighteenth, it received Senate Bill No. 3 and substituted it for its own, passing the same on April Fool's day. The bill was signed by the president on April 8.480