Hugh Bradley (1783–1854) was among the early settlers of South Arkansas and the namesake of

Bradley County, Arkansas Bradley County is located in southeastern Arkansas, and is bordered by Union County to the southwest, Calhoun County to the west, Drew County to the east, Ashley County to the southeast, and Cleveland County to the north. The county is home to ...

. Captain Bradley is best known for his part in the migration of several families from the military district of middle Tennessee during the 1810s-1820s. His leadership and continuing influence in the establishment of the town of Warren, led to the naming of the county in his honor when it was formed in 1840.

The Flatboat Journey

The Bradleys and several other families, set out from Round Lick,

Wilson County, Tennessee Wilson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is in Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 147,737. Its county seat is Lebanon. The largest city is Mt. Juliet. Wilson County is part of the Nashville-Davidson ...

in 1818, in flatboats. Probably, they used the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

to travel to the mouth of the

Atchafalaya River The Atchafalaya River ( french: La Rivière Atchafalaya, es, Río Atchafalaya) is a distributary of the Mississippi River and Red River in south central Louisiana in the United States. It flows south, just west of the Mississippi River, and ...

in southern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. From there, they traveled north on the Atchafalaya to the Red River which runs through central Louisiana from the northwest, poling upstream as far as Natchitoches. Until 1839, the Red River was not navigable from just north of Natchitoches to what is now

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

, due to the

Great Raft The Great Raft was a gigantic log jam or series of "rafts" that clogged the Red and Atchafalaya rivers and was unique in North America in terms of its scale. Origin The Great Raft probably began forming in the 12th century. It grew from its u ...

, a natural logjam which had prevented river traffic since the beginning of American exploration of the

Louisiana Territory The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Missouri Territory. The territory was formed out of the ...

. The Bradleys found a route northward, making it to the place now known as

Bradley, Arkansas Bradley is a city in Lafayette County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 628 at the 2010 census. Geography Bradley is located in southern Lafayette County at (33.098580, -93.657434). It sits at the intersection of Arkansas Highway ...

Among Bradley's many family members making the trek to new land were his niece Mary Jane "Polly" Bradley, who would later become the first First Lady of the State of Arkansas. Her burial place alongside her husband, the first state governor,

James Sevier Conway James Sevier Conway (December 9, 1796 – March 3, 1855) was an American politician who served as the first governor of Arkansas from 1836 to 1840. Early life James Sevier Conway was born on December 4, 1796, in Greene County, Tennessee, to T ...

, is on the old site of the Walnut Hill plantation, near the small community of Bradley, in

Hempstead County, Arkansas Hempstead County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 22,609. As of the 2020 census, the population decreased to 20,065. The county seat is Hope. Hempstead County is Arkansas's fourth co ...

. Although enough of the Bradley family stayed there to merit the naming of the community, some time around 1826, Captain Bradley and several other families in his company moved a bit more eastward, near the Saline River, in a place that would become the town of

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...

Bradley County

Statehood arrived for Arkansas in 1836. At the time, the location of what is now Bradley County was included in the boundaries of Union County. In late 1840, Bradley County was formed and named after one of its most prominent citizens Hugh Bradley. As legend has it, the town of Warren, incorporated in 1851, was named after one of Captain Bradley's freed slaves, Warren.

In popular culture

Fossil Hound Dog Films is currently producing a full length feature film based on the life of Hugh Bradley. It is expected to be complete by the summer of 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Hugh People from Bradley County, Arkansas 1783 births 1854 deaths