Archibald Yell

Archibald Yell was the second governor of the State of Arkansas, serving from November 4, 1840 to April 29, 1844.

Yell was born in North Carolina in August 1797. He moved to Bedford County, Tennessee, as a child and eventually became a captain in Andrew Jackson's guards during the war against the Creek Indian tribes. He fought at the battles of Talladega, Emucfau, and Horseshoe Bend. Yell also fought with Jackson in the war against the Seminole tribe. After the Indian wars, Yell studied law at Fayetteville, Tennessee.

Jackson eventually appointed Yell territorial judge in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was elected Democratic governor in 1840. He became a brigadier general during the Mexican War. He was killed in action at the Battle of Buena Vista on February 22, 1847. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Fayetteville.

References

• The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, vol. 10 (J.T. White, 1900), 185.