Fontaine Richard Earle

1831 - 1908

Fontaine Richard Earle, was a Kentucky native and Cumberland Presbyterian minister, and a Confederate States army officer. Reverend Earle moved to Cane Hill, Arkansas in 1859 following his graduation from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. Earle became president of Cane Hill College and pastor of a congregation located at the town, serving in both capacities until 1861.  Although he initially enlisted as a private in the Arkansas State Troops in 1861, he was mustered out shortly after the battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861.  In the autumn of 1862, Earle raised a company of volunteers from the Cane Hill area, designated Company B, 34th Arkansas Infantry, Confederate States Army, and attained the rank of Major in the unit by the end of the war. He participated in the battles of Oak Hill, Prairie Grove, Helena, Jenkin's Ferry, and others. After the war Major Earle married Amanda Buchanan, daughter of another Cane Hill minister, John Buchanan, in 1865, and served as a member of the Arkansas State Senate and remained President of Cane Hill College until 1891.

Confederate Reunion at Prairie Grove, Arkansas

Members of Company B, 34th Arkansas Infantry, CSA

   Back row, left to right: Major F. R. Earle, Clem McColloch, Hugh Simpson, Al Buchanan, Dr. W. B. Welch, Henry White, Fate Brewster, Sam Russell, Polk Crozier.  Front row, Walter Parks, John Parks, W.S. Moore, Dick Morrow, Will Edmiston, Jake White, Hight Brewster, John R. Moore and Henry Pyeatt.