Isaac Murphy (October 16, 1799 or 1802 – September 8, 1882)[2] was a native of Pennsylvania, a teacher and lawyer who moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas with his wife and child in 1834.

Her father so opposed the marriage when he learned that Murphy favored the abolition of slavery that he disinherited Angelina.

From 1837 to 1838, Murphy ran the original government land lines for Franklin County, Arkansas.

On November 30, 1844, the noted Indian Missionary Cephas Washburn, along with Murphy and other leaders, secured a charter for a college known as the Far West Seminary.

Murphy taught here until the building was destroyed by fire on February 17, 1845, putting him in debt, as he had invested in the school.

With assignment to the Banking Committee, he attempted to introduce reforms but was stymied by the powerful political cabal known as "The Family".

Murphy's eldest daughter Malilla married James R. Berry, one of the senator's sons.

Following the fall of the capital city of Little Rock to the Union in 1863, Arkansas' Confederate government, led by Governor Harris Flanagin, went into exile.

"[citation needed] The 4th of July celebrations in Little Rock were led by pro-Union speakers who refrained from anti-Southern speeches or actions.

In response, Republicans in Congress pushed through the 14th Amendment, granting full citizenship, rights and due process to freedmen, and the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.

In 1974, historian John I. Smith published several articles about what he called the Huntsville Massacre, an execution of prisoners of war in 1862.