Henry Norwood

North Carolina-born slave Henry Norwood moved to a farm in Sevier County in the late 1850s with the Benjamin Norwood family.  Young Norwood hunted the Ouachita Mountains and the prairies of southwestern Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.  After the war and gaining his freedom, he moved to south Sebastian County with his brother Bill and became widely known as capable hunter, guide, farmer, and “horse doctor.”  Norwood carried a muzzle-loading black powder shotgun and harvested everything from deer to birds with it.  One family story claims that Henry lost an eye in an altercation with a wild animal.  As his reputation grew, white men called upon Henry to guide them on hunts in the surrounding area, which he continued to do sporadically for most of his life until he moved permanently to Kansas City, Missouri in the 1940s.  In one contemporary story of Norwood’s life, an observer noted that “the mature men of importance of the area, from constables to our congressman, liked for Henry to be with them during their ‘big game’ hunting trips.”  The writer continued, “Being an expert woodsman, he was needed as a guide to keep the hunters, especially those lacking in experience, from getting lost.”[1] 

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[1] Donna Goldstein, “The Life and Legacy of Henry Norwood,” South Sebastian County Historical Society, Greenwood, AR, 2015.