Here is an outstanding oil on canvas painting showing Dr. James Henry Southall in his Confederate surgeon’s uniform. Beautifully colored and detailed by the well-known artist of Virginia governors and Confederate officers, artist John P. Walker. He wears the Southern Cross of Honor medal over his heart, which was given to veterans after the war by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Painting measures 25” x 30” and is signed in lower right corner, “J.P. WALKER 1913”. Ornate gold frame borders painting by 7” on all sides. Frame measures 41 ¼” high x 36” wide.  Painting and frame had restoration work done in the 1990’s.

Dr. James Henry Southall was born on November 5, 1841, in Smithville, Virginia, the son and grandson of distinguished Virginia physicians. After the completion of his education and the interruptions of life caused by the Civil War, Southall moved to Little Rock (Pulaski County) at a time when the local medical community was beginning to consider forming a medical school in the state. As with many physicians of his era, Southall had begun his medical education by reading medicine under the tutelage of a professional, Dr. Robert Tunstall of Norfolk, Virginia. He attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Louisiana (Tulane), graduating from that institution in 1861, just in time for the war.

Southall enlisted in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia as assistant surgeon for the Fifty-fifth Virginia Infantry. He was promoted to full surgeon on May 27, 1862, and held that rank throughout the war. He saw action in the battles of Richmond, Cedar Run, Second Manassas, Hagerstown, Harpers Ferry, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. Southall was left in charge of the wounded of his brigade at Gettysburg and was taken prisoner. He was held at Fort McHenry in Maryland for six months before he was paroled and later exchanged for Union prisoners on December 3, 1863. He returned to his unit for the remainder of the war and was surrendered by General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

After the war, Southall practiced briefly in Virginia before moving to Memphis, Tennessee, and later to Marion (Crittenden County). He and his family—including his wife, the former Olivia Gertrude Murphy, and two daughters—moved to Little Rock in 1872. The 1870s were a period of political turmoil in the state’s medical community. There was a recognized need for medical education in Arkansas, but many issues surrounding the training and licensing of physicians led to divisions in the community; the result was the formation of diverse state and local medical societies. Any idea of creating a medical school would have to wait for resolution of those issues. In 1879, with most of the divisive issues resolved, Dr. Southall joined Dr. Philo Oliver Hooper and six other physicians in the formation of the Medical Department of Arkansas Industrial University. Southall became Chairman of the school’s Institutes of Medicine (Physiology). In 1886, he became Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine.

Southall was active in the city, county and state medical societies. He was a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Medico-Legal Society of New York; he was also a founding member of the Little Rock Medical Society and served one term as its president. He was elected president of the Arkansas Medical Society in 1882. Southall apparently was quite involved with the Arkansas General Assembly since, in its resolution honoring him on his death, the Medical Society remembered him as “a man who had done more for medical legislation than any other member of the state Society.”

Southall died on July 22, 1901, of oral cancer. In services attended by the entire Medical Society, James H. Southall was entombed in the family mausoleum in Oakland Cemetery in Little Rock.

John Pleasants Walker (1855-1932) was a Virginia artist that painted portraits of Virginia Governors and Confederate Officers. He was born in Lynchburg, the son of Hilton D. and Judith Johnson Walker. He moved to Richmond in 1878 and began working on a portrait of the Virginia Governor. He had painted all of them since that time and many of his works hung on the walls of the State Capitol building. He was approached by the Robert E. Lee Camp #1 of the United Confederate Veterans to paint Confederate officers, the first being a life size three-quarter length portrait of General Robert E. Lee. More that 100 of his works hung on the walls of the Battle Abbey. Most of Walker’s works were done posthumously of the subjects, thus were based on photographs.

In 1888 he married Rosa B. Franklin and they had one daughter, Judith Franklin Walker. Rosa died on January 27, 1921. He later married Frances Stevens Walker, a widow with 3 daughters. Walker is buried in Riverview Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

Records accompany this item.

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