Jacob Frolich was a German immigrant and a Confederate soldier who became an active and high-profile figure in post–Civil War Arkansas politics. A reported leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Arkansas, he was accused of murder in a case that highlighted the political divisions in the state at that time. Ultimately acquitted of the charges, he went on to be elected to three terms as Arkansas' secretary of state.

Jacob Frolich was born on Nov. 15, 1837, in Obernforf, Bavaria, Germany, to John Frolich and Marie Elizabeth Herrman Frolich. When Frolich was 9, the family came to the United States. They lived initially in New Orleans, but ultimately settled in Indiana. At the age of 14, Frolich began apprenticing as a printer, first in Evansville, Ind., then in St. Louis, and finally in New Orleans. H

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