Fontaine Richard Earle, a Kentucky native and Cumberland Presbyterian minister, 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, when he enlisted as a private in a company of Arkansas State Militia. He returned home to resume preaching and farming following the battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861, but in the autumn of 1862, Earle raised a company of men from the Cane Hill area to serve as part of the Arkansas 34th Infantry, Confederate States Army. He participated in the battles of Prairie Grove, Helena, Jenkin's Ferry, and others, obtaining the rank of Major by the end of the war.

In 1865 Earle returned to Cane Hill and married Amanda Buchanan, (April 23, 1834-December 14, 1894), the daughter of another Cane Hill minister, John Buchanan. Earle served briefly in the Arkansas State Senate in 1866-1867 and returned to Cane Hill to resume the presidency of the college shortly thereafter. He spent the rest of his life as an educational administrator and preacher at both Cane Hill and, for a brief time, at Clarksville, Arkansas. He was a staunch temperance advocate and sought election as an Arkansas Presidential Electoral College member for the Prohibition Party in 1888.