John Clark | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Clark photographed in 1859 | |
| Member of the Confederate States House of Representatives fromMissouri's3rd district | |
| In office June 10, 1864 – March 18, 1865 | |
| Preceded by | Caspar Bell |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Confederate States Senator fromMissouri | |
| In office February 18, 1862 – February 17, 1864 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | George Graham Vest |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMissouri's3rd district | |
| In office December 7, 1857 – July 13, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | James S. Green |
| Succeeded by | William Augustus Hall |
| Member of theMissouri House of Representatives | |
| In office 1850–1851 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1802-04-17)April 17, 1802 Madison County, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | October 29, 1885(1885-10-29) (aged 83) Fayette, Missouri, U.S. |
| Party | Whig Democratic |
| Children | John Bullock Clark Jr. |
| Relatives | James Clark Christopher Henderson Clark |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Missouri (pre-1861) Missouri State Guard (1861) |
| Rank | Major general (Missouri militia) Brigadier general (Missouri State Guard) |
| Commands | 3rd Division, Missouri State Guard |
| Battles/wars | Black Hawk War 1838 Mormon War American Civil War |
John Bullock Clark Sr. (April 17, 1802 – October 29, 1885) was an Americanmilitia officer and politician who served as a member of theUnited States Congress andConfederate Congress. Born inKentucky, Clark moved with his family to theMissouri Territory in 1818 and studied law. AfterMissouri's statehood in 1821, he opened a legal practice inFayette, Missouri, in 1824, and held several positions in the local government in the 1820s and 1830s. Clark was also involved in the state militia, serving as acolonel in theBlack Hawk War in 1832 and eventually rising to the rank ofmajor general. In 1838, during theMissouri Mormon War, Clark was the recipient of GovernorLilburn Boggs's infamousMormon Extermination Order, and was involved in the ending stages of the conflict. He was theWhig candidate in the1840 Missouri gubernatorial election. Clark was accused of conspiring to commit electoral fraud in the election and as a result almost fought aduel withClaiborne Fox Jackson, later aGovernor of Missouri.
In 1850, Clark was elected as a Whig to theMissouri House of Representatives and served into 1851. He was elected in 1857 to fill a vacancy in one of Missouri's seats in theUnited States House of Representatives. With the outbreak of theCivil War in 1861, Clark, a wealthy owner of 160slaves, became a leadingsecessionist in Missouri. After the pro-secessionistMissouri State Guard (MSG) was formed in May 1861, he was appointed by Jackson as abrigadier general commanding the MSG's 3rd Division. After leading his troops against Federal forces in theBattle of Carthage, Missouri on July 5, Clark wasexpelled from the House of Representatives for fighting against the United States. On August 10, he led his division in theBattle of Wilson's Creek, in which he was wounded.
After being appointed as a delegate to theProvisional Confederate Congress by theConfederate government of Missouri late in 1861, Clark resigned his military commission. He was appointed to theConfederate States Senate for theFirst Confederate Congress, serving from February 1862 to February 1864. During his time in that body, he opposed theJefferson Davis administration on some issues, but supported it on others. Confederate Governor of MissouriThomas Caute Reynolds did not appoint him to a second senate term due to allegations of alcoholism,mendacity, and womanizing. After defeatingCaspar Wistar Bell in an election for theConfederate House of Representatives for theSecond Confederate Congress, Clark served in that role until March 1865. After the defeat of the Confederacy, he fled toMexico, but was arrested upon his return toTexas in late 1865. He was released after several months, and returned to Missouri in 1870, where he practiced law for the rest of his life. His son,John Bullock Clark Jr., was a general in theConfederate States Army and later served in the United States Congress.
John Bullock Clark was born inMadison County, Kentucky, on April 17, 1802, the child of Bennett and Martha Clark. He was the nephew ofJames Clark, agovernor of Kentucky, and CongressmanChristopher Henderson Clark.[1] Clark was educated in local schools.[2] The family moved to theMissouri Territory in 1818, and Clark studied law.[1] The author Kenneth E. Burchett notes that his legal knowledge was self-taught;[3] He was admitted to thebar in 1824 while residing atFayette, Missouri.[2] The historian Bruce S. Allardice refers to him as "a born politician".[1] He was taller than most of his peers at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m), and had a reputation as a storyteller. Clark developed a colorful reputation for his legal demeanor; he once, knowing the evidence was stacked against a client he was defending, had a man canvass the county with petitions expressing support or opposition for his client, until the localjury pool had been depleted.[3] Clark wasHoward County treasurer from 1823 to 1825, and clerk of the county's court system from 1824 to 1834.[1][2] He was also a member of theMethodist Church; the historian Christopher Phillips describes him as devout.[4] In 1826 he married Eleanor Turner.[5] Their son,John Bullock Clark Jr. was born in 1831.[6]
Clark was active in the Missourimilitia.[1] In 1832, he served as acolonel of the Missouri Mounted Volunteers during theBlack Hawk War.[7] From 1836 to 1838, Clark was amajor general in the Missouri militia.[8] On October 26, 1838, during theMissouri Mormon War, Clark was ordered byGovernor of MissouriLilburn Boggs to deploy state troops intoDaviess County, Missouri, in response to claims of atrocities.[a] The next day, Boggs issued Clark theMormon Extermination Order, which included the statement "The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace".[11] The order instructed Clark to move with a force of troops toRichmond, Missouri, and there "operate against the Mormons".[12]
Clark was the only person to receive the order; he disseminated copies of it to the other relevant officers.[13] After receiving the Extermination Order, Clark mobilized a force to take to Richmond.[12]David Rice Atchison was already commanding Missouri troops in the field, but Boggs ordered Clark to take command over Atchison, who left the field.[14] On November 1, the Mormons surrendered.[15]Alexander William Doniphan refused orders to execute captured Mormon leaders on November 2; Mormon sources later claimed Clark had supported the idea of executing the Mormon leaders.[16] Clark's 1,500-man column arrived in Richmond on November 3, and enforced the terms of the surrender. He investigated claims of atrocities committed during the conflict, particularly using information provided bySampson Avard. As a result of his investigation, 50 Mormons were arrested.[17] Clark then made a speech to local Mormon men, ordering them out of the state by early 1839. He warned them not to congregate in groups of more than four, or "the citizens [of Missouri] will be upon you and destroy you". The historian Stephen C. LeSueur describes Clark's speech as humiliating for the Mormons.[18]
Politically, Clark was aWhig,[1] and was the party's nominee for the1840 Missouri gubernatorial election. The historian Perry McCandless describes Clark as "not a top leader" in the party. The Whigs were a minority in Missouri at this time, and theDemocrats performed well against the Whigs in the state elections that year.[19] During the election, Democratic newspapers spread claims that the Whigs had distributed false party ballots in parts of the state that substituted Clark forThomas Reynolds, the Democratic candidate. The Democratic politicianClaiborne Fox Jackson wrote a thinly pseudonymous letter accusing Clark of being complicit in the false ballots scheme. Jackson transcribed a letter (including deliberately reproducing a spelling error) purportedly sent between Clark andJames H. Birch. The Democrats claimed the Clark letter had been found in asaddlebag and Clark claimed it had been stolen from his hat after he left it unattended.[20] Enraged, Clark sent letters back and forth to Jackson using third parties; the exchange culminated in Clark challenging Jackson to a duel in mid-September. Jackson responded with terms that put Clark at a disadvantage and may have actually been a bluff. No duel occurred, and Clark's reputation in the state was damaged.[21] Clark lost the election, 29,625 votes to 22,212.[22] In 1848, Clark was again appointed a major general in the state militia, a rank he held until 1861.[8]
Running as a Whig, Clark was elected to theMissouri House of Representatives in 1850, representing Howard County. In this election, he ran on a platform supportingstates' rights and the Jackson Resolutions,[23] a series of pro-slavery resolutions put forward by Jackson in 1849.[24] Clark was considered for the Whig candidate forUnited States Senator that year, but his views were off-putting to moderate members of the party, who, in the words of McCandless, considered him the "most apt to disrupt the party and the Union"; the nomination went toHenry S. Geyer.[25] Clark remained in office until 1851.[7]
By 1857, Clark had switched allegiance from the Whigs to the Democrats due to his pro-slavery views.[26] That year, he was elected to fill the vacantUnited States House of Representatives seat left by the resignation ofJames S. Green;[7] being sworn in on December 7.[8] He was reelected in 1858 and 1860.[7] The1859–1860 election for theSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives was particularly contentious. A recent anti-slavery book byHinton Rowan Helper titledThe Impending Crisis of the South had been endorsed by 68 congressman from theRepublican Party, and Clark proposed a resolution which would have prohibited those individuals from being elected as Speaker of the House. Clark additionally had a listing of those who had endorsed Hinton's book read aloud. Clark's proposed resolution added to the contentiousness of the Speaker's election, to the extent that during discussion over the resolution, one congressman fromNew York pulled a gun on another congressman.[27]
By 1861, Clark was wealthy and owned 160 slaves.[28] In April 1861, theCivil War began, with states seceding from the Union and forming the breakawayConfederate States of America.[29] Clark was a leading Missouri secessionist.[30] On May 10, the United States Army officerNathaniel Lyon dispersed a pro-secessionist militia gathering outside ofSt. Louis, Missouri;a riot occurred when he took his prisoners through the St. Louis streets. The Missouri state government responded by creating a pro-secession militia organization known as theMissouri State Guard (MSG).[31]
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Jackson, who was now Missouri's governor, appointed Clark to command the 3rd Division of the MSG, which was located in the north-central part of the state.[28] The appointment carried with it the rank ofbrigadier general.[30] Overall command of the MSG went toSterling Price.[32] Jackson and Price expected an offensive against the MSG by Lyon. Determining that the state capital ofJefferson City could not be held, they selectedBoonville as the place to make a stand. Clark was ordered there with his division.[33] After Price had to relinquish command due to a case of severe diarrhea on June 13, Clark briefly commanded MSG forces at Boonville until Jackson and his relative ColonelJohn Sappington Marmaduke formed a joint command.[34] Lyon attacked on June 17 and routed the MSG force in theBattle of Boonville.[35]
Clark was atCarthage with Jackson and several divisions of the MSG by July 5. That day, he led his division in action against a Federal force commanded by ColonelFranz Sigel. TheBattle of Carthage, Missouri, was a minor affair in which Sigel's troops were driven from the field with little loss to either side.[36] On July 13, Clark wasexpelled from his congressional seat,[2] for fighting against the United States, with an emphasis placed on his leading troops at Carthage.[3] The House of Representatives voted 94 to 45 to expel him.[37] He was replaced byWilliam Augustus Hall.[38] Price consolidated MSG forces atCassville beginning on July 25, and on July 29, the MSG began directly cooperating with a Confederate States Army force led by Brigadier GeneralBen McCulloch.[39] An action of Clark's increased McCulloch's distrust of the MSG troops. A large number of men in Clark's division were unarmed. Believing the unarmed men to be a waste of supplies, McCulloch wanted Clark to send them home, but Clark refused; McCulloch had no direct authority to order Clark to disperse the men.[40]
In early August, the combined Confederate and MSG commands moved to a camp alongWilson's Creek.[41] Lyon had moved his army toSpringfield, and Price wanted to attack. McCulloch demurred, but late on April 9, Price, backed by Clark and other MSG officers, pushed for an attack. McCulloch agreed to schedule one for the following morning after Price threatened to take command and lead an offensive himself.[42] Instead, Lyon attacked early on the morning on April 10, catching the Confederates and MSG by surprise and beginning theBattle of Wilson's Creek.[43] Once Price learned of the attack, he ordered Clark's division, along with those ofWilliam Y. Slack,James H. McBride, andMosby Monroe Parsons, to bring up their infantry and artillery.[44] Clark later tried to order the cavalry portion of his division to support his infantry, but the cavalry became greatly disorganized by Union artillery fire and the few who entered the fighting at this time instead fought with McBride's men or theSouth Kansas-Texas Mounted Volunteers, as they were able to locate them in the chaos of battle quicker than Clark's men.[45] After the battle, McCulloch praised Clark in his after-action report.[46] Clark was wounded in the leg during the battle.[47] He resigned his commission in the MSG on December 6.[8]
In October, Jackson and the deposed secessionist government voted to secede and join the Confederacy as theConfederate government of Missouri.[48] This government appointed Clark as a delegate to theProvisional Confederate Congress,[2] in which he served from December 7, 1861, to February 17, 1862.[8] During this time span, Clark was on the Foreign Affairs and Indian Affairscongressional committees.[49] In theFirst Confederate Congress, Missouri received seven seats in theConfederate House of Representatives and two in theConfederate States Senate. The historiansEzra J. Warner and W. Buck Yearns describe the members of this Missouri delegation as "congress[men] without aconstituency".[50] Clark was selected to be one of the two senators.[51] The other Missouri senator wasRobert L. Y. Peyton. One of the senators was to receive a four-year term, and the other a two-year term. Clark received the shorter termby lot.[52] The First Confederate Congress was in session from February 18, 1862, to February 17, 1864,[53] and Clark was in office for the entirety of that time span.[8]
As a senator, Clark served on the Foreign Affairs, Indian Affairs, Post Offices & Post Roads, Printing, Public Lands, and Territories committees.[49] He was the chairman of the Public Lands committee.[54] Clark supported regional interests for the western portion of the Confederacy while in office. He sought to halt conscription in areas threatened by Federal forces, and supported the creation ofpartisan ranger units. While he usually opposed providing Confederate presidentJefferson Davis with appointive powers, Clark generally voted pro-administration on matters that did not affect his region.[55] He supported a stronger prosecution of the war.[30] Davis viewed Clark as an enemy due to the times he opposed Davis's positions.[55] At the end of his term, Confederate Governor of MissouriThomas Caute Reynolds[b] did not re-appoint Clark to the Senate.[30] By this time, the authority of the Confederate government of Missouri had waned to the extent that Warner and Yearns describe Reynolds's authority as extending "just so far as the spot upon which he was standing".[55] A number of allegations developed against Clark during his time in office, including alcoholism, disorderly behavior, mendacity, and in the words of Warner and Yearns, the "attempted seduction ofAlbert Pike's mistress".[30][55] Clark's strained relationship with Davis was also a factor in Reynolds's decision to not re-appoint Clark to his seat.[58] The Senate seat previously held by Clark then went toGeorge Graham Vest.[59]
In May 1864, an election for the Confederate House of Representatives resulted in Clark defeatingCaspar Wistar Bell. The electorate was composed of Confederate soldiers and Missouri refugees, and Warner and Yearns refer to it as a "farcical poll";[50] Clark had the support of Reynolds's adversary Price in the election.[30] As a result, he represented the 3rd Missouri Congressional District in theSecond Confederate Congress.[55] He held this position from June 10, 1864, to March 18, 1865,[8] and served on the Elections and Military Affairs committees.[49] After the Confederate defeat in 1865, a $10,000 reward was issued for Clark's arrest, but he evaded capture by using a disguise and a fake name to flee to Mexico.[30]
Having heard he was no longer wanted by the authorities,[30] Clark re-entered the United States and was inSan Antonio,Texas, by September 1865.[60] Once there, Clark was arrested and held atFort Jackson inLouisiana. He was released by the then US PresidentAndrew Johnson,[30] by late January 1866,[61] and returned to Missouri in 1870.[8] The requirement for theIronclad Oath (a statement that one had been loyal to the US and had not participated in rebellion against it) to practice law was overturned by theSupreme Court of the United States in 1867,[62] but theMissouri Supreme Court issued a decision upholding a Missouri legal requirement to take the oath in order to hold political office.[63] The Ironclad Oath was not removed from the Missouri constitution until 1870.[64] Once his political rights were rehabilitated, Clark resumed practicing law,[55] at Fayette.[30] He practiced law for the remainder of his life.[65] In 1872, he ran for a seat in the United States Congress one final time, but the nomination went to his son, who had been a general in the Confederate service.[30][66]
Clark died on October 29, 1885, in Fayette.[30]
| Political offices | ||
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMissouri's 3rd congressional district 1857–1861 | Succeeded by |
| Confederate States Senate | ||
| New constituency | Confederate States Senator (Class 1) from Missouri 1862–1864 | Succeeded by |
| Confederate States House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theC.S. House of Representatives fromMissouri's 3rd congressional district 1864–1865 | Constituency abolished |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 2 | ||
| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
