Because Of An Oath Of Allegiance

Edward Clark became the Governor of Texas on March 18^th 1861, when Sam Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.

Edward Clark was born in New Orleans, Louisiana April 1^st 1815 the son of Elijah Clark Jr.  He spent his childhood in Georgia and Alabama.  He moved to Marshall, Texas in 1842 where he opened a law practice.  Clark served at the Texas Annexation Convention and two terms as a Texas State Representative.  He fought during the Mexican American War, and when that was over was Secretary of State to Texas Governor Elisha M Pease and Lieutenant Governor to Sam Houston.

In 1861 Texas voted to secede, but then Governor Sam Houston refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.  Clark was made the Governor of Texas March 18^th 1861.  Once in office Clark moved quickly to raise militia, and stabilize Texas’ finances.  When the next election for Governor took place in the autumn of 1861, Clark lost the race by 124 votes to Francis Richard Lubbock.  Clark joined the 14^th Texas Infantry as their Colonel.  He was wounded while leading an attack at the Battle of Pleasant Hill, and ended the war as a Brigadier General.

When the Civil War came to an end Clark fled to Mexico.  He would return to his home in Marshall, Texas, where he died May 4^th 1880.  Clark is buried in the Marshall City Cemetery.

Confederates In California

The only California unit to serve the Confederacy, the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles was formed March 17^th 1861.

The Los Angeles Mounted Rifles were formed as a part of a call by California Governor John G Downey for militia companies at the beginning of the Civil War.  Enrollment filled quickly in the Mounted Rifles and an organizational meeting was held with 85 men at the Los Angeles County Courthouse March 17^th 1861.  The name of the company the Los Angeles Mounted Rifles was chosen, and the company mustered into service under Captain Alonzo Ridley and First Lieutenant Joseph Cattick.  The rolls showed 8 officers and 64 privates.  From the Rifles inception they were known as pro-Confederacy.

Once the news reached the west coast that Fort Sumter had fallen, Ridley decided to take Rifles to Texas.  They were joined by former United States Officers Albert Sidney Johnston and Lewis Addison Armistead, who had resigned their commissions.

After making a long journey across the desert the Rifles were disbanded as a unit the second week of August 1861.  Most of the members of the Rifles joined Texas units and served throughout the war.  Captain Alonzo Ridley stayed with Albert Sidney Johnston through the Battle of Shiloh.

A web site for more information about this subject is California's Confederate Militia: The Los Angeles Mounted Rifles

Believed He Was Just To The Last

Abolitionist Aaron Dwight Stevens was executed March 16^th 1860 for his part in John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry.

Aaron Dwight Stevens was born March 15^th 1831 in Lisbon, New London, Connecticut.  At sixteen he enlisted in Cushing’s Massachusetts regiment and saw service in the Mexican American War.  Latter as part of Company F of the United States 1^st Dragoons, Stevens was tried for assaulting US Major George A H Blake.  The assault was understood to have been caused by Blake’s treatment of enlisted soldiers.  Stevens was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted by President Franklin Pierce, and Stevens was sent to Leavenworth for three years hard labor.  He escaped and became the Colonel of 2^nd Kansas Militia, using the name Whipple.

It was while Stevens was with the 2^nd that he met John Brown on August 7^th 1856 during “Bleeding Kansas”.  In 1859 Stevens was with John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.  Stevens was trapped in the engine house with Brown and several other raiders.  He thought they should they should use the hostages as shields and make a run for it, but Brown overruled him and they stayed in the engine house.  Stevens was sent out with Brown’s son Watson to negotiate and was shot four times.  When taken captive by militia, they thought he was dead.

Stevens’ lawyer George H Hoyt said of him that, “He's in a most pitiable condition physically, his wounds being of the most painful and dangerous character. He has now four balls in his body, two of these being about the head and neck. He bears his sufferings with grim and silent fortitude, never complaining and absolutely without hope. He is a splendid looking young fellow. Such black and penetrating eyes! Such an expansive brow! Such a grand chest and limbs! He was the best, and in fact the only man Brown had who was a good soldier besides being reliable otherwise."  Stevens made a deathbed confession, but never changed his belief that the raid on Harper’s Ferry was just.

Stevens was found guilty of treason for his part in the Harper’s Ferry raid, and for conspiring with slaves to bring on an insurrection.  One day after his 29^th birthday Stevens was executed on March 16^th 1860 in Charlestown, Virginia.

Also Known As

Confederate Captain Marcellus Jerome Clarke, who was thought to also be known as Sue Mundy, was hung March 15^th 1865.

Marcellus Jerome Clarke was born in Franklin, Kentucky August 25^th 1845.

Clarke was 17 when the Civil War started in 1862 and he enlisted in the 4^th Kentucky Infantry a part of the Confederate 1^st Kentucky “Orphan” Brigade.  When Fort Donelson fell Clarke taken prisoner, but escaped.  He also saw action while with the 4^th Kentucky at the Battle of Chickamauga.  Clarke was promoted to Captain and place under the command of Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan.

Morgan was killed September 1864, and Clarke returned to Kentucky where he formed a band, raiding, destroying supplies and skirmishing with Union soldiers.  Clarkes’ raids were given credit by the Louisville Journal as the Mundy Gang, and they joined forces with William Quantrill.  On February 2^nd 1865, Clarke and Quantrill burned freight cars and the depot at Lair Station, Kentucky.  A week letter they killed three Union soldiers and took four others prisoner.

On March 12^th 1865 the 30^th Wisconsin Infantry under command of Union Major Cyrus Wilson surrounded Clarke in a tobacco barn south of Brandenburg, Kentucky.  They captured Clarke along with two other men, Henry Medkiff and Henry C Magruder.   The men were taken to Louisville where Clarke was tried in secret as a guerrilla.  Clarke was told on March 15^th 1865 by the Reverend JJ Talbott that he was to be hung that afternoon.  Clarke asked the Reverend to write four letters for him and to see that his body was sent to his family in Franklin, Kentucky for burial in his Confederate uniform.

A Run Up River

Union Admiral David Farragut tried to run his fleet by the batteries at Port Hudson March 14^th 1863.

Around eleven on the night of March 14^th 1863, Union Admiral David Farragut ran his fleet of seven ships by the Port Hudson batteries.  Hoping to get his ships up the river and block Confederate river traffic on the Red River.  It brought on a three hour battle between the Union ships and Confederate batteries.  Five of the Union ships were disabled, with the USS Mississippi being run aground, burned and abandoned. The remaining two Union ships the USS Hartford which was Farragut’s flagship, and the USS Albatross made it through with some damage.

The two remaining ships were able to stop Confederate re-supply of Port Hudson by the Red River.

If you’re interested in knowing more Farragut's Run at Port Hudson is a good place to start.

Wounded Four Times

Union General Henry Baxter was appointed Brigadier General March 12^th 1863 after being wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Henry Baxter was born September 8^th 1821 in Sidney Plains, Delaware, New York.  His family moved to Jonesville, Michigan in 1831.  When gold fever struck in 1849 Baxter went to California along 30 other men from the Jonesville area to hunt for the metal.  He returned to Jonesville in 1852 were he settled in and became a miller.  Baxter organized and commanded a militia unit known as the Jonesville Light Guards after moving back.

When the Civil War started Baxter was elected Captain of Company C of the 7^th Michigan Infantry.  He was wounded during the Seven Days Battle.  By the Battle of Antietam Baxter was a Lieutenant Colonel.  During this battle he was wounded in the leg when Major General John Sedgwick’s division; of which Baxter was a part, was ambushed.  Baxter recuperated in Michigan.  He returned with the command of a regiment in time for the Battle of Fredericksburg.  At Fredericksburg Baxter’s regiment made an amphibious assault, driving Confederate sharpshooters out of the town.  Baxter was wounded again, this time in the left shoulder.  He received an appointment to Brigadier General March 12^th 1863, and the command of a brigade.   At the Battle of Gettysburg Baxter’s men held the right flank on the first day of the battle, his troops wiping out most of Confederate Colonel Alfred Iverson’s men.  When the Army of the Potomac was reorganized in March 1864 Baxter kept the command of his brigade, and was assigned to the 2^nd Division of the V Corps.  While fighting at the Battle of the Wilderness he was shot in the left leg; the bullet passing through the leg and killing his horse.  After recuperating this time he led a brigade in the 3^rd Division of the V Corps during the Siege of Petersburg.  Baxter mustered out of service August 24^th 1865.

After the war ended the United Senate awarded Baxter the brevet rank of Major General.  He worked as the Register of Deeds for the State of Michigan before being appointed by President Ulysses S Grant in 1869 to Minister of Honduras.  He returned to Michigan in 1872 and worked in the lumber business until his death on December 30^th 1873 from pneumonia.  He is buried in the Sunset View Cemetery, Jonesville, Michigan.

A good web site to find more is Henry J. Baxter (1821 – 1873)

Reoccupied Without A Shot

Union troops re-took the city of St Augustine, Florida and Fort Marion from the Confederates on March 11^th 1862.

Fort Marion located at St Augustine was a small Union Army garrison with one Sergeant on January 7^th 1861, when it was taken over by about 25 Florida State Militia from Fernandina, Florida.  The Sergeant received a receipt for the fort from the Confederacy and it was surrendered without a shot.  Three days later the state of Florida seceded from the Union.  On March 11^th 1862 Union Marines landed from the USS Wabash and USS Mohican without opposition and were able to reoccupied St Augustine and Fort Marion.  The Fort was used as a military prison for the rest of the Civil War.