Civil War
Following the secession of Mississippi in early 1861, Clark was appointed as a brigadier general in the Mississippi 1st Corps, a state militia organization that later entered the Confederate Army. He commanded the brigade at engagements in Kentucky and then a division under Leonidas Polk at the Battle of Shiloh. He was promoted to the rank of major general of Mississippi State Troops in 1863. Clark led a division at the Battle of Baton Rouge, where he was severely wounded and captured. He spent time as a prisoner of war before being released.
On November 16, 1863, Clark was inaugurated as governor of Mississippi under Confederate auspices. He served in this capacity until June 13, 1865, when he was forcibly removed from office by occupation forces of the United States Army and replaced by William L. Sharkey, a respected judge and staunch Unionist who had been in total opposition to secession. Clark was briefly imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Georgia.
He died in Bolivar County, Mississippi, on December 18, 1877, and was buried at the family graveyard in that county.
Read more about this topic: Charles Clark (governor)
Famous quotes related to civil war:
“Colonel Shaw
and his bell-cheeked Negro infantry
on St. Gaudens shaking Civil War relief,
propped by a plank splint against the garage’s earthquake.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)