William S. Clark - Civil War

Civil War

Clark's academic career was interrupted by the Civil War. An enthusiastic supporter of the Union cause in the war, Clark took part in student military drill instruction at Amherst College and successfully recruited a number of students. In August 1861, he received a commission of major in the 21st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He served with the 21st Massachusetts for nearly two years, eventually commanding that regiment as lieutenant colonel in 1862, and colonel from 1862 to 1863.

During its first months of service, the 21st Massachusetts was assigned garrison duty at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In January 1862, the regiment was attached to the Coast Division commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside and embarked with the division for operations in North Carolina. Clark was placed in command of the regiment in February 1862 and led it in the Battle of New Bern on March 14, 1862. In that action, Clark garnered a reputation for bravery when the regiment charged a Confederate battery and he straddled an enemy cannon, urging his regiment forward. The gun was the first artillery piece captured by the Union Army during that engagement. It was presented by General Burnside to Amherst College in honor of Lieutenant Frazar Stearns, son of the president of Amherst College and adjutant of the 21st Massachusetts, who was killed in the battle. The cannon was mounted inside Morgan Hall at Amherst College.

After the 21st Massachusetts was transferred to Northern Virginia in July 1862, the regiment eventually became part of the Army of the Potomac and took part in several of the largest battles of the war including Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. The regiment suffered its worst casualties during the Battle of Chantilly on September 1, 1862. In the confusion of the battle, fought in thick woods during a thunderstorm, Clark became separated from his regiment and wandered the Virginia countryside for four days before finding the army again. While he was missing, he was incorrectly listed as killed in action and an Amherst newspaper printed his obituary under the headline, "Another Hero Gone."

Clark's enthusiasm for the war waned considerably after the Battle of Fredericksburg during which the Union Army suffered severe casualties in repeated charges against a heavily fortified stone wall. In a January 1863 letter to a friend, Clark wrote that, although he still felt "the principles for which we fight are right and honorable," he was "disheartened and dissatisfied" with the government and the army. By April 1863, the numbers of the 21st Massachusetts had been so thinned by what Clark called the "cruel fate of war," that the regiment had virtually ceased to exist and Clark's command was only nominal. He therefore resigned his commission and returned to Massachusetts.