34 Months of Civil War Service:
The Life of Merritt M. Clark
Another Civil War
notable buried in Galesburg’s historic Hope Cemetery is Merritt M. Clark, a
young man who reached the rank of Lieutenant before he was mustered out of the
service.
Like so many
others of his age, young Clark was not native to the Midwest. He was born in Vermont in 1835. In 1846 his father died. Five years later, Merritt and his mother came
west to Galesburg, and the young man soon enrolled in Knox College, graduating
with high honors in 1857. Merritt Clark
left Knox with more than a diploma.
While there he met Celia Tinker, a student at the Knox Academy. She attended what would be considered to be
“high school” there from 1851 through 1857, and upon her graduation the couple
was married by her father, the Reverend Charles E. Tinker.
Merritt Clark
decided to study law after his graduation, and signed on to work with the local
firm of Arthur A. Smith and George W. Ford, former Knox graduates who were no
doubt happy to be able to offer two fellow alumni a helping hand. The gentleman who studied with young Clark
was Edward P. Williams. In September of
1860 both Clark and Williams were admitted to the Illinois Bar. That November they opened their own law
office, and in January of 1861 Arthur A. Smith left Ford’s office to enter practice
with the two young men at 27 Main.
When war broke
out Clark was at first reluctant to enlist.
He had been married to Celia for four years and had two young daughters
besides a wife to take care of. His law
practice was struggling to become established, a rather hard struggle with 30
lawyers in the city competing for the legal business. The casualty lists were coming back. The debacle at Bull Run, a small stream in
Northern Virginia was bad enough, but Shiloh was horrific and stunned much of
the North into realizing what a long and bloody struggle the Civil War would
become.
Merritt M. Clark
finally made the fateful decision to enlist for 3 years. He became part of Company A of the 77th
Illinois Infantry. He was 27 years old, 5’9” tall, with piercing blue eyes and
sandy colored hair. When the company finally mustered in
September, there were 25 men from Galesburg and 32 from Knoxville in it. Fifteen of the men had either attended Knox
College or Knox Academy.
Merritt Clark’s
law partner, Edward Williams, in a talk in 1909 to the Knox County Historical
Society, explained that another man was listed for primary promotion, but he
declined in Merritt Clark’s favor, reasoning that Clark, being a family man,
could better use the promotion and the extra pay that came with it to support
the family that he’d left behind. The
regiment left for Peoria in September, and immediately Merritt Clark
established himself as a faithful and diligent correspondent via his letters to
both his wife and his niece Lucy.
Cognizant of the importance of the conflict that was taking place and of
the historical relevance that his letters might someday have, he advised his
young niece that “If you keep my letters you will have a very good diary of my
soldier life.”
Lieutenant Clark
never was wounded by enemy conflict, but like so many soldiers in the war, he
eventually fell victim to diseases as deadly as any minie ball. Soon after his arrival at the front, he came
down with typhoid fever. Either while he
was recovering in the hospital from the fever, or while returning to his
regiment near Vicksburg, he came down with tuberculosis or what was commonly
known during that time as “consumption,” a disease that would slowly waste away
one’s lungs. Unlike an enlisted man, an
officer was considered a “gentleman” and had the right to submit his
resignation if he could provide a valid reason, which his health issues certainly,
would have provided him. He couldn’t
bring himself to do it though. He felt a
personal responsibility to stay with the young men that he had helped to recruit.
By December of
1862 he was already complaining of ill health, probably the onset of the
typhoid fever. In a 6 page letter to his
niece he wrote of his health and expressed some political opinions that the
reader might find interesting. “I have been here 3 weeks. Yesterday I went downstairs to dinner for the
first time. I needed considerable help
to get up the stairs again……
I am very anxious to get back with the
boys again. Is everybody as bitter in
Rockford against McClellan as you? It
surprises me if your views prevail there.
I am not prepared to say that he was an out and out traitor in
communication with Jefferson Davis, still I do and I have always thought that
his Democratic principles induced a very different war policy than that the
Republicans wished carried out. He is
like nearly all the Demo rats. They for
years have been always ready to talk about concessions and compromises when any
of the South was likely to suffer.”
By April of 1863 he was in Louisiana, getting
ready to embark for Mississippi and what would become a long and frustrating
campaign to wrest Vicksburg from the Confederates. His letter to his niece addressed how he had
adapted to the discomforts of a soldier’s life…..
“We are not burdened with much baggage now, only one tent, one kettle and one Miss. Ham to the Company. We expected to leave here for a town on the Mississippi very soon called Grand Gulf which is occupied and strongly fortified by the Rebs…..Grand Gulf is about 50 miles below Vicksburg……Six of Company A have been discharged. Six have died…..We have had plenty to eat, some hard work, and a great deal of fun. We are down in the land of palm leaf fans, figs, magnolias, cotton, alligators, big snakes, etc. I have seen several alligators dead and alive, have had the pleasure of shooting at them and swimming in the bayous where the varmints reside. You may think that we are surrounded by great dangers seen and unseen which I suppose is true, but we are perfectly indifferent about it. Such is the soldiers adaptation to circumstances. I would not at one time have thought it possible to have endured such a life, but I get along with it very well.”
In a letter to
his niece at the end of May, 1863, Merritt Clark wrote vividly of the Vicksburg
Campaign: “We are now about ¾ of a mile
from the enemy’s works, which I assure you are formidable. Our division was in advance and as soon as we
came in sight of the fort skirmishers were thrown out from the Regt. To drive
in the Rebel skirmishers – the bullets whistled about us lively for a while but
only one of our boys was wounded & he slightly. We were not long in making the Rebs hunt
their holes. The fortifications in the
rear of Vicksburg are in the shape of the letter V, enclosing the city and
about 12 miles in length. The first day
we gained the brink of the hill nearest the hill on our front & commenced
picking off cannoneers –of few of our men (that is of the Regt.) were killed
and a number wounded. For two days after
that we were thus occupied. On Friday
the 22nda charge was ordered along the whole line which extended the
whole length of the Rebel works. It was
made & a fearful charge it was &did not avail us but little. On the night Sherman got possession of two
forts we were obliged to fall back to the ravine& now I think the intention
is to besiege the place and shell and starve them out. The cannonading is terrific some of the time
–the Rebs do not reply. We have made
gradual advances by digging rifle pits nights until our sharpshooters are quite
near the forts……..
As we approached, the order was given to
fix bayonets and charge – it was done gallantly by three of four regiments who
were in advance (ours not included), the Rebs were most thoroughly panic
stricken – we took about 4000 prisoners, 17 pieces of artillery; one whole
regiment was captured with their guns loaded – a part of them escaped and
burned the bridge, but another was soon constructed & we pushed out and now
have them surrounded & it doesn’t seem possible that they can hold out much
longer. We took over the march from the
river to this place 69 pieces of artillery and about 10,000 prisoners. You see, we crossed the Mississippi below
Grand Gulf and came around by the way of Jackson. We have possession of Haines Bluff. I have no idea how long the Rebs will hold
out, they have provisions enough to last a long time – shot and shells are
flying all directions in the city…..
When in the end of all this, we may get
possession of Vicksburg, will this end the war?
I think not. The great work which
I believe God intends {we} shall accomplish will not have been done. Slavery must be wiped out and the foundation
of a higher and purer Civil and Religious liberty must be firmly established.
Clark’s law
partner, E. P. Williams, recounted the situation. “Knowing
that his health was badly broken, and fearing lest he would die from disease
while in the army, I besought him to come home, frankly saying to him, ‘you
being a commissioned officer, can resign, and I believe that it is your duty to
do so. I have saved the business Judge
Smith and you left in my care. There is
enough to support one man. I am willing
to take up something else for a time, will gladly do so if you will only resign
and come home.’
Clark replied: ‘Mr. Williams, you told the
boys that I would stand by them in their emergency; in darkness as well as in
light; in adversity as well as in prosperity, and for three long months I have
been trying to get the discharge of Willie Churchill, Cornelius Hensey and
{----}, who are in even sadder physical condition than I am. They have no commission and cannot
resign. I can never go home and leave
these boys to die here.’ The former
died in Louisiana in February of 1863, and the latter was discharged for
disability in April of that year.
Another letter to
his niece dated July 14th talks of the surrender of Vicksburg: “Long
in the receipt of this you will have had the full particulars of the surrender
& of the extent of our victory. The
Rebellion has received a severe blow from which it can never fully
recover. 50,000 prisoners, 250 pieces of
artillery - an immense amount of ammunition and 60,000 stand of arms cannot
well be spared, much less the position we have gained. We are getting good news from every
quarter. Port Hudson they say is
ours. General Prentiss gave Price a good
thrashing at Helena – General Meade is annihilating Meade’s army and Rosecrans
is pressing Bragg’s hand. We have
Johnston with 25,000 men surrounded at Jackson – there must be no escape for
him. It looks as though the rebellion is
about played out. Copperheads must look
sorry. What a mean cowardly lot they
are. Uncle Sam pays us for killing a
much better and nobler class of men. On
the morning of the 3rd of July I went out on picket in charge of the
men. Just as we were starting out two
Rebel Generals Gen. Bowen and Montgomery were escorted to our Division
Headquarters blindfolded. They came into
our lines under a flag of truce. We all
thought a surrender was close by. The
Rebs knew they would get an awful working up on the 4th if they did
not come to terms. The surrender was
completed at 9 o’clock am on the 4th, and in less than three hours
our Army Corps had marching orders. This
seemed hard. We had been fighting and
working for 45 days to get Vicksburg – under fire all the time, and as the boys
said it was very dangerous to be safe & then not have a chance to see
Vicksburg or to examine the enemy works.
After the
Vicksburg Campaign the 77th Illinois with Lieutenant Clark was sent
to Alabama to participate in the capture of Mobile and the forts guarding that
important Gulf Coast seaport. While at
Mobile Bay he and his men suffered a good deal from the heat, the deep white
sand that would get burning hot and seemed to permeate everything, the want of
sufficient food, and the hordes of mosquitoes that seemed to give evidence of
Rebel sympathies by doing their best to make life unbearable. When the regiment returned to Louisiana in
September of 1864, Lieutenant Clark remarked upon how nice it was to be able to
pitch a tent on the green sod again.
In October of
1864 he wrote to his niece telling of the misfortune of his good friend Robert
Avery, Lieutenant George C. Kenyon and a party of men from the 77th
who were captured and taken first to Mobile to and then to the notorious
Andersonville prison camp. He also
remarked that Colonel Grier was home again attempting to recruit men to replace
the vacancies in the regiment caused by the Vicksburg and Mobile
campaigns.
Ill health
continued to plague him. In November of
1864 he was relieved of duty with his Company and assigned to Provost Marshall
duty in New Orleans. He coughed a great
deal all winter, coughing spells that occasionally led him to spit up a little
blood. Despite his health problems he
remained on duty as a Provost Marshall until February 20th, 1865, at
which time he rejoined his regiment in Mobile.
He remained with them until he was discharged from the service.
Upon returning to
Galesburg he resumed the practice of law and was also elected Police Magistrate
His cough worsened, and gave him a great deal of concern during the winters of
1865 and 1866. Dr. Alfred Babcock, his
physician, examined him and found the lower portions of both lungs to be hepatized
or consolidated. Clark was fortunate in
that his partner, E. P. Williams took charge of the cases that would require
the most research and labor, leaving Clark the lighter caseload that would be
less apt to task his health. By 1868 his
had three or four abscesses in his lungs that caused him a great deal of
suffering when he coughed. By this time
the consumption had ravaged his lungs to the point where he suffered shortness
of breath, violent coughing spells during any attempts at physical labor, and
sleepless nights after any severe mental labor.
In 1871 he was elected to the post of City Attorney, but gave up the
office within a year because of his ill health and dissolved the law
partnership that he had with Mr. Williams as well.
He travelled to Minnesota
in 1868, 1870 and 71, and to Florida during the winters of 1871-72 and
1872-73. He went to Colorado in the fall
of 1873. Despite these efforts to find a
climate more amenable to his lung problems, he was gradually wasting away. By 1878 he was confined to his house for a
few weeks and to his bed because of fever and the condition of his lungs. Despairing of ever being able to remain
healthy enough to pursue his occupation, he applied for an invalid’s
pension. His Galesburg friends,
including his former law partner, E. P. Williams, petitioned the Commissioner
of Pensions on his behalf. A former
classmate at Knox College, James S. Delano, sent an letter along with it,
asking for a “special favor” in the processing of Clark’s application. It was finally processed on July 26th,
1881, dated to commence on July 11th, 1865, the day after his
discharge. His death finally released
him from his suffering on May 23rd, 1883. This brave man who cared so deeply about the
fate of the men he was responsible for was as much a victim of the late war as
any battlefield casualty. His former
friend and law partner paid hi this wonderful tribute…. “ a thorough scholar and clear-headed, able lawyer; always reliable;
always unselfish; prepared to do his duty and to care for his countrymen in
times of emergency, he literally gave his life for his country.”
Bibliography
Collection of Letters from Merritt M. Clark to his niece,
Lucy Barton, Knox College Archives, Galesburg, Illinois.
77th Illinois Muster Roll, Illinois State
Archives
Merritt C. Clark
Find a Grave Website
