Charles Clark (May 24, 1811December 18, 1877) was the 24th governor of Mississippi from 1863 to 1865.

Early life and education

Clark was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 24, 1811, and subsequently moved to Mississippi. He is the great-grandfather of Judge Charles Clark who served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1969 to 1992 and was the chairman of the United States Judicial Conference. In the late 1830s and early 1840s, Clark, a lawyer, represented a settler in a dispute with some

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

Native Americans over land in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

. The dispute led to a series of lawsuits before the Mississippi Supreme Court. The settler ultimately prevailed, and gave Clark a large tract of land between Beulah, Mississippi and the Mississippi River as his legal fee. In the late 1840s, Clark formed a plantation on the land, naming it Doe-Roe,

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

commonly used in the legal profession to represent unnamed or unknown litigants (e.g., John Doe, Roe v. Wade). The state of literacy being what it was at the time, however, the plantation came to be known by its phonic representation, Doro. According to archives at Delta State University, "The plantation grew to over and became the most prosperous in the region, operating until 1913. It was prominent in the social, political and economic affairs of Bolivar County." He was also active in state politics, being elected as member of the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...

several times.

Military service

During the

Mexican-American War Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexicans, Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% ...

he served as Colonel of the 2nd Mississippi Regiment of Volunteers. Following the secession of Mississippi in early 1861, Clark was appointed as a brigadier general in the First Division, First Corps, a Mississippi Militia unit that later entered the Confederate States Army. He commanded the brigade at engagements in Kentucky and then a division under Leonidas Polk at the

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...

, where he was slightly wounded. 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. He was promoted to the rank of major general of Mississippi State Troops in 1863.

Governor of Mississippi

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. Clarke was ex officio President of the University of Mississippi Board of Trustees during his tenure as Governor of Mississippi. Despite losing the governorship, he remained on the Board for almost ten years after his term ended. In 1871, he purchased

Routhland The Routhland is a historic mansion in Natchez, Mississippi. Construction began in 1815 in the Federal architectural style. It now has an Italianate style after extensive remodeling. The mansion has been listed on the National Register of Histori ...

, an Antebellum mansion in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the county seat of and only city in Adams County, Mississippi, United States. Natchez has a total population of 14,520 (as of the 2020 census). Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, N ...

.Steven Brooke, ''The Majesty of Natchez'', Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing, pp. 52-5

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Death

Clark died in Bolivar County, Mississippi, on December 18, 1877, and was buried at the family graveyard in that county.

References

External links

*
Charles Clark
at The Political Graveyard * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Charles 1811 births 1877 deaths 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American politicians Methodists from Mississippi American military personnel of the Mexican–American War American politicians with disabilities Confederate States Army brigadier generals Confederate States of America state governors Confederate militia generals Democratic Party governors of Mississippi Heads of government who were later imprisoned Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Military personnel from Mississippi Mississippi lawyers Northern-born Confederates People from Bolivar County, Mississippi People from Cincinnati People of Mississippi in the American Civil War Politicians from Natchez, Mississippi Prisoners of war held by the United States Recipients of American presidential pardons Augusta College (Kentucky) alumni