George Washington Clark was the forty-first mayor of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, serving from 1868 until 1869 when the

South Carolina Supreme Court The South Carolina Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices.

confirmed the validity of the election he lost to Gilbert Pillsbury. Clark was born on December 26, 1834, in Indiana; married Sara Robinson; and died on May 22, 1898, in Washington, D.C. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. Clark was appointed colonel of the 34th Iowa Infantry Regiment during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He led his regiment during the

Vicksburg Campaign The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi Riv ...

Battle of Brownsville The Battle of Brownsville took place on November 2–6, 1863 during the American Civil War. It was a successful effort on behalf of the Union Army to disrupt Confederate blockade runners along the Gulf Coast in Texas. The Union assault precipit ...

, and

Battle of Fort Blakely The Battle of Fort Blakeley took place from April 2 to April 9, 1865, in Baldwin County, Alabama, about north of Spanish Fort, Alabama, as part of the Mobile Campaign of the American Civil War. At the time, Blakeley, Alabama, had been the count ...

. He was in command of a brigade at the

siege of Fort Morgan The siege of Fort Morgan occurred during the American Civil War, as part of the battle for Mobile Bay, in the Confederate state of Alabama during August 1864. Union ground forces led by General Gordon Granger conducted a short siege of the Con ...

during the

Battle of Mobile Bay The Battle of Mobile Bay of August 5, 1864, was a naval and land engagement of the American Civil War in which a Union fleet commanded by Rear Admiral David G. Farragut, assisted by a contingent of soldiers, attacked a smaller Confederate fle ...

. Clark was appointed mayor by General

E.R.S. Canby Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (November 9, 1817 – April 11, 1873) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1861–1862, Canby commanded the Department of New Mexico, defeating the Confederate Gene ...

, commander of the

Second Military District The Second Military District of the U.S. Army was one of five temporary administrative units of the U.S. War Department that existed in the American South. The district was stipulated by the Reconstruction Acts during the Reconstruction period foll ...

, on July 6, 1868. Following an election that same year against Gilbert Pillsbury, he refused to leave office. In March 1869, Pillsbury arrived at City Hall and demanded that Clark surrender his office. When Clark refused (he claimed that the statehouse had lacked authority to adopt laws about the local elections), Pillsbury sought an arrest warrant, which was issued. On March 5, 1869, Clark was arrested on the misdemeanor charge of continuing to hold office in spite of the statehouse's recent vote. Clark arrived at the magistrate's office and, with the backing of business leaders, posted a $3000 recognizance bond and left. Finally, after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled against him in an election dispute, in May 1869, he was replaced by Pillsbury in office.

References

Mayors of Charleston, South Carolina 1834 births 1898 deaths 19th-century American politicians Union Army colonels {{SouthCarolina-mayor-stub