Elijah Clarke (1742 – December 15, 1799) was an American military officer and Georgia legislator.
Career
Elijah Clarke was born near Tarboro in
Edgecombe County,
Province of North Carolina
Province of North Carolina was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712(p. 80) to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monarch of Great Britain was repre ...
, the son of John Clarke of
Anson County, North Carolina
Anson County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,055. Its county seat is Wadesboro.
History
The county was formed in 1750 from Bladen County. It was named for George Anson, ...
.
served in the Georgia Militia during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. When the state troops disbanded after the surrender of Savannah, he became a lieutenant colonel in the
Wilkes County Militia. He fought in the
southern theater and served under Col.
Andrew Pickens in the
Battle of Kettle Creek
The Battle of Kettle Creek was the first major victory for Patriots in the back country of Georgia during the American Revolutionary War that took place on February 14, 1779. It was fought in Wilkes County about from present-day Washington, G ...
. He was one of three American commanders at the
Battle of Musgrove’s Mill, during which he was wounded.
After the war, Clarke was elected to the Georgia legislature, serving from 1781 - 1790.
In early 1794, he was asked if he'd be interested in leading a French invasion of Spanish
East Florida
East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...
, but the plot never materialised. Instead of invading Florida, Clarke led men from
Wilkes County into Creek lands. In 1794 he organized the
Trans-Oconee Republic, several settlements in traditional Creek territory.
From there he attacked
Creek villages, but was restrained by Georgia Governor
George Matthews.
[George R. Lamplugh, ''Politics on the Periphery: Factions and Parties in Georgia, 1783-1806'']
Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1986, pp. 64-68, accessed 19 Nov 2010
Death and legacy
Clarke died on December 15, 1799.
Clarke and his actions served as one of the sources for the fictional character of Benjamin Martin in ''
The Patriot'', a film released in 2000. He is also a major character in the historical novel ''
The Hornet's Nest
''The Hornet's Nest'' is a 2014 American documentary film about the Afghanistan war, directed by David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud.
The film follows two journalists, Mike Boettcher and Carlos Boettcher (a father and son), embedded with a gro ...
'' by
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
.
Clarke County in Georgia is named after Elijah Clarke.
References
External links
Elijah Clarke ''
New Georgia Encyclopedia
The ''New Georgia Encyclopedia'' (NGE) is a web-based encyclopedia containing over 2,000 articles about the state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is a program of Georgia Humanities (GH), in partnership with the University of Georgia Press, t ...
''.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Elijah
1742 births
1799 deaths
People from Wilkes County, Georgia
Burials in Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia (U.S. state) militiamen in the American Revolution
Heads of state of former countries
Heads of state of states with limited recognition
People of colonial North Carolina
People from Edgecombe County, North Carolina