Green Clay (August 14, 1757 – October 31, 1828) was an American businessman, planter, military officer and politician from Kentucky. Clay served in 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 ...

and was commissioned as a

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

to lead the Kentucky militia in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. He was believed to be one of the wealthiest men of the state, owning tens of thousands of acres of land, many slaves, several distilleries, a tavern, and ferries.

Early life and education

Clay was born in

Powhatan County, Virginia Powhatan County () is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,033. Its county seat is Powhatan. Powhatan County is included in the Greater Richmond Region. The James River forms the cou ...

in 1757 to Charles and Martha Clay. After serving in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, he joined the westward migration to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, where he became a surveyor. This gave him a chance to assess lands for cultivation and development. He was a cousin of US Congressman and statesman Henry Clay and Alabama governor

Clement Comer Clay Clement Comer Clay (December 17, 1789 – September 6, 1866) was the eighth Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1835 to 1837. An attorney, judge and politician, he also was elected to the state legislature, as well as to the House of Repr ...

Kentucky

Clay developed and owned several distilleries and a tavern in central Kentucky, where development occurred near Lexington. He also started a business providing ferry service at several stops across the winding

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. The river and its tri ...

. In 1789 he was elected Kentucky's representative to the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

(when the western territory was still part of that state). Later he was elected and served in both the house and senate of the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in ...

Marriage and family

In 1795, Green Clay at 38 married the much younger Sally Lewis (d. 1867) in Kentucky. She was the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Payne) Lewis. They had seven children, of whom six survived to adulthood."Portrait of Green Clay"
White Hall-Clermont Foundation, accessed 4 February 2014 Their first child was Elizabeth Lewis Clay (1798-1887)"KOAR's Russian Connection"
Kentucky Online Arts Resource Blog, 15 October 2012 and other daughters were Pauline, Sallie, and Sophia (b. 1813; d. 1814).E. Polk Johnson, ''A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities''
Volume 2, Lewis Publishing Company, 1912 (Google eBook), p.757 Their sons were Sidney, Brutus J. Clay (b.1808), Elijah (b. 1815), and Cassius Marcellus Clay (b.1810). At age 17, Elizabeth married John Speed Smith, who became a politician in Kentucky and U.S. Congressman. Their son

Green Clay Smith Green Clay Smith (July 4, 1826 – June 29, 1895) was a United States soldier and politician. Elected to the Kentucky state house before the American Civil War, he was commissioned as a Union officer when he volunteered, advancing to the rank of ...

was named for his maternal grandfather; like his father, maternal uncles Brutus and Cassius, and cousins, he also became a politician in Kentucky and the U.S. Congress.

War of 1812

During the

, Clay was commissioned as a general in the Kentucky militia. In the spring of 1813, he was ordered to the aid of General

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

, who was besieged by British forces at

Fort Meigs Fort Meigs was a United States fortification along the Maumee River in what is now Perrysburg, Ohio during the War of 1812. The British Army, supported by Tecumseh's Confederacy, failed to capture the fort during the siege of Fort Meigs. It is n ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Clay fought his way into the fort; however, many of his men were taken prisoner by Tecumseh after they had captured a British artillery battery. When the British abandoned the siege, Clay was left in command of the fort. He was still commanding when the British returned in July 1813. In an attempt by Tecumseh to lure Clay and the garrison out of the fort, the native warriors staged a mock battle, appearing to ambush a column of American reinforcements. Clay was not fooled, since he knew no reinforcements were coming. He was able to hold out until the British again retreated.

Later years

After the war, Clay returned to his

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

, and spent the rest of his life directing the labor of his many slaves in cultivating commodity crops of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and hemp. He is thought to have been the wealthiest man in Kentucky of his time, as his many slaves were valuable as property. He died at his home in 1828 at the age of 73, and was buried with

Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

rites in Richmond, Kentucky."Green Clay"
The Political Graveyard His widow Sally Lewis Clay married again, to Jeptha Dudley, a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

minister. She moved with him to Frankfort, Kentucky, living there for nearly 40 years before her death in 1867.

Legacy and honors

Clay County, Kentucky Clay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 20,345. Its county seat is Manchester. The county was formed in 1807 and named in honor of Green Clay (1757–1826). Clay was a me ...

, was named in his honor.

Notes

External links

"Portrait of Green Clay" and other family members
White Hall-Clermont Foundation
"Green Clay collection (1753-1818)"
Papers related to Clay's command of the Kentucky militia in the War of 1812, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Green 1757 births 1826 deaths Delegates to the Virginia Ratifying Convention 18th-century American politicians People from Powhatan County, Virginia Continental Army officers from Virginia American militia generals Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Members of the Kentucky House of Representatives category:Kentucky militia Kentucky state senators People from Kentucky in the War of 1812 Green Clay family American slave owners