John Clark, governor

John Clark (sometimes spelled Clarke) (February 28, 1766 – October 12, 1832) was an American planter and politician. After serving as governor of Georgia, he retired to St. Andrews, Panama City, Florida where he built his home "Clark's Place."

Early life

Clark was born in 1766 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Along with his father, Elijah Clarke, Clark fought in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Kettle Creek and served in the Georgia militia.

He moved to Wilkes County, Georgia, in the early 1770s. He became a major general in 1796.

Political career

Clark served in the Georgia House of Representatives prior to being elected to consecutive two-year terms as the 31st Governor, from 1819 to 1823. During his term, he successfully defended states' rights in a US Supreme Court, Ex parte Madrazzo, over a Spanish citizen who claimed that he owned some of Clark's slaves.

Biography

John Clark, a major general in the Georgia militia, state representative, and U.S. Indian agent, was governor of Georgia from 1819 to 1823. Born on February 28, 1766, in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, the eldest son of Hannah Arrington (sometimes seen as Harrington) and Elijah Clarke (sometimes spelled "Clark"), in the early 1770s his family moved to "the Ceded Lands" of northeastern Georgia, later Wilkes County. After the start of the Revolutionary War (1775-83) he spent a short time in school in North Carolina but soon returned to Georgia and joined his father's patriot militia unit. He fought at several engagements, including Kettle Creek and Augusta in Georgia and Musgrove Mill in South Carolina. At age sixteen he achieved the rank of captain in the Georgia militia.

After the war the state legislature granted him 800 acres of land as a reward for his effort. Clark continued to serve in the militia and achieved the rank of major general by 1796. During his service the Georgia frontier was still very dangerous, and he spent much of his time protecting frontier settlements. His most distinguished action was under the command of his father in a 1787 militia victory over the Creek Indians at Jack's Creek in present-day Walton County.

Clark was not directly involved in his father's attempt to establish the so-called Trans-Oconee Republic in 1794, but he was implicated in the subsequent Yazoo Land Fraud. He survived the scandal and was elected to the General Assembly in 1801. By that time two major political factions had begun to take hold in Georgia politics, just as they had on the national level. Clark was the leader of the faction that generally included North Carolina immigrants and those who lived in the newly settled areas of Georgia. His main opponents, William Harris Crawford and George Troup, led the other faction, which mainly included Virginia immigrants and the residents of the more affluent, established areas of Georgia.

The factional rivalry descended into a violent feud when Crawford killed Peter Van Allen, one of Clark's allies, in a duel in 1802. Four years later Clark wounded Crawford in a duel. Unsatisfied with the result, Clark challenged him again, but Crawford refused. In a fit of anger over Crawford's unwillingness to meet, Clark cornered a Crawford ally, Judge Charles Tait, in the streets of Milledgeville and severely whipped him with a riding crop. Clark was fined $2,000 for the incident, a reflection of the deep-seated division between the two political factions.

John Clark ran for governor unsuccessfully in 1813 and 1817; he finally won the office in 1819, defeating his longtime rival Troup. He defeated Troup again two years later by a mere two votes in the legislature. During his tenure as governor Clark oversaw the Treaty of 1821, which opened the Creek lands between the Flint and Ocmulgee rivers for settlement. His repeated attempts to gain more land from the Creeks earned him the name "E-cun-naw-au-po-po-hau," which translates as "always asking for land." To offset the effects of a devastating fire in 1820, Clark provided Savannah with $10,000 from the state treasury. He also set aside half a million dollars for internal improvements and the establishment of public schools.

In 1825 more than 40,000 votes were cast in the state's first popular election for governor, and Clark, who supposedly represented the common man, lost to his aristocratic rival by a mere 683 votes. Clark retired from politics thereafter and accepted U.S. president Andrew Jackson's offer to be a federal Indian agent and "Keeper of the Public Forests" in Florida. He also forgave all of his old enemies, with the exception of Crawford.

Clark died of yellow fever in St. Andrews Bay, Florida, on October 12, 1832; his wife, Nancy Williamson Clark, died two weeks later. Their remains were relocated to the National Cemetery in Marietta by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1923.

The Duel

"Crawford and Van Allen Exchange Two Fires," Georgia Encyclopædia, 04 August 2016

But the Golden Age of the Code Duello in Georgia was the period extending from 1800 to 1830, when the public life of this State was dominated by two powerful personalities: Gen. John Clark and Hon. William H. Crawford. – Lucian Lamar Knight in volume two of Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials and Legends (pub. 1914).

The duel between William H. Crawford and Peter L. Van Allen requires a bit of backstory regarding politics in Georgia. (Go here for a short overview of dueling, with specifics to Georgia.)

John Clark, son of famed Revolutionary soldier Elijah Clark/e, was all about the common man. He was born in North Carolina, but was settled early on with his family in northeast Georgia. John Clark's rise in politics stemmed from his early and consistent rise in the military. By the age of sixteen, he was a captain in the Georgia militia and fought in many engagements alongside his father on the Georgia frontier.

Trained in the exercise of arms, it is not strange that he should have carried his characteristics as a fighter into the arena of politics; nor is it strange that the veterans who followed his distinguished father and who knew John Clark himself in the perilous days of battle should have remained his loyal supporters to the very last.

Though not an educated man, at least in the academic sense, he was a man of strong intellect, rugged in character, somewhat blunt of expression, full of bold initiative, and with a rare capacity for leadership.

Most of John Clark's followers were immigrants from North Carolina and settlers of frontier Georgia.

William Harris Crawford, on the other hand, led the more "aristocratic" faction. He was born 1772 in Virginia, was settled at Richmond (later Columbia) County, Georgia by age eleven, and was practicing law by age twenty-seven. David Tucker, in his article for the New Georgia Encyclopedia, says the following:

William Crawford aspired to live the life of a country gentleman, but he would not get the chance to do so until the end of his career. In the meantime he gradually added to his landholdings at Woodlawn [his estate] and became the overseer of a good-sized plantation. By 1834 he owned 1,300 acres and forty-five slaves.

Leading the plantation owners and residents of the more affluent, established Georgia, Crawford was against "gross land speculation" and the Yazoo Land Act. This was in direct opposition of John Clark.

The elimination of Crawford became naturally the first strategic move of the Clark faction; and to accomplish this end a duel offered the most convenient instrument and promised the most effective results.

Mr. Crawford, unlike Gen. Clark, possessed little knowledge of the use of arms… For this reason, his opponents argued that he would, in all likelihood, decline a challenge to the field of combat. In fact, such a refusal to fight was exactly what his enemies wanted, since they could then post him as a coward and easily accomplish his political undoing. [L.L. Knight]

Enter Peter Van Allen. Though a New Yorker by birth, Van Allen came to Georgia to practice law. He was a staunch "Clarkite" and supporter of the Yazoo Act. In the very early 1800s, Van Allen began "hostile tactics" to discredit Crawford. He did this by going after a long-time friend, law partner, and ally of Crawford, Judge Charles Tait. The short of the story is Van Allen baited Tait hard with criticism and "merciless satire" – needling him to the point to which Tait challenged Van Allen to a fight. Van Allen then attempted a shot in the dark to get to Crawford. He claimed Tait was not a gentleman, nor worthy of the Code of Honor by which all duels are "ruled," and refused to meet him. With this, Van Allen expected Crawford (who would surely have been Tait's "second" for the duel) to "carry on hostilities." Crawford did not take the bait, though he did receive some jeers from members of his own faction.

Some time later, Crawford and Van Allen happened upon each other "at the Willis Hotel, in Washington, Ga." Van Allen took the direct approach and publicly berated Crawford in the lobby and challenged him to a fight.

According to the imperious standard of the times, there was no alternative for Mr. Crawford; and, rather than jeopardize his political fortunes by exposing himself to the charge of cowardice, he agreed to meet his antagonist. [L. L. Knight]

Crawford and Van Allen were to meet at "Fort Charlotte, the famous old duelling ground, twelve miles below Petersburg, on the Carolina side." (Now under the waters of Clarks Hill Lake.) It has been said that Crawford was ill prepared, and had to borrow an old set of pistols for the fight. The rest is told in a Spooner's Vermont Journal article dated 5 October 1802:

Another Duel

On Saturday the 31st July, about 11-o'clock, a duel was fought on the eaft bank of Savannah river, between Peter L. Van Allen, Esq. Solicitor general, and W.H. Crawford, Attorney at law. – They exchanged two fires; the first was without effect, but the fecond was fatal to the Solicitor. He received a ball about two inches above his right hip, it passed thro' the Abdomen and lodged against his left hip bone, from whence it was extracted on the ground. He lived about 38 hours.

Crawford was thrust into the limelight and rose even higher in the political ranks, probably much to the disappointment of John Clark. The two were to be bitter rivals for more than two decades.

Personal life

Clark resided at Woodville, a plantation in Milledgeville, Georgia. He was married to Nancy Clark.

Death and legacy

Clark died of yellow fever at his home in St. Andrews Bay, Panama City, Florida) in 1832 and was buried on a plot overlooking the bay in that same city; however, his grave was relocated to Marietta National Cemetery in Georgia in 1923 by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Clarkesville, Georgia and Clarke County, Alabama are named after him.

Sources

• "John Clark (1766-1832)," New Georgia Encyclopedia.
• Georgia State Archives Roster of State Governors
• Georgia Governor's Gravesites Field Guide (1776-2003)
• Georgia Secretary of State official website
• John Clark House historical marker

• James F. Cook, The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004, 3d ed. (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 2005).

• Carl Augustus Ross, "The Public Life and Accomplishments of John Clark" (master's thesis, University of Georgia, 1957).

External links

• Troup-Clarke Political Feud historical marker