Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-06-12


that they deserve. felt this very fore
ibIv I'm writing my History Of Geor-
gia." when I was compelled to give so
little space to sketches of some Of the
noblest heroes of the Revolution.
John TNiggs, Ei.gah 7-1Srke 49,
lanes jackson were without question
the three men who aid the best Work
in securing the independence of Geor-
gia. of jackson we know great deal
He wrote himself a sketch OF his lie,
and Judge Charlton wrote full bog
raphy of him. OF Twiggs we know
less. hut White. in his statistics, has
given a considerable and a satisfac-
tory sketch of him. But of Elijah
Clarke. save as his story is told in his
deeds and by White, we 6now but lit
tie. White says he came from North
Carolina, but he gives no authority Tor
the statement. and does not say from
what part of North Carolina he came
/ doubt whether he was a North Caro-
linian. My own opinion, which is based
largely on conjecture, is that ne was
Virginian, from Nuremberg. pave
searched the records of eastern Fortn
Carolina, but L can find no trace OF
him, but I do find an Elisha Clarke
mentioned in Brunswick, Va He could
not have been Elijah Clarke, of Geor-
gia, but was possibly his kinsman. The
celebrated Adam Clarke, the great
commentator, was descended from
William Clarke. His father, when he
was a young man, was about TO emil
CRATE TO America, but did not do so,
but he had an uncle, John Clarke, of
whom he says he was a farmer OF
whom he knew nothing. Elijah Clarke's
oldest son was named John. A John
Clarke was in Nuremberg, Va, in ll46.
Is 1t not likely that Elijah Clarke de-
scended from this John Clarke, who
must have been born In Ireland about
1890? The faces of Adam Clarke and
Elijah are not unlike, but this is mere
conjecture. He was born about 1ISO,
and was in his vigor when the revoiu-
ton began. He evidently, like Twiggs,
had very few advantages Of education,
and. Governor Gilmer says, had very
small property. The first thing we see
of him is when the Inflated expedition
under General Howe started for st.
Augustine, that he, with battalion or
mounted men from the up-country,
Joined the expedition and in a despe-
rate charge at Alligator creek he was
shot through the thigh and narrowly
escaped capture. This was in the early
part Of IT'S After Colonel Clarke re-
turned to Wilkes he does not seem TO
have seen active service till the vigor-
Gus campaign Of 1779. He Joined Colo
mel Pickens and Dolly when Boyd IN
vaded the state, and bore himself very
nobly in the battle of Kettle Creek.
Stevens says that after the British and
Tories were driven across the creek
and were making desperate stand
that Clarke, with about fifty men,
came behind them and turned the
scale and gained a complete victory.
CT
ting in the enemy's rear the result
might have been different.
He was put in charge OF the mil
itary affairs in this upper section or
Georgia. The war was largely what is
now known as guerrilla war. Colonel
Innes. commanded the British and the
Tories and Colonel Clarke his Daru-
sans. Innes pursued him to the remote
frontier in Banks county, where Clarke
repulsed him. The pursuer was now
pursued and at Musgrove's mill, In
what is now Madison county,
Clarke won a signal victory. Having
freed the frontier from the foe, ne per-
haps unwisely attempted to recover
Augusta, but his effort was futile
one. 1t was now evident that with the
men in the field, the stock killed, abe
fields uncultivated that there was only
starvation before the women and chill
dren, If they remained on the Georgia
frontier and they determined on a
wholesale exodus. There were secluded
valleys in what was then North Caro-
lima and is now Tennessee, where the
people were all patriots, and where
the grain crops were good, and these
leaders resolved to conduct the help
less there. They were gotten together
and with Clarke's battalion to protect
them they begun their toilsome
march. No one has told the story Of
what must have been one of the most
thrilling events of the revolution.
When women who had been brought
up like Mary Gambler and Hannah Few
and Hannah Clarke, with all the COM
forts of Virginia life now were forced
to turn their backs on their humble
homes IN Georgia, and make a journey
of 400 miles to a place of safety. The
route they Travelled must have been up
the Savannah river 20 it's source, then
across the mountains to the Tennes-
see valley, then through the noun
tains of western North Carolina, and
across the. Alleghanies into what is
now johnson county, Tennessee. On
w one who knows the country can
realize the difficulties of the pilgrim
age of the exiles. 1t must have COST
them 60 days of weary travel The RI
fies of the hunters and wild berries
along the way were the dependence for
food as they climbed the mountains
and the occasional settler they found
in the North Carolina valleys gave
them bread, but they reached the Wa
tanga, and Clarke and Gambler saw
the dependents safely cared for by
their friends and with their troops
FASTENED to Join the southern army.
The battle of Kings Mountain had
been fought and Sumter was caring for
the British in the lower part of South
Carolina, ard Marion, the Swamp Fox,
in the east, and Clarke and Gambler
went at once to the field. Jackson was
already there, and these Georgians did
valiant service.
General Jackson had high admiration
for Clarke and said: The first action
in which the militia were brought to
disregard the bayonets of the British
was gained by Elijah Clarke over
detachment of the British in South
Carolina" He was wounded the third
time at Long Cane and had severe
attack of smallpox after that, but mad
recovered and saw Augusta fall. He
continued in the field till the war end
ed. The state made him first briga-
der and then a major general, and
gave him a valuable estate. as some
recognition of his distinguished SER
vices. He was a rugged, rude, fear
less warm-hearted frontiersman, per-
haps not free from the wild habits OF
those days.
Governor Gilmer says he once prose-
cuted a man for horse stealing, and
the man was acquitted. but the old
soldier seized him and was dragging
him to a tree, where he intended to
hang him anyhow, when Nathan1el
Pendleton succeeded in begging him
off When the war was over he, like
psol1a,s and SuuoDferA and HamDtOn