page_title: Powell Clayton
section_title: Early life and education
hierarchical_section_title: Powell Clayton / Early life and education
caption_attribution_description: English: Powell Clayton Politician US govt site
context_page_description: Powell Foulk Clayton was an American politician and diplomat who served as a Radical Republican Governor of Arkansas during the Reconstruction Era from 1868 to 1871, a United States Senator from Arkansas from 1871 to 1877 and as United States Ambassador to Mexico from 1899 to 1905. He was an officer in the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War, fought in battles in Missouri and Arkansas and was promoted to Brigadier General. Clayton retired to Eureka Springs, Arkansas and promoted the development of the resort town through his activity in the Eureka Springs Improvement Company and the Eureka Springs Railroad.
  Powell was the brother of U.S. Congressman-elect John Middleton Clayton, President Judge of the Thirty-Second Judicial District of Pennsylvania Thomas J. Clayton and U.S. Attorney W.H.H. Clayton.
context_section_description: Clayton was born in Bethel Township, Pennsylvania, to John and Ann (Glover) Clayton.  The Clayton family was descended from early Quaker settlers of Pennsylvania. Clayton's ancestor William Clayton emigrated from Chichester, England, was a personal friend of William Penn, one of nine justices who sat at the Upland Court in 1681, and a member of Penn's Council.
  Clayton attended the Forwood School in Wilmington, Delaware and the Partridge Military Academy in Bristol, Pennsylvania.  He later studied civil engineering in Wilmington, Delaware.
  In 1855, Clayton moved to Leavenworth, Kansas to work as a surveyor. He speculated in land in Kansas and entered politics in 1860 when he successfully ran for the office of city engineer in Leavenworth.
caption: Clayton as a young man
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