John Clarke

Flag of British America (1707-1775)

Flag of the United States (1777-1795)

### Allegiance

British America and the British West Indies (1754-1775)United States of America (1776-1784)

### Branch of Service

Massachusetts Militia (1754-1775)Continental Army (1775-1783)

Legion of the United States (1792-1793)

### Years of Service

1754-1775 (Massachusetts Militia)1775-1783 (Continental Army)

1792-1793 (Legion of the United States)

### Regiment/Battalion

1st Massachusetts Provincial Regiment (1754-1757)16th Massachusetts Regiment (1775-1776)

16th Continental Regiment (1776-1777)

8th Massachusetts Regiment (1777-1780)

### Battles and Wars

French and Indian War- New York 1755-1758

- Canada 1759-1760

- West Indies 1762

- Newfoundland 1762

Pontiac's War

- Great Lakes 1763-1765

American Revolutionary War

- Massachusetts 1775-1776

- New York and New Jersey 1776-1777

- New York 1777

- Pennsylvania 1777

- New Jersey 1778

- Rhode Island 1778

- New York 1779

- New Jersey 1780

- Virginia 1781

### Other Occupations

Shop clerkAuthor

Military Advisor

### Parents

Josiah Clarke (father)Martha Fletcher (mother)

### Children

Henry Owens Clarke

**John Thomas Clarke** (October 4, 1736 - June 19, 1802) was an American militiaman and officer in the Massachusetts Militia and later the Continental Army during the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War), Pontiac's Rebellion, and the American Revolutionary War.

Clarke led a distinguished and adventurous career, including such campaigns as Fort George, Fort William Henry, Carillon, Quebec, and Havana in the French and Indian War, and Concord, Bunker Hill, Brooklyn, Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Yorktown in the revolution, all of which are described in detail in his memoirs, published in 1795. After the war, he served briefly as a military advisor to the Legion of the United States, before moving into the field of politics, where he came to be a stern Federalist. He lost a degree of popularity by urging war against Revolutionary France in his later life. He died surrounded by his family in his home in Boston in 1802.

## Early life and family

John Clarke was born on October 4, 1736 in the small town of West Dedham in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in British Colonial America. His forebears had immigrated from England in the 1600s, including one who was a passenger on the Mayflower, and they were devout puritans, passing down their Congregationalist beliefs to subsequent generations.

Josiah Clarke (1701-1782) was a farmer, as most Clarkes had been since they had settled in the area in the 1630s. He was also a veteran of Dummer's War (1722-1725), continuing a tradition of militia service within the family which had begun with the Pequot War (1636-1638). John Clarke was one of three children, who worked in the fields from a young age. John's brother, Benjamin Clarke (1726-1795), fought in King George's War (1744-1748) and served with distinction at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1745. When Benjamin returned home in 1748, John was so inspired he attempted to enlist in the Massachusetts Militia, but was turned down because of his age. Nevertheless, Benjamin taught John how to shoot and load a musket, a skill which would prove invaluable throughout John's life.

Clarke spent most of his early years on the family farm, though he journeyed to Boston frequently as a teenager.

## Military service

### French and Indian War

By 1754, tensions between British and French Imperial territories in North America had escalated into open conflict, beginning the French and Indian War, part of the wider Seven Years' War. Answering the call to arms, Clarke enlisted in the Massachusetts Militia to defend New England against the French and their Native American allies. In a company of men from the greater Boston area, Clarke was elected lieutenant on account of his charisma as a leader and skill with a musket. This company was soon organized into the 1st Massachusetts Provincial Regiment, and the militiamen trained for action throughout 1754 and early 1755.

In the summer of 1755, Great Britain was preparing several offensives against the territories occupied by New France. Lieutenant Clarke and the men of his regiment were called upon to take part in a British expedition against the French Fort Saint-Frédéric at Crown Point on the *Lac du Saint Sacrement* in northern New York. Clarke and the rest of the New England forces moved out, reaching the newly-christened Lake George in August 1755. In September, Clarke's unit was ordered to advance to Fort Lyman, when they were ambushed by the French and Mohawks in the Battle of Lake George. Clarke and his men held their ground, conducting a fighting retreat back to the British camp, where they held off a French attack. The Americans had succeeded in defeating the French, but would not press their advance against Crown Point, and constructed Fort William Henry as a staging point for future attacks.

While most of the expedition left Lake George, Lieutenant Clarke and a small party of Massachusetts men stayed on to garrison the fort, which was a major bastion in the defense of Albany. The militiamen mounted guard duty as well as undertaking scouting missions in conjunction with their Iroquois allies throughout 1756 and into 1757, when they began preparing for a second expedition.

These plans were cut off in August 1757, when a French and Indian force surrounded the British positions, beginning the Siege of Fort William Henry. Clarke and his men did their best to hold off the enemy in and around the fort, but, being heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the British defenders had little choice but to surrender. Lieutenant Clarke and the rest of the garrison were allowed to return to Fort Edward by the French, but on the way their unit was attacked by a party of Indian warriors. Clarke's life was saved by a French officer, and he managed to escape into the wilderness, reaching Fort Edward alive a few days later.

As the war had not been going well for Great Britain, it would not be until mid 1758 when British forces would launch new offensives against the French. Lieutenant Clarke joined an expedition against Fort Carillon, the main French defensive position on Lake George. Assembling near the ruins of Fort William Henry, the British forces crossed to the north side of Lake George in August 1758. Lieutenant Clarke took part in a skirmish at Bernetz Brook, where the British defeated a small French force. They advanced down the portage path to reach the French defensive positions, with the main assault beginning shortly after. The Battle of Carillon was a disaster for the British, with Clarke's unit suffering appalling casualties in a fruitless frontal assault. The subsequent retreat across Lake George was also made with great confusion. Shortly after this defeat, Lieutenant Clarke volunteered for an expedition against Fort Frontenac, a major French stronghold on Lake Ontario. The troops assembled at Schenectady and moved out for Fort Oswego in August, meeting limited resistance from French and Indian forces. The British/American force crossed Lake Ontario and laid siege to the French fort in the Battle of Fort Frontenac. Clarke and his men exchaged fire with the French garrison, until the defenders surrendered after a short fight.

Not long after he returned to Oswego, Lieutenant Clarke was given a notice that he would report to Louisbourg immediately, to join the growing British forces there. Louisbourg, which had been recently captured from the French, was the staging ground for a new expedition. After arriving in September 1758, he was commissioned a captain in the militia and was one of the few Americans who would take part in the final offensive against Quebec.

In June 1759, Captain Clarke and an advance portion of the British force sailed down the Saint Lawrence River and landed at Quebec later in the month. After setting up their base at Île d'Orléans, the British prepared to attack north across the St. Lawrence. The British moved out in July, landing at the mouth of the Montmorency River. They made an attack on the French bastions north of Quebec in the Battle of Beauport, but Captain Clarke and his men were unable to penetrate the enemy defenses and the British suffered heavy casualties. Following the failed landing, Captain Clarke and various small parties of men launched numerous small raids against Canadian villages, destroying French supplies and harrassing enemy columns throughout August. In September 1759, it was time for the main attack to begin. Captain Clarke joined a small party of light infantry volunteers who landed west of the city and, after scaling the cliffs, attacked and eliminated a small French garrison in a night attack. This allowed the British a foothold across the river, and the main British force landed shortly after to begin the main assault on Quebec. Clarke and his men set up in the field west of the fortress, when they were confronted with a major French counterattack. In the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, the British repulsed the French attack, inflicting heavy casualties, and counterrattacked swiftly. Captain Clarke and his men advanced but were held up by fire from Canadian militia and Indians who were entrenched in a village and a nearby wood. They reformed to meet a French attack on the British rear, and successfully repelled it. With the French Army routed completely, the British advanced and accepted the surrender of Quebec within a few days.

The hardship did not end with the capture of the city. The British had to contend with supply problems, disease, and the severe cold of winter, and Captain Clarke and his men suffered from all the problems that came with living in a mostly-destroyed city. To make matters worse, the French returned in April 1760 with an army from Montreal, ready to take back Quebec. The British attacked first, and Clarke and his men were committed to the advance in the Battle of Sainte-Foy. They drove the French out of a windmill in the Sillery Woods, but were soon caught up in a French counterattack which caused the British to suffer heavy losses, and they gradually fell back toward Quebec. Retreating behind the city's walls, Captain Clarke and the rest of the British force managed to hold off the French siege, and the destruction of the French navy made possible the city's relief in May. With only one remaining French stronghold left in North America, Captain Clarke and the garrison of Quebec joined in a three-pronged advance which advanced to Montreal, accepting the French capitulation in September 1760.

With most of North America under British control, Captain Clarke returned home to Massachusetts a hero in Novemer 1760. Fully expecting the war to be over soon, he continued working on the family farm in Dedham for a year until the fall of 1761, when he was personally called on for another expedition, this time south to the West Indies.

Setting sail from America, the British expedition arrived at Carlisle Bay on the coast of Barbados in December 1761. In January 1762, Captain Clarke and the British force set sail for Martinique, a French colony in the Lesser Antilles. Landing without opposition at Case Navire on the island, the British prepared to march on the capital of Fort-Royal and force a French surrender. Late in the month, a general attack was ordered on the French redoubts protecting the city, and Captain Clarke's men went into action against the French defenders on Morne Tortenson, succeeding in driving them back to Morne Grenier, which itself was soon taken. With artillery pounding the citadel, the French surrendered the island early in February. With Martinique secure, Captain Clarke took part in an expedition to Saint Lucia, which surrendered without a fight in March. Clarke was notified that he and his men would be deployed to capture the island of Tobago, but this was called off because of a more pressing matter.

With France all but defeated, Great Britain had declared war on Spain, and immediate plans were made to capture Spanish Cuba, their largest posession in the Carribean. In April, a fleet from England picked up the force on Martinique, including Captain Clarke and his men. By June 1762, the British fleet was anchored off the coast of Cuba, beginning the Siege of Havana. Clarke and his men landed northeast of the city, and prepared for an advance on Morro Castle, the main Spanish fortress guarding the Havana. After driving the Spanish out of a redoubt on the Cavannos heights, the British began to dig entrenchments and layed siege to the fort. British bombardments gradually reduced the position as the infantry dug closer and closer to the fortress walls. In July, the British launched their main attack. Captain Clarke led an assault on the right bastion, gradually pushing the Spanish out of the position in close hand-to-hand combat. With the Morro in British hands, Clarke and his men prepared for an attack on Havana town. Soon, however, the Spanish surrendered and Captain Clarke and the British troops entered the city unopposed in August.

There was still not yet to be a reprieve for Clarke and his men, as the city of St. John's on Newfoundland had been captured by the French. Setting sail immediately after the surrender, the Americans reached Halifax by the end of the month and prepared to take back the island. In September 1762, Captain Clarke and his men landed at Torbay, north of the city, and advanced south towards St. John's. Originally unopposed, the British met the French forces at the Battle of Signal Hill. In a brief but fierce fight, Clarke's men drove the French from their positions and forced them back to Fort William. The British and Americans set in for a siege, but the French soon capitulated, and St. John's was retaken without a fight.

Clarke again returned home to Massachusetts in October 1762. The Seven Years' War was concluded with the Treaty of Paris in February 1763, and France lost nearly all of its colonial posessions in North America.

### Pontiac's War

The war with the French was not long over when another conflict in North America began. A coalition of Indian tribes, former French allies, had become discontented with British policy and staged an uprising in the Great Lakes region. The Indians attacked and besieged several British fortifications, including the Siege of Fort Detroit which began in May 1763. This attack, which alarmed the British colonial authorities, resulted in many calls for a relief expedition. Captain Clarke, in Boston at the time, was requested to join the force, and he agreed.

The expedition took some time to arm and organize, and it was not until the summer of 1763 when the British and American forces moved out to relieve Fort Detroit. Captain Clarke's men slowly made their way through the Ohio country, moving along the southern edge of Lake Erie. Progress was slow for a number of reasons, and supply problems and desertion hampered the expedition severely. Clarke and his men also had to contend with attacks and ambushes by parties of Indians, meeting heavy resistance especially at the ruins of Fort Sandusky. Because of the slow pace of the relief expedition, the British and Americans only managed to reach Fort Detroit in November, after the siege had been lifted. Those Indian tribes still in rebellion against the British thus retreated to the Maumee River, where they would continue the fight. Clarke and his men returned to New York.

Captain Clarke reported to Fort Schlosser in 1764 for another expedition, setting out for the Ohio country in early August. The men stopped at Fort Presque Isle, before continuing on to Fort Detroit. There was no combat between the British and the Indians this time, as locally-brokered treaties maintained the peace. The expedition reached Fort Detroit by the end of the month, and Captain Clarke's men were engaged in rebuilding British outposts which had been destroyed the previous year. Clarke stayed on in the Illinois country until July 1765 when a peace treaty with the Ohio Indians ended the fighting in the Great Lakes. The rebellion was formally ended with another treaty in July 1766.

### Interwar

Upon returning to Massachusetts in 1765, Clarke worked on the family farm until 1767, when he decided to move to Boston to work in his cousin's shop, a business which had been in the family for fifteen years, selling ink, dyes, molasses, and tea among other commodities.

In 1769, Clarke formally joined the Sons of Liberty, a secret society which supported colonial rights and opposed British taxes. Clarke had already been drawn to the cause through his opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765 and the Townshend Acts in 1767. Originally somewhat of a moderate, believing that demands for independence were going too far, Clarke turned more radical after the Boston Massacre of March 1770. After being peripherally involved in the Boston Tea Party of December 1773, the passing of the Intolerable Acts and the increase of British military presence in Boston prompted Clarke to return home to Dedham. Already well-established as a trusted military leader, Clarke raised a militia company, which drilled extensively and was supplied and governed by the local Committee of Safety.

In September 1774, upon hearing news that the British were preparing to seize patriot stockpiles, Captain Clarke rallied his militiamen and led them towards Boston in conjunction with other New England militias in the Powder Alarm. After a tense standoff with British troops, whereupon Clarke learned that blood had not been shed, he ordered the company back to Dedham. The Suffolk Resolves, passed soon after in Dedham itself, further exacerbated tensions between the British and the colonists.

### American Revolutionary War

On April 19, 1775, Captain Clarke was alerted to a British march from Boston to seize powder at Concord. Rallying the militia as fast as he could, they rode with all possible haste and reached Concord shortly after reports of hostilites at Lexington. Assembling with other Massachusetts militia companies outside the town, Clarke and his men took part in a sharp engagement at the North Bridge, forcing back the British, who began to retreat out of Concord and back to Boston. Clarke and his militiamen, augmented by additional militia units, pursued the British, ambushing and attacking them whenever they could. Chasing the British, the Massachusetts militia set up a line from Charlestown to Roxbury, nearly surrounding the British and beginning the Siege of Boston.

At Cambridge, now the militia headquarters, Captain Clarke's company was integrated into the newly-raised 16th Massachusetts Regiment. Throughout May, Clarke and his men held the line around Boston. When British plans for a breakout were revealed to the militia, the 16th Regiment was sent along with several other units to garrison Charlestown in June, where Clarke and his men set about fortifying their positions on Breed's Hill. The British launched a large-scale attack against the Charlestown peninsula, beginning the Battle of Bunker Hill. Captain Clarke's men fought back a number of British assaults, inflicting heavy casualties. In hand-to-hand combat, Clarke and his men fought their way back after the British stormed the redoubt, retreating over Charlestown neck to Cambridge. The position had been lost, but the severe casualties effectively paralized the British for the time being, turning the siege into a stalemate. The American forces were designated the Continental Army in July 1775, and thus the regiment was designated the 16th Continental Regiment.

Clarke and his men were generally unengaged during the rest of the year, except in August when they successfully fortified a hill near Boston neck under British fire. The winter brought on more problems, but the Americans managed to maintain the siege and keep the British trapped in Boston. In March 1776, Captain Clarke and his men moved out to Dorchester Heights south of Boston and began the long process of entrenching their positions. There, they prepared to receive a British attack. None came, and shortly after the fortification process, the British departed Boston, ending the siege. Captain Clarke and the Americans entered the city, reclaiming it after years of occupation. When it became clear that New York would be the next British target, the Continental Army relocated in April. Clarke and his men set up on Long Island, awaiting the British invasion.

Though their regiment was stationed on Manhattan Island, Captain Clarke and his company were detached in Brooklyn itself. On July 4, the United States of America declared its independence. In August 1776, British troops landed in New York, first on Staten Island, then Long Island. Several days later they made an attack on American positions, beginning the Battle of Long Island. Clarke's men, stationed on the Gowanus Road, moved out and counterattacked the British, driving them off of Battle Hill and repelling multiple further attacks. Compelled to retreat, Clarke led his men in a running battle back across the Gowanus Creek to the fortifications on Brooklyn Heights. There, they awaited a British attack, but none came. The American army silently retreated to Manhattan, and began to set up there. Landing at Kip's Bay, the British advanced, threatening the Americans' new positions. Clarke and his men were unable to do much to stop the American rout, and the continentals were forced to withdraw back to Harlem Heights. The next day, after a skirmish between the two opposing forces escalated into the Battle of Harlem Heights, Clarke's soldiers were called up to hold the line, which they did, and counterattacked the British at the Hollow Way, fighting in a buckwheat field until the British withdrew. There was little action after this, but in October, a British force landed at Pelham, threatening to cut off the main force of the army, which retreated from Manhattan Island to White Plains. There, they were sent out to meet the pursuing British, and Captain Clarke's men held Chatterton Hill against a British and Hessian attack in the Battle of White Plains, allowing the army to retreat, first to North Castle, then to Peerskill and over the Hudson River out of New York.

Pursued relentlessly, the Continental Army retreated through New Jersey, remaining one step ahead of the British while suffering a severe rate of attrition. Crossing into Pennsylvania, the British Army cut off their pursuit and set up for winter quarters. In December 1776, a counteroffensive was prepared. Captain Clarke and his men, part of a sizeable Continental force, quietly crossed the Delaware River and attacked and surrounded a Hessian garrison in the Battle of Trenton. Capturing Trenton and many Hessian prisoners, Clarke's men had suffered very few losses. After setting up in the town, the Americans were attacked early in January 1777 at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek, where Clarke and his men helped to hold off a British and Hessian assault. They moved to assault another enemy garrison next day, attacking the British at the Battle of Princeton. The British were close to overrunning the American position when Captain Clarke's men arrived, held the line, and drove back the British while securing the town. After moving to Morristown, the army settled in for the winter. During this time, Clarke and his men were involved in a period known as the Forage War, launching raids into British-held territory to procure supplies, while also guarding against British counterattacks. These skirmishes ended in March 1777, and the army moved to a different encampment at Middlebrook. Clarke's own regiment was retitled the 8th Massachusetts Regiment at this time.

By July 1777, Fort Ticonderoga fell, and a British expedition launched from Quebec was in serious danger of capturing Albany and the Hudson Valley. In response, Captain Clarke and his men were sent from the army's main position in New Jersey to the Hudson River highlands in central New York to bolster the defense there. By August, they had joined up with the main force at Albany, and in September 1777 the army moved out to meet the British, setting up at Bemis Heights south of Saratoga. The British first attempted to flank the American position, and a skirmish between the two sides erupted into the Battle of Freeman's Farm. Captain Clarke and his men repelled a series of British attacks on the American center, but were forced to quit the field by the end of the day. There was intermittent small-scale fighting between the two sides for the rest of the month, but the armies mostly remained in their camps. In October, the British moved out to attack, beginning the Battle of Bemis Heights. Clarke and his men held their ground against the British, then swiftly counterattacked, overrunning a Hessian camp and defeating an attempt to reclaim it. The Battles of Saratoga ended with a British surrender and a promise of military aid from the Kingdom of France. For his own part, Clarke was promoted to major, and given command of a larger quantity of men. He was withdrawn from the north in November, to rejoin the Continental Army in Pennsylvania.

The campaign for Philadelphia had not been going well for the Americans. The city had been captured, and with no hope of taking it back, the army retreated. While based out of the Continental Army encampment in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Major Clarke and his men took part in a small skirmish with British elements in December 1777 at the Battle of White Marsh. The fight, though tactically inconclusive, prompted the British to call off their main attack and allowed the Americans to make a tactical withdrawal. Marching to encamp at Valley Forge, Clarke and his men would spend the winter of 1777 to 1778 in eastern Pennsylvania. There, they faced a myriad of issues such as insufficient supply, disease, desertion, and the severe winter cold. However, the Continentals took this time to train and reorganize their forces. Major Clarke received the news with much jubilation in March 1778 that France had declared war on Great Britain. As summer came on, the army was ready to go into action again, and Clarke's men were placed on alert for the possibility of an attack to take back either Philadelphia or New York. However, by June 1778, the British were evacuating the American capital with the intent of returning to New York. Pursuing the British across New Jersey, the Americans caught them at the Battle of Monmouth. Major Clarke and his men, part of the vanguard, attacked the British rear near Monmouth Court House with the intent of provoking a battle. Making a fighting retreat to the main position in the face of a British counterattack, they fought several rearguard actions at Spotswood Middle Brook before reaching American lines on Perrine Hill. The British withdrew, and Clarke pursued them, chasing them from the field. With the British on their way to New York, the army encamped at Englishtown.

Throughout the rest of the summer of 1778, the Continental Army chased the British back to New York City, and set up camp at White Plains, New York in June. In August 1778, Major Clarke was sent on a special mission to Aquidneck Island, where the Americans were building up their forces for an attack on the British, who were besieged at Newport. However, with the siege failing to contain the British, the British launched an attack against the withdrawing Americans in the Battle of Rhode Island. Clarke and his men fought back an assault on Quaker Hill on the left flank, and counterattacked a Hessian force on the right, throwing the enemy back in disarray. However, they failed to completely drive the British and Hessians from the field and were forced to withdraw entirely from Rhode Island, through Bristol and Tiverton then back to White Plains in early September. The army moved to Middlebrook, New Jersey again in November and encamped there for the winter. By the beginning of 1779, the British sought to push into Continental territory to disperse the army before attacking. When the British began fortifying Stony Point on the Hudson River north of the city, plans were made for its capture. Clarke and his men moved out in June and surprised the British in a night attack in July 1779 at the Battle of Stony Point, capturing the fort. The attack was a surprising success, and Clarke returned to Middlebrook with his men after taking on garrison duty for a few weeks. Clarke remained at Middlebrook until winter came on, when the majority of the army moved to Jockey Hollow to wait out the winter, which turned out to be one of the coldest on record. After this, the Americans moved back to Morristown, New Jersey. By the summer of 1780, the British were planning an attack which would attempt to take Morristown and eliminate the Continental Army. Clarke was sent out with his light infantry to join the few defenders, they met the British attack at the Battle of Springfield in June. Holding the Galloping Hill Road against an attack by Loyalist militia, Clarke retreated to the nearby bridge but was forced back a second time after his men held their ground against British and Hessian assaults. Retreating down the Vauxhall Road to Short Hills, the Continentals held their ground and eventually forced the British to withdraw, abandoning their offensive. This battle put an end to any British hopes of victory in the north.

After returning to Morristown, Major Clarke and his men spent most of their time preparing to attack New York City. However, in August 1781, the Continentals received different orders. Instead of launching the final blow against New York, they would march south to engage the British in Virginia. From the camp at White Plains, New York, Major Clarke and his men marched through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and finally to Virginia, where they set up camp just outside Williamsburg. The British, who had retreated to the port of Yorktown, had begun to entrench their positions. The Americans surrounded the town in September 1781, beginning the Siege of Yorktown. Digging trenches incrementally closer to the outer fortifications, Clarke and his men repeatedly came under British fire. When the British abandoned the outer works, Clarke's men took them over and used them against enemy barrages. In mid October, Major Clarke led his men in an attack on Redoubt No. 10 in conjunction with a French attack, driving the British from the fort. Just a few days later, the British Army at Yorktown surrendered. The Continentals moved back to New York by way of Philadelphia, and encamped at New Windsor.

With the war mostly over at this point, Clarke and his men had little to do but wait until negotiations were completed. Finally, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the war with Great Britain's recognition of the independence of the United States of America. In November 1783, after the British had finally evacuated New York City, Major Clarke and the rest of the Continental Army made a triumphant entry to Manhattan, ending five years of the city's occupation.

### Later service

With the end of the war, most of the Continental Army was demobilized and dissolved. Major John Clarke was assigned to the garrison at West Point, New York, in which he served until the summer of 1784. He then returned a hero to his farm in Dedham.

In 1786, he offered to serve in the Massachusetts militia during Shays's Rebellion, but was denied on account of his age and slowly emerging health problems.

The federal army, which had been mostly disbanded in 1784, was revived in 1792 in the form of the Legion of the United States. Clarke repeatedly petitioned the government to allow him to serve in this force, which was finally accepted, and he was commissioned colonel of infantry but without a direct command. For a year, he acted as a military advisor, teaching light infantry tactics which would be used to great effect in the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795). In 1793, he was dismissed for the last time as his health problems began to escalate.

## Personal life

In 1768, Clarke married Molly Reading, daughter of a wealthy Boston merchant. They had a son in 1771, Henry Owens Clarke, who would follow in his father's footsteps by serving in the Legion of the United States. Both Molly and four-year-old Henry suffered much hardship during the blockade and occupation of the city of 1775-1776.

After his final dismissal from the military, Clarke moved to Boston permanently as he became unsuited to farm labor. Health problems complicated by a staggering number of wounds in action made it difficult for him to walk later in his life. Towards the end of the century, when it appeared that the United States would go to war with Revolutionary France, Clarke stated his willingness to serve again, but this offer was not taken seriously by anyone.

Clarke devoted much of his later life to writing. In addition to writing his war memoirs, completed in 1795, he wrote and distributed Federalist propaganda pamphlets under the pseudonym of "Collin Edgeworth", though most who read them knew his identity.

John Thomas Clarke died in his Boston home on June 19, 1802. He was 65 years old.

### Views

Clarke had a myriad of political and personal views which changed and adapted over time. He slowly turned from moderate to committed revolutionary in the 1770s, and this patriotic zeal for independence lasted right up until the end of the war.

What Clarke was most known for, however, were his Federalist writings. In his pamphlets, he exalted John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, and promoted central banking, a strong federal army, and renewed relations with Great Britain. He decried Thomas Jefferson as an atheistic, power-mad slave-driver, and promoted war against Revolutionary France. This last point earned him many detractors.

Clarke, though ambivalet in his early life, became very anti-slavery after the revolutionary war, having fought alongside black soldiers for freedom. In one case he bought the freedom of a slave who had served under him at Bunker Hill in 1786 after his master, who had not served, refused to free the man.

Clarke was also profoundly anti-Catholic, these views coming from Congregationalist clergymen and seen in his zeal to fight against the Catholic French during the Seven Years' War. These ideas were tempered somewhat during the revolution, when he fought alongside a small number of Catholic soldiers, mostly from Maryland.

## Equipment

For most of his time as a soldier, Clarke used a British-made Short Land Pattern Brown Bess Musket, which he could shoot accurately up to one hundred yards and could load and fire four rounds in a minute. Even as a senior officer he persisted in carrying musket, bayonet, and cartridge box into combat. He also carried a Tower Land Service flintlock pistol as his sidearm.