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No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William J. Clarke Papers #153, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Bayard Wooten and George Moulton, before 1940.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Library Staff, 1964

Encoded by: Bari Helms, February 2005

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, October 2009

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Clarke, Mary Bayard, 1827-1886.
• Clarke, William J. (William John), 1819-1886.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 24th.
• Diaries (Blank-books)
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Iron industry and trade--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Lumbering--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• New Bern (N.C.)--Politics and government.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Politicians--North Carolina--Diaries.
• Politicians--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Railroads--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--North Carolina.
• Republican Party (N.C.)
• Slave bills of sale--North Carolina.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• Vance, Zebulon Baird, 1830-1894.
• Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.

• Mary Bayard Clarke Papers (#2310)
• Josiah Turner Jr. Papers (#730)

William J. Clarke was born in Raleigh, N.C., the only child of Ann Maria Robadeau and William F. Clarke. In 1841, Clarke graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina. He went on to be one of the organizing members of the alumni society in 1843, and he received a M.A. degree in 1844. In addition, Clarke also read law. On 9 April 1847, he was commissioned captain of Company I of the 12th United States Infantry, and he served in Mexico during the war with Mexico. Clarke was severely wounded at the Battle of National Bridge and later promoted to major for his gallantry. His unit was disbanded 25 July 1848. After the war on 6 April 1848, Clarke married Mary Bayard Devereux of Raleigh, who was living on a sugar plantation for the benefit of her health. They became the parents of two sons and a daughter.

Clarke practiced law in Raleigh and in 1849 was a candidate for a seat in Congress from the Sixth District, which he lost to John R. J. Daniel. From 1850 to 1855, Clarke was state comptroller. In 1857, Clarke moved his family to San Antonio, Tex., because of his wife's health. There he became president of the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railroad. When the Civil War began, Clarke was made colonel of the 14th North Carolina Regiment (later redesignated the 24th) and served in that rank throughout the war. Clarke was highly acclaimed as an officer, and at one time he was recommended for promotion to brigadier general. A petition submitted by his commanding officer, M. W. Ransom, and signed by many others was placed before Jefferson Davis. Davis never made the appointment, however, and Clarke is said to have been bitterly disappointed. During the battle at Drewry's Bluff in Virginia on 15 May 1864, Clarke's shoulder was shattered by a shell fragment, and he never returned to his regiment. On his way home from Virginia, Clarke was ambushed, captured, and kept prisoner at Fort Delaware from January to July 1865.

After the war, Clarke and his family lived at Boon Hill (now Princeton) in Johnston County, N.C., where he managed his interests in a lumber mill, the Selma Iron Works, and a mine in Greensboro. Clark shortly moved his family to New Bern where he became a trustee and later principal of New Bern Academy, serving there from 1868 to 1870.

Now a Republican, Clarke was elected to the state senate from Craven County, but resigned before taking his seat a few days before Governor William Holden appointed him judge of the superior court. Clarke continued to support the Republican Party, and in Raleigh on 24 December 1879 he began publishing The Signal, a weekly newspaper that supported that Party's candidates. His wife contributed materials of interest to women as well as some of her own poetry. However, he published the newspaper for only a brief time when the Republican State Committee of North Carolina took control of the paper in July 1880. Afterwards, Clark devoted himself to his law practice with his son in New Bern.

William Clarke died in New Bern on the 23 January 1886 and was buried there in Cedar Grove Cemetery.

The collection consists chiefly of scattered bills, receipts, accounts, correspondence, and legal papers, 1850-1880, related to personal expenses and a variety of business interests including lumber, railroads, and an iron works associated with William J. Clarke of Raleigh, N.C. There is also Civil War military and personal correspondence of Clarke while a colonel with the 24th North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia and eastern North Carolina. Material on politics is slight except for a diary, 1868, describing Clarke's efforts on behalf of the Republican Party at New Bern, N.C.