10/7/2009 6:00:00 PM VICKERS/A Civil War soldier remembers
By OVID VICKERS
His name was George Powell Clark. He was a sergeant in Company C of the 36th Mississippi Infantry Harper Reserves. When the last shot of the Civil War was fired, when the last cannon was swabbed and when the smoke of battle had drifted away, Sergeant George Clark came home.
He returned to East Central Mississippi and married Martha Ann Pickett of Newton County. They were the parents of nine children which means that many of Sergeant Clark's descendants are living in the area today.
A few years ago, George A. Smith, a great grandson of Sergeant Clark, collected the written accounts of Clark's experiences in the War. The soldier had written these accounts during a four-year period between 1895 and 1890.
Smith arranged Clark's accounts of his Civil War experiences in chronological order and then had them published under the title "Reminiscence and Anecdotes of the War for Southern Independence."
I was not familiar with the book and had not seen a copy until I came across a copy among some books at a recent estate sale. Since I have always had a keen interest in the Civil War, I bought the book and found it to be a truly fascinating account of one man's experiences in that great conflict which is usually referred to in the South simply as "The War."
Clark's account of the War takes the reader from pre-war public meetings to the end of the conflict. From time to time, Clark will go into a digression describing the surroundings of a certain event.
It seems that when the word reached Mississippi that Virginia had seceded from the Union, spontaneous meetings were held at various county seats throughout the state for the gathering of news and a show of support for the Southern cause.
In describing the Decatur meeting, Clark says, "I remember a meeting held in Decatur in April 1861. Virginia had become the eighth state to secede, and this called for a demonstration. Speeches were made, toasts were drunk, and several pounds of gunpowder was gathered and confined in a bundle of paper. The powder was exploded with a great bang, and then everyone went to the saloon for a good drink of 'O, be joyful.'"
Clark goes on to say that before the people who had gathered returned to their homes, a great ray of light appeared on the horizon. This ray of light was jointed by other rays to the left and right.
"These were the Northern lights," Clark explains. "The beauty and majesty of this remarkable phenomenon is indescribable, and we who were eyewitness to it gazed upon it with great awe."
On the 24th of February 1862, Clark had reached an age when he could join the army without parental consent. He rode horseback to Chunky in Newton County to join several other men who were on their way to Meridian to enlist in the Confederate Army. The next day he was sent to a training camp about two miles from the railroad station in Meridian. The camp was called Camp Jake Thompson.
While stationed at Rienzi in north Mississippi, Clark contracted typhoid fever and was sent to Lauderdale Springs to recover. When he recovered, he was sent back to North Mississippi and participated in the Battle of Corinth.
He remembered sitting in the door of a tent fronting the road. An ambulance passed bringing the wounded to the rear. From the passing ambulance, a soldier yelled, "The Yankees plugged me, but we gave them hell!"
Having survived the Battle of Corinth, Clark was sent to Yazoo City. From there, he was sent to Vicksburg where he saw action throughout the siege of that city. Clark wrote of the siege, "The Vicksburg siege was remarkable for many reasons, both as regards men and munitions of war. There was seen in both armies untiring and gallant conduct. Those pent up in the city showed persistent, brave, determined and gallant resistance.
The people of the city and the soldiers defending it were pent up in a cordon formed by more than 75,000 bayonets, which bristled on every side. These people and soldiers faced near starvation for almost two months."
At the conclusion of the Battle of Vicksburg, Clark moved to the East with other members of his company, including several friends from Newton and Neshoba Counties.
Their destination was Selma, Alabama. On this march, he was able to stop and see his family. He wrote of this visit home, "Ah, home! How our hearts thrilled at the thought of seeing the familiar faces of loved ones. How great to see our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters."
He then moved with the remnant of the Confederate Army into Tennessee. During the Battle of Nashville, Clark and several other soldiers were captured.
He would later write of his capture and imprisonment, "I passed the night of the 15th of December in the penitentiary of Nashville. By the 22nd day of December, I was moved and incarcerated in prison at Camp Douglas, which was located in the heart of the city of Chicago."
At the end of the war, Clark was released from prison and returned to Newton County. His account of his service in the Confederate Army is very readable and is an excellent record of the experiences of a Confederate soldier.
The writing, although of an older style, is straightforward and in no way is embellished or over-written. George Smith is to be commended for publishing the work of this Confederate soldier so that the record will be preserved for posterity.
