Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/263

 CLAY

CLAY

began he was made captain of the " Old Infan- try. ■' a company that had seen service under General Harrison in 1811. While in the advance of General Scotfs army, on their march to the City of Mexico, he was taken prisoner, with sev- enty others, Jan. 23, 1847, being one hundred miles in the van of the main army. While prison- ers in the Citj' of Mexico, Captain Clay, by his presence of mind and gallant bearing, saved him- self and comrades from death at the hands of their captors. They were exchanged after Scott had captured the city, and on his return to Ken- tucky, Captain Clay was received by his political enemies as a liero. In Lexington the whole populace turned out ,to do him honor, and his fellow citizens presented him with a sword in token of their appreciation of his valor. In 1848 he supported General Taylor for the presidency, carrying Kentucky for the ticket. He was still determined to fight slavery and in 1849 he called an emancipation convention at Frankfort. In ISoO he formally separated from the Whig party and accepted the nomination for governor on the anti-slavery ticket, polling about 5000 votes in the election. In the national couA-ention and canvass of 1856 he gave liis support to Fremont and in 1860 to Lincoln. He was a " Jeffei'sonian emancipationist," and advocated emancipating the slaves by law and reimbursing the owners for their loss. On March 28, 1861, he was ap- l)ointed by President Lincoln minister to Russia, and repaired to Washington preparatory to leav- ing on his mission, but when the national capital was threatened he enlisted volunteers and or- ganized Cla3^'s battalion, which he commanded until troops arrived from the north. He then .sailed for St. Petersburg, where his diplomacy went far toward securing for the Union the sym- pathy of the Czar. He resigned in June, 1862, to accept a position as major-general of volun- teers. In March, 1863, he resigned from the army and President Lincoln again made him U.S. minister to Russia, which post he occupied until Sept. 25, 1869. On his return to the United States he espoused the cause of the Cubans, tlien fighting for independence, and was made presi- dent of the Cuban aid society. He attacked the administration of President Grant and su])ported for the presidency Horace Greeley in 1872, Tilden in 1876, and Hancock in 1880. After 1884, when he gave his support to Mr. Blaine, he took but little interest in national politics, living quietly at his home, " Whitehall, " Ky. On Dec. 13, 1894, General Clay, then in liis eighty- fifth year, was married to Dora Richard.son, a girl of fourteen, from whom he was divorced in 1898. In 1897 he applied to the government for a pension for his services in the Mexican war as a precaution against poverty. A pension of

$50 per month was granted him in April, 1898. He received the degree of LL.D. from Transyl- vania university. See " The Life, Memoirs, Writings and Speeclies of Cassius M. Clay (1896). He died in Whitehall, Ky., July 22, 1903.

CLAY, Cecil, soldier, was born in Philadel- phia, Pa., Feb. 13, 1842; son of Joseph Ashmead and Cornelia (Fletcher) Clay; grandson of the Hon. Joseph and Mary (Ashmead) Clay; and great 3 grandson of Robert Clay of Sheffield, England, who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1710, and was married to Ann Curtis, grand- daughter of John Curtis of Kent county, Del., a member of Penn's council. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1859 and stud- ied law during 1860-61. In September, 1861, he was appointed 1st lieutenant, 58th Pennsylva- nia volunteers; was promoted captain in Febru- ary, 1862; major in September, 1864; lieutenant- colonel, Nov. 19, 1864, and colonel, Nov. 20, 1864. He was brevetted colonel and brigadier- general, U.S. volunteers, in 1865, and was mus- tered out of service Jan. 24, 1866. He lost his right arm and was shot through the left hand at the storming of Fort Harrison near Rich- mond, Va., Sept. 29, 1864, receiving a medal of honor for distinguished gallantry there. From 1866 to 1880 he was a lumber merchant in Vir- ginia and West Virginia, was clerk in the war department at Washington D.C., 1880-82; and clerk and chief clerk, department of justice, from 1882. He became a member of the Biologi- cal society of Washington; and a tru.stee of the reform school of the District of Columbia, April, 1887. From 1887 to 1897 he was colonel of the 2d regiment, D.C national guards. He was made a member of the Military Order of the loyal legion in 1886; of the Churchman's league, D.C, and of St. Andrew's brotherliood.

CLAY, Clement Claiborne, senator, was born at Huntsville, Ala., in December, 1817; son of Clement Comer Clay. His mother was a sister of Gen. Jonas M. Withers. He was graduated at the University of Alabama in 1834, .studied law at the University of Virginia, and was admitted to practice in 1840. He was a member of the general assembly of the state legislature in 1842, 1844 and 1845, and was judge of the ]Madison county court, 1846^8. In 1853 he was elected to the United States senate, where he was an ear- nest advocate of the theory of state rights as enunciated by Mr. Callioun. He was elected for a second term in 1859 and withdrew on the seces- sion of Alabama, in February, 1861. He was a member of the Confedei'ate senate, and visited Canada in 1864 as a secret emissary of the Con- federate government. After the war he escaped to Canada, but a reward was offered by the U.S.