Elijah Clarke
{{Short description|United States military officer and legislator}}
{{for multi|the Muay Thai fighter|Elijah Clarke (fighter)|the fictional character|Elijah Clarke (One Life to Live)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Elijah Clarke
| image = ElijahClarkeByRembrandtPeale.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Portrait by Rembrandt Peale
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1742
| birth_place = Edgecombe County, Province of North Carolina
| death_date = December 15, 1799
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| occupation = Military officer
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| office = Member of the
Georgia House of Representatives
| term = 1781 - 1790
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| children = Elijah Clarke-Dubay Jr.
John Clark (governor)
| parents = John Clarke
| relatives = Edward Clark (grandson)
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Elijah Clarke (1742 – December 15, 1799) was an American military officer and Georgia legislator.
Career
Elijah Clarke was born near Tarboro in Edgecombe County, Province of North Carolina, the son of John Clarke of Anson County, North Carolina.{{cite web |last1=Farnham |first1=Thomas J. |title=Elijah Clarke |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/clarke-elijah |website=NCPedia |access-date=April 24, 2019}}
served in the Georgia Militia during the American Revolutionary War. When the state troops disbanded after the surrender of Savannah, he became a lieutenant colonel in the Wilkes County Militia. He fought in the southern theater and served under Col. Andrew Pickens in the Battle of Kettle Creek. He was one of three American commanders at the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill, during which he was wounded.
After the war, Clarke was elected to the Georgia legislature, serving from 1781 - 1790.{{cite web|url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/elijah-clarke|title=Elijah Clarke|publisher=American Battlefield Trust|access-date=April 24, 2019}} In early 1794, he was asked if he'd be interested in leading a French invasion of Spanish East Florida, but President George Washington persuaded the French government to cancel the project.Crompton, S. Clarke, Elijah (1742?–15 January 1799), Georgia patriot. American National Biography. Retrieved 10 Mar. 2022, from https://www-anb-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0200068. Instead of invading Florida, Clarke led men from Wilkes County into Creek lands. In 1794 he organized the Trans-Oconee Republic, several settlements in traditional Creek territory.{{cite journal|last1=Kokomoor|first1=Kevin|title='Creeks, Federalists, and the Idea of Coexistence in the Early Republic|journal=Journal of Southern History|date=2015|volume=81|issue=4|page=829|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=110844853&site=eds-live&scope=site|access-date=20 October 2016}} He was forced to withdraw his settlements by Georgia Governor George Matthews.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Pbbiqe9o0lEC&q=The+Georgia-Florida+Frontier,+1793-1796:+Spanish+Reaction+to+French+Intrigue+and+American+Designs George R. Lamplugh, Politics on the Periphery: Factions and Parties in Georgia, 1783-1806], Newark, University of Delaware Press, 1986, pp. 64-68, accessed 19 Nov 2010
Death and legacy
Clarke died on December 15, 1799.
Clarke and his actions served as one of the sources for the fictional character of Benjamin Martin in The Patriot, a film released in 2000. He is also a major character in the historical novel The Hornet's Nest by Jimmy Carter.
Clarke County in Georgia is named after Elijah Clarke.{{Cite web|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/elijah-clarke-1742-1799|title=Elijah Clarke (1742-1799)|website=New Georgia Encyclopedia|access-date=2016-08-29}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-668 Elijah Clarke] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012072937/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-668 |date=2012-10-12 }}, New Georgia Encyclopedia.
- [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:tcc273 [Letter
] 1783 Nov. 6, Augusta [to] Governor [of Georgia] Lyman Hall / Elijah Clarke] - [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:tcc023 [Letter
] 1788 Oct. 23, Washington, [Wilkes County, Georgia to the] Governor [of Georgia] / Elijah Clarke] - [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:tcc302 [Letter
] 1788 Nov. 26 [to] Geo[rge] Handley / Elijah Clark[e] .] - [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:ecl001 [Letter
] 1789 June 24, Hickory Grove [to] Col[onel] Benj[ami] n Cleavland, Franklin County, [Georgia] / Elijah Clarke.] - [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/zlna/id:cmt010 Letter, 1792 Dec. 4, Augusta, [Georgia to
] Governor Edward Telfair / Elijah Clarke.]
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Category:People from Wilkes County, Georgia
Category:Georgia (U.S. state) militiamen in the American Revolution
Category:Heads of state of former countries
Category:Heads of state of states with limited recognition
Category:People from colonial North Carolina