Eli Brady Clemson
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikitia's general notability guideline. |
Eli Brady Clemson | |
|---|---|
| Add a Photo | |
| Born | 1776 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania |
| Died | 1846 |
| Occupation | United States Army officer |
Eli Brady Clemson (c.1776 - 1846) was an officer (1799-1819) in the 1st Regiment of Infantry of the United States Army.
Clemson was the father of Henry A. Clemson who died at sea during the Mexican-American War.
Family life
Clemson was born c. 1776 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to the Quaker family, James Clemson II and Mary Halliday Clemson.[1]
In 1811, Clemson married Ann Maria Oliver in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[2] [3] They had two children born in New Jersey: Julius (1816) and Henry (1818-1846);[4] and three children born in Illinois: James Y (1821-1894), Fredrick and Mary Catherine (1830-1916).[5] Ann Maria died in 1832.[5]
Clemson married Esther Daniels Riddle, widow of Captain James Riddle, in 1936. They had two children: twins, Aaron B. and Theodosia B. (1838).[5]
Military service
Clemson joined the army and was nominated as Ensign in the 1st Regiment of Infantry of the United States Army in Mar 1799.[6]
In July 1799, Secretary of War, Alexander Hamilton, recommended that newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Clemson be assigned to recruit for the Army in Pennsylvania and Delaware.[7] Clemson was promoted to first lieutenant in December 1800 by President John Adams.[8] During these years, Clemson served in Washington City (now Washington, D. C.) in the same regiment as Meriwether Lewis, as well as Detroit.[5] [9] [10]
In May 1807, Clemson was promoted to Captain by Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, replacing Meriweather Lewis who resigned from the 1st Infantry.[10] Clemson then recruited troops from Pennsylvania and New York, as well as a few French, Prussians and Irish in 1808. They first mustered at Pittsburgh, then ordered to Fort Belle Fontaine in what is now St. Louis County, Missouri.[11] [12]
In July 1808, Clemson and his troops were ordered to escort the new Factor (agent) George C. Sibley and six keelboats filled with goods and supplies to a site on the Missouri River identified previously by William Clark as a prime location for a factory fort (trading post). Since Clark had arrived a few months prior to Clemson, the area was initially known as Fort Clark.[12] [13]
Upon arrival Clemson and his troops spent several months constructing the fort.[13] When fortifications were completed in December 1808, Clemson renamed the fort to Fort Osage since the fort was initially established to provide supplies and protection to the Osage Nation.[12] Although another account states Clark and Nathan Boone renamed the fort to Fort Osage.[14]
In April 1810, Clemson signed the treaty with the Osage along with Pierre Chouteau (Indian agent), 1LT L. Lorimer, Reuben Lewis (Sub-agent of Indian Affairs), Grand Chief of the Big Osage Papuisea, Grand Chief of the Little Osage Nichu Malli and 99 little chiefs and warriors of both tribes.[15]
Clemson was the commandant at Fort Osage until 1813, during which time he was commissioned to Major.[16]
In a letter dated July 16th, 1812, to William Eustis, Secretary of War, Clemson detailed the use of Fort Osage since 1808. He particularly detailed the lack of use by the Osage of the previous 18 months due to attacks from hostile tribes. He then summed it up: "[t]hus we can with truth affirm that the Osages, for whom the establishment was originally intended, dare not visit it, nor to the best of our belief, will not, of course the object of the establishment is destroyed." He requested the fort be moved 115 miles downriver to the confluence of the Lamine River and the Missouri River, concluding that "[a]s a trading post with the Osage Indians it has every advantage over this [Fort Osage], being nearer to their Towns on the Osage river and their hunting ground great part of the year lying between the Lamine & Osage, they could at all times come from their Towns to that place without running that danger they are subject to in coming here." The letter was co-signed by LT. JNO. Brownson, Ensign L. Bissell and Surgeons Mate Jonathan Cool. Apparently the Secretary of War agreed and Fort Osage was evacuated June 1813.[12]
Clemson then served as an inspector general for General Benjamin Howard for the U. S. forces west of the Mississippi River after the closing of Fort Osage.[12]
Clemson was commissioned to lieutenant colonel in March 1814 and began actively recruiting for the Army.[16] [17]
In 1815, after the 1st Infantry was consolidated with four other Infantry regiments into the 3rd Infantry, Clemson was honorably discharged in June.[5]
Clemson was recommissioned in the Army as Assistant Commissary of Issuances for the Army (1816-1819) at Fort Belle Fontaine.[16] [18] [19] He found a "wretched state of the Store Houses" at the fort. After inventorying the fort, he sent an urgent request with an extensive list of basic supplies and uniforms needed to adequately support the troops. The request was not fulfilled. He resent the request in 1817 with an added note that these supplies and uniforms were needed for the next two and one-half years. His request still went unheeded even after repeated requests in 1818 and 1819. [19]
Clemson retired from the miliary in 1819. [16]
Civilian life
In 1807, Clemson served as justice of the peace for the township of St. Ferninand in the District of St. Louis.[5]
In 1816, Clemson was elected to the Directors of the newly formed Bank of St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. He served at least two years as a Director.[20]
Over the years he invested in real estate, owned transportation and merchantile businesses, farmed, served as postmaster and served as court clerk in Missouri and Illinois.[5]
At the time of Clemson's death in 1846 in Illinois, he was serving as a court clerk in Pulaski County, Illinois.[5] [21]
Legacy
In 1812, the Missouri Rangers constructed a fort on Loutre Island in the Missouri River in honor of Clemson. James Callaway sent letters to his wife describing the fort as a “small crude fort with barracks.”<ref> Lower Missouri River Forts, Callow County Missouri Journal, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2023, retrieved 30 Jun 2023
References
- ↑
Bell, Raymond Martin; Baird, Frank R.; Ward, Margaret S. (1971). The Clemson Family of Pennsylvania 1701-1968. Retrieved 15 Mar 2023.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ "New Jersey Marriages, 1678-1985", FamilySearch.com, retrieved 27 Jun 2023
- ↑ Lancaster Intelligencer, PA, 3 May 1811, p. 3, retrieved 15 Apr 2023
- ↑ "Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey; Trenton, NJ; Christ Church, 25 October 1801-1853, Register of Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals.", FamilySearch.com, retrieved 13 Apr 2023
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Luttig, John C (1920). "Biographical Sketch of Colonel Eli B. Clemson". Journal of a Fur-Trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri 1812-1813. St Louis, MO: Missouri Historical Society. p. 145-146.
- ↑ From John Adams to United States Senate, 1 March 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, (This is an Early Access document from The Adams Papers.), United States National Archives, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2023, retrieved 28 Jun 2023
- ↑ From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 7 July 1799,” Founders Online, National Archives, United States National Archives, retrieved 28 Jun 2023
- ↑ From John Adams to United States Senate, 22 December 1800,” Founders Online, National Archives (This is an Early Access document from The Adams Papers), United States National Archives, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2023, retrieved 28 Jun 2023
- ↑ U.S., General James Wilkinson's Order Book, 1796-1808, The National Archives, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, DC
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 To Thomas Jefferson from Henry Dearborn, 30 May 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives (This is an Early Access document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson.), United States National Archives, archived from the original on 28 Jun 2023, retrieved 28 Jun 2023
- ↑ Welcome to Captain Eli B. Clemson - John C. Symmes Company, 1808 - 1815, The First U. States Infantry - Living History Organization (Clemson's Company & Missouri Rangers), archived from the original on 29 Jun 2023, retrieved 29 Jun 2023
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 "Captain Eli B. Clemson", fortosagenhs.com, Fort Osage National Historic Landmark, retrieved 29 Jun 2023
- ↑ 13.0 13.1
National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Fort Osage, Missouri, U. S. Dept. of the Interior - National Park Service, archived from the original on 30 Jun 2023, retrieved 30 Jun 2023
{{citation}}:|archive-date=/|archive-url=timestamp mismatch (help) - ↑ Larkin, Lew (30 Mar 1968), "Missouri Heritage", The Kansas City Star, Kansas City, MO, p. 15, archived from the original on 1 Jul 2023, retrieved 15 Apr 2023
- ↑ State centennial souvenir number and program -1921, Missouri centennial, Kansas City, Oct. 3, 1921, Missouri Valley Historical Society, Kansas City, MO, retrieved 3 Jul 2023
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Gardner, Robert (1860). A dictionary of all officers, who have been commissioned, or have been appointed and served, in the army of the United States : since the inauguration of their first president, in 1789, to the first January, 1853 ... including the distinguished officers of the volunteers and militia of the states ... navy and marine corps, who have served with the land forces ... New York: D. Van Nostrand. p. 119.
- ↑ United States Registers of Enlistments in the United States Army, 1798-1914, Vol 5., U. S. War Department, The Adjutant General’s Office, 1915, p. 6, retrieved 30 Jun 2023
- ↑ U.S., Navy and Marine Corps Registries, 1814-1992, retrieved 30 Jun 2023
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Brown, David L. (2018), Cantonment Belle Fontaine, 1805-1821: The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River, Books and Monographs: Washington University St Louis, retrieved 2 July 2023
- ↑ Billon, Frederic L. (1888), Annals of St Louis in its Territorial Days, From 1804-1921, St Louis, MO: Press of Nixon-Jones Printing Co, p. 86-87, retrieved 30 Jun 2023
- ↑ Illinois Soldier Burial Places, 1774-1974, Burial, Olmsted, Pulaski, Illinois, United States, Clemson Cemetery, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, retrieved 4 Jul 2023
External links
This article "Eli Brady Clemson" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.