William Thomas Clark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Thomas Clark (June 29, 1831 – October 12, 1905) was an American soldier and politician, serving as a general in the Union army during the American Civil War and as a postbellum U.S. Congressman.

Clark was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He became a school teacher and moved in 1854 to New York City, where he passed the bar exam. After marrying, he moved to Iowa and established a legal practice.

At the beginning of the Civil War, he became a lieutenant and adjutant of an Iowa infantry regiment. He rose to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers (1865), and was made a major general at the close of the same year for gallant and meritorious services during the war. He was chief of staff of General Grant's Army of the Tennessee.

After the war, he made his home in Galveston, Texas, where he organized the first negro school and befriended negroes at the risk of his life. He founded the First National Bank and was its first cashier, and also served as postmaster. He was a Republican. As a representative from Texas in Congress in 1869-72, he obtained the first appropriation for the harbor of Galveston ($100,000), making possible the completion of the jetties there.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
• Handbook of Texas Online