Sherrard Clemens

Sherrard Clemens (April 28, 1820 – June 30, 1881) was a nineteenth-century politician and lawyer from Virginia and Missouri. He was a cousin to author Samuel L. Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain).[1] He has a town named after himself which is in Marshall County West Virginia.

Sherrard Clemens, 1859

Biography

Born in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), Clemens was appointed a cadet to the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, but resigned after six months. He graduated from Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania and was admitted to the bar in 1843, commencing practice in Wheeling. He was elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives to fill a vacancy in 1852, serving until 1853. Clemens was later elected back to the House in 1856, serving again from 1857 to 1861.

He was not favorably impressed by Abraham Lincoln, whom he called "a cross between a sandhill crane and an Andalusian jackass." "He is vain, weak, puerile, hypocritical, without manners, without moral grace, and as he talks with you he punches you under your ribs." Clemens also wrote, "He is surrounded by a set of toad eaters and bottle holders."[2] During the Civil War, he opposed secession. He was a member of the Virginia Convention in 1861 and afterwards resumed practicing law in Wheeling. He attended the First Wheeling Convention from May 13-15, 1861, but actively opposed the partitioning of Virginia into two states.[3] Clemens later moved to St. Louis, Missouri and resumed practicing law until his death there on June 30, 1881. He was interred in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

Clemens fought a duel with O. Jennings Wise, the son of Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise. Wise was uninjured in the duel, but Clemens received a severe injury to his right testicle.[4]

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See also
  • West Virginia in the Civil War

References
  1. Twain, Mark (2010). The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume One. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 205. ISBN 978-0-520-26719-0.
  2. Bruce Catton (1961), The Coming Fury, 1967 reprint, New York: Pocket Books, Ch. 4, "Two Presidents", Sec. 5, "Pressure at Fort Sumter", p. 249, [italics as in Catton], ISBN 0-671-46989-4 .
  3. Curry, Richard Orr, A House Divided, A Study of Statehood Politics and the Copperhead Movement in West Virginia, Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1964, pg. 128
  4. Twain, Mark (2010). The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume One. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 588. ISBN 978-0-520-26719-0.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
George W. Thompson		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 15th congressional district
December 6, 1852 – March 4, 1853 (obsolete district)		 Succeeded by
(none)
Preceded by
Zedekiah Kidwell		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Virginia's 10th congressional district
March 4, 1857 – March 4, 1861		 Succeeded by
William G. Brown
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