Edward Clark served as governor of Texas from March 16, 1861 to November 7, 1861. Clark was born on April 1, 1815 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the nephew of John Clark, Georgia governor from 1819 to 1823. Edward Clark spent his early childhood in Georgia. He moved to Alabama around 1932 and studied law. In 1840 he was married to Lucy Long in Alabama, but his wife died within a few months. By December 1841 Clark had moved to Texas and opened a law practice in Marshall. In July 1849 he married Martha Evans of Marshall. The couple had four children.
Clark was elected to the Annexation Convention of 1845, the House of Representatives in the First Legislature, and the state Senate in the Second Legislature. He served under General J. Pinckney Henderson at the Battle of Monterrey and later was appointed secretary of state by Governor E.M. Pease (1853-1857) and state commissioner of claims in 1858. As lieutenant governor under Sam Houston, Clark replaced Houston as governor after Houston's refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America. The focus of Clark's governorship was the raising of troops and the gathering of supplies to assist in the fight for the Confederacy. After being narrowly defeated by Francis Lubbock in an effort to win a full term as governor (he lost by 124 votes), Clark became colonel of the 14th Texas Infantry. He was wounded at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, and was promoted to brigadier general before his discharge. After a brief exile in Mexico at the end of the war, Clark returned to business and a law practice in Marshall, where he died May 4, 1880.
(Sources include The Handbook of Texas online (accessed April 2005).)
From the guide to the Governor Edward Clark records, 1861, (Texas State Archives)
