Clement Claiborne Clay

Clement Claiborne Clay
United States Senator from Alabama
In office November 29, 1853 – January 21, 1861
Preceded by	Jeremiah Clemens
Succeeded by	Willard Warner
Confederate States Senator from Alabama
In office February 18, 1862 – February 17, 1864
Preceded by	New institution
Succeeded by	Richard W. Walker
Personal details
Born	December 13, 1816(1816-12-13) Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
Died	January 3, 1882(1882-01-03) (aged 65) Gurley, Alabama, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Virginia Tunstall Clay Clopton
Alma mater	University of Alabama University of Virginia
Profession	Politician, Lawyer, Judge

Clement Claiborne Clay (December 13, 1816 – January 3, 1882) was a U.S. senator (Democrat) from the state of Alabama from 1853 to 1861, and a C.S.A. senator from the Alabama from 1861 to 1863. His portrait appears on the Confederate one-dollar note (4th issue and later).

Biography

Clay was born with a strong political pedigree; he was the oldest son of Clement Comer Clay, a former senator and governor of Alabama, and was a third cousin of Henry Clay. In 1843 he was married to Virginia Tunstall, who later was known as Virginia Clay-Clopton.

Clay attended the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and graduated in 1834. He obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1839 and was admitted to the bar in Alabama in 1840. He was a member of the Alabama State House of Representatives in 1842, 1844, and 1845. He then became a county judge in Madison County, Alabama and served from 1848 to 1850. He then ran for a seat in the United States Congress in 1850, but was not elected.

He was elected to serve in the United States Senate in a term beginning March 4, 1853, but the legislature failed to elect someone in time to fill it, so that he served from November 29, 1853 to January 21, 1861. He withdrew from the senate as Alabama seceded from the Union.

He was subsequently elected Senator in the First Confederate Congress and served from 1862 until 1864.

Clement Clay and Jacob Thompson were head of the Confederate secret agents. One of the people who worked for them was John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln's assassin. Due to suspicions that he was involved in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he and his wife were imprisoned in Fortress Monroe in 1865, where they stayed for about a year.

Clement Clay died in Madison County and is interred at Maple Hill Cemetery.

References

• Clement Claiborne Clay at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2009-04-06
• Short biography on Political Graveyard

External links

Biography portal

• "Clement Claiborne Clay". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6420332. Retrieved 2009-04-06. 

United States Senate
Preceded by Jeremiah Clemens	United States Senator (Class 2) from Alabama November 29, 1853 – January 21, 1861 Served alongside: Benjamin Fitzpatrick	Succeeded by Willard Warner(1)
Confederate States Senate
New institution	Confederate States Senator from Alabama February 18, 1862 – February 17, 1864 Served alongside: William Lowndes Yancey and Robert Jemison, Jr.	Succeeded by Richard W. Walker
Notes and references
1. Because of Alabama's secession, the Senate seat was vacant for seven years before Warner succeeded Clay.

Persondata
Name	Clay, Clement Claiborne Jr.
Alternative names
Short description	American lawyer, judge and politician
Date of birth	December 13, 1816
Place of birth	Huntsville, Alabama
Date of death	January 3, 1882
Place of death	Gurley, Alabama