Individual Details

Among the prominent attorneys and influential citizens of Cedar Rapids is Colonel Charles A. Clark, who devoted the opening years of his manhood to the defense of our country from the internal foes who sought its dismemberment, and his gallant service on field of battle won for him distinctive preferment in military circles. He was born in Sangerville, Maine, on the 26th of January, 1841, and belongs to a family which was founded in this country by Hugh Clark, who came from England in 1640 and located in Massachusetts. William G. Clark, the Colonel's father was a life-long resident of the old Pine Tree state, and a prominent lawyer, who was noted for his great oratorical ability. As a speaker he took a very active and influential part in the national campaigns, and was one of the leading politicians of the Whig party in his state.
In 1855 he was secretary of the state senate of Maine, when Hon. James G. Blaine and Chief Justice Fuller were members of that body, the latter being at that time editor of the Augusta Argus, the leading Democratic paper of the state. Throughout his active business career Mr. Clark continued to follow the legal profession and died in Sangerville of typhoid fever at the age of forty-two years, honored and respected by all who knew him. In early life he married Miss Elizabeth White Stevens, a daughter of Dr. Whiting Stevens, who for over half a century successfully engaged in the practice of medicine in Limerick, York county, Maine. The Stevens family was of English origin and among the early Puritans who came to this country.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Clark were born eleven children, of whom the Colonel is third in order of birth. The four oldest sons were soldiers of the Civil war and all were wounded, while one was killed in battle, and another died from the effects of his wounds several years after the close of the war. Of the four our subject and his brother Frank A. are still living. He has four other brothers namely: George E. and Eugene H., both prominent lawyers of Algona, Iowa; William G., who is now engaged in practice with our subject; and Frank A., who has served in the second auditor's office in the United States treasury for many years. The mother of these children died in Algona, Iowa, at the age of sixty-eight years.

During his boyhood and youth, Colonel Clark attended the Sangerville public schools and the Foxcroft Academy of Maine, where he pursued a literary course fitting himself for Harvard University, but when the Civil war broke out he laid aside his books and entered the service of his country, enlisting in April, 1861, as a private in Company A, Sixth Maine Volunteer Infantry. For his meritorious service and bravery on field of battle he won promotion rapidly, and was soon made adjutant of the regiment. Later he was successively commissioned captain and assistant adjutant-general, brevet-major and lieutenant colonel.
While serving as adjutant he received a congressional medal of honor by saving his regiment from capture through his personal gallantry and skill at Banks Ford, Virginia, just outside of Fredericksburg, May 4, 1863. He was severely wounded in a successful charge on the Confederate works at Rappahannock, November 7, 1863, when from his regiment sixteen out of the twenty-one officers that entered the charge were either killed or wounded, and in the official report it was recorded that Adjutant Clark fell "after he had driven his sword into an enemy" in the hand to hand contest which resulted in holding the works and capturing two thousand prisoners, seven pieces of artillery and five Confederate battle flags.
He was also with his regiment in its successful charge upon the heights of Fredericksburg, May 3, 1863, a portion of Sedgwick's operation, while Hooker was engaged in the battle of Chancellorsville. Colonel Clark was in the successful charge upon the Confederate works at Petersburg, July 15, 1864, and upon Fort Harrison in front of Richmond, in September of the same year. He was with General Burnham, who led the victorious column, and received that commander in his arms when he fell mortally wounded within the assaulted fort. Thus Colonel Clark bore a conspicuous part in four out of the eleven successful charges made by the Union forces on earth works during the entire Civil war as recorded in Fox's work, "Regimental Losses."
With exception of the first battle of Bull Run he participated in all of the important engagements in which the Army of the Potomac took part, including the battle of Yorktown, the "seven days' battles" in front of Richmond, under McClellan, the battle of Williamsburg, the second battle of Bull Run, and the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg, Brandy Station, Gettysburg and Rappahannock Station. He was in the command of General Butler during his operations around Petersburg and Richmond, and was with General Grant at the battle of Cold Harbor, where ten thousand men were lost before breakfast.
He was with Baldy Smith in his successful charge on the works of Petersburg and the engagements around that stronghold and Richmond. Being broken down in health and suffering from the wounds he had received, Colonel Clark resigned in the fall of 1864 and returned to his old home in Maine, with a war record of which he may be justly proud.

The Colonel then took up the study of law with A. W. Paine, of Bangor, one of the foremost lawyers of the state. Taking Horace Greeley's advice, he came west in May, 1866, and located in Webster City, Hamilton county, Iowa, where he made his home for about ten years, enjoying a large and lucrative practice, which extended all over northwestern Iowa, taking in fifteen or twenty counties. As there were no railroads in that locality at that time he traveled over the territory either on horseback or with livery teams and in stage coaches. He was instrumental in getting the first railroad through, acting as attorney for John I. Blair, when he built what is now the Illinois Central from Iowa Falls to Sioux City.

In 1876 Colonel Clark came to Cedar Rapids and formed a partnership with Judge N. M. Hubbard, which connection lasted for ten years. He was then alone in practice until 1898, when he admitted his son James W., to partnership under the firm name of Charles A. Clark & Son, and now his youngest brother William G. Clark is also with them. During his residence here the Colonel has been interested in much of the important litigation of the state, either on one side or the other, and has practiced in the United States courts of half a dozen other states; in the United States supreme court at Washington, D. C., since 1880; and in the United States circuit court of appeals since its establishment. He has argued in person a large number of important cases in the United States supreme court. He is a man who thoroughly loves his profession, and is eminently gifted with the capabilities of mind which are indispensable at the bar. He is also a man of deep research and careful investigation, and his skill and ability have won for him an extensive practice. He has a very valuable and complete law library.

On the 19th of December, 1863, in Sangerville, Maine, Colonel Clark was united in marriage with Miss Helen E. Brockway, a native of that town and a schoolmate of our subject. Her father, Cyrus Brockway, was a prominent and prosperous manufacturer, proprietor of Brockway's Mills at Sangerville, and a representative of an old pioneer family of that locality. He had four children of whom Mrs. Clark is the youngest. Of the seven children born to the Colonel and his wife one son died in infancy. Those living are Mary A., at home; Laura A., wife of Robert I. Safely, of Cedar Rapids, whose sketch appears on another page of this volume; Helen and Florence, both at home; James W., who married Miss Messer and is now engaged in the practice of law with his father; and Atherton B., who is attending the public schools of Cedar Rapids.

Fraternally Colonel Clark is a prominent member of the Loyal Legion and was commander of the order in this state in 1899 and 1900. He is also a member of the Medal of Honor Legion of Washington, D. C., and the Grand Army Post of Cedar Rapids. He now belongs to the blue lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic fraternity, and was master of the lodge at Webster City during his residence there. Formerly he was a Democrat in politics, but in 1896 and 1900 he supported William McKinley for the presidency.
He has always taken a very active and prominent part in political affairs, and has made many addresses in every important campaign in Iowa during his residence here. The bar of Linn county made him their candidate for supreme judge in 1900, and he received a good support from lawyers all over the state but was not nominated, very much to his own satisfaction, as he prefers to give his entire time and attention to his extensive private practice.
He served one term as mayor of Cedar Rapids, during which time he made many improvements in the city, especially as to its cleanliness, driving the horses and cows from the streets, and the pig pens from the back yards. It is but just and merited praise to say that as a lawyer Colonel Clark ranks among the ablest in the state, and as a citizen is honorable, prompt and true to every engagement. It is not alone because of special prominence at the bar that he has, and is justly entitled to, the respect and confidence of his fellow men, for his personal qualities are such as to make him loved and honored. He is a worthy representative of that class to whom more than to any other is due the continued growth and prosperity of many thriving cities of the west.
Source: Biographical Record of Linn County, Iowa. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1901, p. 76-81.

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Birth	26 Jan 1841	Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine, United States
Enlisted	Apr 1861	Company A, Sixth Maine Volunteer Infantry,
Miscellaneous	4 May 1863	received the Congressional Medal of Honor for saving his regiment from capture - Banks Ford, Virginia, United States
Wounded	7 Nov 1863	successful charge on the Confederate works at Rappahannock
Marriage Intention	14 Dec 1863	Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine, United States - Helen Elizabeth C. Brockway
Marriage	19 Dec 1863	Sangerville, Piscataquis, Maine, United States - Helen Elizabeth C. Brockway
Discharged	in late fall 1864
Moved	May 1866	Webster City, Hamilton, Iowa, United States
Living	1869	Webster City, Hamilton, Iowa, United States
Census	1870	Webster City, Hamilton, Iowa, United States
Moved	1876	Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa, United States
Census	1880	Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa, United States
Census	1900	Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa, United States
Living	23 Jan 1903	Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa, United States
Census	1910	Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa, United States
Death	22 Dec 1913
Burial		Oak Hill Cemetery, Cedar Rapids, Linn, Iowa, United States

Spouse	Helen Elizabeth C. Brockway (1840 - )
Child	Mary Abbie Clark (1865 - )
Child	Laura Annie Clark (1866 - )
Child	Helen Luella Clark (1869 - )
Child	Florence Clark (1871 - )
Child	James William Clark (1874 - 1910)
Child	Clark ( - )
Child	Atherton B. Clark (1886 - 1937)

Notes