Randolph County AlArchives News.....Career of "Lem Clinton" Jan 13th, 1864 December 20, 1887
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Linda Ayres http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00031.html#0007674 February 20, 2023, 4:26 pm

The Atlanta Constitution December 20, 1887
As the sun went down behind the towering hills and lofty pines that stretch 
themselves along the Tallapoosa River, just west of the village of Wedowee, a 
regiment of cavalry made their appearance in the main square of the little town, 
halted, dismounted and stacked arms. This was on the evening of the 13th day of 
January 1864, and the people of Wedowee were soon collecting in groups, and with 
anxious faces discussed the moaning of the visit of the soldiery, and many 
speculations were indulged in as to the object they had in view. 
The people of this section of Alabama were about equally divided upon the issues 
of the war, but those who now made up the population of Wedowee principally 
women and children seemed by mutual consent to dwell together without reference 
to the terrible strife, and those able to bear arms who had not joined either 
the union or the confederate forces had taken to the mountain fastnesses some to 
escape being conscripted and thus cut off from opportunity of defending their 
homes against the ravages of the bushwhackers, and the other for the reason that 
they still loved the old flag and refused to be ruled by the government of 
secession. Out of these circumstances grew complications that made the section 
the most dangerous for either party and was cause for many a bloody tragedy. 
It was soon learned that the soldiers had been sent into this territory for the 
purpose of recruiting, to enforce the law of conscription, to gather up 
deserters and overawe the element that still clung to the old flag and were 
opposed to disunion. 
Up to this time there were, what was known as “mutual men” men who did not favor 
the Yankees and yet refused to join the confederate army. 
Among the latter was a brawny mountaineer who stood six feet three inches in his 
stocking feet, and was rated as the strongest, the fleetest and the bravest man 
of the section, but yet the most unassuming of them all. He was truly a man of 
peace till the circumstances surrounding him forced him to fight, and the 
killing by confederates of his daughters converted him into a than lit for the 
bloody times, and the name of Lem Clinton became a holy terror. 
The bushwhackers that infested this mountain region had striven hard to enlist 
Clinton into their ranks, knowing that he was just the man for a leader, and in 
persistently refusing to join them ho made secret enemies of them, and he well 
knew that they only wanted an opportunity to kill him and then wreak their 
vengeance upon those who wore only safe under his watchful eye and strong arm. 
On the other hand, it was insisted by the confederates that Clinton was liable 
under the conscript law, and there were those who made themselves diligent in 
trying to force him into the service, thus placing him between two fires, all of 
which he stood without flinching, and was always found defending the weak 
against the depredations of the factious. 
The troops above mentioned took up their quarters near the little town of 
Wedowee and from thence would go by squads in different directions, and woo it 
was to the deserter from the confederates or the man liable to the conscript 
whom they chanced to come up with. 
The killing of Clinton’s two young daughters was the work of one of these 
parties and is a part of the history of the war between the states. The Clintons 
lived in a double log house, on what is known as the “Fork ridge,” about equal 
distance between the two Tallapoosa's the Little and the Big Tallapoosa and upon 
the night of the bloody tragedy two young girls, the mother and a small babe 
were the occupants of the house. One of the girls carded the cotton into rolls 
while the other stood at a spinning wheel converting the rolls into thread. The 
mother sat with her eyes upon the blazing lightwood-knot fire that furnished 
light for the apartment, knitting upon a sock for her husband, while one foot 
tipped the rocker of a cradle and soothed the babe to rest. The rain pattered 
upon the boards, and the roar of the waters of the Tallapoosa mingled with the 
zoon of the spinning wheel, and save those, there had been monotonous silence 
for some time. 
“Keep the coffee pot by the Are,” said the mother, “for the night is rough, and 
I think your father will come in.”
 “Yes, I’ve been thinking of him myself,” spoke the elder girl, “and I most know 
he'll be in tonight, for the river is up and it’s rainy too, so there’s no 
danger from the raiders, and he can get a good rest under his own roof.” 
As the last words were uttered, the dogs began to bark, and they started off in 
a run down the path that led to the spring. “That’s him! That's him!!” spoke all 
in chorus. 
“Hang out the signal,” spoke the mother for it was the custom in those days to 
give warning signals, which had meanings understood by the ‘layers-out.’ 
The girls dropped their work, and the mother at once busied herself heating up 
the meal that had been saved in expectation of his coming. 
In a moment more the tall form of Lem Clinton stooped as he entered his own door 
and holding in one hand the long double-barreled gun which he carried, with the 
other ho gave each a hug in turn, and we leave them here to visit the camp of 
the soldiers at Wedowee, and see what is being done there. 
“I want twenty volunteers to follow me tonight,” said a fine calvary lieutenant, 
as he buckled on his sword and walked among the men. 
“I am going to raid the fork this night," continued the lieutenant, “and I don’t 
want a man with me but that it is willing to be buried over there, it necessary, 
to break up that nest of what they call ‘mutuals'.” 
It was but a moment to secure the volunteers and have everything ready for the 
raid. The waters of the Tallapoosa were bursting over every low place along its 
banks, and the rain was falling in torrents.
 “We’ll have to swim at the ford,” said the lieutenant. 
And so, they did, and this was why Clinton had ventured to visit his home upon 
that fatal night. 110 rested at the little home, feeling perfect security, and 
even the dogs had gathered around the blazing hearth, and wore looking gladly 
upon their master, when the sharp click of the guns of the soldiers came 
simultaneously with the command of the calvary lieutenant. 
“Surrender and open your doors or we'll break them down.” 
The command was refused by the elder daughter, who throw herself against the 
door, and at the same time Clinton had made himself ready to sell his life as 
dearly as possible. The door was broken down, and instantaneous with that guns 
were presented at Clinton, who was standing ready to defend himself against the 
first who should enter. 
“Surrender or die!” exclaimed the lieutenant, as the men held their fingers upon 
the triggers of their guns. 
“Die!” said Clinton. “I’ll never surrender. 
At this instant the daughters and mother rushed between Clinton and his 
pursuers, and the mother was badly wounded and the two of the girls killed 
instantly. 
As his dear ones fell upon the floor Clinton seemed to lose all reason and 
rushing upon his pursuers in the dark, he fought as a demon brought to bay and 
defeated single-handed the entire crowd, killing the lieutenant and throb of his 
men and wounding six more of them by clubbing his gun. 
The vows that Clinton made, kneeling that night by his loved ones, he devoted 
his life to fulfill, and if there is more than one of that Company of men who 
have not subsequently died with their boots on, it is not known, and it will be 
well, if there are any, for them to keep very quiet and be on the watch for an 
iron-grey, six-foot-three man, and keep out of his way, for Lem Clinton still 
lives and has never made peace nor laid his gun in its rack from that day to 
this. 
Let us follow Clinton from the graves of his loved ones, for he has joined the 
bushwhackers if that is the proper name and has made an appointment to meet with 
thorn at their meeting place. Here he goes, over a rugged mountain path, until 
at last of the trail is lost and he scrambles from peak to peak till he stands 
upon a towering crag, whoso foot, is washed by the turbid waters of the big 
Tallapoosa, he has been here before, for he lashes his gun upon his shoulder and 
at once approached a huge grape vine that has been fastened to a mountain oak 
and spliced till it reaches the waters below, and grasping it with firm hold he 
eases himself over the precipice and down, hand over hand, for two hundred feet 
he goes, till his feet strikes the bottom of a light batteau, and then seating 
himself at one end he moves down the river till he comes to the confluence of 
the Big and Little Tallapoosa rivers, and there he stops, draws his batteau up 
in the bushes and makes his way a few steps into the forest, where the 
bushwhackers are to hold their meeting and formulate their plans. 
Here is a spot that nature has fitted for a hall of secrecy. Two large rivois 
forming a wall on ono side and in front, with a limitless forest back in the 
“fork.” with towering crags and lofty trees, that lend their shadows to it 
disnal night that makes darkness seem a tiling of substance. 
Fifty men, made desperate by the feuds of the times, swear allegiance to each 
other, and elect Lem Clinton as their captain. 
“Now give me a chaw of ’bacco,” said a heavy-set, middle-aged man, who hold a 
gun in his hand that was fully as long as himself, and whoso right mime was 
Hickonbother, but who was familiarly known at ‘old Hick,’ “I habit had nothing 
to say at the meeting, but I voted for our captain, mid now me and old ‘Betsy 
Baker,’ (as he called his gun) are ready to obey his orders and to follow him to 
h-l.”
 “I wish he’d order you to kill that owl that been ho-ho-ing over there for the 
last two hours,” spoke up Joe Presly. 
Further conversation was cut short by the tall form of Lem Clinton arising from 
the log upon which he had been sitting, and chunking the dim fire which 
furnished a little light for the occasion, he cleared his throat and said: 
"Boys, you all know me. I’ve not got much to say. You all understand what we 
have agreed upon about the signals, but I will repeat to you the urgent charge 
already given, that no man shall leave those diggings so far but what he can see 
a light when it is flashed front the ‘ferry peak,’ unless he gets permission to 
do so. When you see a light burning over yander highest peak, to the right of 
the ferry landing, you must drop everything and report here at this place as 
soon as you can; and mind, be careful and look out for spies. The meeting is 
dismissed. 
So spoke the man who had been chosen by unanimous consent, the leader of the 
“layers out,” of the Tallapoosa fork.” 
Let us again visit the camp of the soldiery at Wedowee. Three days rations have 
been prepared and the men are ready to march at a moment’s warning. Eighty-five 
men are ready and anxious to avenge the death of their fallen comrades in the 
Clinton fight. 
The night is dark and as the soldiers mount their horses and file into the 
Burrow’s ferry road and bead for the river, the tall form of Lem Clinton emerged 
from a neighboring thicket, and with his gun at a trail, he darts across the 
road and takes a near cut that will land him at the ferry at least an hour ahead 
of the troops. Once at the ferry, he mounts up. up the ragged side of the “ferry 
peak.” and it is but the work of a moment to have the whole top of the towering 
peak illuminated by a lightwood fire, that had already been prepared of rich 
lightwood splinters that would flash for but a moment and dying out, leave all 
in darkness. 
The bushwhackers are together, and led by Clinton, they take their places on 
either side of the road that is terminated by the river. With impassible 
mountains on either side, ana the river in front, there was no way for the 
soldiers to retreat except to right about, if once they were in the gorge. 
“Quiet men, let every man be quiet, until I shall give the word “fire,” and then 
let every man do his duty, and Lem Clinton will do his.” 
There was nothing now for the bushwhackers to do but to await the coming the 
soldiery. The trap was set, once in the gorge the soldiers would have no way of 
retreat but to plunge into the swollen Tallapoosa, or to about face, which 
latter had been anticipated by Clinton and he had it arranged to close in the 
road and cut off retreat in that direction. 
It was thus that things stood when the clank of sabres announced the close 
approach of |he soldiers. On, on they came unconscious of danger, till the head 
of the column had reached the river’s bank, and the officer in command gave the 
word: 
“Halt!” 
The tall form of Lem Clinton sprang into the road, and at the same time his 
shrill voice was heard clear and distinct: 
“Fire!” 
And fifty bushwhackers pulled the trigger of their guns, and above the clatter 
mid confusion the voice of Lem Clinton was heard: 
"No quarter! Die, devils, die!” 
This closed the career of that company. Not one escaped to tell the tale, and 
that was the last organized military of the confederacy that made an attempt to 
invade the “fork." 
Sarge

Additional Comments:
There was no one by the name of Lem Clinton in Randolph County, however there was 
a Clement Clifton who lived in the Wedowee area mentioned above. He was known as 
"Clem Clifton". 

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