American soldier, born at Gettysburg, PA, in 1840. He enlisted April 16, 1861, within two hours after the appearance of President Lincoln’s call for seventy-five thousand men for three months, in Company A, First Illinois Artillery. He went to Cairo, served under General Grant there; re-enlisted for the war, July 16, 1861; was promoted December 1, 1861, to adjutant of the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry; served with that regiment, on the staff of General John W. Davidson, and participated in the battles with that commander on the march to Helena and Little Rock, AR. He was assigned to the command of the regiment during the Arkansas campaign. In August 1863, he assisted in raising the Third Arkansas Cavalry, composed of Union white men of that state; was promoted to the rank of major, and commanded the regiment until nearly the close of the war, participating in nearly all of the battles in Arkansas, under General Steele. He came to Nebraska, settling in Omaha, with his brother, the late Bishop Clarkson, in March 1866, and lived in the state for thirty years. He was postmaster of Omaha under President Harrison’s administration. Major Clarkson was on the executive committee of the National Council of Administration, Grand Army of the Republic, for three consecutive years; was elected department commander of Nebraska by acclamation at the encampment in February 1890. He was also commander of the Loyal Legion of Nebraska. He was elected commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic at the annual encampment at Minneapolis on September 4, 1896.
