By Kyle Beeler
Title: Cassius M. Clay Collection, 1827-1901
Primary Creator: Clay, Cassius Marcellus (1810-1903)
Extent: 1.47 Cubic Feet
Date Acquired: 11/22/2002. More info below under Accruals.
Subjects: Clay, Cassius Marcellus, 1810-1903.
Cassius Marcellus Clay was born in Madison County, Kentucky, on 19 October 1810. He was the son of Green Clay, a Kentucky soldier of the War of 1812 and a cousin of Henry Clay. He was educated at Centre College, Danville, KY and at Yale, where he graduated in 1832. Influenced to some extent by William Lloyd Garrison, he became an advocate of emancipation and advocated a system of gradual emancipation. In 1835, 1837 and 1840 he was elected as a Whig to the Kentucky legislature, where he helped secure the establishment of a public school system and a much-needed reform in the jury system. In 1841 he was defeated on account of his anti-slavery views. In 1845 he established, at Lexington, KY an anti-slavery publication known as The True American, but in the same year his office and press were wrecked by a mob, and he removed the publication office to Cincinnati, OH. In the Mexican War he served as a captain of a Kentucky company of militia.
He left the Whig party in 1850, and as an anti-slavery candidate for governor of Kentucky polled 5000 votes. In 1856 he joined the Republican party, and wielded considerable influence as a Southern representative in its councils. In 1861 he was sent by President Abraham Lincoln as minister to Russia; in 1862 he returned to America to accept a commission as major-general of volunteers, but in March 1863 was reappointed to his former post at St. Petersburg, where he remained until 1869. Disapproving of the Republican policy of reconstruction, he left the party, and in 1872 was one of the organizers of the Liberal - Republican revolt, and was largely instrumental in securing the nomination of Horace Greeley for the presidency. In the political campaigns of 1876 and 1880 he supported the Democratic candidate, but rejoined the Republican party in the campaign of 1884. He died at his estate, Whitehall, in Madison County, KY on 22 July 1903.
Repository: Eastern Kentucky University - Special Collections and Archives
1981-027, copies of letters and photographs
2002-087, 7 letters from Sallie Dudley Clay and Eliza Smith; Cassius M. Clay's mother and sister.
2002-040, Cassius M. Clay Scrapbooks from Dorris Museum Collection.
2000-005, Miscellaneous items from Dorris Museum Collection.
Access Restrictions: Condition of the original scrapbooks varies but one is very fragile. Special handling required.
Acquisition Source: N/A
This volume contains a variety of news clipping that are primarily associated with politics, and the campaign of 1880 specifically, plus a series of four articles from Dec 1880 that are entitled Railroads; Common Sense and are signed CATO, White Hall, KY. The other clippings range in dates from 1848-1884. There is a printed copy of the Address of the Cuban Charitable Aid Society, 28 Jan 1870 and a handbill "To The Public" that is signed Capt. Split Log and deals with some violent street incident that took place in Lexington, KY in Aug 1845.
The majority of the news clippings appear to be letters to the editor from C.M. Clay that have been published, articles about him or speeches by him that were later published. These clippings have been pasted on the pages of an account book but the nature of the accounts is not clear.
The earliest news clipping in this volume is actually from 1862 and is entitled "The War in Kentucky." It is a letter from Grindstone relating news that Union regiments are heading for Richmond (KY) and that efforts to build a road to the Cumberland Gap are underway. There is also an 1863 speech by C.M. Clay before the Law Department of the University of Albany, NY. The other clippings do not have a coherent subject matter but range from Liberal Republicans to Russia and about Clay himself.
In addition to the news clippings, there is also a two page handbill entitled Call for a State Convention to the Republicans of Kentucky, 1872; a manuscript copy of a letter from Clay, while in St. Petersburg, Russia, to George D. Prentice, Louisville, KY, defending President Johnson's decision to veto the Freedman's Bureau Bill, 13 Mar 1866; an appointment schedule and transmittal letter from the Ohio Republican State Executive Committee for a series of meetings with County Committeemen, 18 Aug 1884.
These clippings have been pasted over the pages of Memorial Addresses on the Life and Character of William Pitt Fessenden.
