[1] By the beginning of the American Civil War, he and his family were recorded as living in Big Creek Township, Cass County, Missouri.

[2] A Confederate "bushwhacker" or guerrilla during the Civil War, Clement rose to notoriety in 1864 as a lieutenant of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson.

Standing just over 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m) tall and weighing about 130 pounds (59 kg), Clement's youth and slight stature belied his ferocity.

Anderson (or one of his men) left this note on the body of a dead Unionist after a particularly vicious skirmish: "You come to hunt bush whackers.

"[3] Clement took a prominent role in all of the major operations of Anderson's organization in 1864, including the Centralia Massacre, in which the guerrillas blocked the tracks of the Northern Missouri Railroad and forced a train to stop.

They then robbed the civilian passengers and killed 22 unarmed Union soldiers found on board, who had been returning home on furlough from the Atlanta campaign.

On February 13, a group of gunmen carried out the first daylight, peacetime, armed bank robbery in U.S. history when they held up the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, stealing more than $58,000 in cash and bonds.

The bank was owned and operated by former Union militia officers, who recently had conducted the first Republican Party rally in Clay County's history.

Seeking to avoid a major battle in the center of town, Montgomery allowed Clement to enroll his men in the state militia.