He soon enlisted in the Confederate States Army, and during the Civil War was a lieutenant in the First Battalion of Alabama Artillery.

After the war, Clarke studied law and passed the bar in 1867; he commenced practice in Dayton, Alabama.

His wife spent her early years in Mobile, but she later attended school in New York City.

[1] Their daughters, Helen Gaines and Mary Morris Clarke, resembled their mother in face and manner.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress