William P. Clyde

He attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, but after the outbreak of the American Civil War, he left his studies to join the Union Army as part of the Philadelphia Grey Reserves.

[5] In 1888, when civil war in Haiti broke out, Clyde sold weapons to Florvil Hyppolite under the protection of Rear Admiral Bancroft Gherardi, the commander of the U.S. North Atlantic Squadron.

The election of President Benjamin Harrison gave Clyde additional influence over shipping routes to the Caribbean.

Douglass quit his post in 1891 and published his side of the story about why negotiations for a U.S. naval base in Haiti failed.

[1] In 1890, Clyde purchased 9,000 acres on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for use as a private hunting preserve.