PA Civil War >
Biography > Clarke
Captain Asaph M. Clarke
Captain Asaph M. Clarke was born in Jefferson County, Penn., February 11, 1844. His parents, Dr. Asaph M. and Rebecca M. (Nichols) Clarke, were of English extraction. The subject of this sketch is the eldest of six children--four daughters and two sons.
At the beginning of the war he enlisted in Company K, Eighth Pennsylvania Infantry, 8th Regiment, (three months' men), and served chiefly in Virginia, taking part in the battle of Falling Water and others. He was honorably discharged July 9, 1861, and in November following entered Company F, Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, 67th Regiment as orderly-sergeant, and was promoted to second lieutenant July 27, 1863.
December 13, 1864, he was made first lieutenant of Company K, and commissioned as captain of the same company May 1, 1865. During his latter term of service he took part in the battles of Berryville, Opequan, Winchester, Mine Run, both engagements at Weldon Railroad, both at Hatch's Run, Brandy Station, Petersburg, Cedar Creek, Middletown, Wilderness, Cold Harbor, White House, Fisher's Hill and a number of others of minor importance.
At Winchester, June 15, 1863, he received a wound in his left ankle, breaking the bone, which caused his capture and subsequent confinement in Libby and Belle Isle until August, 1863. The promotions he received were for meritorious conduct and distinguished services, and since the close of the war he receives a pension on account of his wound.
After his discharge he spent some time in the study of medicine, and afterward registered as a law student, but did not complete a course in either. He was married, June 13, 1869, to Clara F. Butler, of Brookville, and has one son, Milton B., living, having lost a daughter, Nora, in infancy. Captain Clarke is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Grand Army, Odd Fellows, I. O. K. M., K. of P. and other societies; is at this writing a justice of the peace. and was a candidate for the legislature in 1884. He is engaged in the jewelry business at Delta.
The father of our subject, Dr. A. M. Clarke, was born in Hartford, Conn., March 22, 1808, was taken by his parents in infancy to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and in 1819 brought to what is now Elk County, this State. He was married, March 6, 1831, and celebrated his golden wedding in 1881, and died suddenly in the spring of 1884.
Source: York County, Pennsylvania Biographical History, John Gibson, Chicago: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.