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Hewitt
Clarke and SCV brothers at a recent
Confederate Memorial Day observance.
Clarke is a past Commander and Colonel
of Granbury's Texas Brigade |
Hewitt Clarke, the much acclaimed and highly
respected researcher and author of east
Mississippi history, began his journey in a Deep
South town in the hills of East Mississippi.
The area has strong ties to the old code of
chivalry inherited from their fierce Scotch
Irish ancestors and a deep respect for their
culture and heritage. As William Faulker
would have said, "In Meridian, the past is not
dead, Its not even past."
Clarke's family roots go back to
a time when Lauderdale County was new and fresh
having not too long before, been the home of
only Choctaw Indians and a few brave,
adventurous explorers. His ancestors arrived in
the area about 1870 and were as much a part of
the history of the region as were the railroads
and, perhaps, even the piney woods themselves.
As a small child he can recall living in one of
the few buildings in Meridian that had survived
Sherman's Meridian Expedition in 1864, a
building that would later be purchased by a
benevolent organization and called Merrihope. He
shares memories of the region with many of the
home folks that he has interviewed in the course
of his research and because of this can better
understand, interpret and ferret out the truth.
Clarke was born in Montgomery, Alabama
but his family soon returned to his beloved east
Mississippi. He is a graduate of Meridian High
School where he exercised his writing skills as
a reporter for the school newspaper "The
Wildcat."
After high school he attended the
University of Mississippi earning his Bachelor
of Business Administration degree before
entering the U. S. Army where he trained as an
Intelligence Officer. He served in the far east
as a special agent in the Army Counter
Intelligence Corps, collecting information about
the Communist party and its' activities around
the world.
Following his military career, Clarke pursued an
exciting and rewarding career in the insurance
industry moving around the U.S. a number of
times until he reached his present home in
Houston, Texas where he has lived for 35 years.
As
impressive and exciting as his career, his
private exploits are legend. An accomplished
mountain climber he has scaled peaks in both the
United States and Central America, hiked ancient
Indian trails across the county and, even run
with the bulls during the nine day festival of
San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain. The running of
the bulls was featured in one of Earnest
Hemingway's novels "The Sun Also Rises."
In fact, when the locals of Pamplona learned that
Clarke was a writer, many began addressing
him as "Papa" as they
had learned that another bearded writer, "Papa" Hemingway, had
liked to be called.
Always the champion of southern culture,
Clarke's research is thorough and precise. The
investigation leading to the publication in 1995
of his first book "Thunder At Meridian" took
more than twenty years to complete. When
researching another book "He Saw the Elephant"
(2000), a Confederate Naval Saga of LT Charles
"Savvy" Read, he actually followed the voyage of
the Confederate Ram Arkansas himself, alone in a
small, inflatable boat over 150 miles down the
swift Yazoo River in Mississippi.
Clarke continues to be active in a number of
organizations, and supports the tenants of our
rich southern heritage. He is a Colonel and the
former Commander of Granbury's Texas Brigade of
the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He also serves as
an Admiral in the Republic of Texas Navy. He
supports his community as a continuing
education instructor of Texas History at
Montgomery College near Houston.
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Hewitt Clarke and granddaughter
at the January, 2008 Confederate
Heroes Day Cotillion. |
Author of five well-received books on the
history of the east Mississippi region, his
first book Thunder at Meridian (1995)
remains the definitive work on east
Mississippi history. Beginning late
in the seventeenth century the book tells the
story of the Choctaw Indian, the French,
Spanish and English settlements and
excursions into Mississippi territory and
continues to track the development of the
area well into the second half of the
twentieth century. It is both
interestingly told and enlightening for area
residents.
In
his second effort, Bloody Kemper (1997),
Clarke once again mesmerized readers with the
true story of Kemper County, Mississippi during
it's sometimes tumultuous past.
As
previously noted, He Saw the Elephant (2000) was
the true story of a Confederate Naval Officer,
LT Charles "Savvy" Read, that dashing young man
who shocked the Union with his brilliant naval
exploits and captured the attention of the
world. He and his beloved wife Nebraska
are buried in the Confederate mound at Rose Hill
cemetery in Meridian. Nebraska having the
distinction of being the only civilian interred
there.
Next
came the humorous and tragic tale of a group of
"good old boys" and an old gas station converted
to a latter day honkey tonk, The East End Tea
Room (2002) explores the lives of several
Lauderdale County men whose trials and
tribulations lead to the tragic deaths of three
civil rights workers and the end of the Ku Klux
Klan in east Mississippi. The much told
tale is given new life by Clarke's in-depth
research efforts.
Last
came the stories of east Mississippi's heroes,
that generation that NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw
called a Band of Brothers who fought and died
for liberty in World War II and beyond.
War Stories from Mississippi (2004) shares
the stories gleaned from veterans across east
Mississippi about their sacrifices and
suffering.
In
his most recent effort, Hewitt Clarke has
documented a more recent story of east Mississippi. His newest
book, Mississippi Blood
explores the murder case of Larry Tiffee.
The headline grabbing drama that filled the
pages of the Meridian Star for months in the
early 1980s and was
carried across the south. It's sure to be
a winner and well worth the read, but, a word of
warning, be careful when you start reading, you
may not be able to put it down.
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