Submitted by Bruce Mayhall
Peter Richard Clement was born in 1840, either January 8 or February 5, in Walker County, AL. He was a son of William Washington Clement and Martha Jane Lord, and was ninth-born of their eleven children. After he was born his parents lived in Blount County before moving to Hackleburg, Marion County about 1854. At the time of the 1860 census, the family was living in the Chalk Bluff area of Marion County. Their farm was near that of Thomas Payton and Jane Ferrell Raburn.
Two of Peter’s older brothers, William Riley and Curtis Beason, were also in the First Alabama Cavalry. Their sister Sarah’s husband, John R. Cole was in Company B of the First. Another brother, Jackson, served in Company C of the 16th Alabama Infantry (CSA) and died in Chattanooga on February 4, 1863. Their first cousins (sons of Nancy Lord), Archibald, Andrew and Ashley Lovett served in the First. Archibald and Andrew died of measles in March, 1863. Ashley survived.
Peter Richard married Elizabeth Frances "Molly" Raburn on 6 Jan 1861. Her brother Thomas Calvin Raburn joined the First Cavalry in September 8, 1862. Peter followed him on October 25, 1862 (the same day as his brother Curtis). Molly followed Peter to Mississippi and stayed in the refugee camps near Glendale, then went with other family members of First soldiers to Purdy, Tennessee. Peter and Curtis both contracted measles at Glendale sometime in the winter of 1863 and by permission of Captain Burdick went to be with Molly at Purdy. After their recovery, they returned to Glendale. Molly’s brother Thomas Calvin Raburn died of measles at Corinth on April 12, 1863. Curtis Clement died from pneumonia and typhoid in the hospital at Corinth on June 23. Peter served out his enlistment, mustering out on November 28, 1863 at Memphis.
William also had measles that spring. He survived, only to be captured at Vincent’s Crossroads on October 26. He was exchanged, mustered out in Memphis in January, and took his wife and family north to Illinois in April, 1964.
Molly joined Peter in Memphis after he mustered out. They "refugeed" there and both contracted small pox in March, 1864 and were taken to the U. S. Small Pox Hospital. Molly died in April 1864; Peter stayed in the hospital until May, ultimately recovering from the disease. He went to Illinois because he "could not stay at home and nowhere else safely." He went to Joppa, Massac County to visit his sister Sarah and brother-in-law John Cole, and then went on to Smithland, Kentucky where, in June, 1864, he joined Company B of the North Cumberland Battalion of the Kentucky Home Guards. He served in this unit until August 29, 1865.
He returned to Smithland Kentucky where he married Sarah Isabell Reed on September 6, 1865. Her brother and father had been members of the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry (Union), a unit that was dubbed "Wurst’s Worst."
Peter suffered from chronic asthma, a result of the measles "settling in the lungs" and found it necessary to move often in search of work he was capable of sustaining, and for relief from "pain in the breast and a hacking cough." From 1865 until 1879 he lived successively in Smithland and Paducah, Kentucky, then returned to Marion County, Alabama. He then went briefly went to Iuka, Mississippi where he lived with his brother William. He went north again, returning to Smithland, then on to Mound City, Illinois. They lived in Ballard County, Kentucky, then Joppa, Illinois. In 1879 his doctor convinced him to return to his native Alabama in search of some relief from the harsh winters that exacerbated his asthmatic condition.
They lived in Hackleburg with Peter’s parents for a time, then moved to Allen’s Factory (now Bear Creek) where they stayed for twelve years. Peter first applied for disability pension in February, 1883 and, after a long period of bureaucratic struggle was granted a pension of $8 per month. While in Bear Creek, in 1891, Sarah Isabell died and Peter married Julia Ann Melissa McAnally. He was 51 and she was 20 when they married.
Peter and Julia moved to Walker County for a few years, then Garrison’s Point on the boundary of Blount and Cullman counties. They returned to Jasper, Walker County and then moved back to the Bear Creek area in 1904. His post office was in Phil Campbell, Franklin County though his residence was on the Bear Creek to Phil Campbell Road. Peter’s final years were spent in this area.
Peter and Molly had no children; he and Sarah Reed had eleven: Minnie Jane (1867), Willliam Thomas Franklin (1869), Mary Parlee (1871), John Riley (1872), James Nimrod (1874), Edward Newton (1877), Peter Richard (1879), stillborn (1880), George Washington (1882), Charles Willis (1885), and Willie Oscar (1887). Peter and Julia had seven: Bertha (1893), Almeda Liddie Bell (1895), Leonard Arthur McKinnley (1897), Hattie Loretta (1889), stillborn (1900), Mettie (1901) and Hettie Ann Melissa (1906).
Peter died from his chronic asthma on December 20, 1914 and was buried near Sarah in Lower Hackleburg Cemetery, Marion County. The month after his death, Julia applied for widow’s pension. It was finally awarded in 1917. She continued receiving it until her death in January, 1953. She was buried next to Peter Richard.
Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit
can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.