A record of the descendants of John Clark, of Farmington, Conn ...

76 CLARK GENEALOGY.
half-knee deep in mud and water, narrowly escaping
a cold
bath in an over-friendly ditch. I arrived at the headquarters
of the guard. Soon after my arrival, a boy reported to nie
for duty as sergeant of the guard, a position no less respon-
sible than my own. At first I felt that,
on such a fearful
night, I needed more than a boy io assist me in the performance
of my task. His form was fragile ; his face was smooth
as tliat of a girl, and in the dim, shadowy light of a camp-
fire struggling against the heavy rain, I took him to be about
fifteen years of age.
We immediately entered into conversa-
tion, and between admiration and surprise, the rain was
forgotten, and the moments sped so rapidly that it was near-
ing the time to change the guard. But my boy companion had
forgotten nothing, and as the moment arrived, he called in
the relief. As he moved among those sturdy
warriors it
occurred to me that 1 had never before met a boy who was at
the same time a man— a brave, prudent, reliable man. All
night he did his duty, and when we parted in the morning
I both loved and admired him. This was my first meeting
with Colonel Clark.
"Mervin Clark was a native of Ohio, having been born in
the city of Cleveland in 1843. When but three years of age
his mother died, and at the age of nine his surviving parent,
leaving him an orphan. He was now taken into the family
of Henry W. Clark, an uncle, where he found a home, and
kind friends, during the remainder of his life.
"The flash of the last gun at Sumter had hardly died away,
when he enrolled himself as a private in Captain DeVilliers'
company, at the same time declaring that he would, by no
act of his, leave the service of his country, until rebels in
arms were met and subdued. How well he kept that pledge,
it is the office of tbis brief sketch to show.