The New Student's Reference Work/Clingman, Thomas Lanier

Clingman, Thomas Lanier, United States senator and Confederate officer, was born in North Carolina in 1812, and died at Raleigh, N. C., Nov. 4, 1897. After graduating, he studied law, and was a member of Congress from 1843 to 1858, taking a prominent part in the debates of the house. Originally a Whig, he deserted his old associates and became a Democrat, and in 1858 was elected to the senate. In 1861, when the Civil War broke out, he withdrew from the senate and entered the Confederate army, where be became brigadier-general, surrendering in April, 1865, with General J. E. Johnston. After the war General Clingman for many years devoted himself to mining and to scientific pursuits.