Kentucky: A History of the State, Perrin, Battle, Kniffin, 4th ed., 1887,
Madison County.

GEN. CASSIUS M. CLAY was born October 19, 1810, in Madison County, Ky.,
where he now resides, and in the house he now occupies. He is a son of Gen.
Green Clay and Sallie (Lewis) Clay, who were among the first white settlers
of the neighborhood.  The former, Gen. Green Clay, was a native of Powhatan
County, Va., and was born in 1757 of English parentage.  He came to
Kentucky in early life, and, being a surveyor, he accumulated considerable
lands.  He represented the district of Kentucky in the Virginia Legislature
and was a member of the Virginia Convention that ratified the Federal
Constitution, in 1788.  He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of
Kentucky which formed the second State constitution, and which remained in
force over fifty years.  In the war 1812 of he was amade brigadier-general
and led 3,000 Kentucky soldiers to the relief of Gen. Harrison, then
besieged at Fort Meigs by British and Indiana.  He cut his way through
their lines, and by the accession of his strength to the fort forced the
enemy to withdraw.  He was left in command of the fort, which was soon
after attacked by Gen. Proctor and Tesumseh, and was highly complimented
by Gen. Harrison for his defense of the fort.  After the close of the
war he retired to his estate in Kentucky, where he died October 31, 1826.
Gen. Cassius M. Clay, the subject of this sketch, received his education
under private tutors at the Richmond Academy, Centre College, St. Joseph's
College, Ky., and at Transylvania University, finishing off at Yale
College, from which he graduated in 1832.  He studied law and attended
lectures in Transylvania, as an aid to political life, but never practiced
and has always been a farmer, taking great interest in the breeding of fine
stock.  Outside of agricultural pursuits he has taken an active interest in
politics, and served several terms in the State Legislature.  He was a
member of the Whig Convention that nominated Gen. Harrison for the
presidency of his relative, Henry Clay.  He served as a captain in the
Mexican war and was captured at Encarnacion, in 1847, and held a prisoner
for some time after the term of service of his regiment had expired.  In
1861 he was made minister to Russia by President Lincoln, but recalled the
next year and commissioned major-general of volunteers; was sent by Lincoln
in August on a mission to sound the Legislature upon the emancipation
proclamation.  He spoke to both houses at Frankfort, and his speech,
reported in the Cincinnati Gazette, was given to Lincoln and on the 22d of
September, 1862, he issued his immortal proclamation of liberty, the
greatest event since the birth of Christ.  Succeeding Gen. Lew Wallace of
Lexington, Ky., he marched at the head of his corps against the invading
army of Gen. Kirby Smith, but was superseded by his superior officer, Gen.
Wilson.  In the spring of 1863 he was re-appointed Minister to Russia, a
position he filled under Presidents Lincoln, Johnson and Grant until the
fall of 1869, his service in Russia being of great benefit to the American
Government.  Gen. Clay was in slave times what was called an "abolitionist"
but a Jeffersonian and Henry Clay Emancipationist, and established a
newspaper in Lexington -- The True American -- which advocated the
principles of the Republican party, of which he was the father.
     He has been an elaborate writer, mainly upon great political subjects,
and in 1848 Horace Greenley published a volume of Mr. Clay's speeches.
Among his latest literary efforts is an extensive history of his own life.
(See his "Memoirs" 1886).  He was married in 1833 to Mary J. Warfield, a
daughter of Dr. Elisha Warfield of Lexington.  He has six children living,
four of whom are married.  At this time (1887) Gen. Clay is a candidate
for the nomination for governor on the Republican ticket, but for success
will yield the nomination to Wm. O. Bradley when he shows the most
strength, if at all--preferring the triumph of principles to personal
prowess.  Gen. Clay in his speech before the Kentucky Legislature in
August, 1862, by authority pledged Lincoln himself and the Republican party
that if Kentucky, as she was doing, would stand by the Union and Republican
proclamation of freedom of all slaves in the Rebel States, by the war
power--the slaves of Kentucky could not and would not be freed. In this view
he was sustained by the unanimous resolutions of the Republican party in
convention at Frankfort, Ky.  (See Commonwealth, files of 1866.)  When the
slaves of Kentucky were liberated contrary to this pledge and for other
reasons, set forth in his memoirs, he stood with the Democratic party till
[sic] the army was by Hayes withdrawn from the South, and the autonomy of
the States restored.  Whilst acting with the opposition, he aided in
repealing the laws against blacks sitting on juries; opposed, with J. C.
Breckinridge, and destroyed, the Kuklux in Kentucky; aided the black
school system, and, trying in vain to repeal that clause of the Kentucky
constitution of 1849-50 which declares "the right of the master to the
slave and the increase higher than all constitutions and laws," he
returned to his old party, and in 1884 made forty-one speeches in Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio and New York in favor of Blaine for President.  He declares
that at no time in his life did he ever swerve the ninth part of a hair
from the Republican principles--and that at all times he holds and has
held principles higher than party allegiance.  He is in vigorous health
and may speak again for his gallant leader, James G. Blaine, for President
in 1888.

Clay Lewis Warfield Greenley
=
Powhatan-VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/madison/clay.cm.txt