Archie Clement

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Archie Clement a.k.a "Little Arch" (1845–December 13, 1866) was a pro-Confederate guerrilla leader in the American Civil War, known for his brutality towards Union soldiers and pro-Union civilians in Missouri.

Clement was born and raised in Johnson County, Missouri, near the town of Kingsville. By 1863, he had joined up with the guerillas under William T. Anderson, and became known as Bloody Bill's most trusted compatriot. Standing just over five feet tall and weighing about 130 pounds, Clement's slight stature belied his ferocity, as he was known to be an expert pistol shot and fearless under fire.

Archie took a prominent role in all major operations of Anderson's unit in 1864, including the Centralia Massacre, looting and burning buildings and terrifying the local populace. They barricaded the tracks of the Northern Missouri Railroad, and forced a train to stop. They robbed the civilian passengers, and killed 22 Union soldiers who were returning home to Iowa and northwest Missouri on furlough. Anderson left one Union sergeant alive for a possible prisoner exchange; the rest he had stripped, shot, and scalped or otherwise mutilated.

Upon Anderson's death on October 27, 1864, Clement took command of his unit, continuing to fight into the next year, even after the Civil War ended with the surrender at Lee's army in Virginia. While many of his comrades eventually surrendered, including Dave Pool and the James brothers, Jesse and Frank, Archie never did.

By the beginning of 1866, Clement steered himself and his friends into a new profession; bank robbery. On February 13 of this year, a group of gunmen carried out the first daylight, peacetime, armed bank robbery in U.S. history, when they held up the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, stealing some $60,000 in cash and bonds. The state authorities suspected Archie Clement of leading the raid, and promptly offered a reward for his capture. In later years, the list of suspects would grow to include Frank James, Cole Younger, John Jarrette, Oliver Shepard, Bud and Donny Pence, Frank Gregg, Bill and James Wilkerson, Joab Perry, Ben Cooper, Red Mankus and Allen Parmer (who later married Susan James, Frank and Jesse's sister). The outlaws also killed George Wymore, a bystander on the street outside the bank.

That crime began a string of robberies, many of which were linked to Clement's group. The hold-up most clearly linked to the group was of Alexander Mitchell and Company in Lexington, Missouri, on October 30, 1866, which netted $2,011.50. Clement was also linked to violence and intimidation of officials of the Republican government that now ruled the state.

On December 13, 1866, Clement led a group of his men (possibly including Jesse James) into Lexington to visit old friends, including Dave Pool. Major Bacon Montgomery, Army commander of the town, was anxious to head off a confrontation, and ordered Clement and his pals to register with the local militia at the court house and be on their way, which they did. Later, Archie returned to town alone, to drink with an old friend at the bar of the City Hotel. Upon getting word that Clement was in town and alone, Montgomery acted. His men confronted Archie at the bar, demanding his surrender. A gun battle erupted. Clement dashed outside, got on his horse and tried to flee, only to be riddled with bullets by a company of soldiers as he passed the court house. Archie's pursuers walked up to him in the street, where he was still trying to cock a revolver with his teeth. One of them asked, "Arch, your are dying. What do you want me to do with you?" to which he replied, "I've done what I always said I would do...die before I'd surrender."

Ultimately, after Archie Clement's death, his guerrilla band continued to rob and be pursued by government troops, until his old friend Jesse James took command a few years later and shot to infamy as a bank robber.

[edit] Sources

• Edward E. Leslie,The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders
• Yeatman, Ted P.: Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend, Cumberland House, 2001
• Stiles, T.J.: Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002