Thomas Clark

Thomas Clark (August 1741 – 25 December 1792) was an officer who served in the War of the Regulation in North Carolina and in the 1st North Carolina Regiment, North Carolina Line of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was promoted to brigadier general after the war.

Early life (1741–1775) Thomas Clark was born in August 1741 in Wilmington, North Carolina to Thomas Clark, a merchant, and Barbara Murray. He also had a sister, Ann, who married William Hooper.

Clark went to school in England, where he learned to be a watchmaker, He practiced this trade in Boston until 1769 where he settled to Cape Fear to take care of the estate of his uncle, James Murray.

Clark was present at Barren Hill and commanded the North Carolina Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth on 28 June 1778. After the action, he sat on the court martial that convicted Charles Lee. He was passed over for promotion to brigadier general, with Jethro Sumner and James Hogun being raised to that rank in January 1779. After operations around New York City, Clark joined the march of Hogun's North Carolina Brigade to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving on 3 April 1780. He was captured by the British on 12 May 1780 at the end of the Siege of Charleston. After his imprisonment, he was so ill that he resigned on 1 January 1783 from the Continental Army. In 1782 he married Sarah Nash, the widow of Francis Nash, who was killed at Germantown, but she died a year later.

Service record Major in the 1st North Carolina Regiment (NC Continental Line) (1775–1776) Lt. Colonel in the 1st North Carolina Regiment (1776–1777) Colonel over the 1st North Carolina Regiment (1777–1778) and (1780–1783) Colonel over the 5th North Carolina Regiment (1779)

Later life (1783–1792) He received a promotion to brigadier general from the state legislature on 30 September 1783. After the war he was founding vice-president of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati. Plagued by ill health, he became blind and remained an invalid until he died at Point Repose Plantation, which he had acquired from his uncle James Murray. He died on 25 December 1792.