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Clement Sulivane

Born in Port Gibson, Miss., on 20th August 1838.  Son of Dr Vans Murray Sulivane & Octavia Van Dorn.  During his infancy his widowed mother moved to Cambridge, Md., the former home of his late father.  He entered a prep school in Northampton, Mass., in 1853.  Later studied at Princeton & U.Va. (graduating from latter in 1857).  Then studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1860.  Practiced in Cambridge, Md.

On 25 November 1868, Clement Sulivane married Delia Bayly Hayward.  She was born 14 August 1845, the daughter of William Richard Hayward and Eliza Ennalls Eccleston.  Clement and Delia Sulivane had three children, Earl Van Dorn Sulivane (1869-1950), Vans Murray Sulivane (1873-1938), and Ruth Sulivane (1874-1953).  The children never married or had children of their own.

Clement Sulivane enlisted in Company A of the 10th Mississippi Infantry on 19th April 1861.   Learning of the formation of a Maryland regiment, he received a discharge and went to Richmond.  By the time he arrived the 1st Maryland Infantry had been formed, and so he joined Company B of the 21st Virginia Infantry on 13th July 1861.  He was a 1st Lieutenant and A.D.C. to his uncle, Earl Van Dorn as of 29th October 1861.  Clement Sulivane remained on Van Dorn's staff until his death in May of 1863.  At Elkhorn Tavern Clement Sulivane "had his horse killed under him while leading a charge, the order for which he had delivered."  He was captured at Dan's Bridge.  On 29th June 1863 Sulivane was appointed Lieutenant and A.A.I.G. to Custis Lee.  He was promoted to Captain and A.A.G. on 6th July 1864.  On the 2nd April 1865, "Captain Clement Sulivane of the Local Brigade was sent by General Ewell to muster his troops, some of the clerks and convalescent soldiers, and to supply them with food and arms.  Sulivane worked all evening, herding together his men, but after hours of maddening effort he had fewer than 200 left from 1200.  The battalions melted as fast as he assembled them…"  A day later he helped to destroy the bridge over which troops evacuated Richmond:  "Sulivane saw General Joe Kershaw at the rear of his South Carolina troops at about the time General Ewell and Haskell went over.  Kershaw touched his hat to Sulivane.  'All over,' he yelled. 'Goodbye.  Blow here to hell.'  Sulivane watched his men throw more lighted faggots on the planks before they fell."  Sulivane was captured at Sayler's Creek and released in June 1865.  According to Hartzler, he was at Lee's Franklin Street residence, turning away visitors, within a few days of Appomattox.

Captain Clement Sulivane was the last of Lee's Army to abandon Richmond, VA in 1865.  He wrote "The Fall of Richmond.  The Evacuation."  He also wrote a sketch about his uncle William Vans Murray.  Earl Van Dorn described Clement Sulivane as "my favorite nephew".

After the Civil War, Clement Sulivane served as a lawyer, a journalist & a state senator in Cambridge.  His wife, Delia Bayly Hayward Sulivane died 18 August 1920.  Clement Sulivane died 3 months later on 9 November 1920.  Both are buried at Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery in Cambridge. 

 

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