Misidentified as Sue Mundy, Clarke
also may have been illegally hanged

By GERALD W. FISCHER

The first mention of Jerome Clarke as Sue Mundy appeared in a newspaper on October 11, 1864.

George Prentice reported that a Lt. Flowers, her proper name being Sue Mundy, was one of the guerrillas that robbed a stagecoach near Harrodsburg. The driver had misidentified Jerome Clarke as a female.

The mistake was a reasonable one. Jerome had long shoulder length black hair and a pretty face, not handsome, but pretty. He had a waist like a woman and long delicate fingers. Except for his unusual height, six feet, he looked effeminate. This gave rise to rumors that he dressed in women’s clothing and coyly coaxed secrets from Union officers, or took rides in a buggy through Union lines to gain intelligence.

All the stories were false, but George Prentice the editor of The Louisville Daily Journal, wrote stories and poems embarrassing Gen. Stephen Burbridge, whom he disliked.

In late October 1864, Sam Berry and Clarke were riding together. In November between the 9th and 12th, Jerome Clarke, aka Sue Mundy, was still being touted as a woman guerrilla. The stories sold newspapers. By the 25th, these guerrillas were combining forces – Henry Magruder, Dick Mitchell, Berry and Clarke – and had a band of 25 men. They killed several detached Union soldiers and became infamous.

On Dec. 29, five guerrillas, Magruder, his cousin Bill Maraman, Clarke, Dick Mitchell and Tom Henry, arrived at the Bullitt County home of Edward Caldwell, a soldier who was on leave to bury his father. The guerrillas killed the unarmed Caldwell in circumstances that were repugnant and Sue Mundy and his band became more sought after by the Federals.

In January, Quantrill’s Raiders joined forces with Bill Marion and the others. A raid was made on Springfield, more detached Union soldiers were killed at Lebanon Junction, and the Simpsonville Massacre was fought where more than 30 Negro soldiers were killed or wounded.

On Feb. 27, a celebration was held for guerrillas leaving Kentucky to rejoin the Confederate army. The event, at the Nelson County farm of Newel and Isaac McClaskey’s, included food, drink, music and dancing. Then, 13 men – including Magruder, John Porter, Metcalf, and Mundy – headed toward the Ohio River and on to Tennessee. On the way, they were joined by William Davison.

In Patesville they engaged troops from Owensboro where Bill Davison was mortally wounded and Magruder was severely wounded. Clarke, Magruder and Metcalf made their way to the Cox tobacco barn in Meade County. Elizabeth Cox, distant kin of Magruder, hid them for three or four days, until a Dr. Lewis, tending to Magruder, notified the authorities.

Clarke on March 12 ,1865, a short five months after his guerrilla career had begun, was captured with Metcalf and Magruder. Carried to Louisville March 13, he was tried on the 14th, and hanged on the 15th. The endorsement for his execution was signed by Gen. John Palmer on March 13, a full day before his trial.

The sentence may or may not have been deserved. His sentence was endorsed prior to his trial, not to mention that the Cox family papers describe the capture differently from the trial transcript.

The other two men also were sentenced to hang. Magruder was hanged in October of 1865, but Lt. Henry Metcalf was inexplicably released and pardoned several months later. He was the mystery man in the barn, a story scheduled for the next issue of The Bugle.