Throwback Thursday – Who was the boy named Sue?

Throwback Thursday this week is a Civil War story—part legend, all intrigue. In 1844, Marcellus Jerome Clarke was born in nearby Franklin. At 17, he enlisted in the Confederate Infantry in the First Kentucky Brigade. But he may have gained fame as a boy named Sue.

Clarke served four years in the Confederate Army, seeing battles all over Kentucky and the Smoky Mountains. In 1864, the newly-promoted Captain Clarke was assigned to General John Hunt Morgan’s brigade. Morgan’s men ravaged thru Kentucky, pillaging and raiding all summer long.

When General Morgan died that fall, Captain Clarke started his own guerrilla bandit gang. His men destroyed supply lines and fought Union soldiers using unconventional methods. 

George Prentice, Editor of the Louisville Journal, created a fictional editorial character named “Sue Mundy,” whose guerrilla tactics just like Clarke’s caused problems for Louisville. Prentice used the “Sue” character to mock and shame Union General Stephen Burbridge. The general was better known as “the Butcher of Kentucky” after enforcing martial law to control Confederate sympathizers. 

Meanwhile, Captain Clarke and his bandits were captured in March 1865 in Breckenridge County. The guilty verdict for Sue Mundy’s trial was reached before the trial even started. Thousands the public hanging in Louisville. Buttons were cut off Clarke’s uniform for sale, and three men were arrested for fighting over his hat.

But was Captain Clarke really Sue Mundy? One of his bandits, Henry MacGruder, was also captured that night. He also joined the Confederate Army at 17, was a Kentucky native, and one of General Morgan’s raiders. Henry MacGruder wrote a memoir from prison over the next few months, claiming he was the real Sue Mundy. He was hanged as a spy and terrorist October 1865. So who was the boy named Sue?