{{short description|American poet}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}} {{Infobox politician | name = William Clark Falkner | image = William Clark Falkner.jpg | alt = | caption = William Clark Falkner | birth_date = {{birth date|1825|07|06}} or {{birth date|1826|07|06}} | birth_place = Knox County, Tennessee, USA | death_date = {{death date|1889|11|06}} (aged 63 or 64) | death_place = Mississippi, USA | relatives = William Faulkner (great-grandson) | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Holland Pearce|1847|1849|end=d.}} * {{marriage|Elizabeth Houston Vance|1851}} }} | children = 9 | module = {{Infobox military person | embed = yes | allegiance = United States of America<br/>Confederate States of America | branch = Army | rank = Colonel | unit = {{bulleted list|2nd Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers|Second Mississippi Infantry|1st Mississippi Partisan Rangers}} | commands = | battles = Mexican–American War American Civil War *First Battle of Bull Run *Battle of Iuka | awards = }} | office = Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the 1st district | term = 1889 }} '''William Clark Falkner''' (July 6, 1825 or 1826 – November 6, 1889) was a military veteran, businessman, author, and politician in northern Mississippi. He is most notable for the influence he had on the work of his great-grandson, author William Faulkner.
==Family background==
He was born in Knox County, Tennessee, to Joseph Falkner (or Forkner or Faulkner) and Caroline Word (or Ward). Both Caroline's paternal grandfather Charles and his brother Cuthbert died during the American Revolutionary War while serving under the command of George Washington. Her father, Thomas Adams Word, moved the family to Georgia in 1812. Caroline's sister, Justianna Dickinson Word, married John Wesley Thompson, who in 1834 was arrested for killing a man during a fight. He was acquitted, and afterwards he moved with Justianna to Ripley, Mississippi. Thompson eventually became a district attorney and later a district judge in Mississippi.{{sfn|Williamson|1993|pp=14-17}}
William Clark Falkner lived with his family in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri and Pontotoc, Mississippi, joining the Thompsons in Ripley in 1842.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Macon |first1=Frederick |title=Old Colonel William Clark Falkner, Author from Ripley Mississippi |url=https://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/mississippi-writers/william-clark-falkner |website=Mississippi Writers and Musicians|access-date=March 15, 2019}}</ref> In 1847, he married Holland Pearce. Their only child John Wesley Thompson Falkner, named after WC's uncle, was born in 1848. Holland died in 1849.{{sfn|Gresset|Scharff|1985|p=5}} Elizabeth Houston Vance (1833–1910) became his second wife in 1851. They were the parents of eight children:
*William Henry Falkner (1853–1878) - son *Willett Medora Falkner Carter (1856–1918) - daughter *Thomas Vance Falkner (1859–1861) - son *Lizzie Manassah Falkner (1861–1861) - daughter *Fannie Forest Falkner Dogan (1866–1929) - daughter *Effie Falkner Davis (1868–1957) - daughter *Alabama Leroy Falkner McLean (1874–1968) - daughter *Unknown (died young)
==Military service==
He served in the Mexican–American War as First Lieutenant of the 2nd Regiment of Mississippi Volunteers.<ref>Robarts, William Hugh (1887). ''Mexican War Veterans.'' Washington, DC, p. 59.</ref> Per Richard Bruce Winders' history of the Mississippi Rifles:
{{blockquote|text=William C. Faulkner...had gone riding outside the city limits when he was fired on from ambush. The first lieutenant of the Tippah Guards, Faulkner was struck twice by the shots with one ball entering his left foot and another carrying away the ends of three fingers from his left hand. Although not life- threatening, the painful wounds prevented Faulkner from effectively performing his duties, and the lieutenant asked for a medical discharge. Afterward, it was claimed by a fellow officer, 2nd Lt. Thomas C. Hindman, Faulkner had been shot while visiting Aguas Calientes, a popular village nearby that had been placed off limits by General Taylor. According to Hindman, the assailants were not guerrillas but instead Faulkner's rival for the hand of a local ''señorita''. The feud between the two officers continued after they both returned home, culminating when Faulkner killed Hindman’s brother Robert with a bowie knife on the streets of Ripley, Mississippi. Like Faulkner and his brother, Thomas, Robert had been a member of the Tippah Guards although only a private.|source=''Panting For Glory: The Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War'' (2016)<ref>{{cite book |last=Winders |first=Richard Bruce |title=Panting For Glory: The Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2016 |isbn=9781623494179 |series=No. 151 Williams-Ford Military History Series |location=College Station, Texas |pages=104 |language=en-us |lccn=2016004930 |id={{Project MUSE|46192|type=book}}}}</ref>}}
When the American Civil War broke out, he raised a company of men and was made colonel in the Second Mississippi Infantry of the Confederate Army, leading the regiment at the First Battle of Bull Run. Later, he was demoted in an election of officers, so he returned to Mississippi in the summer of 1862 and formed a unit known as the 1st Mississippi Partisan Rangers.<ref>{{cite book|first=Dunbar|last=Rowland|title=Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898.}} and {{cite book|first=H. Grady|last=Howell|title=For Dixie Land, I'll Take My Stand}} cited by {{cite web|url=http://www.mississippiscv.org/MS_Units/1st_Regt_MS_Partisan_Rangers.htm|title=1st Regiment, Mississippi Partisan Rangers (Falkner's), aka 7th Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry|access-date=May 7, 2014|publisher=Mississippi Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans|work=Unit Histories - Mississippi CSA|archive-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310012408/http://www.mississippiscv.org/ms_units/1st_regt_ms_partisan_rangers.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Falkner's new regiment suffered major losses during raids by Federal cavalry in November 1862 and April 1863. Frustrated in his ambitions to gain a promotion to brigadier general, Falkner resigned his officer's commission in October 1863.<ref name="Brown">{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Andrew |title=The First Mississippi Partisan Rangers, C.S.A. |journal=Civil War History |date=December 1955 |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=371–399 |doi=10.1353/cwh.1955.0076 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/416531/summary|access-date=25 June 2024|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He never regained a prominent role in the Confederate Army, but he was forever known as "Colonel Falkner" or just "The Old Colonel" after the war.{{sfn|Hamblin|Peek|1999|pp=125-127}}
==Later life and death==
During Reconstruction, he was active in rebuilding northern Mississippi and founded the Ship Island, Ripley, and Kentucky Railroad Company. The first station on the line north of Ripley was located in what is now the community of Falkner.{{sfn|Hamblin|Peek|1999|pp=125-127}}
On November 5, 1889, he was shot by Richard Jackson Thurmond, a former business partner. The motive for the shooting was believed to have been a lingering grudge dating back to their partnership.<ref>{{cite web |title=Death of Col. W. C. Falkner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29390755/death_of_col_w_c_falkner/ |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Vicksburg Evening Post |date=November 9, 1889}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Aftermath of killing of Col. W. C. Falkner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29391104/aftermath_of_killing_of_col_w_c/ |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=The Clarion-Ledger |date=November 14, 1889}}</ref> Falkner had just been elected to serve in the Mississippi legislature. He died the next day.<ref name=mwp>{{cite web|last1=Hagood|first1=Taylor|title=Falkner, William Clark|url=http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/falkner_william_clark/|website=Mississippi Writers Page|publisher=University of Mississippi|date=June 2003|access-date=September 15, 2015|archive-date=December 3, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203185059/http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/falkner_william_clark/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Literary works==
Falkner was also an author, writing novels, poems, a travelogue, and at least one play. His most famous work was a novel entitled ''The White Rose of Memphis'' (New York, G. W. Carleton & co.; 1881), a murder mystery set on board a steamboat of the same name. This work was popular enough to be reprinted several times through the early 20th century, selling over 160,000 copies.<ref name=mwp/><ref name=umich>{{cite web|title=Family and Early Life|url=http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/faulknersite/faulknersite/family/family.html |website=Faulkner Site|publisher=University of Michigan|access-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419125131/http://www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/faulknersite/faulknersite/family/family.html|archive-date=April 19, 2009|date=August 1998}}</ref>
Partial source: Mississippi Writers and Musicians<ref>{{cite web |last1=Macon |first1=Frederick |title=Old Colonel William Clark Falkner, Author from Ripley Mississippi |url=https://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/mississippi-writers/william-clark-falkner }}</ref>
*The Life and Confession of A. J. MacCannon, Murderer of the Adcock Family (1845) *{{cite book|title=The Siege of Monterey: a Poem. |date=1851|isbn=9780452006461|oclc=18810792|last1=Faulkner|first1=William|publisher=New American Library|ref=none}} *{{cite book |last1=Falkner |first1=William C. |title=The Spanish Heroine: A Tale Of War And Love |date=1851|publisher=Kessinger |isbn=978-1-167-19015-5|oclc= 4405424|ref=none}} *The Lost Diamond (1867) *{{cite book|title=The White Rose of Memphis|date=1881 |isbn=978-1-5309-4539-9|oclc=1086801486|last1=Falkner |first1=William C. |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|ref=none}} *{{cite book |title=The Little Brick Church |date=1882 |isbn=978-0839805502|oclc=221914635|last1=Falkner |first1=William Clark |publisher=Literature House|ref=none}} *{{cite book |title=Rapid Ramblings in Europe |date=1882 |isbn=978-1330930946|oclc=945914487|last1=Falkner |first1=William C. |publisher=FB&C Limited|ref=none}} *{{cite book |title=Lady Olivia, a novel |date=1895 |isbn=9780452006461 |oclc=38617650|last1=Faulkner |first1=William |publisher=New American Library|ref=none}}
==Influence== WC Falkner's oldest child John Wesley Thompson Falkner was the father of Murry Cuthbert Falkner. Murry's oldest child was Nobel Laureate author William Faulkner. As a child, William (who later changed his surname to Faulkner) reportedly said, "I want to be a writer like my great-granddaddy." The elder Falkner served as the model for the character of Colonel John Sartoris,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Other William C. Falkner |url=https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-other-william-c-falkner/ |publisher=Abbeville Institute |access-date=March 15, 2019}}</ref> who appeared in the novels ''Sartoris'' (1929; reissued in an expanded edition as ''Flags in the Dust'', 1973) and ''The Unvanquished'' (1938), as well as a number of short stories. Thus, Colonel Falkner is the inspiration for an integral part of the history of Faulkner's fictional Yoknapatawpha County.<ref name=mwp/><ref name=umich/> Faulkner's short story "Knight's Gambit" (in the 1949 collection ''Knight's Gambit'') has been viewed as including a commentary on Falkner's ''The White Rose of Memphis'' (1881).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kalfatovic|first=Martin R.|date=1987|title=Faulkner's Knight's Gamibit|url=https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/2074/Kalfatovic_Explicator_1987.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|journal=The Explicator|volume=45|issue=3|pages=47–48|doi=10.1080/00144940.1987.9938682}}</ref>
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last1=Gresset |first1=Michel |last2=Scharff |first2=Arthur B. |title=A Faulkner Chronology |date=1985 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson, MS |isbn=0-87805-229-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_e0j3 }} *{{cite book |last1=Hamblin |first1=Robert W. |last2=Peek |first2=Charles A. |title=A William Faulkner Encyclopedia |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |url=https://archive.org/details/williamfaulknere0000unse_z3k0 |isbn=0-313-29851-3 |url-access=}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}} *{{cite book |last1=Williamson |first1=Joel |title=William Faulkner and Southern History |date=1993 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-507404-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/williamfaulkners00will }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=40997| name=Clark Falkner}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=William Clark Falkner |birth=1825 |death=1889}} * {{Find a Grave|5383|access-date=2008-10-19}}
{{William Faulkner|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falkner, William Clark}} Category:1820s births Category:1889 deaths Category:People from Knox County, Tennessee Category:19th-century American business executives in rail transportation Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Category:19th-century American novelists Category:19th-century American travel writers Category:Deaths by firearm in Mississippi Category:Confederate States Army officers Category:Businesspeople from Mississippi Category:Members of the Mississippi Legislature Category:People from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri Category:People from Pontotoc, Mississippi Category:People murdered in Mississippi Category:People of Mississippi in the American Civil War Category:William Faulkner Category:19th-century American poets Category:American male novelists Category:American male poets Category:People from Ripley, Mississippi Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Writers from Missouri Category:Writers from Mississippi Category:People murdered in 1889 Category:19th-century American male writers