Continuing with part 3 of Evelyn: A Romance of the War Between the States by Henry Mazyck Clarkson.

Dr. Clarkson was born in 1835 and enlisted in the SC militia in December of 1860 when he was 25 years old. He served in an artillery battery in Charleston, then in Boykin’s Mounted Rangers (aka the 2nd South Carolina Calvary Regiment). He wrote this lengthy poem just after the war. It was published in 1871.

Previously, in Evelyn, parts 1 & 2. . .

. . . we were introduced to Albert Ashleigh, “a goodly and gallant youth” of South Carolina, and to Evelyn, “beauteous child” of Virginia. They met  in Florence Italy, but a budding romance was cut short when Evelyn informed Albert that she was already betrothed by her father to another. Albert fled in despair.

Evelyn returned with her father to their home in Virginia, where she prays for Albert Ashleigh, though she knows not where he is. In the distance the rumbling of the coming war is heard.

Part 3 has three scenes. Scene one is the outbreak of the war as SC secedes in December, 1860. Scene two is the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862. Scene three is at Glen Arvon, the home of Evelyn, not far from the battlefield of Fredericksburg.

Evelyn, Part 3 from Rob Shearer on Vimeo.

Previously, in Evelyn, part 1. . .

. . . we were introduced to Albert Ashleigh, “a goodly and gallant youth” of South Carolina, and to Evelyn, “beauteous child” of Virginia. They met, somewhat surprisingly in Florence Italy.

How do these two young people come to be in Italy (I hear you asking)? Evelyn’s mother was Lucia, from Florence, Italy. She had married Evelyn’s father and moved to Virginia. Left behind is her childhood friend, Leonardo Vecchio, a painter who had loved her. When she became ill with consumption, she returned to her native Italy, where she died.

Albert Ashleigh of South Carolina is in Florence as a pupil to the painter Leonardo. He had been dispatched by Leonardo to find Lucia when he heard that she had returned to Italy. Sadly, Albert brings news of Lucia’s death in Milan to Leonardo – but recognizes the face of Lucia in the portrait that Leonardo has painted.

The last scene in part 1 was the funeral of Lucia in Milan. Leonardo and Albert attend and Albert first sees and is captivated by Evelyn, mourning her mother and comforting her father.

Evelyn, Part 2 from Rob Shearer on Vimeo.

Evelyn: A Romance of The War between the States
by Henry Mazyck Clarkson, M.A., M.D.
Charleston, S.C.
Walker, Evans & Cogswell, Printers
Nos. 3 Broad and 109 East Bay Streets
1871

Dr. Henry Mazyck Clarkson of Charleston, SC was my great-grandfather. He served in the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee as a surgeon. During the war, he married Jean Irvin Sayre of Alexandria VA. After the war, he settled in Haymarket, VA.

Henry Mazyck Clarkson was my great-grandfather. He was born in 1835 in Charleston, SC; graduated from the University of SC in 1855 and from the medical school of the University of PA in 1859.

During the War between the States, he served as a surgeon with the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee. During the war, he married Jean Irwin Sayre of Alexandria. After the war, they settled in Haymarket, VA where he practiced medicine – and wrote poetry.

Evelyn was published in 1871, when he was 36 years old.

In 1885, When he was 50, his tenth and last child, a son named Lee Massey Clarkson was born. Lee Massey was my grandfather. He married a bit later in life, at 34 in 1919. In 1920, my mother, Elizabeth Lee Clarkson, was born. She died in 2008.

One of her prize posessions was a small volume of her grandfather, Henry Mazyck Clarkson’s poems. I have my mother’s copy, but was surprised to discover that it was not the first volume my great-grandfather had written. Just this year, I acquired a reprint of his first published poetry, from 1871.

Below is a video of me reading Part I of Evelyn: A Romance of the War between the States.

Evelyn, Part 1 from Rob Shearer on Vimeo.