10/19/2026
On this day, in 1810, Cassius Marcellus Clay was born.
The youngest son of Green Clay and Sally Lewis Clay, Cassius Clay was a troublemaker from the start. One story from his childhood that particularly stands out is when he was once reprimanded by his mother for telling a lie. He later remembered in his memoir, “She ordered me sternly to come to her; but, as I had once tested her mettle, I was more inclined to take "to my heels," and I ran. She was not a woman to be trifled with…So she made chase; and all the house-servants, and all the kitchenservants joined in the pursuit. Finding that I would be overtaken, I concluded to fight. There was a pile of stone-siftings, left over from an out-building of considerable size, upon which I took my stand, and made things lively…So the dear old mother had to come herself. Thank God, I never in childhood even raised my hand or turned my heart against her. So I surrendered. This was my second whipping, and the last.”
Cassius Clay would go on to become one of the most well known anti-slavery advocates in the country. He survived a duel in 1841, an assassination attempt in 1843, and a brawl at a political debate that lead to a knife wound to his right lung in 1849. After being appointed Minister to Russia by President Abraham Lincoln, he helped secure a military alliance between the Union and the Russians, and helped the U.S. government purchase Alaska in 1867.
He was also a controversial figure that caused scandalous headlines in newspapers across the country. Despite being an anti-slavery advocate, he continued to enslave people until the 13th amendment passed. His wife of over 40 years, Mary Jane Warfield, left him and they divorced after he adopted a Russian boy who was likely his son. In 1894, at the age of 84, he married a 15 year old girl, and in 1901, any the age of 90, shot at a sheriff and a group of deputies who had come to his home to serve a warrant.
Cassius Clay, like all of us, is not one single thing. He was a son, a brother, a father, a husband, a friend, an enemy, an enslaver, a killer, a scholar. He had great faults, but saw great triumphs as well. He turns 216 years old today.
