Serving Nation and Community: A Tribute to Dr. Clarence M. Slack
Liam Smith
This Sunday, April 21, 2024 is the 126th anniversary of the beginning of the Spanish-American War. In recognition of this event, Elmwood Cemetery is proud to be hosting New Brunswick's Forgotten Heroes: Stories of the Spanish American War, a mini walking tour meant to highlight some of the stories of Elmwood Cemetery’s Spanish-American War veterans. Today’s blog post features the story of one of the men on the tour, Dr. Clarence M. Slack.
The Spanish American War has its roots in Cuba’s fight for independence, which had started years earlier. Fighting on the island was ruinous to investments that had been made on the island by U.S. industrialists and speculators and it sparked widespread fears about a humanitarian disaster on the island. America’s newspapers, which at the time were very interested in sensationalism as a tactic to increase sales, were quite willing to carry graphic stories of Cuban civilians suffering from hunger and disease.
In response to the news out of Cuba, there was widespread support for Cuban Independence as a means to end the conflict. Americans believed a quick end to the war was essential for ending the humanitarian crisis and to remove from authority the Spanish, whose policies were largely blamed for causing the inhumane conditions that Cubans were suffering through. The U.S. Navy would send the battleship Maine to the port of Havana as a means of protecting American citizens and their property in the city, which had been ravaged by riots since December of 1897.
On February 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine would explode while in Havana port. The cause has never been confirmed; different investigatory panels have concluded it was due to a malfunction of the ship's boilers or that the ship hit a mine. Regardless of the cause, the American newspapers were quick to assign blame to Spain, and it is undeniable that the sinking and subsequent media campaign to “Remember the Maine” were a significant influence on the declaration of war two months later.
Dr. Clarence M. Slack lived a life devoted to service in so many ways. Born on January 23, 1841, Dr. Slack would grow up in Hightstown, becoming a telegraph operator. He would pursue a greater calling, however, and would study at Jefferson Medical College in Pennsylvania to practice medicine. By the time he graduated in 1864 the United States had been engulfed in the Civil War for three years and Dr. Slack would enlist in the Navy as a physician. He would serve for less than a year aboard the U.S.S. Pembina before being discharged due to the conclusion of the war.
Upon returning to New Jersey, he would first head to Dayton, NJ to start practicing medicine. In 1868 he would marry Mary Conover of Red Bank, NJ. In 1880 they would move to New Brunswick, practicing first on Patterson Street and then George Street.
When the Spanish-American War broke out, Dr. Slack was again moved to serve his country, joining the Third New Jersey Infantry Regiment as a Surgeon. The regiment would be organized and mustered into service at Sea Girt, NJ between May 11 and May 13, 1898 with 51 officers and 979 enlisted men.
The various companies of the regiment would serve all over the East Coast before all reconvening at Pompton Lakes, NJ on September 22. The Regiment would leave Pompton Lakes on November 12 and would arrive at Athens, Georgia on November 13. The Regiment would be assigned to the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Second Army Corps. The regiment would be mustered out on February 11, 1889, with 48 officers and 1035 enlisted men at that point.
As was the case with most soldiers during the Spanish-American War, the Third New Jersey Infantry remained stateside. Still, the Third Infantry regiment reportedly lost two soldiers to disease and one to an accident, so it is possible that Dr. Slack was called upon in his capacity as a surgeon. Dr. Slack would serve with the Field and Staff, looking after all companies of the regiment in his role as a surgeon, and would quickly be promoted, rising from a First Lieutenant to a Captain and eventually a Major.
After the war he would return to New Brunswick to continue practicing medicine. He would build himself a new home on the corner of Livingston Avenue and Morris Street, where he would continue to practice medicine. He would retire around 1908 and would get into real estate in Florida. He would winter in St. Petersburg, where he purchased land, while spending his summers up in New Jersey. He would also purchase a farm in Glendola, outside of Belmar, NJ, which he would sell in the last years of his life.
Dr. Slack was also deeply involved in politics. He served for a time as County Clerk here in Middlesex County and in December of 1919 it was reported in New Brunswick’s newspapers that he had become the mayor of St. Petersburg. His primary residence by the end of his life was St. Petersburg, and he would pass away there on January 28, 1923. His body would be returned to New Brunswick in the last week of March, 1923, where he was finally buried here at Elmwood.
During his life he was a member of the Middlesex County and New Jersey Medical Societies, Order of Military Surgeons, Freemasons, Mystic Shrine, Knights of Pythias, and the Grand Army of the Republic. Dr. Slack is still being remembered to this day. In July of 2023 the Township of South Brunswick named his Dayton home a historical landmark; Dr. Slack is remembered as Dayton’s first doctor, and the property, even after he sold it, would continue to be occupied as a doctor’s practice until 1934.
Sources:
Correspondence Relating to the War with Spain. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1902.
“Dr. C. M. Slack Passes Away at St. Petersburg.” The Daily Home News. January 29, 1923. http://newbrunswick.archivalweb.com/imageViewer.php?r=1451&in=536&d=0&s=q%3DClarence%2Bslack%26p%3D2%26r%3D0.
“Dr. Slack Mayor of Florida Town at 79 Years.” The Daily Home News. December 31, 1919. http://newbrunswick.archivalweb.com/imageViewer.php?i=1630620&q=Clarence%20slack&s=q%3DClarence%2Bslack%26p%3D2%26r%3D0.
McSherry, Patrick. “A Brief History of the 3rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry.” The Spanish American War Centennial Website. Accessed April 15, 2024. https://www.spanamwar.com/3rdnewjersey.html.
O’Donnell, Chuck. “The Long, Amazing Journey to Honor a New Brunswick Son, Fallen Naval Hero.” TAP Into New Brunswick, May 29, 2022. https://www.tapinto.net/towns/new-brunswick/sections/education/articles/the-long-amazing-journey-to-honor-a-new-brunswick-son-fallen-naval-hero.
“Obituary for Clarence M. Slack.” Monmouth Democrat. April 5, 1923. https://www.newspapers.com/article/monmouth-democrat-obituary-for-clarence/55036516/.
“Photographs of Officers of the New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, 1898-1904.” New Jersey Department of State. Accessed March 25, 2024. https://www.nj.gov/state/archives/sdea5005.html.
Report of the Adjunct-General of the State of New Jersey for the Year Ending October 31, 1898. Somerville, NJ: Unionist-Gazette Association, State Printers, 1899.
Salvadore, Sarah. “South Brunswick’s Slack-Carroll House Is Now a Historic Landmark.” South Brunswick, NJ Patch, July 12, 2023. https://patch.com/new-jersey/southbrunswick/south-brunswick-s-slack-carroll-house-now-historic-landmark.
"Slack, Clarence M.." Digital images, Fold3.com, Roll Number 310; citing Civil War Pensions: NARA catalog ID 2588825.
“Spanish-American War.” Encyclopædia Britannica, March 29, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/event/Spanish-American-War.
“The Spanish-American War, 1898.” Office of the Historian. Accessed April 12, 2024. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/spanish-american-war.