One of Clement's first teachers in Mocksville was Peter Ney (thought by some to be Napoleon's Marshall Ney). Later in life, Clement recalled the scar across Ney's forehead and the fencing lessons given the students using canes cut from the forest. At the age of sixteen, Clement entered Hugh Hill at Bethany in Iredell County. Afterward, he attended Rev. Baxter Clegg's school and Mocksville Academy. In 1844, he entered Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg and remained there for two years. Clement returned to Mocksville in 1846, studied law at Richmond Hill, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. After spending one term in the state legislature, he devoted the rest of his life to the practice of law. In his later years, he refused to appear for the prosecution in cases where a life was at stake. (Courtesy of Lash and Cyrette Sanford.)