Ophelia Clemens

Ophelia Clemens
Fictional Character
Southern Victory POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s):	How Few Remain, Blood and Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, Drive to the East, The Grapple
Type of Appearance:	Direct
Nationality:	United States
Religion:	Atheist
Date of Birth:	c. 1877
Occupation:	Journalist
Parents:	Samuel and Alexandra Clemens
Relatives:	Orion Clemens (brother) Vernon Perkins (maternal uncle)

Ophelia Clemens (born c. 1877) was an American journalist. She was the daughter of Samuel Clemens. During the Great War and the interwar occupation of Canada, she wrote several stories unflattering to General George Armstrong Custer, the military governor. While reporting on Custer, she met his adjutant, Abner Dowling.

During the Second Great War, Clemens continued her work despite being over sixty years old. She wrote several scathing stories about General Daniel MacArthur's failure to capture Fredericksburg and the heavy casualties the U.S. Forces suffered in the attempts.

She also uncovered large unexplained War Department expenditures in the 1942 Federal budget and began to investigate. She was dissuaded from doing so by Assistant Secretary of War Franklin Roosevelt and Congresswoman Flora Blackford, who both knew what she did not: that the expenditures were for the superbomb project.

Clemens also covered her old friend Abner Dowling's advance in western Texas. She and Dowling, in addition to enjoying working with one another, had a friendship wrought with sexual tension, much to the disgust of younger, fitter observers.

Clemens was horrified at the nature of Camp Determination and promised Dowling that she would publicize it until the Army was forced to give him all the resources he needed to shut it down as quickly as possible. Dowling asked her not to, citing his belief that it was more important that General Irving Morrell receive priority in resource allocation. He felt that he could only stop the kills at the one place but Morrell could stop it everywhere by defeating the Confederates.