Brother Clay Thomas Hoffman was born in Seattle, Washington in 1960. He attended UCLA and UC San Diego, graduating from the latter. Clay is a Life Member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and currently serves as Historian for the Sgt. William Pittenger Camp No. 21 of San Diego County, and as Patriotic Instructor for the Department of California and Pacific. He is a Hereditary Companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), and a member of the Blue and Gray Education Society, General Meade Society, Longstreet Society and the Scottsdale and San Diego Civil War Round Tables. Clay has authored many published articles and two books, and is currently working on a book about Union Army chaplains.

Brother Clay proudly represents the following ancestors:

• Sergeant Francis Xavier Sermersheim, Company K, 27th Indiana Infantry
• Captain Morman Fisher, Company M, 10th Indiana Cavalry
• Colonel Philip Hornbrook, Military Agent of the State of Indiana, 1861 – 1865.