Henry Washington Hilliard

Henry Washington Hilliard

Circa 1892
Born (1808-08-04)August 4, 1808
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Died December 17, 1892(1892-12-17) (aged 84)
Atlanta, Georgia
Buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama
Allegiance Confederate States of America Confederate States of America
Service/branch  Confederate States Army
Years of service 18611862
Rank Brigadier General (CSA)
Battles/wars American Civil War

Henry Washington Hilliard (August 4, 1808 – December 17, 1892) was a U.S. Representative from Alabama and a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[1][2]

Early life

Hilliard was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina and graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1826. While at South Carolina College, he was active in the Euphradian Society.[3] He studied law and moved to Athens, Georgia, where he was admitted to the bar in 1829. He was a professor at the University of Alabama from 1831 to 1834, when he resigned to practice law in Montgomery, Alabama.[4]

He served as member of the state house of representatives in 1836–1838, as member of the Whig National Convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1839, Whig presidential elector in 1840 and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Twenty-seventh Congress in 1840.[2] He was chargé d'affaires to Belgium from May 12, 1842, to August 12, 1844.[5] Hilliard was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses (March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1851) but he was not a candidate for renomination in 1850.

In 1856, he served as presidential elector on the National American ticket.[4]

Civil War service

In 1861 he was appointed by Jefferson Davis Confederate commissioner to Tennessee. During the Civil War, he served as Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army.[1][4]

Hilliard's Legion was organized at Montgomery, Alabama in June, 1862, and consisted of five battalions; one of these, a mounted battalion, was early detached and became part of the Tenth Confederate cavalry. The Legion proceeded to Montgomery nearly 3,000 strong, under the command of Col. H. W. Hilliard, and was placed in McCown's Brigade. It took part in the siege of Cumberland Gap, and spent the fall and winter in Kentucky and east Tennessee.

Postbellum

He moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1865 and resumed the practice of his profession.[4] He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election in 1876 to the Forty-fifth Congress.

He resumed the practice of law in Augusta, Georgia, moving later to Atlanta. He was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil from July 31, 1877 to June 15, 1881.[5]

He died in Atlanta, Georgia, December 17, 1892 and was interred in Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Henry W. Hilliard". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Hilliard, Henry Washington, (1808 - 1892)". United States Congress. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  3. Durham, David. A Southern moderate in radical times: Henry Washington Hilliard, 1808-1892 (Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2008), 13–14.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Hilliard, Henry Washington". State Library of North Carolina. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Henry Washington Hilliard (1808–1892)". United States Department of State. Retrieved 4 August 2016.

References

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
James Edwin Belser
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Alabama's 2nd congressional district

March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1851
Succeeded by
James Abercrombie
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
James R. Partridge
United States Minister to Brazil
October 23, 1877 – June 15, 1881
Succeeded by
Thomas A. Osborn

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/31/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.