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William Joseph Hardee

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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WILLIAM JOSEPH HARDEE (1815-1873), American soldier, was born in Savannah, Georgia, on the 10th of November 1815 and graduated from West Point in 1838. As a subaltern of cavalry he was employed on a special mission to Europe to study the cavalry methods in vogue (1839). He was promoted captain in 1844 and served under Generals Taylor and Scott in the Mexican War, winning the brevet of major for gallantry in action in March 1847 and subsequently that of lieut.-colonel. After the war he served as a substantive major under Colonel Sidney Johnston and Lieut.-Colonel Robert Lee in the 2nd U.S. cavalry, and for some time before 1856 he was engaged in compiling the official manual of infantry drill and tactics which, familiarly called "Hardee's Tactics," afterwards formed the text-book for the infantry arm in both the Federal and the Confederate armies. From 1856 to 1861 he was commandant of West Point, resigning his commission on the secession of his state in the latter year. Entering the Confederate service as a colonel, he was shortly promoted brigadier-general. He distinguished himself very greatly by his tactical leadership on the field of Shiloh, and was immediately promoted major-general. As a corps commander he fought under General Bragg at Perryville and Stone River, and for his distinguished services in these battles was promoted lieutenant-general. He served in the latter part of the campaign of 1863 under Bragg and in that of 1864 under J. E. Johnston. When the latter officer was superseded by Hood, Hardee was relieved at his own request, and for the remainder of the war he served in the Carolinas. When the Civil War came to an end in 1865 he retired to his plantation near Selma, Alabama. He died at Wytheville, Virginia, on the 6th of November 1873.