Robert A. Hardaway
Encyclopedia
Pre-War
Robert Archelaus Hardaway was a native of GeorgiaGeorgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
– born there B. Feb. 2, 1829; but he was raised in Alabama. His parents were Robert Stanfield Hardaway and his second wife, Martha Bibb Jarratt. Hardaway was educated at St. Joseph's College (Alabama), and Emory College, later Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, in Georgia. Hardaway served with the United States Army during the Mexican War, but the war ended before he could see combat. After that war, he was the superintendent of the Mobile and Girard Railroad. He resided in Macon County, Alabama
Macon County, Alabama
Macon County is a county in the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a member of the United States Senate from North Carolina. Developed for cotton plantation agriculture in the nineteenth century, it is one of the counties in Alabama within the Black Belt of the South.As...
before the outbreak of war. Hardaway purchased his father’s plantation in 1857, becoming owner of its 60 slaves. On June 27 of the same year, he married Rebecca Elizabeth Hurt. They had three sons.
Civil War
Hardway began the war as commander of an AlabamaAlabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
battery. It was recruited mostly in three counties, Macon, Russell and Tallapoosa. The battery was sent East, where it was mustered into the Confederate service on June 21, 1861. The battery was posted at Manassas, Virginia
Manassas, Virginia
The City of Manassas is an independent city surrounded by Prince William County and the independent city of Manassas Park in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Its population was 37,821 as of 2010. Manassas also surrounds the county seat for Prince William County but that county...
until March, 1862. Hardaway’s command moved to the Virginia Peninsula, where it fought at the Battle of Seven Pines
Battle of Seven Pines
The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive up the Virginia Peninsula by Union Maj. Gen....
in the division of MG D. H. Hill. The battery took part in the Seven Days Battles
Seven Days Battles
The Seven Days Battles was a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Confederate General Robert E. Lee drove the invading Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, away from...
. Hill’s division remained near Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
until it departed to participate in the Maryland Campaign
Maryland Campaign
The Maryland Campaign, or the Antietam Campaign is widely considered one of the major turning points of the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North was repulsed by Maj. Gen. George B...
. Hardaway was commended by Confederate commanders for the conduct of his battery in the campaign. Later in the year, serving near Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Fredericksburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia located south of Washington, D.C., and north of Richmond. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 24,286...
, Hardaway’s gunners, using a Whitworth gun (designed by Joseph Whitworth
Joseph Whitworth
Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system, which created an accepted standard for screw threads...
, drove federal gunboats away from Port Royal, Virginia
Port Royal, Virginia
Port Royal is an incorporated town in Caroline County, Virginia, United States. The population was 170 at the 2000 census.Port Royal was established in the mid-17th century in the Colony of Virginia primary as a port on a navigable portion of the Rappahannock River for export of tobacco, Virginia's...
on December 4, 1862. Both Hill and Stonewall Jackson
Stonewall Jackson
ຄຽשת״ׇׂׂׂׂ֣|birth_place= Clarksburg, Virginia |death_place=Guinea Station, Virginia|placeofburial=Stonewall Jackson Memorial CemeteryLexington, Virginia|placeofburial_label= Place of burial|image=...
commended Hardaway for his actions at the Battle of Fredricksburg. Shortly afterward, he was assigned command of an artillery battalion, and Captain William B. Hurt took command of the battery.
Apparently Hardaway was promoted to the rank of major on December 2, 1862.anmd to lieutenant colonel on Feb. 27, 1864. Col Stapleton Crutchfield
Stapleton Crutchfield
Stapleton Crutchfield served as a Confederate artillerist in the American Civil War. He was closely associated with Stonewall Jackson until the latter's death. Crutchfield lost a leg in battle, removing him from service in the field...
, Jackson’s chief of artillery, objected to the promotion, claiming that Hardaway was a fine gunner but hard on both men and horses. Nonetheless, the promotion of Hardaway went through. As a major, Hardaway became second in command of Ltc John J. Garnett’s artillery battalion, attached to the division of MG Robert H. Anderson. The division fought at the Battle of Chancellorsville
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...
directly under the command of Gen Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
. General Lee had Hardaway assemble a group of rifled guns to bombard the federal camps on morning of May 4, 1863. Hardaway became ill with dysentery, missing the Gettysburg Campaign
Gettysburg Campaign
The Gettysburg Campaign was a series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War. After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for offensive operations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The...
. He returned to active duty in time for the Mine Run Campaign in the fall of 1863.
In the Battle of the Wilderness
Battle of the Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...
, Hardaway commanded his battalion in the corps of Ltg Richard S. Ewell
Richard S. Ewell
Richard Stoddert Ewell was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He achieved fame as a senior commander under Stonewall Jackson and Robert E...
in the portion of the artillery contingent led by Col J. Thompson Brown
J. Thompson Brown
John Thompson Brown was a Confederate artillerist in the American Civil War. He was killed by a sharpshooter in the Battle of the Wilderness.-Civil War:...
. The battalion continued in that corps throughout the Overland Campaign
Overland Campaign
The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...
. Hardaway’s guns were in the second line of Ewell’s corps at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania , was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the bloody but inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness, Grant's army disengaged...
, but some of them were moved up to the line of a gorge to contain the federal breakthrough on May 11. When the corps, led by Jubal Early left to defend Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
, Hardaway’s battalion remained behind. It was assigned to the defenses of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, reporting to BG Edward Porter Alexander
Edward Porter Alexander
Edward Porter Alexander was an engineer, an officer in the U.S. Army, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and later a railroad executive, planter, and author....
. The battalion played a role in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm
Battle of Chaffin's Farm
The Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights, also known as Laurel Hill and combats at Forts Harrison, Johnson, and Gilmer, was fought September 29–30, 1864, as part of the Siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War.-Background:...
and spent much of late 1864 assigned to the defenses of Chaffin's Bluff
Chaffin's Bluff
Chaffin's Bluff is located in Henrico County, Virginia, United States, along the James River. Chaffin's Bluff on the north side of the river opposite Drewry's Bluff, long-considered a major defense point of the river below Richmond...
.
When the corps formerly led by Ewell and Early returned to the defenses of Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg, Virginia
Petersburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States located on the Appomattox River and south of the state capital city of Richmond. The city's population was 32,420 as of 2010, predominantly of African-American ethnicity...
with MG John Brown Gordon
John Brown Gordon
John Brown Gordon was one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted Confederate generals during the American Civil War. After the war, he was a strong opponent of Reconstruction and is thought by some to have been the titular leader of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia during the late 1860s. A member of the...
as its commander, Hardaway’s battalion returned to that corps. Hardaway’s gunners served under Gordon in the Appomattox Campaign
Appomattox Campaign
The Appomattox Campaign was a series of battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865, in Virginia that culminated in the surrender of Confederate General Robert E...
, firing one of the last shots before Lee’s surrender. Hardaway was paroled on May 10, 1864.
Post war
After the war, returned to his plantation in Georgia. Then he went into railroad work, including as general manager of the East Alabama Railroad, 1869-1872. Hardway was an engineering professor at Auburn UniversityAuburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
from 1873 to 1881, and at the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
from 1882 to 1897. In between, he was an engineer for the Central Railroad in Mexico in 1881 and 1882. Hardaway died on April 27, 1899 in Columbus, Georgia.
Hardaway’s papers are at the University of North Carolina libraries as Collection Number 03006.http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/h/Hardaway,Robert_Archelaus.html
Hardaway Hall, University of Alabama, which was completed in 1936, was named for Professor Robert A. Hardaway.http://tour.ua.edu/tourstops/hardaway.html
Sources
- Dictionary of Alabama Biography, ed. Thomas McAdory Owen and Marie Bankhead Owen, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1921, vol. 4, p. 1841.
- A Life in Letters: Col. Robert A. Hardaway in the Civil War and the New South (Educator’s Guide to an Exhibit at the Columbus Museum)http://www.columbusmuseum.com/education/images/edu_services/Life%20in%20Letters%20Educator%20Guide.pdf
- Sears, Stephen W., Chancellorsville, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN 978-0-395-63417-2
- Wise, Jennings C., The Long Arm of Lee: the History of the Artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia, New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.