Harry T. Hays
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Harry Thompson Hays (April 14, 1820 – August 21, 1876) was an American Civil War brigadier general who served in the Army of Northern Virginia. His brigade, the fabled "Louisiana Tigers", played a key role in the Battle of Gettysburg, where they ascended Cemetery Hill in the darkness and overran several artillery batteries before finally being driven off for lack of support.
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[edit] Early life and career
Harry Hays was born in Wilson County, Tennessee. Following the deaths of his parents, he was reared by an uncle in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He attended St. Mary’s College in Baltimore, Maryland, and studied law. He soon established a prominent law practice in New Orleans. He saw his first military service during the Mexican-American War, serving in the 5th Louisiana. Returning to Louisiana, he became active in politics as a Whig and served as a Presidential Elector supporting Winfield Scott in 1852.
[edit] Civil War
In 1861, Hays entered the Confederate States Army as Colonel of the 7th Louisiana Infantry. After fighting at the First Battle of Bull Run and Stonewall Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862, he suffered a severe wound at Port Republic. Recovering, he was promoted to brigadier general in July 1862, being assigned command of the First Louisiana Brigade to replace Richard Taylor, who had been promoted to major general and sent to the Western Theater. Hays lost half of his unit a few months later at Sharpsburg. Despite reduced numbers, he continued to lead his brigade at Fredericksburg in December 1862 and Chancellorsville in May 1863. At Gettysburg in July 1863, he directed his troops in a twilight assault on Cemetery Hill. The "Louisiana Tigers" stubbornly fought their way up the steep slope and, for a brief period of time, held several Union guns. However, as General Hays looked rearward, he was dismayed to see that no additional troops had been sent to his support. Reluctantly, and with casualties mounting, he ordered the remnant of his brigade to retire in the gathering darkness just as Federal reinforcements arrived to secure the heights.
Hays was briefly captured in November at Rappahannock Station but escaped. In fierce fighting at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 5, he lost a third of his remaining men. Five days later, he was badly wounded by a shell fragment at Spotsylvania. He never again served in the Army of Northern Virginia. Upon his recovery, he was transferred to the Trans-Mississippi, then was assigned command in Louisiana. In May 1865, Hays was promoted to major general by his superior, Edmund Kirby Smith, but with the demise of the Confederacy, the promotion never was formally approved by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
[edit] Postbellum career
After the war, Hays went back to New Orleans, where, after receiving a pardon from President Andrew Johnson, he served as sheriff of Orleans Parish for a year. He played a prominent role in quelling the July 1866 New Orleans Race Riot, at one time deputizing nearly two hundred of his former soldiers who were now members of the "Hays Brigade Relief Society." He was removed from office in November by the Federal Government at the insistence of influential former Union general Phillip H. Sheridan. He then returned to his law practice until this death at age 56 of Bright's disease. He is buried in Washington Avenue Cemetery in New Orleans.
Hays was a Freemason, receiving his degrees in Louisiana Lodge #102 in New Orleans.
[edit] References
- Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders, Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
- Files of the Gettysburg National Military Park, Gettysburg, PA.
