Henry M. Hoyt

The Honorable Henry Martyn Hoyt, Sr.
18th Governor of Pennsylvania
In office January 21, 1879 – January 16, 1883
Lieutenant	Charles W. Stone
Preceded by	John F. Hartranft
Succeeded by	Robert E. Pattison
Personal details
Born	June 8, 1830 Kingston, Pennsylvania
Died	December 1, 1892(1892-12-01) (aged 62)
Political party	Republican
Children	Helen Hoyt Henry Martyn Hoyt, Jr.

Henry Martyn Hoyt, Sr. (June 8, 1830 – December 1, 1892) was the 18th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1879 to 1883, as well as a general in the Union army during the American Civil War.

Early life and career

Hoyt was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania and attended Wyoming Seminary. He first attended Lafayette College from 1845-48. He then attended Williams College graduating in 1849 with Phi Beta Kappa honors, as a member of The Kappa Alpha Society. From 1851 to 1853 he taught Mathematics at Wyoming Seminary. Hoyt first held elected office as a district attorney. He was married to Mary Loveland and had three children, one of them the minor poet Helen Hoyt, and Henry Martyn Hoyt, Jr. (December 1856 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – 1910) and Maud Buckingham Hoyt (July 12, 1859 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. – ?). He was also the grandfather of the poet Elinor Wylie. A member of the Whig Party, Hoyt participated in John Fremont's 1856 presidential campaign.

Henry M.Hoyt was the son of Ziba and Nancy (Herbert) Hoyt. Ziba Hoyt was born in Connecticut in September 1788 and died in December 1853 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Henry M. Hoyt was grandson of Daniel and Ann (Gunn) Hoyt, nephew of Levi Hoyt. They were descended from Walter Hoyt (1616 - 1698), who was born in West Hatch, Somerset, England and settled in the Connecticut Colony.^[1] The Hoyts settled in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Henry M. Hoyt married Mary Elizabeth Loveland daughter of Elijah and Mary (Buckingham) Loveland. Henry and Mary Elizabeth (Loveland) Hoyt were married On September 25, 1855. Mary Elizabeth (Loveland) Hoyt was born April 1833 and died October 1890 Luzerne County,Pennsylvania.

Military career

As a soldier in the Civil War, Hoyt was initially commissioned as Lieutenant Colonel, then as colonel of the 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry, leading it during the Peninsula Campaign and subsequent actions of the Army of the Potomac until January 1863, the regiment was ordered to Charleston, South Carolina.

He participated in the siege of Morris Island under Brig. Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore. Hoyt led troops in a rare night attack on Fort Johnson, steathily arriving in the darkness via boats. He initially captured the fort, but was unable to hold it for lack of reinforcements and he and many of his men were captured in a Confederate counterattack. After being confined in Macon, Georgia, Hoyt was taken back to Charleston, and escaped briefly before being recaptured.

Upon his eventual exchange, he rejoined his regiment, with which he remained till the close of the war, when he was mustered out with the rank of brevet brigadier general.

Law career

After the war, Hoyt returned to his law practice. After briefly serving as a judge, he rose in influence with the Republican party and chaired the state Republican party from 1875 to 1876. He won the governor's seat in 1878, the third consecutive Civil War general to hold the office. During his term, the debt of the state was reduced to $10,000,000, and refunded at the rate of three per cent.

In 1881 he received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Pennsylvania and also from Lafayette College. He authored two books—"Controversy between Connecticut and Pennsylvania" (Philadelphia, 1879) and "Protection vs. Free Trade" (New York, 1885).

In memoriam

Hoyt has a residence hall in the South Halls section of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania State University named after him. He is buried next to his wife in the Forty Fort Cemetery in Luzerne County, Pa.

See also

• List of American Civil War generals

Notes

References

• State of Pennsylvania official webpage for Governor Hoyt

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1891). "^{article name needed}". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. 

External links

• Henry M. Hoyt at Find a Grave

Governors and Presidents of Pennsylvania Presidents (1777–90) Wharton Bryan Reed Moore Dickinson Franklin Mifflin Governors (since 1790) Mifflin McKean Snyder Findlay Hiester Shulze G. Wolf Ritner Porter Shunk Johnston Bigler Pollock Packer Curtin Geary Hartranft Hoyt Pattison Beaver Pattison Hastings Stone Pennypacker Stuart Tener Brumbaugh Sproul Pinchot Fisher Pinchot Earle James Martin Bell Duff Fine Leader Lawrence Scranton Shafer Shapp Thornburgh Casey Ridge Schweiker Rendell Corbett T. Wolf