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Born in Camden County,
Georgia, William Joseph Hardee graduated from West Point in 1838,
being commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, 2nd Dragoons, July 1, 1838. He
served in the Florida War, 1838-1840 and was promoted to 1st
Lieutenant, 2nd Dragoons, December 3, 1839. He was at the Cavalry
School of Practice, Carlisle, PA, 1840-1842; in garrison at Baton
Rouge, LA, 1842-1843; and on Frontier Duty at Ft. Jesup, LA, 1843-
1845. He was promoted to Captain, 2nd Dragoons, September 13, 1844.
Hardee was in the Military Occupation of Texas, 1845-1846 and in
the War with Mexico, 1846-1848. He was engaged in the Skirmish at La
Rosia (30 miles above Matamoras), April 25, 1846, where he was
captured and held as a prisoner of war until his release on May 10,
1846; the Siege of Vera Cruz, March 9-29, 1847; and the Skirmish at
Medellin, March 25, 1847. He was breveted to Major, March 25, 1847,
for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Affair at Medellin, near
Vera Cruz.
He was thereafter engaged in the Skirmish at La Hoya, June 20,
1847; Battle of Contreras, August 19, 1847; and Skirmish at San
Agustin, August 20, 1847. He was breveted to Lieutenant Colonel,
August 20, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Affair
with the Enemy at San Agustin, Mexico. He was in the Battle of
Molino del Rey, September 8, 1847; and Operations before and Capture
of the City of Mexico, September 13-14, 1847.
Following the Mexican War, Hardee was on Recruiting Service,
1848; at the Cavalry School for Practice, Carlisle, PA, 1848; on
Frontier Duty, on the March from Ft. Brown to Laredo and San
Antonio, TX, 1848-1849; Ft. Inge, TX, 1849-1851; March to San Saba,
1851; and San Antonio, TX, 1851. He was on a leave of absence,
1852-1853; in paying troops in Florida, 1853; on Frontier Duty at
Ft. Graham, TX, 1853; in compiling, 1854-1855, Rifle and Light
Infantry Tactics, being chiefly a translation by Lieutenant Benet,
Ordnance Corps, U. S. Army, from the French which, adopted by the
revising board, was adopted March 29, 1855 for use of the Army and
Militia of the United States. Hardee was breveted to Major, 2nd
Cavalry, March 3, 1855.
He served in garrison at Jefferson Barracks, MO, 1855; on
Frontier Duty at Camp Cooper, TX, 1856; at Ft. Mason, TX, 1856; at
the Military Academy, 1856-1860, as Commandant of Cadets, July 22,
1856- September 8, 1860 (with local rank of Lieutenant Colonel from
June 12, 1858), and Instructor of Infantry Tactics, July 22,
1856-September 8, 1860, and of Artillery and Cavalry Tactics, August
8, 1860-September 8, 1860; and on leave of absence, 1860-1861. He
was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, 1st Cavalry, June 28, 1860.
On January 31, 1861, after Georgia seceded from the Union, he
resigned his commission. On June 17, 1861 he was commissioned a
Brigadier-General in the Confederacy, and on October 7, 1861
elevated to Major-General.
Early in the War he organized a brigade of Arkansas regiments and
operated there until summoned to join General Albert S. Johnston
just prior to the Battle of Shiloh. He subsequently commanded a wing
of the Army of Tennessee under Bragg in the Kentucky campaign and at
Murfreesboro. He was promoted to Lieutenant-General, to rank from
October 10, 1862. In 1862-1863 Hardee emerged as a leader of the
group of officers who opposed General Braxton Bragg, commander of
the Army of Tennessee. The resulting feud poisoned relations between
the army's generals, hampering military operations, demoralizing the
troops, and played a major role in the Confederacy's loss of the
West, Hardee was sent to Mississippi to help organize and command
troops there in July, 1863. In October, 1863 he returned to the Army
of Tennessee in command of a corps at Chattanooga. In November, when
Bragg resigned Hardee assumed command of the Army, making it clear
he did not want the job permanently. When Joseph E. Johnston was
placed at the head of the Army in late 1863 Hardee returned to his
corps and served under in the Atlanta campaign. Toward the end he
opposed Sherman in Georgia and South Carolina, and in the closing
weeks was again under Johnston, an old friend. After yielding
Savannah and Charleston to Sherman, in April, 1865 he surrendered in
North Carolina.
He was considered one of the outstanding corps commanders in
Confederate service. After the War Hardee returned to Selma, Alabama
as a planter. He died, while on a trip, at Wytheville, Virginia and
is buried in Live Oak Cemetery, Selma, Alabama.
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