General William J. Hardee: Old Reliable (Southern Biography Series)

Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes Jr.

In 1861, William J. Hardee left the United States Army after twenty-five years of service and became a colonel in the army of the southern confederacy. Like Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet, he was to become one of the outstanding corps commanders of the South.

This well-researched volume on Hardee's life leads from his birth on the Georgia-Florida frontier in 1815, through his time in the Seminole and Mexican Wars, to West Point, where in 1860 he became commandant of cadets. During these years he earned a reputation as an energetic and imaginative officer. His book, Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, was the standard infantry officer's guide for both sides in the Civil War.

During the war Hardee rose in rank rapidly and emerged as a key figure in the Army of Tennessee, establishing an impressive combat record. He broke the Union's lines at Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, and Atlanta, and saved the army from destruction at Missionary Ridge. A professional soldier of the Napoleonic school, his performance was less effective when trench warfare emerged in the war's later stages.

This biography, first published in 1965, fills a pronounced gap in the history of prominent officers of Civil War fame.