William Polk Hardeman

Hardeman as lieutenant in 1846.

William Polk "Gotch" Hardeman was born on November 4, 1816, in Williamson County, Tennessee.[1][2] He moved to Texas in 1835 and fought in the Texas War of Independence.[1][2] He joined the Texas Rangers and fought in the Mexican–American War in 1846–1847 under Ben McCulloch, who was later a Confederate Army general.[1][2]

Hardeman began his Confederate service in May 1861 as a captain of the 4th Texas Cavalry Regiment (sometimes referred to as the 4th Texas Mounted Rifles).[1][2] In that capacity, he served in Sibley's New Mexico Campaign, including the Confederate victory at the Battle of Valverde and defeat and retreat after the Battle of Glorieta Pass.[2] Lieutenant Colonel William Read Scurry, in command at Valverde, praised Hardeman for leading the last, successful charge of the battle.[3]

Hardeman was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the regiment on March 28, 1862, the date of the Battle of Glorieta Pass, and to colonel in January 1863.[1][2] In December 1863, he briefly took command of a brigade in the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department and again commanded a brigade beginning in September 1864.[1] Hardeman led his regiment during the Red River Campaign, including the Battle of Mansfield and the Battle of Pleasant Hill on April 8 and 9, 1864, and during the subsequent pursuit of the retreating Union Army under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks after those battles.[2][3][4] Upon the recommendation of Trans-Mississippi Department commander General E. Kirby Smith on October 28, 1864, Hardeman was appointed a brigadier general to rank from March 17, 1865.[1][2][3] He commanded a mounted brigade in Texas and Louisiana during the final eight months of the war, until May 1865.[5] No record of his parole has been found.[1]

Hardeman 1870–1875.

Hardeman fled to Mexico at the end of the war but soon returned to become a planter in Texas.[1][2] In 1874 he began to serve as sergeant-at-arms of the Texas House of Representatives and then as inspector of railroads.[2][3][6] In the later years of his life, Hardeman was superintendent of public buildings and grounds at Austin, Texas.[2][3] This job included supervision of the Texas Confederate Soldiers' Home.[2][3]

William Polk Hardeman died April 8, 1898, at Austin, Texas and is buried in the Texas State Cemetery at Austin.[1][2][3]

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)

• Boatner, Mark Mayo, III. The Civil War Dictionary. New York: McKay, 1988. ISBN 0-8129-1726-X. First published New York, McKay, 1959.
• Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
• Schultz, Fred L. "Hardeman, William Polk" in Historical Times Illustrated History of the Civil War, edited by Patricia L. Faust. New York: Harper & Row, 1986. ISBN 978-0-06-273116-6.
• Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 0-8160-1055-2.
• Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.

• William Polk Hardeman at Find a Grave