Joseph Roswell Hawley (October 31, 1826 –
March 17, 1905) was a Governor of Connecticut, a U.S. politician in
the Republican and Free Soil
parties, a Civil War general, and a journalist and newspaper editor. He served two
terms in the United States House of Representatives and was a
four-term U.S. Senator.
Early life and career
Hawley was born in Stewartsville, North Carolina, where his father, a native of
Connecticut, was pastor of a Baptist church. The father
returned to Connecticut in 1837 and the son graduated from Hamilton College in
New York in 1847. He was admitted to the bar in 1850, and practiced law in Hartford, Connecticut for six years.
An ardent opponent of slavery, Hawley became a Free
Soiler, was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated John Parker Hale
for the presidency in 1852, and subsequently served as chairman of the party's State Committee and editor of the party's
newspaper, the Charter Oak. In 1856 he took a leading part in organizing the Republican Party in Connecticut, and in 1857
became editor of the Hartford Evening Press, a newly established Republican newspaper.
Civil War
Hawley served in the Federal army with distinction throughout the Civil War, rising from the rank of captain to that of
brevet major general of volunteers. In April
1861, Hawley helped recruit and organize an infantry company. He was mustered into the
three-months 1st Connecticut Infantry with the rank of captain of Company A on April 22. He first saw combat at the First Battle of Bull Run
in July, receiving praise from his brigade commander, General Erasmus D. Keyes.
After mustering out, he then assisted Col. Alfred H.
Terry in raising the 7th Connecticut Infantry, a three-years regiment, and was named as lieutenant colonel. He participated in the Port Royal
Expedition in November, and commanded the forces assigned to garrison two captured forts. He was a part of the four-month
siege that culminated in the capture of Fort Pulaski in April 1862.
Again, he commanded the garrison force. With Colonel Terry's promotion to brigade command, Hawley succeeded him as commander of
the 10th Connecticut, leading the regiment in the battles of James Island and
Pocotaligo.
He was in Brannan's expedition to Florida in January 1863, and commanded the post at
Ferandina, near Jacksonville. In April, he participated in an unsuccessful
expedition to capture Charleston, South Carolina. In the summer, he commanded
a brigade on Morris Island during the siege of Charleston, and was
involved in the attacks on Fort Wagner in September. During the autumn, he procured enough
Spencer breech-loading rifles to outfit his regiment with the rapid-fire weapon.
The following year, Hawley commanded a brigade under General Truman Seymour in the
Battle of Olustee in Florida. He and his men were reassigned to the front lines in
Virginia as a part of Terry's Division, X Corps,
Army of the James. He was in the battles of Drewry's Bluff, Deep Run, Derbytown Road,
and other actions near Bermuda Hundred and Deep Bottom. With openings created by battlefield losses and reassignments, Hawley
commanded a division during the Siege of Petersburg and was promoted in September
1864 to brigadier general of volunteers. Concerned over keeping the peace during the
November elections, Hawley commanded a hand-picked brigade shipped to New York City to
safeguard the election process.
In January 1865, Hawley succeeded his mentor Alfred Terry as divisional commander when Terry was sent to command troops in the
attacks on Fort Fisher. Hawley later joined him in North
Carolina as Chief of Staff for the X Corps. After the capture of Wilmington, North Carolina, Hawley took over command of the forces in
southeastern North Carolina. In June, following the surrender of the Confederate armies, Hawley rejoined Terry and served as
Chief of Staff for the Department of Virginia, serving until October when he returned home to Connecticut. He was breveted as a
major general in September 1865, and mustered out of the army on January 15, 1866.
Postbellum
After the war, Hawley served as governor of Connecticut from April 1866 to April 1867, but was not re-elected. A few months
after stepping down from that office, he bought the Hartford Courant
newspaper, which he combined with the Press. Under his editorship, this became the most influential newspaper in
Connecticut and one of the leading Republican papers in the country.
Hawley was the permanent chairman of the Republican National
Convention in 1868, was a delegate to the conventions of 1872, 1876 and 1880. He represented Connecticut in the U.S.
Congress from December 1872 until March 1875 and again in 1879–81, having lost the two elections in between. From 1873 to 1876,
he served as president of the United States Centennial Commission, which planned and ran the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. He was also a trustee of Hamilton College and received his
LL. D. degree in 1875 (and another one from Yale in 1888).
Hawley was a United States Senator from 1881 until March 3, 1905, being one of the key Republican leaders both in the House and the Senate. He was chairman of the committee on
civil service, and vigorously promoted civil service reform legislation. He also chaired a
special committee called to investigate the production of military ordnance and warships. In this capacity, he wrote a detailed
report on the heavy steel industry and gun making in the United States and England.
He died in Washington, D.C., two weeks after stepping down from the Senate.
References
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