Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 476 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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INDIAN tWARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
399
the enemy moved back two miles and camped.
This enabled the Confederate troops to fall back
next morning and take position at Mansfield, where
the decisive battle of the campaign was fought. In
that battle Gen. Hardman commanded Green's
brigade and to the fact that under his leadership it
struck the Federal line in flank and rear, at the
moment that the infantry of Mouton's Division had
been brought up standing in front of the 13th Corps
of the Union army, unable to advance further in
the face of a deadly fire delivered from behind a
breastwork of rails, was chiefly due the victory
that the Confederates won in that engagement. To
this fact Lieut. Dudley Avery, of Gen. Mouton's
staff, bore eloquent testimony in a letter written to
Gen. H. H. Boone a few years ago, in which he described
the magnificent charge made by Mouton's
infantry and spoke of the part Gen. Hardeman
played upon that bloody and hard fought fie!d.
In that desperate battle nearly every company
officer of Hardeman's regiment was killed or
wounded. The following day he participated in
the battle of Pleasant Hill. Banks was now in
full retreat, but with an army far stronger than his
pursuers. The eventful campaign which resulted
in driving him back to Lower Louisiana, lasted fortythree
days, thirty-nine of which were days of fighting,
with Hardeman nearly always at the front.
The retreat terminated in the battle of Yellow
Bayou, in which Hardeman commanded the division.
Among the many compliments received by Hardeman's
regiment from superior officers, should be
mentioned that of Gen. Dick Taylor, who wrote
that their charge at Franklin saved the army.
Here Col. Riley was killed and Hardeman then became
the Colonel of the regiment and was subsequently
commissioned Brigadier-General by the
War Department.
When peace was restored Gen. Hardeman went
to Mexico, where he was employed to survey lands
in Durangd and Metlakauka. He returned home
in 1866 and engaged in cattle speculation to restore
his fortunes, but this resulted unfortunately. He
entered the army in 1861 wealthy; at the close of
the war he found himself poor.
When Coke was inaugurated as Governor in 1874,
armed resistance was threatened by ex-Governor E.
J. Davis, who refused to recognize the election.
Gen. H. E. McCulloch, who had been placed in
command of the c.pitol grounds and buildings,became sick, and Guy M. Bryan, Speaker of the
House, appointed Gen. Hardeman, Col. Ford and
Col. William N. Hardeman as assistant Sergeantat-Arms,
to protect the Legislature and public
buildings, and to keep the peace. In open session
of the House he said to them: " You love Texas;
you have seen much service in her behalf during
three wars; you are experienced and accustomed
to command men. A great crisis is upon Texas;
she never needed your services more than now."
The crisis was manifest. Davis was relying upon
Grant, who was then President, to sustain him in
his usurpation, but in this he was deceived. The
capitol grounds swarmed with armed negroes, who
were influenced by corrupt whites, greedy to retain
power. For eight days and nights the Hardemans
and Ford were at their posts, and the Speaker of
the House, writing of their services, said: "They
showed tact, fidelity and efficiency. Twice they
prevented bloodshed." When the crisis had passed,
in open session of the House, he addressed them as
follows: " Faithful servants of Texas, I have asked
you to come here, that in the presence of the House
of Representatives of the people of Texas, in their
name, as the Speaker, and in the name of every
man, woman and child of Texas, to thank you for
the invaluable services you have rendered them.
But for you, Texas might have been drenched in
in blood and remanded back to military rule, which,
in my humble judgment, you largely contributed
to avert by your consummate tact, true courage
and patriotism. You are discharged."
By Governor Coke he was appointed Public
Weigher at Galveston; by Governor Roberts, Inspector
of Railroads; by Governor Ross, Superintendent
of Public Buildings and Grounds, and by
Governor Culberson, Superintendent of the Confederate
IIome, at Austin, which position he now
holds.
I-is early life was spent in camp and field with
the pioneer hunters and rangers of the Republic
and, yet, it would be difficult to find in any social
circle a man more gentle in his bearing and refined
in his manners. He acts now with another generation
which knows nothing of the hardships and
perils which created Texas and, yet, the death of
no living man would be more sincerely deplored,
not only by her old soldiers, but by the citizenship
of Texas at large, than would that of Gen. William
P. Hardeman.
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/476/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.