William J. Hardee - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Hardee was born to Sarah Ellis and Major John Hardee at the "Rural Felicity" plantation in Camden County, Georgia. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1838 (26th in a class of 45) and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons. During the Seminole Wars (1835–42), he was stricken with illness, and while hospitalized he met and married Elizabeth Dummett. After he recovered, the Army sent him to France to study military tactics in 1840. He was promoted to first lieutenant in 1839 and to captain in 1844.

In the Mexican-American War, Hardee served in the Army of Occupation under Zachary Taylor and won two brevet promotions (to brevet major for Medelin and Vera Cruz, and to lieutenant colonel for St. Augustin). He was captured on April 25, 1846 at Carricitos Ranch, Texas, and exchanged on May 11. Now serving under Winfield Scott, Hardee was wounded in a skirmish at La Rosia, Mexico (about 30 miles (48 km) above Matamoras) in 1847. After the war, he led units of Texas Rangers and soldiers in Texas.

After his wife died in 1853, he returned to West Point as a tactics instructor and served as commandant of cadets from 1856 to 1860. He served as the senior major in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry (later renamed the 5th U.S. Cavalry) when that regiment was formed in 1855 and then the lieutenant colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry in 1860. In 1855 at the behest of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, Hardee published Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics for the Exercise and Manoeuvres of Troops When Acting as Light Infantry or Riflemen, popularly known as Hardee's Tactics, which became the best-known drill manual of the Civil War. He is also said to have designed the so-called Hardee hat about this time.