William S. Harney - Controversies

Controversies

Harney was known for having a particularly brutal streak. Harney commanded the US troops at the Battle of Ash Hollow in 1855, which Lakotas viewed as a massacre rather than a battle, and which resulted in the killing of roughly 85 men, women and children. He was also court-martialed by the army four times, as well as tried in a civilian court in St. Louis, Missouri for bludgeoning his slave Hanna to death for losing his keys — he fled the state when a mob pursued him, he was ultimately found not guilty. In the Mexican-American war, he oversaw the execution of thirty members of the San Patricio Battalion after the Battle of Chapultepec; these were primarily Irish Catholic immigrants who had deserted the US army to fight for Mexico. While overseeing the hangings, Harney ordered Francis O’Conner hanged even though both his legs had been amputated the day before. When the army surgeon informed the colonel that the absent San Patricio had lost both his legs in battle, Harney, in a rage, replied:

This incident was in violation of the articles of war requiring swift executions. He was never punished for his actions and was promoted to brigadier general shortly after, accompanying the commander in chief in a triumphal march in Mexico City. Harney's actions in regards to the hanging of the amputee were not in fact a crime, in that the order to hang the members of the San Patricio brigade as an example did not originate in his command but in higher ups in the command. Harney's statement is very telling in this sense. Harney refers to his "orders" to hang 30 men. The "war crime" here involves the argument that these men should have been executed by firing squad and not by hanging, but this was not Harney's decision. In reference to this controversy read the executions section of Saint Patrick's Battalion.