William Babcock Hazen

General William B. Hazen

William Babcock Hazen (born September 27, 1830 in West Hartford , Vermont , † January 16, 1887 in Washington, DC ) was an American major general who became famous during the Civil War .

Life

William Hazen was born in Vermont in 1830 to the farmer Stillman Hazen and Ferona Fenno , his family moved to Ohio in January 1834 , where he went to school in Hiram with the future President of the United States , James A. Garfield . who became his lifelong friend. Hazen attended the United States Military Academy at West Point , graduating in October 1855 as the 166th of his class of 195 cadets. The unpromising start did not prevent his following outstanding military career. He was assigned to the 4th US Infantry Regiment and appointed second lieutenant . Before the Civil War, he served mainly in the Pacific Northwest and Texas , where he was seriously wounded on November 3, 1859 during a battle with the Comanches along the Llano River and remained on sick leave until 1861.

In the civil war

Soon after the fall of Fort Sumter , he was promoted to captain in the 8th U.S. Infantry Regiment and on October 29, 1861, promoted to colonel in the 41st Ohio Infantry Regiment. From January 1862 he commanded a brigade in the Army of Ohio under Major General Don Carlos Buell . He fought with his troops at the Battle of Shiloh , where Buell's army arrived on the second day (April 7, 1862) to achieve Union victory. In the fall of 1862 Hazen fought at the Battle of Perryville . His brigade was reorganized under Major General William Starke Rosecrans into the XIV Corps (later Army of Cumberland). Hazen's main engagement in the war took place December 31, 1862 in the Battle of the Stones River against the Confederate forces under General Braxton Bragg . When the entire front of Rosecrans had already pushed back 5 km to the Stones River, only Hazen's brigade stood on an area that was later transfigured as "Hell's Half-Acre". Hazen was wounded in the shoulder while defending in the Round Forest and was promoted to brigadier general for his bravery . A monument was erected by his veterans in the small Union cemetery near the battle site, which is the first monument of the civil war.

Hazen participated under General Rosecrans in the summer of 1863 in the Association of the XXI. Corps (Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Crittenden ) in the successful Tullahoma campaign and took part in the union of the division of Major General John M. Palmer on September 20 in the heavy defeat of the Union at the Battle of Chickamauga . At Chickamauga, his men, under General George Henry Thomas, took part in the defense of Snodgrass Hill, and then were among the forces that broke through the Confederate lines on Missionary Ridge. Hazen's brigade also played an important role at Browns Ferry in the Battle of Chattanooga in the IV Corps, where it opened the blocked supply line for the Army of Cumberland with other troops of Maj. General Joseph Hooker . He then served under Major General William T. Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign , his brigade distinguished itself in the Battle of Picketts Mills, but had to attack without adequate support and suffered heavy losses. Hazen was appointed commander of the 2nd Division of the XV in August 1864 in the closing stages of the Atlanta Campaign. Corps (Maj. Gen. Logan ) appointed. During Sherman's march through Georgia to the sea, Hazen's division distinguished itself on December 13, 1864 with the capture of Fort McAllister. This action opened communication between Sherman's army and the United States Navy . He was promoted to brevet colonel in the regular army in September 1864 and major general in the volunteer army on December 13, 1864. In the final phase of the war he commanded the XV as the successor to Osterhaus . Corps of the Army of Tennessee and was eventually promoted to major general in the regular army on March 13, 1865.

After the war

When the US Army disarmed after the war, Hazen was appointed Colonel of the 38th US Infantry Regiment in July 1866 and transferred to the 6th US Infantry Regiment in March 1869. He mainly served on the western border, and was stationed from 1872 to 1880 at Fort Buford in the Dakota Territory . In between, he visited the theater of war in northern France during the Franco-Prussian War . Hazen married Mildred McLean (1847-1931), daughter of Washington McLean, owner of the Washington Post, at this time. One of Hazen's most important tasks on the border was negotiations with the Cheyenne under Chief Black Kettle , which led to the massacre on the Washita River on November 27, 1868 on the orders of General Sheridan . He then prevented Sheridan and Custer from attacking the Kiowa, which led to continued hostility. In 1869 he helped choose the location for Fort Sill. From mid-1869 to late 1871 he commanded Fort Gibson in the Indiana Territory and was superintendent for the southern superintendent.

In 1876, in the so-called Belknap scandal, it became public knowledge that Grant's Minister of War William Belknap had illegally sold weapons from the army depot to France in 1870. Hazen's testimony in the corruption scandal weighed on the government of President Ulysses S. Grant and led to the elevation of the Minister of War. In further disputes, Hazen then stood up against Belknap's friend Major General David S. Stanley to determine the exact location of the national monument on Stone's River. Hazen also became controversial by criticizing George Armstrong Custer's book Life on the Plains in his writings. Hazen's relationships with Custer and his superiors in the post-war army were so strained that the writer Ambrose Bierce described him as "the most hated man I have ever known." Hazen even managed to insult William T. Sherman, the former friend and ally against Belknap.

On December 15, 1880, President Rutherford B. Hayes promoted him to Brigadier General and appointed him Chief Signal Officer of the US Army, a position he held until his death. His tenure was known to focus his department on basic research rather than practical issues that preoccupied his predecessor Albert J. Myer . Hazen continued to cause public controversy. One of the tasks of the US Army's Signal Corps was to manage the weather service. In this context he criticized the government's lack of response to the plight of the polar expedition to Fort Conger and Lady Franklin Bay. A supply organization for the expedition led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely in 1882 failed, so that 25 men of the expedition had to survive the winter about 800 km from the North Pole without support. Hazen then publicly criticized Secretary of War Robert Todd Lincoln on the matter, citing his refusal to send further aid after the failure of Garlington's rescue mission until Greely's wife forced Henrietta to act in response to the indignant public. When this rescue expedition reached Greely in June 1884, only 7 participants were left alive. Lincoln charged Hazen for his public criticism, who was tried by a court martial in 1885, but got off lightly after the intervention of Chester A. Arthur and the backing of the press. Hazen died in Washington when he fell ill after receiving a reception from President Grover Cleveland and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery .

literature

Edward S. Cooper: William Babcock Hazen - The Best Hated Man , Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Danvers 2005
Keith Poulter (Eds.) / James R. Furqueron: The Best Hated Man in the Army - from North & South, Volume 4, No. 3, Tollhouse, California March 2001, pp. 23-34
Keith Poulter (Eds.) / James R. Furqueron: The Best Hated Man in the Army - from North & South, Volume 4, No. 5, Tollhouse, California June 2001, pp. 67-80

Web links

Commons : William Babcock Hazen - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

personal data
SURNAME	Hazen, William Babcock
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American major general
DATE OF BIRTH	September 27, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH	West Hartford , Vermont
DATE OF DEATH	January 16, 1887
Place of death	Washington, DC