Maj. Gen. Henry C. Heth, (CSA)

The C. comes from a newspaper article: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024735/1850-03-08/ed-1/...

https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Heth_Henry_1825-1899

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Heth

Henry "Harry" Heth (December 16, 1825 – September 27, 1899) was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He is best remembered for precipitating the Battle of Gettysburg, accomplished inadvertently while sending some of his troops of the Army of Northern Virginia to the small Pennsylvania village, according to his memoirs, seeking shoes.

Early life

Heth was born at Black Heath in Chesterfield County, Virginia, son of United States Navy Captain John Heth, and Margaret L. Pickett. He was a cousin of George Pickett. He usually went by "Harry", the name also preferred by his grandfather, American Revolutionary War Colonel Henry Heth, who had established the Heth family in the coal business in the Virginia Colony after emigrating from England about 1759.

He was one of the few generals whom Robert E. Lee called by his first name. Heth graduated from the United States Military Academy at the bottom of his class in 1847; he was wounded at West Point in 1846 with a bayonet stab to his leg. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant and assigned to the 1st U.S. Infantry regiment. His antebellum career was served primarily in western posts, some as a quartermaster, and he eventually achieved the rank of captain. He played a prominent role in the 1855 Battle of Ash Hollow against the Sioux. In 1858, he created the first marksmanship manual for the Army.

Civil War

After the war began at Fort Sumter, Heth resigned from the U.S. Army and joined the Confederate States Army. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel and served for a brief time as Robert E. Lee's quartermaster in the Virginia Provisional Army, but that time was influential for his career, because Lee looked out for Harry for the rest of the war. He spent the remainder of 1861 in the Kanawha Valley in western Virginia in the 5th and 45th Virginia Infantry regiments. He was promoted to brigadier general on January 6, 1862, and sent west to the Department of East Tennessee, to serve under Kirby Smith. During the Kentucky Campaign, he was sent by Smith to take a division north from Lexington, Kentucky, to make a demonstration on Cincinnati; although this caused a great commotion in the city's defenses, only a few skirmishes occurred.

In March 1863, Lee brought Heth back into his command, the Army of Northern Virginia, as a brigade commander in Maj. Gen. A.P. Hill's division. He fought in the Battle of Chancellorsville, showing aggressive, but misguided, qualities in his first large-scale combat, attacking without reserves against a Union force emerging from the Wilderness. He assumed temporary command of the division when Hill was wounded. Following the death of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Lee reorganized his army into three corps, promoting Hill to the Third Corps. Heth retained his division command and was promoted to major general on May 24, 1863.

Heth's division made history by inadvertently starting the Battle of Gettysburg. Marching east from Cashtown on July 1, 1863, Heth sent two brigades ahead in a reconnaissance in force. His memoirs referred to sending them in a search for shoes in Gettysburg, but some historians consider this an apocryphal story; Heth knew that Jubal A. Early had been in Gettysburg a few days earlier and any available shoes would have been taken at that time. Besides, sending two brigades on such a scavenger hunt would have been wasteful. Heth's true motivation remains hidden to history. The brigades made contact with Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. John Buford and spread out into battle formation.

Lee had ordered A.P. Hill to avoid a general engagement with the enemy before he could assemble his full army, but Heth's actions had now rendered that order moot. They were engaged and Union reinforcements started arriving quickly. Heth's decision to deploy his two brigades before the arrival of the rest of his division was an error as well; they were repulsed in hard fighting against a elite division of the Army of the Potomac's I Corps, including the famously tenacious Iron Brigade. After a lull in fighting, Heth brought two more brigades into the fray in the afternoon and the Union forces were driven back to Seminary Ridge, but principally because the Union corps' right flank was crushed by Richard S. Ewell's corps coming in from the north. Finally, Heth attacked again in conjunction with the division of Lt. Gen. Robert E. Rodes and the Union corps was routed, retreating back through town to Cemetery Hill. But Confederate losses were severe; Heth should have better coordinated his attack with the division of Maj. Gen. Dorsey Pender. Heth was wounded during the attack when a bullet struck him in the head. Fortunately for him, he was wearing a hat that was too large and stuffed with papers to make it fit. The papers probably deflected the bullet to avoid a fatal wound, but Heth was knocked unconscious and effectively out of the battle. Parts of his division, under the command of Brig. Gen. Johnston Pettigrew, saw more action two days later in Pickett's Charge and he recovered enough to command during the retreat back to Virginia and the minor engagements of the fall of 1863.

Harry Heth commanded his division through the 1864 Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg. Following the death of Gen. A.P. Hill on April 2, 1865, Heth briefly took over command of the Third Corps. Heth's troops, now led by Gen. John R. Cooke, were pushed back at the Battle of Sutherland's Station. Heth led the remainder of his troops in the retreat of the Appomattox Campaign to Appomattox Court House, where he surrendered with Lee on April 9, 1865.

Postbellum years

After the war, Heth worked in the insurance business and later served the government as a surveyor and in the Office of Indian Affairs. He died in Washington, D.C., and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

From Wikipedia.com

Progression of Ranks

• Brevet 2nd Lieutenant (U.S. Army) - 1847
• 2nd Lieutenant (U.S. Army) - 1847
• 1st Lieutenant (U.S. Army) - June 9, 1853
• Captain (U.S. Army) - March 3, 1855
• Major (C.S. Army) - 1861
• Lieutenant Colonel (C.S. Army) - 1861
• Colonel (C.S. Army) - June 17, 1861
• Brigadier General (C.S. Army) - January 14, 1862
• Major General (C.S. Army) - 1863

From http://www.historynet.com/unfulfilled-promise-robert-e-lees-favorit...

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From The (Washington DC) Times, of Wednesday, Sept. 27, 1899

Death of General Heth: He Passes Away Quietly at 1:40 o'Clock This Morning - The Remains to be Buried at Richmond - His Birth and Early Training - Gained Fame as a Soldier of the Southern Confederacy - His Career as a Federal Officeholder

Gen. Henry Heth died at his residence, 1906 G Street NW, at 1:40 o'clock this morning, after an illness of nine months. His death had been momentarily expected since Monday night, when he lapsed into a comatose condition. At the bedside when the end came were

• Mrs. Heth,
• Miss Nannie Randolph Heth, a daughter
• Mr. Charles Selden, of Richmond, Mrs. Heth's brother, and
• Mr. John Selden, her cousin, an attorney of this city.

General Heth was attacked by the grip nine months ago, and for a time his illness was not considered of a serious nature. His age, however, was against him and he made no progress toward recovery. In May, he suffered a stroke of paralysis and a little later dropsy set in. He grew gradually weaker and his recovery was despaired of several weeks ago. Last week, to add to complications, sciatica set in and the physicians in attendance gave up all hope of saving the patient's life.

The remains will be taken to Richmond for interment in that city. The Confederate Veterans' Association of Richmond will have charge of the funeral and a delegation from the veterans' association here will accompany the body. The details of the funeral have not yet been determined upon.

...General Heth during his long active career won the esteem and affection of his men, and the respect and confidence of his superior officers. After the war, General Heth engaged in mining for a few years, and later took up the insurance business in Richmond.

The greater part of General Heth's time since the close of the Civil War has been spent in Government service, and he has occupied numerous important and responsible positions. He was appointed by General Grant, who had always treated him with marked respect and consideration, a special agent of the Treasury Department. He was made an inspector of internal revenue for Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Under Cleveland's first administration, had charge of taking the census of the Indians in the Northwest.

When Senator Proctor, of Vermont, was Secretary of War under Harrison, he appointed General Heth a member of the Antietam Battlefield Commission, in which capacity he served until his last illness incapacitated him. He also did important service for the government in directing the improvement of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina under Gen. Horatio Wright. General Heth was much beloved in the South, especially in his native State of Virginia. He held the esteem of all classes and enjoyed a high social position. He was the founder and first president of the Westmoreland Club of Richmond, the foremost social body of the South, and which numbers among its members statesmen and prominent generals of the Confederate Army.

General Heth is survived by

• a widow and three children (Mrs Heth was a Miss Selden of Virginia)
• two sons
  • Henry Heth, Jr.
  • Cary Selden Heth
• and a daughter, Miss Mamie Randolph Heth.

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From The Alexandria (VA) Gazette, of Friday, Sept. 30, 1899:

General Harry Heth was buried in Hollywood Richmond yesterday afternoon with high military and masonic honors. Governor Tyler and staff rode at the head of the military procession. The casket, as it lay in the State capitol rotunda, was almost hid from view by flowers. The line of procession was long and was composed of Confederate camps, Masonic bodies,and military. A long list of honorary pallbearers attended in carriages. The active pallbearers were selected from the Confederate camps. Bishop Gibson read the funeral service and a major general's salute was fired by howitzers.

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From The (Washington DC) Evening Star, of Thursday, Sept. 28, 1899:

Funeral of Gen. Heth: Services Held Today in Church of the Epiphany

The funeral services over the remains of the late Gen. Harry Heth were held this morning at 10 o'clock at the Church of the Epiphany, in the presence of a very large concourse of friends of the deceased. While the ceremonies were attended by many veterans of the Confederacy, there were present almost as many men who wore the blue during the war to pay a last tribute to the man whose military achievements won the admiration of those who fought for as well as against the Union.

The Episcopal service was conducted by Rev. Mr. Wood of the Epiphany Church, assisted by Rev. Mr. Turner of St. Michael's and All Angels'.

The handsome casket contained the remains was covered with purple orchids, purple and white roses and ferns, and at its head was a splendid representation of the Confederate flag in flowers, the stars and bars being of immortelles. This was sent by Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, No. 1191, U.C.V.

Two hundred members of the Confederate Veterans' Association of the District attended the services in a body. They assembled under direction of Commander Franklin H. Mackey. Mr. John Cropper, president of the Society of the Cincinnati, and others representing that organization attended. There were representatives of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Aztec Society, the Mexican War Veterans' Association, and the Society of American Wars. Ex-Secretary Herbert was also present.

The active pallbearers were Messrs. Robert Lee, E. I. Rennick, Charles Moore, Richard K. Campbell, L.H. Finney, Sr., and Dr. Frank Nash. The honorary pallbearers were Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. Lindsay Lomax, Gen. A. A. Armstrong, Gen. Rucker, Maj. James Morgan, Associate Justice Hagner, J.L.M. Curry, and Gen. M.C. Butler.

At the close of the service the remains were escorted to the Pennsylvania depot by a committee of the Confederate Veterans Association, consisting of Franklin H. Mackey, Maj. J.H. Darden, H.B. Littlepage, G.H. Ingraham, Leigh Robinson, Col. Robert I. Fleming, and W.C. King.

The remains were taken to Richmond on the 11 o'clock train, and will lie in state in the senate chamber of the capitol there until Friday, when they will be interred at Hollywood Cemetery. A committee consisting of Comrades Marchand, Hill, King, Monroe, Davis, and Hunter of Charles Broadway Rouss Camp, No. 1191, U.C.V., formed a part of the escort of the remains to Richmond.

...held a special meeting last evening and appointed a committee to draft suitable resolutions on the death of Gen. Heth, which will be reported at the next regular meeting of the association, to be held Oct. 4.