Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/257

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HETH


HEWES


church, and at St. Patrick's church, and as pastor at St. Michael's churcli, 1874-89. His hxborswere especially directed to the care and education of the colored people. He was appointed bishop of Natchez to succeed Bishop Janssens, transferred to the archbishopric of New Orleans, and he was consecrated June 18, 1889, in St. Louis cathedral, New Orleans, by Archbishop Janssens. He estab- lished non-Catholic missions and special missions for colored people in his diocese, and added largely to the number of churches, schools and mission stations.

HETH, Henry, soldier, was born in Virginia in 1825. His grandfather, William Heth, was born in 1735 ; was an officer under General Mont- gomery in the French war and was wounded at Quebec ; was lieutenant-colonel in the 3d Vii-ginia regiment during the American revolution, and died in Richmond. Va., April 15, 1808. Henry was graduated at the U.S. Militaiy academy in 1847 and was assigned to the 6th U.S. infantry. He was rapidly advanced, and was a captain in 1855. On April 25, 1861, he resigned from the U.S. army and took service in that of Virginia as major of infantry, March 16, 1861, and as colonel of the 45th Virginia regiment, June 17, 1861. On Jan. 6, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-gen- eral in tlie Confederate army, and after a cam- paign in western Virginia his brigade with those of Williams and Humphrey Marshall formed a division under Marshall. On May 23, 1862, his brigade made an unsuccessful assault on General Crook at Lewisburg. He was commissioned ma- jor-general, May 24, 1863, and was assigned to the corps of Gen. A. P. Hill, Army of Northern Vir- ginia. He was ordered to Gettysburg to secure supplies for the arm}-, June 29, 1863. On July 1, he opened the battle of Gettysburg, when his division, made up of the brigades of Generals Archer, Pettigrew, Davis, Brockenbrough and Cook, opposed the division of Reynolds. On the retreat of the army up the valley after the battle of Gettysburg he fought at Bristoe Station, Oct. 14, 1863 ; through the Wilderness in all the en- gagements to Cold Harbor and at the determined stand at Spottsylvania, May 21, 1864. He was subsequently transferred to Petersburg and bore • a conspicuous part in defending that place, and in the battles on the Weldon railroad, Aug. 18, 19 and 20, 1864, up to the surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865, where he was one of the general officers re- ceived by General Grant after the capitulation, having been known by the victorious commander as a subaltern in Mexico in 1847. After the war he engaged for a time in business in South Caro- lina, but subsequently went to Washington, D.C., where President Grant offered to place him in charge of the Indian bureau, which position he declined. He subsequently accepted from the


President the position of personal adviser in re- lation to alleged Indian frauds then under investi- gation. He is the author of Memoirs of the War. He died in Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 1899.

HEWES, Joseph, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Kingston, N.J., in 1730 ; son of Adam and Providence Hewes. His parents were among the persecuted Quakers of New England Avho were compelled to leave Con- necticut on account of their religious tenets. When crossing the Housatonic river they were so closely pursued by Indians that Mrs. Hewes was severely wounded by a shot. They settled at Kingston, N.J., near Princeton, where Joseph was well educated. He was apprenticed to a merchant in Phila- delphia, and later was furnished by his father with capital to enter the shipping and mercantile busi- ness on his own ac- count. He removed to Edenton, N.C., in 1760, where he en- gaged in business and soon became promi- nent in local politics. He was elected a state senator in 1763 and re-elected several consecutive terms, and in 1774 was a delegate from North Carolina to the 1st Continental congress, where he was a member of the committee that prepared the re- port on "the statement of the rights of the colonists in general, the several instances in which their rights are violated and infringed, and the means most proper to be pursued for obtaining their restoration." In 1775 he left the Societj' of Friends because of its action in con- demning the proceedings of the Continental con- gress. He was active in promoting the non-im- portation agreement, although his own business was virtually ruined by the compact. In 1776 he was a member of the secret committee, of the committee on claims and chairman of the naval committee. The last named position made him practically the first secretary of the navy, and as such he fitted out eight armed vessels with re- markable economy and despatch, and planned with General Washington the operation of the campaign of 1776-77. He was verj^ active in rais- ing supplies in his state. He at first opposed, but finally voted for, the immediate adoption of the Declaration of Independence, in accordance with the resolution of the North Carolina convention of April, 1776, which was the earliest colonial movement toward a declaration to throw off the