Biographical Note

Joseph R. Hawley was born in Stewartsville, NC on October 31, 1826. He graduated from Hamilton College in New York in 1847. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and practiced law in Hartford Connecticut for six years. He opposed slavery and became a member of the Free Soil Party. In 1856 he took a leading part in organizing the Republican Party and in 1857 he became the editor of the Hartford Evening Press.

Hawley served in the Federalist Army rising to Brevet Major General of Volunteers. His first battle was the Battle of Bull Run. He participated in the Port Royal expedition, in which the US Army captures Port Royal, SC, the Siege of Fort Pulaski, and a failed attempt to capture Charleston. He commanded a brigades in the Battle of Olustee in FL, Siege of Petersburg and was then promoted to Brigadier General. He was Brevetted as a Major General in 1865.

After the War he served as Governor of Connecticut but failed to get re-elected. He then bought the Hartford Courant which he combined with the Press which became the most influential paper in Connecticut. He was permanent chairman of the Republican National Convention and was delegated to the convention in 1872, 1876 and 1880. He was a US Senator from 1881 until 1905. He died in Washington D.C. on March 17, 1905 at the age of 78.

By: Adam Massingale

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