Henry Washington Hilliard

• Name — Henry Washington Hilliard • Born — 4 August 1808 • Died — 17 December 1892 • Ambassador From — United States • Country — Brazil • President — Rutherford B. Hayes • Term Start — October 23, 1877 • Term End — June 15, 1881 • Predecessor — James R. Partridge • Successor — Thomas A. Osborn • State1 — Alabama • District1 — 2nd • Term Start1 — March 4, 1845 • Term End1 — March 4, 1851 • Predecessor1 — James E. Belser • Successor1 — James Abercrombie • State House2 — Alabama • Term Start2 — 1836 • Term End2 — 1838 • Birthplace — Fayetteville, North Carolina • Place of death — Atlanta, Georgia • Resting Place — Oakwood Cemetery (Montgomery, Alabama) • Allegiance — Confederate States of America • Service Years — 1861–1862 • Rank — Colonel (CSA) • Commands — Hilliard's Alabama Legion • Battles — American Civil War • Party — Whig • Illustration — Portrait of Henry Washington Hilliard, by Mathew Brady, c1851

Hilliard was born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1826. While at South Carolina College, he was active in the Euphradian Society. He read law under William C. Preston and then moved to Athens, Georgia, where he was admitted to the bar in 1829. He was a Professor of English Literature at the University of Alabama from 1831 to 1834, when he resigned to practice law in Montgomery, Alabama. He served as a member of the state house of representatives from 1836–1838, was a delegate to the 1839 Whig National Convention at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ran as a Whig presidential elector in 1840, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the 27th United States Congress. He was chargé d'affaires to Belgium from May 12, 1842, to August 12, 1844. Hilliard was elected as a Whig to the 29th, Thirtieth, and 31st Congresses, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 3, 1851. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1850. Following the end of his term, he joined the short-lived Union Party which supported the Compromise of 1850. In 1856, he served as presidential elector on the American ticket.

In 1861 he was appointed by Jefferson Davis Confederate commissioner to Tennessee. During the Civil War, he served as a colonel in the Confederate States Army. Hilliard's Legion was organized at Montgomery, Alabama in June, 1862, and consisted of five battalions; one of these, a mounted battalion, was early detached and became part of the Tenth Confederate cavalry. The Legion proceeded to Montgomery nearly 3,000 strong, under the command of Col. H. W. Hilliard, and was placed in McCown's Brigade. It took part in the siege of Cumberland Gap, and spent the fall and winter in Kentucky and east Tennessee. Hilliard resigned from the army December 1, 1862 to take care of personal affairs and because he had not been promoted to brigadier general.

He moved to Augusta, Georgia, in 1865 and resumed the practice of his profession. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election in 1876 to the 45th Congress. He resumed the practice of law in Augusta, Georgia, moving later to Atlanta. He was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil from July 31, 1877, to June 15, 1881. In Brazil he worked with Joaquim Nabuco and Emperor Pedro II to support abolition. He died in Atlanta, Georgia, December 17, 1892 and was interred in Oakwood Cemetery, Montgomery, Alabama.