Henry Washington Hilliard was born in 1808 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and attended South Carolina College (the University of South Carolina) in Columbia, graduating in 1826. After graduation, he moved to Athens, Georgia, thence to Alabama where he became a professor of literature at the University of Alabama, retaining this role form 1831-1834. He then decided to move to Montgomery and practice his chosen profession, law. He was a member of the Alabama State House of Representatives from 1826-1838 and was chosen as an Alabama member of the Whig National Convention that took place in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1839. On his way to the convention, he stopped off in Washington, D.C., and for the first time, as a guest of Senator William Preston of South Carolina, stepped into visitor gallery encircling the great forum known as the United States Senate.Hilliard gazed down from the gallery and immediately glanced at the great Daniel Webster, sitting quietly in his chair. Although Webster was not engaged in a great speech on the day Hilliard visited, he described, in detail, the honorable senator from Massachusetts, known by so many as "Black Dan."
He recalled to me the idea of classic grandeur; there was in him a blended dignity and power, most impressive; his head was magnificent, the arch of imagination rising above the brows, surrounded by the development of veneration resembling that of the bust of Plato; and as he sat in his place, surrounded by his peers, it seemed as if the whole weight of the government might rest securely on his broad shoulders. His large, dark eyes were full of expression, even in repose; the cheeks were square and strong; his dark hair and swarthy complexion heightened the impression of strength which his whole person made upon me as I saw him for the first time, an impression that was deepened when he rose to his feet and walked the floor of the Senate-chamber. There was in his appearance something leonine. He was in full dress; he never neglected this. when he delivered his great speech in reply to Hayne, it is known that he wore a dress-coat of dark blue cloth with gilt buttons, buff vest, and white cravat, so that, some one has said, he displayed the colors of the Revolution.
His appearance was not less intellectual that that of the other great statesman; his forehead was high and finely proportioned, and his features expressed intellect, ardor, and courage; his nose and mouth were large, and of the Roman Cast. when he rose to speak, standing over six feet in height, spare and vigorous, his appearance was most commanding; and certainly with his singularly clear, sonorous, and musical voice, that rose and fell with perfect cadence, one felt that never in ancient or modern assemblies had a greater master of popular thought and passion stood in the midst of men. He was attentive in dress, and when I saw him for the first time he wore a dress-coat of brown broadcloth, a heavy black cravat, and the collar of his shirt was of the largest style, touching his ears.Hilliard eyes next rested upon the favored son of the South, the "Cast Iron Man," John C. Calhoun of South Carolina. The young Hillard previously saw Calhoun, during his vice presidency, while a student at South Carolina College. The Alabamian was no less impressed by the appearance of the South Carolina senator during his 1839 visit to the senate.
He stood quite six feet in height, spare, but vigorous and erect, the impersonation of intellectual grandeur; his face was Grecian, the brow square, and the forehead finely developed, from which the thick hair was brushed upward; the mouth resolute; and the chin, in its shape and firmness giving an expression of purpose and determination, recalled the but of Caesar; his eyes, dark gray, were full of fire, and when he was animated blazed with the ardor of his great soul. Mr. Calhoun was habitually dressed in black, and in the Senate-chamber, at all times, wore a morning costume.Hilliard became an Alabama elector in 1840, supporting Henry Clay as the Whig nominee for president. Unfortunately, Clay's supporters did not get their candidate chosen. Instead, William Henry Harrison (W-OH) won the presidential nomination, while John Tyler (W-VA) won the vice presidential nomination. Needless to say, Clay was livid and Hilliard expressed this in his writings. After meeting with Senator Preston, Secretary of State Webster, and President Tyler, Henry Hilliard received the appointment as Charge de Affaires to Belgium, a post he held from 1842-1844. Upon his return to Alabama, Hillard was immediately elected as a Whig to the Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Congresses (1845-1851), but was not a candidate for reelection in 1850, that election being won by another Whig, James Abercrombie. Hilliard became an elector on the National American ticket in 1856. Although not a firm supporter of Southern secession, he reluctantly followed his state out of the Union in 1861 and received a commission as brigadier general during the Civil War. Hilliard raised a legion of infantry, cavalry, and artillery but never actively commanded these troops in battle. In 1876, he was an unsuccessful Republican candidate to the Forty-fifth Congress. However, he did serve the United States as Minister to Brazil from 1877-1881. Hilliard died in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1892 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama.
The quotations come from pages 2-4 of Henry Washington Hilliard's book, Politics and Pen Pictures (1892).
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1 comment:
Great descriptions! Thanks.
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