James Morrison Hawes

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James Morrison Hawes (January 7, 1824 – November 22, 1889) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, into a politically active family. Hawes attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1845 as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s dragoons. He fought in the Mexican-American War, taking part in the Siege of Veracruz and the battles of Contreras, Churubusco, and Molino del Rey. He earned a brevet promotion to first lieutenant and later worked as an instructor at West Point. In 1850, he studied cavalry tactics in Saumur, France, and afterward served on the Texas frontier, participated in the Utah Expedition, and helped quell disturbances in Bleeding Kansas.

In 1857, he married Maria Southgate, and they had ten children.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Hawes left the U.S. Army to join the Confederate Army as a captain in the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry. He was quickly promoted to major and then colonel. He fought in early Confederate actions, including a charge at Charleston, West Virginia, on July 4, 1861, and the defense of a bridge near Bowling Green, Kentucky, on September 18, 1861. On March 5, 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general at the request of General Albert Sidney Johnston and became the cavalry commander of the Confederate Western Department.

After the Battle of Shiloh, Hawes asked to be relieved and served in a brigade under John C. Breckinridge. He later fought in Louisiana at Milliken’s Bend and Young’s Point, helped defend Vicksburg, and finished his Confederate service in Galveston, Texas.

Following the war, Hawes returned to a destroyed home in Paris, Kentucky, and moved to Covington in 1866 to work as a hardware merchant. He stayed out of politics but became known for decorating Confederate graves on Confederate Memorial Day. James Morrison Hawes died at his home on November 22, 1889, and was buried in Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. In 1925, the United Daughters of the Confederacy honored him with a service cross medal, accepted by his grandson.