Louis Hébert (officer)

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Louis Hébert (March 13, 1820 – January 1901) was an American educator, civil engineer, writer, and soldier who became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He was born in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, and was the first cousin of engineer and governor Paul Octave Hébert.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1845 and was assigned as a brevet second lieutenant to build Fort Livingston in Louisiana. He resigned in 1846 to help run his ailing father’s plantation. Hébert later served as a Louisiana state militia officer, a state legislator, and chief engineer of Louisiana (1855–1860).

During the Civil War, Hébert was commissioned as Colonel of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry in May 1861. He fought at Wilson’s Creek and led part of Benjamin McCulloch’s infantry at the Battle of Pea Ridge, effectively taking command after the top leaders were killed. He was wounded, captured, and exchanged in March 1862. He was promoted to brigadier general in May 1862 (confirmed later that year) and commanded troops at Iuka, the Second Battle of Corinth, and during the Siege of Vicksburg. He was captured again after Vicksburg, then paroled and exchanged in October 1863. He later served in North Carolina in artillery and as chief engineer, overseeing heavy artillery around Fort Fisher.

After the war, Hébert worked as an editor and publisher of a local newspaper, Iberville South, and taught at private schools. He died in January 1901 and was buried near Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. In 2002, with help from the Sons of Confederate Veterans, his remains were moved to St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in Cecilia, Louisiana.