Paul Octave Hébert was the
14th Governor of Louisiana from 1853–56 and a General in the
Confederate ArmyThe Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
.
Early life
Hébert was born on December 12, 1818 about five miles south of Plaquemine in Iberville Parish,
LouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He graduated first in his class at Jefferson College in 1836. He then went to study at the
United States Military AcademyThe United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
at West Point where he graduated at the top of his class in 1840. He was a classmate of
American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Generals
Winfield Scott HancockWinfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War...
, William T. Sherman,
Joseph WheelerJoseph Wheeler was an American military commander and politician. He has the rare distinction of serving as a general during war time for two opposing forces: first as a noted cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and later as a general in the...
and George H. Thomas. The following year he was a professor of engineering at West Point. In 1842, Hébert married Marie Coralie Wills Vaughn, the daughter of a sugar planter. They had five children.
State engineer
In 1845, Hébert resigned from the army after being appointed Chief Engineer of the State of Louisiana by Governor
Alexander MoutonAlexandre Mouton was a United States Senator and the 11th Governor of Louisiana.-Early life:He was born in Attakapas district into a wealthy plantation owning Acadian family. He pursued classical studies and graduated from Georgetown College...
. He was reappointed by Governor
Isaac JohnsonIsaac Johnson was a U.S president.Born on his father's plantation "Troy" near St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, Johnson was the fourth son of John Hunter Johnson and Thenia Munson. Johnson's grandfather, Isaac Johnson, arrived in the area in the 1770s, and his father had a leading role in...
in 1846, but he resigned in April, 1847 to fight in the Mexican-American War.
Mexican-American War
As a
lieutenant colonelIn the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
of the U. S. 14th Infantry Regiment he fought at
Contreras-People:*Pedro de Alvarado , Spanish conquistador*Carlos Contreras, Mexican NASCAR driver*Carlos Alberto Contreras, Colombian road cyclist*Eleazar López Contreras, Venezuelan politician and former president...
,
ChurubuscoChurubusco is a neighbourhood of Mexico City. Under the current territorial division of the Mexican Federal District, it is a part of the borough of Coyoacán...
, Molino del Rey,
ChapultepecChapultepec Park, more commonly called the "Bosque de Chapultepec" in Mexico City, is the largest city park in Latin America, measuring in total just over 686 hectares. Centered on a rock formation called Chapultepec Hill, one of the park's main functions is to be an ecological space in the vast...
and
Mexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
. At Molino del Rey he was honored by General
Winfield ScottWinfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
and was breveted a
ColonelIn the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
for bravery. He was cited for gallantry at Chapultepec and Mexico City. Discharged on July 25, 1848, in New Orleans, Colonel Hébert entered politics.
Political career
He ran as a
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
for the State Senate in 1849. He lost the election by nine votes. Following this he returned to his sugar plantation in Iberville. In 1851, Governor
Joseph Marshall WalkerJoseph Marshall Walker was a Louisiana soldier and politician. He was the 13th Governor of Louisiana, from 1850-1853....
appointed Hébert a delegate to the
Industrial ExhibitionThe Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...
in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The next year, a division among Iberville Parish
WhigsThe Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
gave him a seat at the 1852 Louisiana Constitutional Convention which adopted a new state constitution that was strongly pro-Whig. As a result Governor Walker resigned early and an election was called. Since
John SlidellJohn Slidell was an American politician, lawyer and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man and became a staunch defender of southern rights as a U.S. Representative and Senator...
, the leader of one faction of Louisiana Democrats was focusing on his campaign for the U.S. Senate, the Democrats turned to Hébert as their nominee for governor. He campaigned against some features of the new constitution, called for internal improvements, reform of the state militia, a banking system by general laws and redemption in specie or all paper money. Running against Judge Bordelon, a Whig from St. Landry Parish, Hébert garnered 17,334 votes to Bordelon's 15,781.
Term as governor
Hébert took the oath as Governor and guided the legislature towards improvements in water commerce and railroad construction.
He also established the Louisiana Seminary of Learning at
AlexandriaAlexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
which would later become
Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
. Hébert also instituted the State Library, reorganized the militia, improved Charity Hospital and organized the efforts against
yellow feverYellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
of 1853.
Nationalism and the rise of the Know Nothing Party or American Party was a feature of Louisiana politics in the 1850s. Whig newspapers tried to discredit Hébert by starting rumors of his allegiance with the Know Nothings. He still appointed some Whigs to minor offices and some Know Nothings to lucrative posts. He was considered very independent in his appointments and many Democrats were disenchanted with him toward the end of his administration. Hébert was mentioned as a possible candidate for the U. S. Senate, but John Slidell was not vulnerable to an intraparty challenge.
During his administration Hébert saw four major railroads incorporated in Louisiana including the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad. Hébert sought to connect every part of Louisiana to New Orleans by rail. He also built levees and sought land reclamation projects. In 1855, Hébert promoted and the legislature passed a tax of on all property to support the public school system which is open only to whites between the ages of six and sixteen. With his term at an end, Governor Hébert retired to his plantation as a planter.
Civil War
With rising tension between North and South, President
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
was elected in December, 1860. Governor
Thomas Overton MooreThomas Overton Moore was an attorney and politician who was the 16th Governor of Louisiana from 1860 until 1864 during the American Civil War.-Early years:...
appointed Hébert to the military board to reorganize militia and defenses in the New Orleans area. He was appointed as a Colonel of the 1st Louisiana Artillery. After
secessionSecession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...
on April 1, 1861 Hébert was appointed a
Brigadier GeneralA brigadier general in the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, is a one-star general officer, with the pay grade of O-7. Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general. Brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the other uniformed...
in the Louisiana Militia. In August, he is Commissioned a Brigadier General in the provisional Army of the Confederacy but is not given an active position. Later he will have a command of Louisiana troops and in the Trans-Mississippi Department. Also on May 21, 1861, his first wife Marie Coralie Hébert died. He later married Penelope Lynch, daughter of John Andrews of Iberville Parish.
In 1862, General Hébert is posted in the Department of
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and later in the defense of
VicksburgVicksburg is the name of some places in the United States of America:* Vicksburg, Florida* Vicksburg, Indiana* Vicksburg, Michigan* Vicksburg, Mississippi** The Vicksburg Campaign, an American Civil War campaign...
. He saw battle in June, 1863, at the
Battle of Milliken's BendThe Battle of Milliken's Bend, fought June 7, 1863, was part of the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Confederate Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton and his army were besieged in Vicksburg, Mississippi, by Union commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S...
in Louisiana. After that, he was again posted in Texas, where he was at the time the war ended. Hébert returned to his Louisiana plantation and received a pardon from President
Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
.
Postwar
He was active in the politics of Reconstruction supporting the Liberal Republican movement and accepted a minor appointment in New Orleans. In 1872, Hébert endorsed
Horace GreeleyHorace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...
and opposed the Louisiana "Custom House" Republican faction. He supported Republican Governor
Henry C. WarmothHenry Clay Warmoth was the 23rd Governor of Louisiana from 1868 until his impeachment and removal from office in December, 1872.-Early life and military career:...
. Governor
William P. KelloggWilliam Pitt Kellogg was an American politician and a governor of Louisiana from 1873-1877 during Reconstruction. He was one of the most important politicians in Louisiana during and immediately after Reconstruction...
appointed him to the Board of State Engineers in 1873 and the Board of U. S. Engineers for Mississippi River Commission in 1874.
In the presidential election of 1876, Governor Hébert changed political allegiance back to the Democrats. He died on April 29, 1880 and was buried in St. Paul Cemetery in Bayou Goula, Louisiana. Encroachment of the Mississippi River caused many individuals to be reinterred. Governor Hébert's remains, and those of his first wife, Marie Coralie Hébert, were interred at St. Raphael Cemetery in Point Pleasant, La.
See also
- List of American Civil War generals
- Louis Hébert (Confederate Army officer)
Louis Hébert was an American educator, civil engineer, writer and soldier who became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.-Biography:...
- cousin
External links