Hugh Anderson Haralson (November 13, 1805 – September 25, 1854) was an American farmer, lawyer and politician based in
Lagrange, Georgia.
Early years and education
Hugh Haralson was born November 13, 1805, in
Greene County, Georgia. He graduated from
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences (
University of Georgia).
[Smith, p. 299] After graduation, Haralson was admitted to the
bar by way of a special act of the
Legislature, because he was under the age of twenty-one.
Political and military careers
Haralson first served in the
Georgia House of Representatives, at age 26, from 1831 to 1832. He was next elected to the
Georgia State Senate in 1836, and served from 1837 to 1838.
He was commissioned as a major general in the
Georgia Militia
The Georgia Militia existed from 1733 to 1879. It was originally planned by General James Oglethorpe prior to the founding of the Province of Georgia, the British colony that would become the U.S. state of Georgia. One reason for the founding ...
, 9th Division, in 1838.
Haralson was originally a member of the
Whig Party, but left when that party advocated for a restoration of the
Bank of the United States, something that Haralson was opposed to because of his
Jeffersonian leanings.
Haralson subsequently joined the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
and stood for election to Congress under that banner. Despite the fact that Georgia voted overwhelmingly for the Whig party, in 1840, Haralson was elected as a Democrat two years later.
Haralson represented
Georgia in the
U.S. Congress from 1843 to 1851, where he was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs during the
Mexican–American War.
He was the father-in-law of the famous Confederate General, and
Georgia governor John B. Gordon
John Brown Gordon () was an attorney, a slaveholding plantation owner, general in the Confederate States Army, and politician in the postwar years. By the end of the Civil War, he had become "one of Robert E. Lee's most trusted generals."
Af ...
.
Death and legacy
Hugh A. Haralson died September 25, 1854, in LaGrange, Georgia.
Haralson County, Georgia and the city of
Haralson, Georgia in
Coweta County, are named in his honor.
References
External links
Hugh Anderson Haralson Letterbook – Atlanta History Center*
* Smith, Gordon Burns, ''History of the Georgia Militia, 1783–1861, Volume One, Campaigns and Generals'', Boyd Publishing, 2000.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haralson, Hugh A.
1805 births
1854 deaths
Democratic Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers
Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives
University of Georgia alumni
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)
American slave owners
19th-century American politicians
19th-century American lawyers