View source for Henry Heth

{{About|the Confederate States Army general|the coal magnate|Henry Heth (businessman)}}
{{Short description|Confederate States Army general (1825–1899)}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Henry Heth
|image= Henry Heth.jpg
|caption= Heth in uniform, {{circa|1862|lk=yes}}
|nickname= "Harry", "Jack"
|birth_date={{birth date|1825|12|16}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1899|9|27|1825|12|16}}
|birth_place=[[Black Heath (Chesterfield County)|Black Heath]], [[Virginia]], U.S.
|death_place=[[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
|placeofburial=[[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]],<br>[[Richmond, Virginia]], U.S.
|allegiance= {{unbulleted list|[[United States]]|[[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]]}}
|branch=<!-- EDITORS NOTE: Please do not add the Army flag adopted by the U.S. government in 1956 (57 years after Heth's death) as it would be historically inaccurate. Thank you. -->{{unbulleted list|[[United States Army]]|[[Confederate States Army]]}}
|branch_label= [[Military branch|Branch]]
|serviceyears= {{ubl|1847–1861 (U.S.)|1861–1865 ([[Confederate States of America|C.S.]])}}
|rank= [[File:Union army cpt rank insignia.jpg|35px]] [[Captain (United States)|Captain (USA)]]<br/>[[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|35px]] [[History of Confederate States Army Generals#Major general|Major General (CSA)]] 
|commands= Heth's Division, [[Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia]]
|battles= {{tree list}}
* American Indian Wars
** [[Battle of Ash Hollow]]
* [[Utah War]]
* American Civil War
** [[Battle of Chancellorsville]]
** [[Battle of Gettysburg]] {{WIA}}
** [[Siege of Petersburg]]
{{tree list/end}}
|battles_label = Battles
|relations= [[George Pickett]] (cousin)
|laterwork= 
}}
'''Henry Heth''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|iː|θ}} not {{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|ɛ|θ}}) (December 16, 1825 &ndash; September 27, 1899) was a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] military [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] who commanded [[infantry]] in the [[Eastern theater of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]] of the [[American Civil War]].

He came to the notice of General [[Robert E. Lee]] while serving briefly as his [[quartermaster]], and was given a brigade in the [[Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia|Third Corps]] of the [[Army of Northern Virginia]] commanded by [[A. P. Hill]], whose division he commanded when the latter was wounded at [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]]. He is generally blamed for accidentally starting the [[Battle of Gettysburg]] by sending half his division into the town before the rest of the army was fully prepared. Later in the day, Confederate troops succeeded in routing two Union corps, but at a heavy cost in casualties. Heth continued to command his division during the remainder of the war and briefly took command of the Third Corps in April 1865 after the death of General Hill. Heth surrendered with the rest of Lee's army on April 9.

==Early life and education==
Henry Heth was born at [[Black Heath (Chesterfield County)|Black Heath]] in [[Chesterfield County, Virginia]], son of [[United States Navy]] Captain [[John Heth]], and Margaret L. Pickett, sister of Robert Pickett, who was the father of Confederate general, [[George Pickett]]. He usually went by "Harry", the name also preferred by his grandfather, [[American Revolutionary War]] Colonel [[Henry Heth (Colonel)|Henry Heth]], who had established the Heth family in the [[coal]] business in the [[Virginia Colony]] after serving in the [[American Revolution]]. (The name Heth is pronounced like "Heath".)  Henry Heth was born and raised in Virginia, as were both of his parents, all four of his grandparents and all eight of his great-grandparents. All sixteen of his great-great-grandparents came to Virginia from England, specifically from the rural areas of [[Hertfordshire]], [[Hampshire]], [[Buckinghamshire]], [[Berkshire]] and [[Surrey]].<ref>Virginia Lives: The Old Dominion Who's who - Page 450 by Richard Lee Morton · 1964</ref>

Heth was wounded at West Point in 1846 with a [[bayonet]] stab to his leg. He graduated from the [[United States Military Academy]] at the bottom of his class in 1847 (like his cousin George the year before). He was commissioned a [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Second Lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] and assigned to the [[U.S. 1st Infantry Regiment|1st Infantry Regiment]]. His antebellum career was served primarily in [[Western United States|western]] posts, some as a [[quartermaster]].  He was serving as a [[first lieutenant]] in the [[6th Infantry Regiment (United States)|6th Infantry]] when John C. Symmes III refused a [[captain (United States)|captaincy]] in the new [[10th Infantry Regiment (United States)|10th Infantry]] on March 3, 1855, and Heth was appointed in his place. He played a prominent role in the 1855 [[Battle of Ash Hollow]] (also known as the Harney Massacre due to the large number of Lakota women and children killed), leading a company of mounted infantry against the [[Lakota people|Lakota]]. In 1858, he created the first marksmanship manual for the Army.

Heth served at [[Camp Floyd]] during the [[Utah War]]. Camp Floyd had the largest concentration of US Troops at any post prior to the Civil War. While stationed in the desolate Utah Territory, he and others petitioned<ref>{{Cite web|last=Goodwin|first=S. H.|year=1934|title=Freemasonry in Utah : Rocky Mountain Lodge No. 205, A.F. & A.M., 1859-1861, Camp Floyd, the First Masonic Lodge in Utah.|url=http://www.cfhl205.org/pdf/Rocky-mountain-Lodge-205-search.pdf|access-date=14 July 2021|website=Camp Floyd Historic Lodge No. 205 F. & A. M.|series=Educational bulletin (Freemasons. Utah. Grand Lodge. Committee on Masonic Education and Instruction), no. 1, amplified.|pages=16–17|publication-place=Salt Lake City}}</ref> the [[Freemason]]'s [[Grand Lodge]] of Missouri to establish a [[Masonic Lodge]] in the Utah Territory. It was granted on March 6, 1859, for Rocky Mountain #205 under dispensation from Missouri; Heth served as the last Senior Warden of the first Masonic Lodge in Utah,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Goodwin|first=S. H.|year=1934|title=Freemasonry in Utah : Rocky Mountain Lodge No. 205, A.F. & A.M., 1859-1861, Camp Floyd, the First Masonic Lodge in Utah.|url=http://www.cfhl205.org/pdf/Rocky-mountain-Lodge-205-search.pdf|access-date=14 July 2021|website=Camp Floyd Historic Lodge No. 205 F. & A. M.|series=Educational bulletin (Freemasons. Utah. Grand Lodge. Committee on Masonic Education and Instruction), no. 1, amplified.|location=Salt Lake City|pages=3, 38}}</ref> after which the Army was called away from Utah Territory to fight the American Civil War.

==American Civil War==
[[File:Henry Heth 07583v.jpg|thumb|upright|left|200px|Heth in uniform, {{circa|1861|lk=yes}}]]
After the American Civil War began at [[Fort Sumter]], Heth resigned from the U.S. Army and joined the [[Confederate States Army]], where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. His initial assignment was to muster and drill regiments of state militia in southwestern Virginia.  In June, he was promoted to colonel. Born in Virginia's Tidewater region, Heth was unpopular with the mountain farmers and was known as a strict disciplinarian. In turn, Heth was frustrated by the illiteracy and lack of discipline of his men, as well as General [[John B. Floyd]]'s actions as commanding officer in the region. Heth wrote of Floyd, "I soon discovered that my chief was as incapacitated for the work he had undertaken as I would have been to lead an Italian opera." Under Floyd, Heth led his regiment in the battles of [[Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes|Kessler's Cross Lanes]] and [[Battle of Carnifex Ferry|Carnifex Ferry]]. His brief service as General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s quartermaster in the Virginia Provisional Army led to a close friendship between the two officers, Heth being one of the few generals whom Lee called by his first name. He spent the remainder of 1861 in the [[Kanawha River|Kanawha Valley]] in western Virginia in the 5th and [[45th Virginia Infantry]] regiments. He was promoted to [[Brigadier General (CSA)|brigadier general]] on January 6, 1862.

In the spring of 1862 Heth was in command of the "Army of the New River," (in actuality the 22nd and 45th Virginia Infantry regiments, with attached cavalry and artillery).  Heth's diminutive force held off the forces of General Jacob D. Cox at Giles (County) Courthouse (May 10, 1862) and pursued the enemy to [[Lewisburg, West Virginia|Lewisburg]], where Heth was forced to withdraw (May 23, 1862).  The actions were critical to keeping federal forces tied up and out of the southern Shenandoah Valley while [[Stonewall Jackson]] was conducting his own campaign 120 miles to the north.  Despite the small size of his force, Heth submitted his reports as an army commander and had his regimental commanders write their own as "brigade" commanders, possibly assisting in the eventual promotion of Heth to major general.<ref name="Official Records">{{cite web|title=Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Series 1, vol 12, Part 1, page 491-495 (Second Manassas)|url=http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/recordView.cfm?Content=015/0491}}</ref>

He was then sent west to the Department of [[East Tennessee]], to serve under [[Edmund Kirby Smith]]. During the [[Confederate Heartland Offensive|Kentucky Campaign]], he was sent by Smith to take a [[division (military)|division]] north from [[Lexington, Kentucky]], to make a [[demonstration (military)|demonstration]] on [[Cincinnati]].  Although this caused a great commotion in the city's defenses, only a few skirmishes occurred.<ref>Noe, pp. 86-87.</ref> Smith's portion of the army was spread too far north in Kentucky to consolidate with Bragg's portion in time for the [[Battle of Perryville]]. Bragg ordered the withdrawal of Confederate forces back to Tennessee, and Smith was subsequently transferred to the [[Trans-Mississippi Department]], his forces again missing a vital battle at [[Battle of Stones River|Stones River]].

In March 1863, Lee, commanding the [[Army of Northern Virginia]], then positioned at Fredericksburg, recalled Heth to Virginia to serve as a [[brigade]] commander in [[Maj. Gen. (CSA)|Maj. Gen.]] [[A. P. Hill]]'s division. He fought in the [[Battle of Chancellorsville]], showing aggressive, but misguided, qualities in his first large-scale combat, attacking without reserves against a [[Union Army|Union]] force emerging from the Wilderness. Heth assumed command of Hill's division after Hill assumed corps command after [[Stonewall Jackson]]'s wounding. Following the death of Jackson, Lee reorganized his army into three [[corps]], promoting Hill to the Third Corps. Heth retained his division command and was promoted to [[Major General (CSA)|major general]] on May 24, 1863.

[[File:First day at gettysburg.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A [[Reconstruction era|postbellum]] illustration of Confederate [[infantry]]men at [[Battle of Gettysburg, first day|Gettysburg on July 1, 1863]]]]

Heth's division made history by inadvertently starting the [[Battle of Gettysburg]]. Marching east from [[Cashtown-McKnightstown, Pennsylvania|Cashtown]] on July 1, 1863, Heth sent two brigades ahead in a reconnaissance in force. His memoirs referred to sending them in a search of shoes in Gettysburg, but some historians{{Who|date=June 2020}} consider this an apocryphal story; they{{Who|date=June 2020}} say Heth knew that [[Jubal A. Early]] had been in Gettysburg a few days earlier and any available shoes would have been taken at that time. Lee's command also believed that sending two brigades on such a mission would have been wasteful. The brigades made contact with Union [[cavalry]] under [[Brigadier General#United States|Brig. Gen.]] [[John Buford]] and spread out into battle formation.

Lee had ordered A. P. Hill to avoid a general engagement with the enemy before he could assemble his full army, but Heth's actions had now rendered that order moot. They were engaged, and Union reinforcements started arriving quickly. Heth's decision to deploy his two brigades before the arrival of the rest of his division was an error as well; they were repulsed in hard fighting against an elite division of the [[Army of the Potomac]]'s [[I Corps (Union Army)|I Corps]], including the famously tenacious [[Iron Brigade]]. After a lull in fighting, Heth brought two more brigades into the fray in the afternoon and the Union forces were driven back to [[Seminary Ridge]], but principally because the [[XI Corps (Union Army)|XI Corps]]' right flank was crushed by [[Richard S. Ewell]]'s corps coming in from the north. Finally, Heth attacked again in conjunction with the division of [[Major General (CSA)|Maj. Gen.]] [[Robert E. Rodes]] and the Union corps were routed, retreating back through town to [[Cemetery Hill]], but Confederate losses were severe. Heth should have better coordinated his attack with the division of Maj. Gen. [[William Dorsey Pender|Dorsey Pender]]. Heth was wounded during the attack when a bullet struck him in the head. However, he was wearing a hat that was too large and stuffed with papers to make it fit. The papers probably deflected the bullet to avoid a fatal wound, but Heth was knocked unconscious and effectively out of the battle. Parts of his division, under the command of Brig. Gen. [[Johnston Pettigrew]], saw more action two days later in [[Pickett's Charge]], and Heth recovered enough to command during the retreat back to Virginia and the minor engagements of the fall of 1863.

Harry Heth commanded his division through the 1864 [[Overland Campaign]]. At the [[Battle of the Wilderness]], his men were on the front line of A.P. Hill's corps, which blunted Union attacks on the Orange Plank Road. In the subsequent [[Battle of Spotsylvania Court House]], his division was held primarily in the rear, and was positioned on the Confederate left flank at the Battles of [[Battle of North Anna|North Anna]] and [[Battle of Cold Harbor|Cold Harbor]]. Heth also participated in the [[Siege of Petersburg]], playing direct roles in the battles of [[Battle of Globe Tavern|Globe Tavern]], [[Second Battle of Ream's Station|Second Ream's Station]], [[Battle of Peebles' Farm|Peebles' Farm]], [[Battle of Boydton Plank Road|Boydton Plank Road]], and [[Battle of Hatcher's Run|Hatcher's Run]]. Following the death of Gen. [[A.P. Hill]] on April 2, 1865, Heth briefly took over command of the Third Corps. Heth's troops, now led by [[John Rogers Cooke|Gen. John R. Cooke]], were pushed back at the [[Battle of Sutherland's Station]]. Heth led the remainder of his troops in the [[Appomattox Campaign]], fighting at [[Battle of Cumberland Church|Cumberland Church]] and retreating to [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]], where he surrendered with Lee on April 9, 1865.

==Later years==
[[File:Maj. Gen. Henry Heth, 1895.png|thumb|upright|Heth in 1895]]
After the war, Heth worked in the insurance business and later served the government as a surveyor and in the [[Office of Indian Affairs]]. He died in [[Washington, D.C.]], and is buried in [[Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)|Hollywood Cemetery]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of General Heth |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025007/1899-09-27/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=September 20, 2018 |agency=Library of Congress - Chronicling America |volume=C|issue=229 |publisher=Alexandria Gazette |date=September 27, 1899 |page=2 }}</ref>  Heth served as the first Commander of the Centennial Legion of Historic Military Commands when it was founded in 1876.<ref>[http://www.centenniallegion.com ''Centennial Legion of Historic Military Commands web site'']. Retrieved October 3, 2012.</ref>

==In popular culture==
Heth was portrayed by [[Warren Burton]] in the 1993 film ''[[Gettysburg (1993 film)|Gettysburg]]'', based on Michael Shaara's novel, ''[[The Killer Angels]]''.

==Selected works==
* ''A System of Target Practice'' (published in 1858)
* ''The Memoirs of Henry Heth'' (posthumous, 1974).

==See also==
* [[List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)|List of Confederate States Army generals]]

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Berg, Andrew. "The Best Offense." ''Smithsonian Magazine'', September 2005.
* Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher]]. ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8047-3641-3}}.
* Noe, Kenneth W. ''Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle''. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}.
* Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War.'' New York: Facts On File, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-8160-1055-4}}.
* Tagg, Larry. [https://web.archive.org/web/20141022014655/http://www.rocemabra.com/~roger/tagg/generals/ ''The Generals of Gettysburg''], Campbell, CA: Savas Publishing, 1998. {{ISBN|1-882810-30-9}}.
* [[Ezra J. Warner (historian)|Warner, Ezra J.]] ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. {{ISBN|978-0-8071-0823-9}}.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Pfanz, Harry W. ''Gettysburg &ndash; The First Day''. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-8078-2624-3}}.
* Krick, Robert K. ''The Unfulfilled Promise of Robert E. Lee’s Favorite Officer''. www.historynet.com, June 6, 2018. http://www.historynet.com/unfulfilled-promise-robert-e-lees-favorite-officer.htm. Originally published in the January 2008 issue of ''America's Civil War''.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Find a Grave}}
* [http://encyclopediavirginia.org/Heth_Henry_1825-1899 Henry Heth in ''Encyclopedia Virginia'']

{{Gettysburg figures|state=collapsed}}

{{Portal bar|American Civil War|Biography|Virginia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heth, Henry}}
[[Category:1825 births]]
[[Category:1899 deaths]]
[[Category:American Freemasons]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Burials at Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia)]]
[[Category:Confederate States Army major generals]]
[[Category:Members of the Aztec Club of 1847]]
[[Category:People from Chesterfield County, Virginia]]
[[Category:People of Virginia in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Southern Historical Society members]]
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[[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]]