Harney, William Selby

Life Span
to
    Full name
    William Selby Harney
    Place of birth
    Haysborough, TN
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Slave State
    Education
    Other
    Other Education
    Cumberland College, TN
    Occupation
    Military
    Diplomat
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Union Army

    William Selby Harney (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    In June 1846, as the nation moved toward war with Mexico, Harney became colonel and commander of the Second Dragoons. When hostilities began, the headstrong commander conducted an unauthorized expedition into Mexico from Texas, and General Winfield Scott ordered Harney to surrender most of his command to a subordinate. Harney subsequently defied Scott by retaking command. Scott then ordered a court-martial, which convicted Harney of disobedience and ordered him to apologize to Scott. After the trial, however, Harney retaliated by using political channels to obtain a reprimand against Scott from Secretary of War W. L. Marcy.

    Harney served with distinction during the march to Mexico City. He captured Cerro Gordo, a hill overlooking the road to Mexico City, and turned Mexican guns on the retreating enemy. During the siege of Mexico City, he busied himself by guarding prisoners and hanging American deserters.
    Richmond L. Clow, "Harney, William Selby," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/05/05-00316.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "Harney, William Selby," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/5839.