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/node/5839.