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Rh the first meeting for the organization of the Republican party in the state, and the meeting was held in his law office in 1856. Gideon Welles and John M. Niles were among the noted men who attended. In the Fremont and Dayton campaign of 1856 Mr. Hawley gave three months to stumping the North for "Free Soil, Fremont and Free Men." In 1857 he abandoned the practice of the law to become editor of the "Hartford Evening Press," uniting with it the "Charter Oak," which he had conducted as an abolition journal, 1852-56. He made the new paper distinctively Republican. His partner in the enterprise was William Faxon, subsequently assistant secretary of the navy. When the news of the outbreak of the Civil war by the first shot fired upon the United States garrison in Fort Sumter reached Connecticut, Editor Hawley called for recruits for rifle Company A, 1st Connecticut volunteers, and over one hundred men responded within twenty-four hours, for three months' service; and Mr. Hawley, who had personally engaged rifles at Sharp's factory, was elected first lieutenant. The regiment reached Washington early in July, and when it started out for the battlefield of Bull Run, July 21, Lieutenant Hawley had been advanced to captain of the rifles. General Erastus D. Keyes, in command of the brigade, gave to Captain Hawley special praise for good conduct in battle. On returning to Connecticut with the regiment in September, 1861, to be mustered out, he assisted Colonel Alfred H. Terry in recruiting the 7th Connecticut volunteers for three years' service; and he was made lieutenant-colonel September 17, 1861, when the new regiment was mustered in. The regiment was attached to the Port Royal expedition and on reaching Port Royal, South Carolina, was the first sent ashore after the bombardment, to garrison the place. After the four months seige and the surrender of Fort Pulaski, the 7th Connecticut garrisoned that Confederate stronghold. On January 20, 1862, he succeeded Colonel Terry in command of the regiment and led it in the battles of James Island and Pocotaligo and also in the expedition to Florida under General John M. Brannan. He commanded the post of Fernandina from January, 1863, and led an unsuccessful expedition by land against Charleston, South Carolina, in April, 1863. He commanded a brigade on Morris Island, South Carolina, during the siege of Charleston and the capture of Fort Wagner. In February, 1864, in conformity with directions of the president, General Gillmore planned another expedition to gain possession of Florida and it