Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/168

 HAWKINS

HAWKINS

serving till April 13, 1863, at which time he was promoted brigailier-^eneral of volunteers ami he commanded a hrijjjaile o( colored troops in north- eastern Louisiana from Aug. IT, 1803, to Feb. 7, 1864. He commaniled a division of colored troops at Vicksburg, Miss., from March, 1864. to February, 1865; took part in the Mobile campaign, his division being attached to Gen. Frederick Steele's column. Canby's army. He distinguished himself in the assault at Blakely, April 9, 186."). tliat resulted in the c-aptm-e of Mobile. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, June 30, 186.5, ami was honorably mustered out of the volunteer .service, Feb. 1, 1866. In the regular establisluuent he was brevetted major, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services during the siege of Mobile, Ala. ; and lieutenant- colonel, colonel, brigadier-general and major-gen- eral, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services in the field during the war. He was promoted major in the commissarj^ department, June 23, 1874; lieutenant-colonel and assistant commissarj-general, Sept. 3, 1889, colonel and assistant commissary-general, March 12, 1892; and brigadier general and commissary -general of sub- sistence, Dec. 22, 1892, and was retired by ojier- ation of law, Sept. 29, 1894.

HAWKINS, Micajah Thomas, representative, was born in Warren county, N.C., in 1790; son of Col. John Hawkins; grand.son of Col. Pliilemon and Delia Hawkins, and a descendant of the Hawkins family who emigrated from England, settled in Gloucester county, Va., and removed to Bute (Warren) county, N.C., in 1737. His grand- father was chief aide to Governor Tryon in the battle of Alamance and fought against the Regu- lators the same year. Micajah was a student at the University of North Carolina, matriculating in 1803; was admitted to tiie bar in 1811; a mem- ber of the state house of commons, 1819-23, and of the upper house, 1823-28. He represented his district in the 22d-26th congresses, 1831^1; and was again a state representative in 1846. He was a major-general of the state militia. He died in Warrenton, N.C., Dec. 22, 1858.

HAWKINS, Rush Christopher, soldier, was born at I'oinfret, Vt.,Sei.t. 14, 1831; .son of Lorenzo Dow and Louisa Maria (Hutchinson) Hawkins. His grandfather, Dexter Hawkins, was a soldier in the Revolution and served in one of the Rhode Island regiments. His great-grand- father, the Rev. Aaron Hutchinson, an accom- plished classical scholar, was the first settled Con- gregational minister in the central (eastern) section of Vermont in 1776, and was a founder of the Woodstock society. Rush received liis scanty education at the district school of his native town and left Vermont in 1846. In 1848 he enlisted in the 2d U.S. dragoons and with a part of his

regiment was in the last nine months of the occupation of the valley of the Rio Grande, Mex- ico. He was tlischarged from the army l)y reason of ill health, studied law in New York and began practice there in 1856. At the outl)n'ak of the civil war, he was at the head of an independent company of Zouaves in New York city, and immediately up- on the President's call for two years' troops this company was the first to tender its services to the government. He

raised and organized the 9th regiment of New York volunteer infantry, afterward known as " Haw- kins's Zouaves " ^ y j which participated /^i^C^^'A-e^(/4^il4^7Cit^, in the movement

against Big Bethel, Va., was second in com- mand of the Hatteras expedition, landed at Hat- teras Inlet, taking part in the engagement there, and at Chicomocomico, joined Burnside, and was in the actions at Roanoke Island, Winton and South Mills, N.C., in wiiich last engagement, April 19, 1862, Colonel Hawkins was wounded. He commanded the brigade, which was made up for him the March ])receding, at Fredericks- burg, and at the siege of Suffolk, in April, 1863. With his regiment he was mustered out of the service in June, 1863, having been brevetted briga- dier-general of volunteers. He was also brevetted brigadier-general in the national guard of the state of New York, and presented with a sword by the citizens of New York. He organized the first body of loyal North Carolina troops at Plymouth, N.C., and was chiefly instrumental in the organization of the 1st regiment. North Carolina volunteers. In July, 1862, General Haw- kins was placed under arrest by order of General Burnside for denouncing General McClellan as a failure, but no charges were preferred against him and he was released. After the clo.se of his military career he became associated with various movements connected with political reform, including civil service, and was appointed one of a committee from the Union League club in May, 1864, to impre.ss upon the people the importance of that subject. He was a representative in the New York assembly in 1872, and resigned his seat seven days before the adjournment of that body. He was U.S. fine arts commissioner at the Paris exposition, 1889, and in that year was made an officer of the Legion of Honor of France. He be- came a recognized authority on the early history