Alfred Stedman Hartwell (June 11, 1836 – August 30, 1912) was a lawyer and American Civil War soldier, who then had another career as cabinet minister and judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Early life
Alfred Stedman Hartwell was born June 11, 1836, in Natick, Massachusetts. His father was Stedman Hartwell (1800-1872) and mother was Rebecca Dana Perry (1805–1872).[1]
In April 1861, at the outbreak of the American Civil War, he enlisted as Corporal in the Third Missouri Reserve regiment.
Missouri was officially neutral but supporters of the Confederacy had captured Liberty Arsenal, and his company was called up to help recapture the weapons. This resulted in the Camp Jackson Affair.[3]
Morale became a problem when his troops discovered that despite being promised the same pay as their white counterparts, they had a major deduction for a "clothing allowance". Hartwell complained to his commanding officers, and suggested promoting African-American troops to officers. On May 24, 1864, he commissioned John Freeman Shorter to be a second lieutenant, but it was refused by General John Porter Hatch. He protested up to the Secretary of War and threatened to resign, until the pay issue was settled in August 1864.[4]
In the Battle of Honey Hill on November 30, 1864, he commanded a brigade that included the 55th and 54th Massachusetts and the 102nd USCT. He was wounded and had his horse shot from under him leading three charges. Captain Thomas F. Ellsworth received the Congressional Medal of Honor because "Under a heavy fire [Ellsworth] carried his wounded commanding officer [Hartwell] from the field." The battle was generally a failure, but proved another example where the African-American troops could be used in battle.[5]
On January 23, 1865,[6]PresidentAbraham Lincoln nominated Hartwell for the award of the honorary grade of brevetbrigadier general, to rank from December 30, 1864, for gallant services at the battle of Honey Hill.[7] The U.S. Senate confirmed the award on February 14, 1865.[6]
On January 30, 1865, he rejoined his brigade, and in February 1865 he commanded the brigade in an attack on James Island, South Carolina (see Battle of Grimball's Causeway). After a few skirmishes, both sides retreated.[8]
After the fall of Charleston, he marched his forces through the city, with the African-American troops at the head of his brigade. They occupied the city and dealt with the large number of refugees.
On April 5, 1865, he commanded another combined force that marched through Charleston again, although by now the Confederate army was generally dispersing. Their duties now were mostly peace-keeping and rebuilding bridges.[9]
On May 1 his units were based in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and finally in June his promotions of black officers were finally approved.
In August the 55th was taken out of service. However, Hartwell was sent to investigate Milton S. Littlefield who was accused of fraud (known as the "Prince of carpetbaggers").[10]
Boston
He was finally discharged on April 30, 1866. He returned to Boston, and was elected to the legislature of Massachusetts as a Republican.
After the war he finished his last year of law school and graduated with an LLB degree from Harvard in 1867.
He briefly started a law practice in Boston with classmate Samuel Craft Davis.[11]
On August 15, 1868, he left at the suggestion of fellow Massachusetts lawyer Elisha Hunt Allen, intending to spend a year or two on an adventure to the Hawaiian Islands.[2]
There were so few trained lawyers in Hawaii, one of the other supreme court justices, Hermann A. Widemann, had never been to law school. Elisha Hunt Allen was still acting as chief justice, despite living in the United States much of the time.[13]
He rented a room at Washington Place from Mary Dominis. Also living there was John Owen Dominis who was Governor of Oahu, and his wife Lydia, the future Queen Liliʻuokalani. He quickly learned the Hawaiian language and by December 1868 was instructing juries as a circuit court judge without an interpreter.[2]
At the time, the supreme court was trial court for several kinds of cases, handled appeals, and its judges acted as circuit judges on other islands.
In 1873 he hosted a visit of some other former civil war generals, including John Schofield, Rufus Ingalls and Barton S. Alexander, when they investigated the use of Pearl Harbor as a naval base. As King Lunalilo was dying, Hartwell advised him to name a clear successor, assuming it would be Queen Emma of Hawaii. However, Lunalilo died before naming an heir to the throne, resulting in a political crisis when the popular Emma was not elected.[2]
Hartwell was appointed Attorney General by King Kalākaua on February 18, 1874, replacing Albert Francis Judd (who moved onto the court), but was replaced on May 28.[14]
On December 5, 1876, he was appointed again, replacing William Richards Castle.
This time he served until July 3, 1878,[12]
when he went into private practice. Hartwell suspected that Claus Spreckels had him removed because Hartwell was opposed to Spreckels' plans to license water rights for his sugarcaneplantations.
In 1883 he closed his practice and traveled back to Boston, but returned to Hawaii in 1885.[13]
Alfred S. Hartwell in later life
In late 1890 he traveled to Washington, D.C., to negotiate on a cable connection between Hawaii and west coast of the United States.
Although he did not support the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, he did lobby for its annexation to the US.
In 1899 he traveled to Washington, D.C., as unofficial representative until Robert William Wilcox was elected.[15] On the same trip he attended the International commercial congress in Philadelphia.[16]
In 1895 Hartwell wrote the document signed by Liliʻuokalani in which she agreed to abdicate, avoiding death sentences for those (including herself) convicted after the 1895 Counter-Revolution in Hawaii. Liliʻuokalani remained bitter about what she saw as a former friend working for her enemies.[17]
On March 9, 1911, he resigned and left in June for a vacation in Europe, but became ill in London and returned to Hawaii.
Personal
His younger brother, Charles Atherton Hartwell (1841–1876) served under Major General Nathaniel P. Banks. In 1865 Charles was brevetted Brigadier General US Volunteers for gallant services during the war. Charles died in Castroville, Texas in 1876. Hartwell named his only son in honor or his younger brother, Charles Atherton Hartwell.
He married Charlotte Elizabeth "Lottie" Smith (1845–1896) on January 10, 1872, in Kōloa on Kauaʻi island. Her parents were missionary physician James William Smith and teacher Melicent Knapp Smith, who arrived in 1842 to Hawaii. Her brother was lawyer William Owen Smith (1848–1929)[20] who later joined him in law practice.[21]
They had eight children:
Daughter Mabel Rebecca Hartwell was born April 5, 1873, and married Alfred Townsend in 1897.
Daughter Edith Millicent Hartwell was born May 25, 1874, and married Alfred Wellington Carter (1867–1949) in 1895.[22]
Daughter Charlotte Lee Hartwell was born October 22, 1876, and married Charles Henry Chater.
Daughter Juliette Hartwell was born July 27, 1879, and married Olaf L. Sorenson on May 18, 1912.
Son Charles Atherton Hartwell was born November 5, 1880, and married Cordelia Judd Carter (1876–1921), daughter of Henry A. P. Carter, cousin of A. W. Carter, and granddaughter of Gerrit.[22]
Bernice Hartwell was born August 15, 1882.
Alice Dorothy Hartwell was born July 27, 1884, and married Ferdinand Frederick Hedemann in 1927.[23]
For his honeymoon the couple traveled first to San Francisco in February 1872, where he found out his father had died on his wedding day. When they arrived in Natick, his mother was also ill, and they stayed until she died on June 11, 1872. They returned and rented a house in Honolulu in August 1872.
Death
He died in Honolulu on August 30, 1912, and was buried in Oahu Cemetery.[2]
Ancestry
He is a direct descendant of James Atherton,[24][25] one of the First Settlers of New England; who arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1630s. His paternal grandmother was Rachel Atherton.[26]
^ abcdeAlfred Stedman Hartwell (1946) [1908]. "Forty Years of Hawaii Nei". Fifty-fourth Annual Report. Hawaii Historical Society. pp. 7–24. hdl:10524/51.
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