born Oct. 12, 1815, near Savannah, Ga., U.S.
died Nov. 6, 1873, Whytheville, Va.
U.S. military leader.
A graduate of West Point (1838), he wrote Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics (1855), a popular manual that was later used by both sides in the American Civil War . When Georgia seceded in 1861, Hardee resigned his commission and assumed command of Confederate forces in northeastern Arkansas, later demonstrating his military skills at the Battles of Chattanooga . As commander of the military department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, he attempted to halt the march of {{link=Sherman, William Tecumseh">William T. Sherman across Georgia. After the war he retired to his plantation.