Joseph Hayes

Joseph Hayes (September 14, 1835 – August 19, 1912) was a Union Army general during the American Civil War. The Harvard-educated civil engineer served as regiment and brigade commander in the V Corps. As part of the Army of the Potomac he fought in many battles of the Eastern Theater of the war.

Early life Joseph Hayes was born in South Berwick, Maine, September 14, 1835. He was the son of Judge William Allen Hayes. The younger Hayes prepared for college at the Phillips-Exeter Academy. After graduating from Harvard in 1855 and taking a course in civil engineering he went West and engaged in the preliminary surveys of the Iowa line of the Chicago & Rock Island Railway.

In 1858 the Mormon outbreak occurred in Utah. Hayes joined a volunteer company of artillery from Iowa and was elected its captain, being commissioned by Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood. As lieutenant colonel, Hayes commanded the regiment in the Battle of Fredericksburg, being commended for his conduct. The regiment made three successive charges on Marye's Heights, more than one-half of its officers and men were killed or disabled.

On November 29, 1862, Hayes became colonel of the regiment on the promotion of Colonel Barnes to brigadier general. Nevertheless he was with his unit on the third day, leading his men and the 22nd Massachusetts opposing Pickett's Charge. He was injured again when thrown from his horse on September 24. Mere days later he was assigned to lead the 3rd Brigade, doing so until April 1864. He held the command of the regular infantry brigade during the Siege of Petersburg, and the subsequent capture of the Weldon Railroad by his command on August 18, 1864. The Confederates made a desperate attempt to recapture this important communication to their base of supplies, attacking with thirteen brigades, but were repulsed. the defenders suffered heavy losses, including both aid-de-camps of Hayes, Lieutenants Chambers McKibbin and Perry being shot by his side. The day following, accompanied by his adjutant-general Captain George W. Brady, while making a reconnaissance in front of the lines in a thick wood, General Hayes was captured and taken prisoner. While a prisoner of war, in January, 1865, he was appointed commissioner of supplies in the seceded states by the U.S. Government, and performed the duty of distributing a large amount of clothing and food among the Union prisoners in the South. General Hayes died in a private sanitarium at 154 West 74th St., New York City, on August 19, 1912. He never married. Joseph Hayes was burried at South Berwick.