Confederate Postal History Figure 1: CSA 9, 10-cent blue T-E-N used with a Lynchburg, Va., postmark and addressed to Thomas A. Hardy. Thomas Hardy: Forebearer of Military Royalty By Patricia A. Kaufmann I don’t know why I continue to be amazed when a Hardy is noted in numerous sources as a Virginian, Civil War cover provides a depth of interest that spans but he was born in Bertie County, North Carolina. His generations and connects the past to the present with ancestors were among the earliest settlers in North such strength. But that is the case with the seemingly Carolina, first making an appearance about 1695.3 ordinary cover shown in Figure 1. When he was in his mid-to-late 20s (exact dates The cover is franked with a CSA 9, 10-cent blue vary according to sources consulted), he moved T-E-N1 tied to the cover by a Lynchburg, Virginia, to Norfolk and became successful as a cotton and circular datestamp. It is addressed to “Mr. Thomas A. fertilizer broker; he was also owner of a basket and Hardy/Williamsboro/Granville County/N.C.” barrel factory. He purchased Riveredge in Berkley, Hardy owned Burnside Plantation in Williamsboro. Virginia, in 1847.4 The house and several outbuildings were built in 1760 Hardy’s gravestone at Cedar Grove Cemetery in by Joseph Davenport. It passed through numerous Norfolk, Virginia, is shown in Figure 2.5 wealthy landowners along with about 2,500 acres Berkley was inhabited by the mid-17th century before becoming home to Hardy, who purchased it in when the British Crown awarded land grants to the 1858.2 Herbert family. In the 18th century, Berkley developed port facilities and a shipyard on the Elizabeth River Thomas Asbury Hardy (1800-1876) across from Norfolk. Thomas Hardy was the father and grandfather of During the 19th century, it was the rail terminus two illustrious general officers in the U.S. Army from for the Norfolk Southern Railway, which extended to the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. Those Charlotte, North Carolina. The village transformed two men also share the distinction of being the first into a town following the Civil War and was named father and son to each be awarded a Medal of Honor: after Lycurgus Berkley, a local landowner. General Arthur MacArthur and his son, Douglas In 1906, Berkley was annexed by the city of Norfolk MacArthur. and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. 24 La Posta First Quarter 2018 Figure 2: Thomas Asbury Hardy (1800-1876) gravestone in Figure 3: Mary Pinkney Hardy Cedar Grove Cemetery, Norfolk, Virginia. (MacArthur) as a young woman. Both the town of Berkley and Norfolk County are now When Federal forces captured Norfolk in 1862, the extinct as jurisdictions. home was turned into a hospital and Pinky found refuge The Berkley North Historic District can be divided at one of her father’s plantations in North Carolina. into four sections, the largest of which is known as While attending Mardi Gras festivities in New “Hardyfields,” because it was developed through the Orleans in the early 1870s (one source says 1872, subdivision of the Hardy Estate after 1889.6 another 1874 and yet another 1875), she met a young One of Hardyfields’ most unusual components is army officer, Arthur MacArthur, Jr. He had joined the a small park enclosed by brick walls. It is officially army at the age of 17 and fought for the Union during known as the Mary (Pinkney) Hardy MacArthur the Civil War. Memorial (VDHR #122-0098). It marks the former On May 19, 1875, Pinky married MacArthur at location of Riveredge and the birthplace of “Pinky” Riveredge. At least four of her brothers had served in the Hardy, as she was always known. Confederate Army and two were graduates of Virginia She was the wife of Gen. Arthur MacArthur and Military Institute and had served under Confederate the mother of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Riveredge was Gen. Robert E. Lee. Thus, they were anything but demolished in the 1940s, but the original bricks were pleased when their sister married a Yankee. It is said saved to build the walls of the memorial.7 The home that they refused to attend the wedding.10 was said to contain at least 20 rooms and a brick tunnel Pinky and Arthur’s first two sons were born at leading from the house to the barn and an escape route Riveredge, Arthur III, and Malcolm, who died of down to the river’s edge, where boats were anchored.8 measles at age four. Their third son, Douglas, was born Gen. Douglas MacArthur dedicated the site of his on January 26, 1880, at Fort Dodge, which is now mother’s memorial on November 18, 1951. During the part of Little Rock, Arkansas, while their father was day’s festivities, MacArthur stated that he felt that he stationed in the West. As an Army wife who was raised had finally come home. Remembering this sentiment, in Southern high society, life on an isolated army post in 1960, Mayor Fred Duckworth presented the general must have been difficult. Although his father was an with the idea of a creating a museum and repository important figure in his life, Douglas’ mother played in Norfolk for the general’s library, papers, and other an equally significant role. She was a dynamic woman memorabilia. with a strength and toughness apparent to all. Norfolk’s offer of the old City Hall Building (c. Pinky’s relationship with her youngest son became 1850) as the site for the proposed MacArthur museum the dominant factor in the latter half of her life. In appealed to MacArthur. On the condition that he and 1898, with her husband fighting a war half a world his wife, Jean, could be buried in the Rotunda of the away in the Philippines, Pinky lived near Douglas at museum, MacArthur entered into a partnership with West Point, where her prodding and encouragement the city of Norfolk. The resulting MacArthur Memorial helped him finish first in his class. Mother and son are opened in January 1964.9 shown together at West Point in Figure 4. Every night at bedtime throughout his childhood, Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur (1852-1935) young Douglas heard his mother say, “You must grow Pinky Hardy, shown in her youth in Figure 3, was up to be a great man—like your father and Robert one of 14 children born to Thomas A. Hardy and his E. Lee.” She accompanied him during much of his wife, Elizabeth Margaret Pierce. career.11 First Quarter 2018 La Posta 25 Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur died at age 83 on December 3, 1935, while living with Douglas. She was buried with her husband in Arlington National Cemetery. Douglas was crushed. His aide, Dwight Eisenhower, wrote that her passing “affected the general’s spirit for many months.” Arthur MacArthur Jr. (1845-1912) Born on June 2, 1845, in Chicopee, Massachusetts, Arthur MacArthur Jr. and his family moved in 1849 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the city he would always call home. His father, Arthur MacArthur Sr., was a Scottish immigrant who achieved success as a lawyer, politician and judge. Throughout his life, the senior Arthur would use his political influence to assist his son in his military career. When the Civil War began, young Arthur was determined to do his part, despite his father’s resistance. Arthur Sr. withheld permission for his son to enlist until he agreed to return to the military academy he had been attending, during which time his father attempted to get him an appointment to West Point. When told the earliest appointment available would not be until 1863, young Arthur could no longer be denied. The 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry was being formed and Judge MacArthur’s influence and a lie about his age combined to obtain Arthur’s Figure 4: Pinky Hardy MacArthur with her son, Douglas appointment as adjutant. His youthful appearance MacArthur, a West Point cadet in 1899. and adolescent mistakes made for a shaky start to his military career. After early encounters at Perryville, Kentucky, and Wisconsin in a charge up the ridge without waiting for Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the 24th Wisconsin moved orders. on to Chattanooga. On November 24, 1863, Hooker’s Back on Orchard Knob, an angry Grant wanted command succeeded in the Battle of Lookout Mountain to know who had ordered the attack, but it quickly and prepared to move east toward Confederate Gen. became clear that nobody had issued any such orders. Braxton Bragg’s left flank on Missionary Ridge. All Grant could do was watch. Using natural cover, Arthur MacArthur, an 18-year-old lieutenant, was regiment by regiment, the Union soldiers advanced. at home on sick leave in Milwaukee, and hurried by Halfway up the ridge, the color sergeant faltered. train to rejoin his unit for the Battle of Missionary MacArthur grabbed the colors, waved them high, Ridge. He spent November 24 at the base of that ridge. shouted “24th Wisconsin” and led the entire Union In the afternoon, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant ordered line up the hill. Pistol in one hand and flag in the other, Gen. George H. Thomas’ Army of the Cumberland MacArthur planted the regimental flag on the crest of to move forward to seize the line of Confederate rifle Missionary Ridge at a particularly critical moment, pits on the valley floor, and stop there to await further shouting, “On Wisconsin!” He was the first Union orders. The siege guns signaled the advance.