Valor Friday
Then-First Lieutenant Peter Conover Hains, circa 1862
I briefly mentioned Peter Conover Hains last week as we explored men who spent more time in the service than is normal. Hains was the only confirmed American veteran of both the Civil War and World War I, though he didn’t see overseas service in the latter conflict. Canadian John Boucher is said to also be a veteran of both, having been with the 25th Michigan Infantry and then lying about his age (he was 72 and claimed to be 48) when he enlisted into the Canadian Expeditionary Force, going to France in WWI.
Hains was born in 1840 in Pennsylvania. He attended West Point in the fateful Class of 1862. When the Civil War began in 1861, the class’s graduation was moved up to 1861. The 34 cadets became the Class of June 1861, matriculating just a month after the original Class of ‘61.
Among these cadets, three joined the Confederacy. Most famously, the bottom-ranked cadet was the only one of the class to become a general. That last place finish at West Point belied a record of bravery that led George Armstrong Custer to the rank of brevet major general during the war and an ignominious end at The Little Big Horn. Three other former cadets of the class would die in action at Gettysburg, including First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing. Cushing would posthumously receive the Medal of Honor in 2014.
With the Civil War requiring a massive increase in the size of the Union Army, Hains and his contemporaries were rapidly promoted. Before the end of June 1861, he was already a first lieutenant in the Artillery Branch. In July he was commanding Battery M of the US Horse Artillery Brigade, ordering the first shots to be fired at the First Battle of Bull Run.
Hains soon transferred to the Engineering Corps, where he would remain for the rest of his very long career. He received a brevet promotion to captain, a common award for valorous and (sometimes) meritorious service to officers, in 1862. In 1863, during the Siege of Vicksburg, he was again breveted, to major, for services as the chief engineer of XIII Corps. By war’s end, he had been substantively promoted to captain in the regular Army and received a third brevet to lieutenant colonel.
Remaining in the Army post-war, Hains became a skilled engineer. Mostly he designed lighthouses, but he designed the very successful Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. This was the literal draining of the swamp that was D.C., leading to an unpleasant marsh odor throughout the district.
Hains was a brigadier general of Volunteers during the Spanish-American War, having risen to full colonel in 1895. Just after the war he was promoted to the rank in the Regular Army. In 1904 he reached the mandatory retirement age of 64. Before retiring, Hains successfully lobbied for Panama as the prime location for a canal to cross the American continent.
In 1916, in recognition of his more than 40 years of quality service, Hains was advanced to major general on the retired list. This was a somewhat common honor afforded such distinguished officers. In the time before medals such as the Distinguished Service Medal, this was how senior officers were rewarded. In fact, a week and a half after Hains’s promotion to major general, another long-serving contemporary of Hains, John Clem, received the same honor.
When the US joined World War I, Hains was recalled to active duty. He spent about a year on duty, heading the Eastern Department of the Corps of Engineers before resuming his retirement. He died in 1921 at the age of 81.
Hains’s retirement years weren’t without scandal. His sons, Peter C. Hains, Jr. and Thornton Jenkins Hains, would stand trial for murder. Peter Jr. would, while his brother acted as lookout, in 1908 would shoot the man having an affair with his wife. He did so in broad daylight outside a Brooklyn yacht club, leading the event to be dubbed the “Murder at the Regatta” by the press.
Peter Junior had attended the US Naval Academy without graduating, but was a captain on active duty in the Army at the time of the murder. His subsequent trial and conviction interestingly didn’t preclude his military service continuing. It wasn’t until Congress passed a law allowing the dismissal of those convicted in civilian courts did he resign, in 1911. He’d been convicted of manslaughter in 1909. After lobbying from General Hains, the Governor of New York was pardoned in 1911.
The separate trial of Thornton ended without conviction. A well known author of sea stories, the very public trial nearly destroyed his career, forcing him to use a pen name.
Peter Junior had a son in 1901, named Peter Conover Hains III. He too would follow in the family tradition of military service. Graduating from West Point in 1924, he would rise to the rank of major general in the Army. He received the Silver Star and three Legions of Merit for service in World War II.
Category: Army, Historical, Valor, We Remember
Excellent read , thanks for the history lessons.
Not being familiar with DC, I didn’t know it was a literal swamp. I thought it was a recent saying.
And regarding the broad daylight murder of his wife’s lover, it has been said before, and still rings true… A wise monkey doesn’t mess with another monkeys monkey.
It started off as a malarial skeeter infested bog. Good to see that some things never change.
The Tidal Basin, just up the Washington Channel from Fort McNair. DC was a literal swamp way back when, and is a figurative swamp nowadays, with things that rival Swamp Thing roaming the halls of Congress.
After OIF the future ex-mrs and I did DC in April ’05.
The Basin loop with cherry trees in bloom and TJ memorial on the far side…
Simply breathtaking.
If that and the National Archives where all that were there the place could be tolerable.
Yep, and Hains Point right across the Channel from McNair. My GS-14 dropped me and a couple of other NCOs off at the TJ Memorial to walk around and see the cherry blossoms back in Spring 2019. That was a big change from where I’d just come from in The Old Guard, where I spent 12+ hours a day just prepping for or conducting ceremonies.
Given that it was quite literally a swamp, it makes you wonder why that particular area was chosen for the US Capital.
At that time, it was the center of the newborn country.
If you look at maps, Colonial vs early US, you’ll see that DC was carved out of chunks of PDRoM and Virginia.
Mass transit and speedy communications was non-existent back then.
About the shooting, he should have taken Kipling’s advice”
The Swamp that used to be what is now The District of Criminals was a great eco-system. The Sewer that is now The District of Criminals is like every other Sewer System…full of sh^t and other nasty things.
The lads took a lesson from Ol’ Dan Sickles on doing away with the wife’s lover.
Another great story, Mason. Thanks!
Knowing what we know now, I almost wish Hains had failed with the Tidal Basin, and the District of Criminals had remained the swamp, instead of becoming The Swamp.
Things change, and what we’d call successful military careers are no different. Look at Milley, or Austin for that matter, and most would think of them as highly decorated and extremely successful retired Generals. Yet, despite them having risen to the top (just had an abstract thought that if Ol’ Joe “wins” next year, Milley might be in line as Austin’s successor), have either made the positive impact that MG Hains did?
The days of brevet promotions are long-gone, but in their time, they were an indication of an officer’s leadership skills and valor on the battlefield. Wikipedia shows Hains as having earned the Civil War Campaign, Spanish War Service, and WWI Victory Medals, while MG Clem earned the Civil War Campaign, Spanish War Service, and Indian Campaign Medals. Two Major Generals, promoted on merit and based on their actions and accomplishments, each with three medals. Compare that to Milley and Austin, each retired four-star Generals with dozens of medals and ribbons, along with some respectable qualification badges and tabs. If we still had brevet promotions in lieu of shiny trinkets, would either of the latter two have earned anything besides a handshake and a “thanks for your service”? Well, there’s the usual campaign and service medals, but even Austin’s Silver Star was based more on his rank and position than any direct combat service. I sure as hell didn’t see him on the ground when 3/187 was taking the airport terminal or the Secretariat.
But again, things change… Decades ago you’d see a stacked NCO or officer and know that they had extensive combat experience and an admirable record of courage under fire. Nowadays, you expect every general officer’s ribbon rack to put Audie Murphy’s to shame. Look at the Abrams family: Creighton Jr., two Distinguished Service Crosses, two Silver Stars, Bronze Star with “V”; his son John, two Silver Stars, BSM/V. I can’t find anything on Creighton III, but the youngest son, Robert (my CG when I served in 3ID), has more US decorations than the others while lacking anything for valor. Nothing wrong with that, not everyone earns so much as an ARCOM/V, rather just an observation of how many more medals are passed out in today’s Army.
These days, the expectation is that you receive a medal upon changing assignments, finishing deployments, or exiting the service (PCS/EOT/ETS awards). Those medals are usually commensurate with your rank and (sometimes) position. An enlisted Soldier will likely get an AAM, a junior NCO an ARCOM, and an officer or senior NCO an MSM. Anything higher than an MSM is usually reserved for senior E-9s and O-6s and higher. While men like Hains left a definite imprint on the Army and the US in general, a modern Soldier would look at him and wonder where his Distinguished Service Medals, Legions of Merit, Combat Action Badge and Ranger Tab are.