Hardaway, Robert Archelaus, b.1829.

Robert Archelaus Hardaway was born on 2 February 1829, in Morgan County, Ga., to Robert Stanfield and Martha Bibb Jarratt Hardaway. In 1833, the family moved to Columbus, Ga., and then moved again five years later to Summerville, Russell Co., Ala. After attending local schools, he briefly attended the College of Saint Joseph's at Spring Hill, Mobile, Ala., before entering Emory College at Oxford, Ga., in January 1845. After graduation in 1847, he was an officer in Seibel's Battalion of Alabama Volunteers. The battalion was stationed in Mexico from January through July 1848 and saw no actual fighting.

For seven years, 1850 to 1857, he worked for the Mobile & Girard Railroad, rising to the position of chief engineer and superintendent before resigning in order to run his plantation in Macon Co. (now Bullock Co.), Ala. In June 1857 he married Rebecca Hurt, and they had three children, Robert Early Hardaway (b.26 April 1858), George Stanfield Hardaway (1859-1860), and Benjamin Hurt Hardaway (b.19 February 1866).

Robert A. Hardaway began his Confederate military career as captain of Hardaway's Battery in 1861. He was promoted to major of the 1st Virginia Regiment of Light Artillery, and then to lieutenant colonel of the 1st Virginia Battalion of Light Artillery. The name was changed to Hardaway's Battalion by Gen. Robert E. Lee. He was involved in numerous events from the First Battle of Manassas to the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

After the war, he was Chief Engineer and Superintendent of Railroads in Alabama from 1869 to 1871, and then joined the faculty of Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now Auburn University), serving as professor of engineering and commandant of cadets from 1873 to 1881. He briefly returned to the railroads, serving as division engineer for the Central Railroad in Mexico from 1881 to 1882. In October 1882, he became a professor of civil and mining engineering at the University of Alabama, retaining the position until his retirement in July 1897.

He probably died around 1900 because the latest date in his record book is 1899, and it was given to the Dept. of Archives and History by his son in July 1902.

From the description of Record book and notes, 1878-1899. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122387737