Henry Hitchcock Jr.: Lawyer, Civil War Judge Advocate, and Author

Henry Hitchcock Jr., the great-grandson of American Revolutionary hero Ethan Allen, was also my paternal sixth cousin, five times removed. He was the son of Henry Hitchcock Sr., who served as Secretary of the Alabama Territory, Attorney General of Alabama, and ultimately Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Henry Hitchcock Jr. received an exceptional education, attending both the University of Nashville and Yale University. He studied law under prominent legal figures, including Willis Hall, Corporation Counsel for New York City, and William F. Cooper, who later became Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Hitchcock was admitted to the bar in St. Louis, Missouri, launching a distinguished legal career.

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A passionate opponent of slavery, Henry played an active role in Missouri’s provisional government at the onset of the U.S. Civil War. He volunteered for military service and was appointed Judge Advocate on the personal staff of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Hitchcock accompanied Sherman on his legendary "March to the Sea," a campaign that strategically disrupted Confederate supply lines, transportation, and communications throughout Georgia.

Henry Hitchcock Jr. documented his wartime experiences in “Marching With Sherman,” widely regarded as one of the most authoritative accounts of Sherman’s campaign from Atlanta to Savannah.

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Beyond his military contributions, Hitchcock was a leader in the legal community. He served as an early president of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and co-founded the American Bar Association (ABA) in 1878, helping shape the modern legal profession in the United States.