Richard Hawes
Richard Hawes Jr. (February 6, 1797 – May 25, 1877) was a United States Representative from Kentucky and the second Confederate Governor of Kentucky. He was part of the politically influential Hawes family. His brother, uncle, and cousin also served as U.S. Representatives, and his grandson Harry B. Hawes was a member of the United States Senate.

Hawes began his political career as an ardent Whig and was a close friend of the party's founder, Henry Clay. When the party declined and dissolved in the 1850s, Hawes became a Democrat, and his relationship with Clay cooled.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Hawes was a supporter of Kentucky's doctrine of armed neutrality. When the Commonwealth's neutrality was breached in September 1861, Hawes fled to Virginia and enlisted as a brigade commissary under Confederate general Humphrey Marshall. When Kentucky's Confederate government was formed in Russellville, Hawes was offered the position of state auditor, but declined. Months later, he was selected to be Confederate governor of the Commonwealth following George W. Johnson's death at the Battle of Shiloh.

Hawes and the Confederate government traveled with Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee, and when Bragg invaded Kentucky in October 1862, he captured Frankfort and held an inauguration ceremony for Hawes. The ceremony was interrupted, however, by forces under Union general Don Carlos Buell, and the Confederates were driven from the Commonwealth following the Battle of Perryville. Hawes relocated to Virginia, where he conducted a Confederate government in exile for Kentucky and continued to lobby President Jefferson Davis to attempt another invasion of the state.

At the end of the war, the Confederate government of Kentucky in exile ceased to exist, and Hawes returned to his home in Paris, Kentucky. He swore an oath of allegiance to the Union, and was allowed to return to his law practice. He was elected county judge of Bourbon County, a post he held until his death in 1877.
Q11701
United States Representative
Concept
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Kentucky
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Q3112525
Confederate Governor of Kentucky
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None
politically influential Hawes family
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Q1237268
Harry B. Hawes
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United States Senate
Concept
Q42183
Whig
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Q319630
Henry Clay
PER
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Democrat
Concept
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Civil War
EVE
Q1603
Kentucky
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armed neutrality
Concept
Q548975
Humphrey Marshall
PER
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Russellville
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state auditor
Concept
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George W. Johnson
PER
Q943277
Battle of Shiloh
EVE
Q380562
Braxton Bragg
PER
Q689849
Army of Tennessee
MEDIA
Q28603
Frankfort
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Don Carlos Buell
PER
Q1631029
Battle of Perryville
EVE
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government in exile
Concept
Q162269
Jefferson Davis
PER
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Paris, Kentucky
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Q214102
Union
LOC
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county judge
PER
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Bourbon County
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Richard Hawes
PER
1797-02-06T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
February 6, 1797
DATE
1877-05-25T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
May 25, 1877
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1850-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1850
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1861-09-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
September 1861
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1862-10-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
October 1862
DATE
1877-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1877
DATE
date of birth
date of death
member of political party
member of political party
place of death
founded by
member of political party