COLONEL LOUIS HÉBERT

Commander, Hébert's Infantry Brigade

Born in 1820, Hébert was the son of a wealthy Louisiana sugar planter.  He graduated from Jefferson College in Louisiana in 1840 and entered the United States Military Academy the following year. He graduated from West Point, 3rd in his class, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers

Hébert left the army two years later to take care of his ailing father and to run his family’s plantation. He was elected to the state senate in 1853 and was appointed the State Engineer in 1855. Between 1856 and the beginning of the war, he was a Colonel in the state militia.

When Louisiana seceded, Hébert was elected Colonel of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry.   He was a capable leader and was extremely popular with his troops.  He led his regiment at Wilson's Creek and commanded McCulloch's infantry brigade at Pea Ridge. He was captured in the confused fighting in Morgan's Woods at Pea Ridge and was exchanged two months later. 

Hébert was promoted to Brigadier General in May, 1862, and fought at Iuka, Corinth and Vicksburg.  Paroled after the fall of Vicksburg, he was assigned as the chief engineer in North Carolina and was placed in charge of constructing the fortifications around Wilmington, NC. Late in the war, he commanded the heavy artillery at Fort Fisher, North Carolina.

After the war, Hébert returned to Louisiana and published and edited a local newspaper and taught at several private schools.  He died in 1901.