Henry Heth

Henry Heth (/ˈhiːθ/ not /ˈhɛθ/) (December 16, 1825 – September 27, 1899) was a career United States Army officer who became a Confederate general in the American Civil War.

He came to the notice of Robert E. Lee while serving briefly as his Quartermaster, and was given a brigade under A.P. Hill, whose division he commanded when the latter was wounded at Chancellorsville. He is generally blamed for accidentally starting the Battle of Gettysburg by sending half his division into the town before the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia was fully prepared. Later in the day, he succeeded in routing a Union corps, but at a heavy cost in casualties.

Early Life

Heth was born at Black Heath in Chesterfield County, Virginia, son of United States Navy Captain John Heth, and Margaret L. Pickett. He was a cousin of George Pickett. He usually went by "Harry," the name also preferred by his grandfather, American Revolutionary War Colonel Henry Heth, who had established the Heth family in the coal business in the Virginia Colony after emigrating from England about 1759. (The name Heth is pronounced as Heath.)

Henry Heth (Colonel)

Colonel Henry "Harry" Heth (died 1821) was an English-born businessman who emigrated to the Virginia Colony about 1759. He served in the Continental Army and was active in the coal business.

American Revolutionary War

Colonel Henry "Harry" Heth served as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. His correspondence with George Washington is among extant documents.

Coal business

Harry Heth (as he signed his correspondence) maintained offices in Norfolk and Manchester (across the James River at Richmond), where he engaged in the coal business.

Heth owned several coal mines in the area now known as Midlothian in northwestern Chesterfield County. Colonel Heth participated in working the Railey family's coal pits and became the owner of the Black Heath coal pits. Colonel Heth owned slaves, and prior to the American Civil War (and emancipation), the mines were largely worked with African Americans, mostly slaves.

Manchester, at the head of navigation on the James River, was the closest export port for Heth's coal.