William Harris Hardy, who founded the city of Hattiesburg in 1884, would be
                  proud of his great grandchildren. On November 5 Capt. Hardy's oldest living
                  great grandchild, Mrs. Robert H. Albritton of Jacksonville, Florida, and her
                  cousin, Mrs. Edwin K. Myrick of Memphis, Tennessee, presented to the
                  Archives of The University of Southern Mississippi over sixty original letters
                  written by Captain Hardy during the Civil War to his first wife, Sallie Ann
                  Johnson Hardy. Additional family papers will also be included in the gift.

                  A presentation ceremony was held in the Cleanth Brooks Reading Room of the
                  McCain Library and Archives on the Southern Miss campus in Hattiesburg on
                  Friday, November 5, 10:00 a.m. Exhibits of historical Hardy and Hattiesburg
                  material will be curated by USM Archives Specialist Yvonne Arnold and
                  Hattiesburg Area Historical Society President Jacq Jones.

                  William Harris Hardy, founder of the Mississippi cities of Hattiesburg, Gulfport,
                  and Laurel, was born in Todds Hill, Alabama, on February 12, 1837. He
                  attended Town Creek Academy and Cumberland University in Lebanon,
                  Tennessee. He founded the Sylvarena Academy in Flowers, Mississippi, and in
                  1858, he moved to Raleigh, Mississippi, where he began a successful law
                  career.

                  In Raleigh he met and married his first wife, Sallie Ann Johnson. They were
                  married in October of 1860 and had six children: Mattie, Willie, Ellen,
                  Elizabeth, Thomas, and Jefferson Davis. Shortly after their marriage the Civil
                  War began. Capt. Hardy raised Company H of the 16th Mississippi Regiment
                  and fought under the command of General Stonewall Jackson in the
                  Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

                  The letters which Capt. Hardy wrote to his wife from bivouacs and battlefields
                  from 1861 to 1865 were carefully preserved along with other personal
                  mementos in a small trunk by their eldest child Mattie, Mrs. W.S. Lott. Her
                  grand daughter Martha, Mrs. Robert H. Albritton, inherited the trunk and
                  recently asked her cousin Mrs. Edwin K. Myrick to select an archive in the
                  state of Mississippi in which the letters and other materials of the descendants
                  of Capt. Hardy and Sallie Ann Johnson Hardy could be preserved for study.

                  Judge Robert G. Evans, Judge of the 13th District Court in Raleigh, who
                  utilized the letters for his research in the history of the Civil War, served as a
                  friendly intermediary with the Archives. Eugene Tullos, Raleigh attorney and
                  historian, donated a photograph of Capt. Hardy; and Hattiesburg attorney
                  Wayne Easterling provided valuable assistance.

                  It is very appropriate that Capt. Hardy's letters to his first wife Sallie Ann be
                  preserved along side his letters to his second wife Hattie, which were donated
                  to the Archives in 1982 by Mrs. William B. Clagett, daughter of the eldest son
                  of Capt. Hardy and Hattie, after whom the city of Hattiesburg is named.

                  After the death of Sallie Ann, Hardy moved to Meridian, Mississippi, and set
                  up a law office. While visiting Mobile, Alabama, he met his second wife, Miss
                  Hattie Lott. They were married in 1874 and had three children: Lena Mai,
                  Lamar, and Toney. The children of Capt. Hardy's marriage to Sallie Ann
                  Johnson and those of his marriage to Hattie Lott formed a single extended
                  family.

                  During the time of his marriage to Hattie, Capt. Hardy became interested in
                  establishing railroad lines through the state. He was responsible for establishing
                  the line between New Orleans and Meridian, with the New Orleans and
                  Northeastern Railroad Company. Hardy chose and named the sites where
                  stations would be established, thus establishing the cities of Hattiesburg and
                  Laurel. Later, he became president of the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad
                  Company and established the railway station that became known as Gulfport.
                  The establishment of these three Mississippi cities is considered Capt. Hardy's
                  greatest achievement.

                  After Hattie's death, Hardy became interested in public service. He was elected
                  to the Mississippi State Senate in 1895, and while there he served as the
                  chairman of the Committee on Corporations and Finance Committee. He
                  introduced a bill to remove the penitentiary from Jackson, Mississippi, and to
                  construct a new Capitol on the old site. In 1905, he served as circuit court
                  judge for district two in Mississippi, and when the district was split in two, he
                  accepted the Coast district and was judge there until he retired at the age of
                  seventy-two.

                  In 1900, Capt. Hardy married Ida V. May, of Jackson, Mississippi. He and
                  Ida were the parents of three sons: William H. Jr., Hamilton Lee, and James
                  Hutchins. He spent the remainder of his life as an attorney in a firm he had with
                  his son, Toney, in Gulfport. Capt. Hardy died at the age of 80, on February 17,
                  1917.

                                            GUESTS

           Donors of the Hardy Civil War letters:

                  Mrs. Robert H. (Martha) Albritton (Jacksonville, Florida)
                  Mr. and Mrs. Jerry (Merilyn) Strickland (her niece and nephew-in-law)
                  Wanchula, Florida)
                  Mrs. Edwin K. (Margie) Myrick (Memphis, Tennessee)
                  Mr. Edwin K. Myrick, II (her husband)
                  Mr. Edwin K. (Kelly) Myrick, III (her son)
                  Mrs. Edith Myrick Lester (her daughter)

         Other Hardy family members:

                  Mr. Warner Wells, III (Greenwood, Mississippi)
                  Mrs. Memrie Wells Bruce (Brandon, Mississippi) (his sister)
                  Mrs. Samuel (Rebecca Wells) Seay (Jackson, Mississippi) (his sister)
                  Mrs. Webb (Edna Lott) Franklin (Greenwood, Mississippi)
                  Mrs. Prentiss Edward (Katie Arnold) Smith (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
                  Dr. Prentiss Edward Smith, Jr. (Hattiesburg, Mississippi) (her son)
                  Dr. and Mrs. Richard Fabian (Katherine) McCarthy (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)
                  (her daughter)
                  Mrs. Jerry Martin (Hattiesburg, Mississippi)

           Raleigh:

                  Hon. Robert G. Evans, Judge, 13th Circuit Court
                  Mrs. Pat Finley (Secretary, Office of the Judge, 13th Circuit Court)
                  Dr. and Mrs. Dennis Granberry (her daughter and son-in-law)
                  Mr. Eugene Tullos
                  Mr. John Few

           Hattiesburg:

                  Hon. J. Ed Morgan (Mayor)
                  Mrs. Jacq Jones, President Hattiesburg Area Historical Society
                  Mr. and Mrs. Powell (Frances) Ogletree
                  Mr. Wayne Easterling
                  Mrs. D.W. (Martha) Tatum (whose home at 110 Pinehurst Street is located on
                  the site of the house that Capt. Hardy built for his family in Hattiesburg)
                  Mr. Joe Tatum

           The University of Southern Mississippi:  Dr. Myron Henry, Provost; Dr. Jim Martin,  
                  Dean of Libraries;  Dr. Bobs Tusa, University Archivist