Person

William Hercules Hays (Colonel of 10th KY Infantry, Inspector Gen'l of KY)

b. 1820-08-26 d. 1880-03-07

Washington County, Kentucky, attorney, soldier, and judge. Washington County native. Son of William Hays and Eleanor Burcham Hays. Educated in Washington County schools. Read law in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, under James W. Hays and attended law lectures in Glasgow, Kentucky. Admitted to the bar in 1845. Attorney in Springfield, Kentucky, in 1850. Owned twenty-seven enslaved persons in Washington County in 1850. Elected county judge of Washington County in 1851. Elected county judge of Washington County in 1854. Owned thirty enslaved persons in Washington County in 1860. Elected as a member of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1861. Served in the 10th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry Regiment (U.S.A.) as lieutenant colonel and colonel from March 11, 1861, to December 6, 1864. Inspector general of Kentucky from March 1865 to November 1865.

Details

Sex
Male
Race
White

Bibliography

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Population Schedules, Kentucky, Washington County, Springfield, p. 238A.

Seventh Manuscript Census of the United States (1850), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Washington County, p. 507.

Eighth Manuscript Census of the United States (1860), Slave Schedules, Kentucky, Washington County, District 2, p. 470B.

Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Kentucky, vol. 1, 1861-1866 (Frankfort: Kentucky Yeoman Office, 1866), 806.

Kentucky Birth, Marriage and Death Records (1852-1910), KDLA, Frankfort, KY, Film 7007127, Jefferson County Deaths, p. 17.

The Biographical Encyclopædia of Kentucky of the Dead and Living Men of the Nineteenth Century, vol. 1 (Cincinnati: J. M. Armstrong & Company, 1878), 281.

"Death of Judge Hays," Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.), March 8, 1880, p. 4.

Citation

Hays, William Hercules. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, https://discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/S32213012 (November 12, 2026).

The people, organizations, and places listed below appear in the same documents as William Hercules Hays (Colonel of 10th KY Infantry, Inspector Gen'l of KY). They are sorted by the number of documents they share.

Documents (16)

People

Organizations

Places

Loading network...

Network Visualized

How to use the visualization

CWGK’s network visualization brings the edition’s documents to life. The network on this page centers around Hays, William Hercules. Click on the light blue dot to see the documents in which the entity appears. You can also click on the dark orange dots to see other people linked to Hays, William Hercules, a light orange dot to see the places connected to Hays, William Hercules, or dark green dots to see organizations linked to Hays, William Hercules.

Additionally, the lines between the dots add additional information. The light green lines demonstrate direct connections between Hays, William Hercules and another person, place, or organization. The light pink lines highlight that the dots appear in the same document.