Background
John J. Hardin was born on January 6, 1810, at Frankfort, Kentucky, United States, the son of Martin D. Hardin, United States senator and secretary of state of Kentucky, and of Elizabeth (Logan) Hardin, daughter of General Benjamin Logan.
John J. Hardin was born on January 6, 1810, at Frankfort, Kentucky, United States, the son of Martin D. Hardin, United States senator and secretary of state of Kentucky, and of Elizabeth (Logan) Hardin, daughter of General Benjamin Logan.
John graduated from Transylvania University, and studied law under Chief Justice John Boyle.
A major-general in the state militia, John Hardin saw service in the Black Hawk War. He espoused the Whig cause in Illinois politics; and was elected to the General Assembly for Morgan County in 1836, 1838, and 1840. In the General Assembly of 1837 he opposed the ill-starred internal-improvement scheme. He was the rival of Lincoln for the leadership of the Whig minority in the Illinois House. When Congressional reapportionment gave Illinois the right to choose seven congressmen in 1843, the Democratic majority districted the state in such fashion that there was but one Whig district, that containing Sangamon and Morgan counties. The seat found eager aspirants in Stephen T. Logan, E. D. Baker, Abraham Lincoln, and Hardin. In the election of 1843 Baker wrested the Sangamon County delegation from Lincoln only to suffer defeat at Hardin’s hands in the district convention.
Hardin was elected August 7, 1843, polling 6, 230 votes to 5, 357 for his Democratic opponent. He declined to stand for reelection in 1844, and E. D. Baker succeeded him. In 1845-1846, however, he came forward once more as a candidate for the Whig nomination against Lincoln, whose comment was, “Turn about is fair play. ” Hardin proposed to leave their candidacy to the decision of the Whig voters of the district, and when his offer was not accepted, withdrew from the race, leaving Lincoln an easy path to the honor.
At the outbreak of the Mexican War, Hardin, who the year before had been in command of troops sent against the Mormons, was elected colonel of the 16th Regiment of Illinois Volunteers (June 30, 1846). His regiment, dispatched to Texas, was first put under the command of General Wool, with whom Hardin had one or two stormy scenes, then Wool’s command was united to that of Gen. Zachary Taylor, and on February 22-23, 1847, plunged into the battle of Buena Vista. On the second day Hardin, fighting at the head of his regiment, was killed.
Elected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth Congress, Hardin voted against the gag resolutions, worked for river and harbor improvements, and endeavored to make political capital for his party on the tariff and against Van Buren.
Hardin was a handsome man of charming personality. His artless manner atoned for a trick of stammering which otherwise might have been a handicap.
Quotes from others about the person
“We lost our best Whig man. ” - Abraham Lincoln
On January 13, 1831, Hardin married Sarah Ellen Smith of Locust Grove, Mercer County, Kentucky, and with her settled in Jacksonville. One of his four children, Martin D. Hardin, became a brigadier-general in the Union army during the Civil War.
