Alfred S . Hartwell Alfred Stedman Hartwell ( 1836 – 1912 ) was a lawyer and American Civil War soldier , who then had another career as cabinet minister and judge in the Kingdom of Hawaii . Life . Alfred Stedman Hartwell was born June 11 , 1836 in South Natick , Massachusetts . His father was Stedman Hartwell and mother was Rebecca Dana Perry ( 1805 – 1872 ) . He graduated from Harvard University in 1858 where he was elected into the Phi Beta Kappa Society . War . He moved to St . Louis , Missouri and worked as an instructor at Washington University . In April 1861 , at the outbreak of the American Civil War , he enlisted as Corporal in the Third Missouri Reserve regiment . Missouri was officially neutral but supporters of the Confederacy had captured Liberty Arsenal , and his company was called up to help recapture the weapons . This resulted in the Camp Jackson Affair . In June he returned to Boston and enrolled in Harvard Law School , but by September 1862 became a First Lieutenant in the 44th Massachusetts regiment . When the United States Colored Troops ( USCT ) were formed for African - American recruits , he was promoted to Captain on March 31 , 1863 of the 54th Massachusetts . However , the number of volunteers was higher than expected , so he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel , and helped organize the 55th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry under command of Norwood Penrose Hallowell . The 54th ' s role in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner was depicted in the film " Glory " . The 55th moved into their former barracks , and was ordered to embark in July 1863 . They served building trenches on Folly Island supporting the siege of Charleston , South Carolina . When Hallowell had to resign for treatment of an old wound , Hartwell was promoted to command the regiment on November 3 , 1863 . Morale became a problem when his troops discovered that despite being promised the same pay as their white counterparts , they had a major deduction for a " clothing allowance " . Hartwell complained to his commanding officers , and suggested promoting African - American troops to officers . On May 24 , 1864 he commissioned John Freeman Shorter to be a second Lieutenant , but it was refused by General John Porter Hatch . He protested up to the Secretary of War and threatened to resign , until the pay issue was settled in August 1864 . In the Battle of Honey Hill on November 30 , 1864 he commanded a brigade that included the 55th and 54th Massachusetts and the 102nd USCT . He was wounded and had his horse shot from under him leading three charges . Captain Thomas F . Ellsworth received the Congressional Medal of Honor because " Under a heavy fire [ Ellsworth ] carried his wounded commanding officer [ Hartwell ] from the field . " The battle was generally a failure , but proved another example where the African - American troops could be used in battle . On January 23 , 1865 , President Abraham Lincoln nominated Hartwell for the award of the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general , to rank from December 30 , 1864 , for gallant services at the battle of Honey Hill . The U . S . Senate confirmed the award on February 14 , 1865 . On January 30 , 1865 he rejoined his brigade , and in February 1865 he commanded the brigade in an attack on James Island , South Carolina ( see Battle of Grimball ' s Causeway ) . After a few skirmishes , both sides retreated . After the fall of Charleston , he marched his forces through the city , with the African - American troops at the head of his brigade . They occupied the city and dealt with the large number of refugees . On April 5 , 1865 he commanded another combined force that marched through Charleston again , although by now the Confederate army was generally dispersing . Their duties now were mostly peace - keeping and rebuilding bridges . On May 1 his units were based in Orangeburg , South Carolina , and finally in June his promotions of black officers were finally approved . In August the 55th was taken out of service . However , Hartwell was sent to investigate Milton S . Littlefield who was accused of fraud ( known as the " Prince of carpetbaggers " ) . He was finally discharged on April 30 , 1866 . He returned to Boston , and was elected to the legislature of Massachusetts as a Republican . After the war he finished his last year of law school and graduated with an LLB degree from Harvard in 1867 . He briefly started a law practice in Boston with classmate Samuel Craft Davis . On August 15 , 1868 he left at the suggestion of fellow Massachusetts lawyer Elisha Hunt Allen , intending to spend a year or two on an adventure to the Hawaiian Islands . Hawaii . He was appointed by King Kamehameha V to the supreme court of the Kingdom of Hawaii on the day he landed , September 30 , 1868 . There were so few trained lawyers in Hawaii , one of the other supreme court justices , Hermann A . Widemann , had never been to law school . Elisha Hunt Allen was still acting as chief justice , despite living in the United States much of the time . He rented a room at Washington Place from Mary Dominis . Also living there was John Owen Dominis who was Governor of Oahu , and his wife Lydia , the future Queen Liliuokalani . He quickly learned the Hawaiian language and by December 1868 was instructing juries as a circuit court judge without an interpreter . At the time , the supreme court was trial court for several kinds of cases , handled appeals , and its judges acted as circuit judges on other islands . He married Charlotte Elizabeth " Lottie " Smith ( 1845 – 1896 ) on January 10 , 1872 in Kōloa on Kauai island . Her father was missionary physician James William Smith who arrived in 1842 to Hawaii . Her brother was lawyer William Owen Smith ( 1848 – 1929 ) who later joined him in law practice . They had eight children : For his honeymoon the couple traveled first to San Francisco in February 1872 , where he found out his father had died on his wedding day . When they arrived in Natick , his mother was also ill , and they stayed until she died on June 11 , 1872 . They returned and rented a house in Honolulu in August 1872 . In 1873 he hosted a visit of some other former civil war generals , including John Schofield , Rufus Ingalls , and Barton S . Alexander , when they investigated the use of Pearl Harbor as a naval base . As King Lunalilo was dying , Hartwell advised him to name a clear successor , assuming it would be Queen Emma of Hawaii . However , Lunalilo died before naming an heir to the throne , resulting in a political crisis when the popular Emma was not elected . Hartwell was appointed Attorney General by King Kalākaua on February 18 , 1874 replacing Albert Francis Judd ( who moved onto the court ) , but was replaced on May 28 . On December 5 , 1876 he was appointed again , replacing William Richards Castle . This time he served until July 3 , 1878 , when he went into private practice . Hartwell suspected that Claus Spreckles had him removed because Hartwell was opposed to Spreckles plans to license water rights for his sugar plantations . In 1883 he closed his practice and traveled back to Boston , but returned to Hawaii in 1885 . In late 1890 he traveled to Washington , DC to negotiate on a cable connection between Hawaii and west coast of the United States . Although he did not support the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii , he did lobby for its annexation to the US . In 1899 he traveled to Washington , DC as unofficial representative until Robert William Wilcox was elected . On the same trip he attended the International commercial congress in Philadelphia . In 1895 Hartwell wrote the document signed by Liliuokalani in which she agreed to abdicate , avoiding death sentences for those ( including herself ) convicted after the 1895 Counter - Revolution in Hawaii . Liliuokalani remained bitter about what she saw as a former friend working for her enemies . He formed a law form with Lorrin Andrews Thurston , one of the leaders of the overthrow , and then added his assistant William F . L . Stanley . In 1901 he was hired to challenge the income tax in the Hawaii territorial court . His daughter ' s brother - in - law George Robert Carter became Territorial Governor of Hawaii in 1903 . On June 15 , 1904 , he was appointed again to the Supreme Court of what was now the US Territory of Hawaii , and became chief justice August 15 , 1907 . He replaced Walter F . Frear who in turn replaced Carter as Governor . On March 9 , 1911 he resigned and left in June for a vacation in Europe , but became ill in London and returned to Hawaii . He died in Honolulu on August 30 , 1912 and was buried in Oahu Cemetery .