Hilary Abner Herbert (12 March 1834-6 March 1919) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-AL 2) from 4 March 1877 to 3 March 1893 (succeeding Jeremiah Norman Williams and preceding Jesse F. Stallings) and United States Secretary of the Navy from 7 March 1893 to 4 March 1897 (succeeding Benjamin F. Tracy and preceding John Davis Long).
Biography[]
Hilary Abner Herbert was born in Laurens, South Carolina in 1834, and he was raised in Greenville, Alabama, where he became a lawyer. Herbert served in the 8th Alabama Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War and was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness. After the war, he served in the US House of Representatives from 1877 to 1893 and as Secretary of the Navy from 1893 to 1897, overseeing the revival of the US Navy under the influence of Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan. He went on to practice law in Washington DC until his death in 1919.