Henry Dickerson McDaniel was born on September 4, 1836, in Monroe, Georgia, to Ira McDaniel.^[1] Ira McDaniel was one of the first professors of Mercer University.^[2] McDaniel attended high school in Atlanta. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Mercer University in 1856. He established a law practice in Monroe in 1857. He later attended the University of Georgia and received a LL.D in 1906.^[1] He was the youngest delegate to Georgia's secession convention in 1861.^[1][2]

McDaniel joined the Confederate States Army on July 2, 1861, as a first lieutenant of the 11th Georgia Infantry Regiment. McDaniel was promoted to major in November 1862.^[1] McDaniel first attracted attention during the American Civil War for taking command of the 11th Georgia Infantry after the death of his officers at the Battle of Gettysburg.^[1][3] On July 10, 1863, he was shot by a Union soldier at Funkstown, Maryland.^[1][4] Two days later, he was captured by Union troops in Hagerstown, Maryland. He was hospitalized at Point Lookout and then transferred to Johnson's Island in Sandusky, Ohio.^[4] He remained in a POW camp until July 1865.^[1][4]

McDaniel was a member of the Democratic Party.^{[citation needed]} After the war, McDaniel entered Georgia state politics. He served in the House from 1872 to 1874 and in the Senate from 1874 to 1882.^[5]

McDaniel was elected Governor of Georgia to complete the term of Alexander Stephens, who died shortly after his inauguration in 1883. He served out Stephens' term and was re-elected as governor in 1884.^[5] During his administration, the Georgia School of Technology was established, and construction began on the new State Capitol.^[5][1] He signed the General Local Option Liquor Law into effect on September 18, 1885^[6] as part of the Temperance Movement in Georgia.^{[citation needed]}

McDaniel met Hester C. Felker at the Female Academy in 1857. He wrote letters to her throughout the war and while held prisoner.^[4] After the war, McDaniel returned to Monroe, where he married Hester C. Felker on December 20, 1865.^[1][4] Felker's father did not approve of the marriage, but Henry and Hester McDaniel were married for sixty years. The couple had two children, Sanders and Gipsy.^[4][7]

His home, the McDaniel-Tichenor House,^[8] was listed with the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

McDaniel died at his home in Monroe on July 25, 1926.^[5] He was interred at Monroe Cemetery.^[9]

• List of signers of the Georgia Ordinance of Secession

• McDaniel-Tichenor History - Page at the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation

• Georgia, and Henry D. McDaniel. Message of Gov. Henry D. McDaniel, to the General Assembly of Georgia, November 1884. Atlanta, Ga: Jas. P. Harrison & Co. [State Printers], 1885.
• Herringshaw, Thomas William. McDaniel, Henry Dickerson. Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography : Contains Thirty-Five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits. v4.
• McDaniel, Henry D., Hester Felker McDaniel, and Anita B. Sams. With Unabated Trust: Major Henry McDaniel's Love Letters from Confederate Battlefields As Treasured in Hester McDaniel's Bonnet Box. [s.l.]: Historical Society of Walton County, 1977.
• "McDaniel, Henry Dickerson: Thirty-Fourth Governor of Georgia". National Cyclopedia of American Biography. 1. 1898.
• McDaniel, Henry D. Henry Dickerson McDaniel Letter. 1894.
• McDaniel, Henry D., et al. Henry Dickerson McDaniel Directorship Records. 1870.
• McDaniel, Henry D., et al. Henry Dickerson McDaniel Family Papers. 1838.
• University of Georgia, and Henry D. McDaniel. Statement from Ex-Governor McDaniel, Chairman, of the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia, As to Questions between That Board and the G.N. and I. College. Atlanta: Foote & Davies, 1917.

• Davis, Jefferson. "Davis, Jefferson, to Georgia Governor Henry McDaniel". Henry D. McDaniel Family and Business Papers, ac. 1966-0400M. Georgia Archives. Retrieved June 3, 2016.