His mixed-race mother, Mary, was a free Black woman; his father, James Hayne, was a wealthy white Charlestonian.

[1] When the Civil War broke out, Hayne volunteered for the Confederate Army, but intended to flee across Union lines at a later time.

[3] Leaving the Army in early 1866, Hayne became principal of Madison Colored School run by the Freedmen's Bureau in Marion County, South Carolina.

He chaired the Marion County Republican Party in 1870 and served as vice president of the state Union League.

He campaigned for re-election in 1876 but faced ouster by Democratic nominee Robert Moorman Sims, a Confederate Army veteran.

[6] After Democrats regained control of the state legislature and governor's office in the election of 1876, they closed the college by legislative fiat in early 1877.

[1] He was honored at the University of South Carolina on the 150th anniversary of his enrollment when October 7, 2023 was proclaimed Henry Hayne Day.