Almost Home: A Civil War Love Story

By Beth L. Davis

Curiosity about my great-grandmothers name, Margaret Henry Hughes, was the force behind the writing of this book. Searching what few records survived, I was surprised to discover her parents were a Volunteer Union Kentucky Cavalry soldier, Henry Hughes, and the daughter of a farmer in Confederate Georgia, Eliza Anne Tucker. Coming from opposite worlds, they met, fell in love, and married during the Civil War.

The Union troops, of which Henry was a part, were occupying Elizas small hometown of LaFayette, Georgia, in the summer of 1864. The circumstances that allowed them to meet, fall in love, and marry are fascinating. This story tells how the war brought them together and also how it made their lives very difficult. Their time together was cut short when the Union forces left LaFayette shortly after they married. For months Henry was involved in military action, facing the dangers of the war. They drew strength from the letters they received from each other.

After my research, my curiosity was satisfied to find out why their daughter was named Margaret Henry Hughes. At the end of the war in 1865, Henry was involved in a dramatic event that most Americans have never heard about. Henry Hughes was among the thousands of soldiers who served our country during the Civil War. Since that time, many of those soldiers have become nameless, faceless, and forgotten. Like my great-great-grandmother Eliza, it is my hope that Henry Hughess service and memory will not be left in the forgotten cobwebs of history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496960054

Beth L. Davis

Proud to live in the state where she was born, Beth L. Davis calls Texas her home. She is self-employed as a seamstress and dressmaker. Sewing is the activity she enjoys the most, and for many years, she has had a successful business sewing for the public. She is also an award-winning watercolor portrait artist, and she writes poetry. She takes pride in what she creates, whether it is an original dress design, an emotion-provoking portrait, or a book. She is married and has three sons and two stepsons, whose families include ten grandchildren and step-grandchildren. Inspired by a strong sense of family history, Beth has researched much of her family ancestry. Her research has revealed ancestors who traveled from England on the Mayflower, ancestors who traveled from Scotland, ancestors who served in the American Revolutionary War, ancestors who fought in the American Civil War, both Union and Confederate. Her parents, brother, and son have served in modern military conflicts with the US Navy and US Army. She has been captivated and thrilled by some of the dramatic stories she has found in her family research. So much so that she has suggested to her family members that they begin writing their own stories so that current family history and significant events will not be lost from the next generation's knowledge. She recognizes it takes only one generation for a family to forget those life-changing events. Preserved legal documents are valuable for the facts they represent, but the stories written and told by one generation to the next are the priceless insights into their personal experiences. Her writing is intended to preserve and pass these family stories to the next generation.

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© 2014 Beth L. Davis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   12/19/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6004-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6005-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014922591

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Epilogue

Resources

About The Author

Foreword

Volunteer Union Kentucky cavalryman, Private Henry Hughes, survived nearly three years of continuous service in the hell we call the Civil War. During the war he met, fell in love and married the daughter of a farmer in Northwest Georgia. This is the fascinating story of how they met and endured the dangers and difficulties they faced in the remaining year of the war.

Chapter 1

Handsome, uniformed Union Army troops occupied the small town of LaFayette, Georgia in the summer of 1864. Among them was 20-year-old Henry Hughes from Kentucky. Eliza Ann Tucker was a local beauty that caught Henry’s eye.

The first time Henry saw her she was hanging laundry on the clothesline as the soldiers who accompanied Major Fidler approached her father’s house the day they came to talk to him. It was Monday June 20, 1864. The troops had traveled south to LaFayette the day before from the Chattanooga area. She stopped her work as soon as she saw them coming. Watching them, as they got closer, she thought how handsome they looked. She smoothed her apron and brushed the flyaway hair out of her face, expecting to speak with them. Their dark blue uniforms were not like the Confederate ones the local boys and her uncle wore when she saw them from time to time. She knew they were Union soldiers, but she didn’t feel afraid at all. She was always cautious of strangers, but these soldiers were certainly not the feared guerrillas who were terrorizing the region. Eliza’s father was some distance from the house when he also saw the Union men riding in. Startled at the uninvited troops, he mounted his horse and came at a gallop and met them just as they reached the house. Eliza expected she might have had a brief conversation with them explaining where her father was, but his timely arrival prevented that from happening. She and her younger sister continued to hang the laundry on the line, but Eliza kept an eye on the soldiers as they spoke to her father.

The Union officers introduced themselves to Eliza’s father, Robert Tucker, and they asked him if he had time to visit with them for a few minutes. They said they had visited with some other farmers, too. Robert agreed, and they rode a few yards away to a shade tree and talked. Eliza watched them talking, but could not hear what they were saying.

Two days before on June 18, Col. Louis D. Watkins commanding the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division occupied LaFayette, Georgia with 450 men of the 4th, 6th and 7th Kentucky cavalry regiments to find better grazing for a herd of starving horses and to endeavor to rid the country of several guerrilla bands. His headquarters were in the county courthouse, then located in the center of the square, and his men were quartered in adjacent buildings. Resource #1

Robert listened cautiously to the Union officers. His brother had joined the Confederate cause and was a prisoner of war in Illinois. He had been captured twice; once in Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 and paroled, and captured again near his home in Broom Town, Chattooga County, Georgia in January of 1864, and was in prison in Rock Island, Illinois. He had not always seen eye-to-eye with his brother, James L. Tucker, but respected his right to his beliefs. Robert’s instincts about those men on that day were positive, but he was cautious all the same. He chose to believe those Union men were going to be helpful to the community and agreed to the plan they proposed. Robert never learned to read or write, so he trusted his instinct when listening to news or gossip. He was a fair-minded man and always tried to see the best in people. He raised his children to see the best in others, too. As he listened to the Union officers, he thought about his friend, James H. Rogers, because he was loyal to the Union and often spoke to Robert of his opinions about the state of the country.

James Rogers and his family were friends with the Tuckers. The children in both families were of similar ages. Sarah Anne Rogers and Eliza Anne Tucker, daughters in both families, were good friends. James was a local tailor and was postmaster of LaFayette and, also, the Walker County Clerk. He owned a tailor shop across the street from the Court House in LaFayette. Although many townsfolk had left during the war, there still was enough work to keep his tailoring shop busy. His daughters worked with him in his shop. There were times when James Rogers also hired Eliza Tucker to do a bit of sewing for him. As was the custom, Eliza’s mother Margaret taught