Individual Details

Source: ALBLOUNT-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: Archibald R. Hudson

Note: Hudson first enlisted in Captain William Graves' Blount County
Cavalry in the Fall of 1863; the next Summer he transferred to Company B of
the 12th Alabama Cavalry under Captain A.J. Ingram, who later became
Oneonta's founder and first mayor. Captain Ingram served under General
Joseph Wheeler. Captain Graves' outfit was originally a Home Guard unit,
but later became regular CSA under Major Stewart who operated under the
command of General Roddy's Cavalry.

Hudson, writing in a letter to the Southern Democrat in 1931, described
listening to General Wheeler's farewell speech, reproduced below:
The Blount County Journal, 15 Apr 1910
Gen. "Joe" Wheeler's Farewell Address to His Men (Watson's Magazine). Dear
Sir: -Here is the farewell address of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, delivered to his
men at the close of the war: Headquarters Cavalry Corps, April 29, 1865.
Gallant Comrades:-You have fought your battles, your task is done. During a
four years struggle for liberty, you have exhibited courage, fortitude and
devotion; you are the soul victors of more than two hundred severely
contested fields; you have participated in more than a thousand and
successful conflicts of arms; you are heroes, veterans patriots; the bones
of your comrades mark battlefields upon the soil of Kentucky Tennessee,
Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and
Mississippi; you have done all that human exertion could accomplish. In
bidding you adieu, I desire to tender my thanks for your gallantry in
battle your fortitude under suffering, and your devotion at all times to
the holy cause you have done so much to maintain. I desire, also, to
express my gratitude for the kind feeling you have seen fit to extend
toward myself and to invoke upon you the blessings of Heavenly Father, to
whom we must always look for support in the hour of distress. Brethren in
the case of freedom, comrades in arms, I bid you farewell. Joseph Wheeler.

The Southern Democrat, 14 May 1931
Sixty-six years ago today after the surrender of the Civil War, Jim Taylor,
Ike Compton, Morton Rogers, Will Rogers, Dall Whisant, D.R. Whisant, Tom
Reed, James Beers and I left New Sansberry, N.C. The following day our
noble and great General Wheeler made his speech, April 26, 1865. This great
general spoke at the top of his voice-that we would have to surrender-that
we had fought a hard fight and done all men could do. He thanked us all for
being obedient and prompt in our service at Pendleton, S.C.
May 1, we 9 soldiers were on our horses, homeward bound. About 9 a.m. a
bunch of Yankees came up from behind us and began to hollo "Halt, halt,"
and not one of us looked back as we thought them to be our own men. The
galloped up behind us, when on of these blue and brass button fellows
yelled out, "Halt there or we will shoot your d----- brains out." At that
command we stopped in an instant and as we turned around, behold, what a
bunch of Yankees we were facing. They captured us all and carried us to
Anderson, S.C., which took all day. Here they kept us a day and night in
guard.
Two or three white children and a many Negro children came to the
Courthouse where we were held prisoners, with food for us. A crowd of
drunken men, lying scattered around like hogs all over the floor and
benches took this good meal, which contained hot biscuits, butter and
coffee away from these little fellows. After awhile they returned with more
food and a yankee behind them with pistol in his hand holloing for
Wheeler's Cavalry. We answered and they handed this good meal to us. This
was the second day of May, 1865, and was the first bite we had eaten from
Monday morning until late Tuesday evening.
They let us out of guard about midnight. We came to the edge of town and
spent the night with a young married man and his wife. From here we started
on our homeward journey for the second time the following morning-all
afoot, as the Yankees had taken our horses away from us. We walked to
Social Circle, Ga. which took us some few days. Here we got on the train
and rode to that great town of Atlanta, which contained nothing but a mass
of ashes and a few old pieced-up shacks scattered around. Here we spent the
night and the following morning we got a train to West Point, Ga., Which is
right on the line of Alabama and Georgia. Here we divided. Six of us went
together, all afoot, for our dear old homes at Hagood's Cross Roads in
Jefferson County. These men all bid me good bye and with a handshake that
has stayed warm all these years we divided for the last time on our war
path; these men going in the directions of their homes. I came straight on
up the Huntsville and Blountsville road to my home which was with my aged
mother. That same plot contains my home today.
This journey from Anderson, S.C. to our homes was made in 13 days. I
arrived home May 15, 1865, just as the sun was sinking over the western
hills.
I am now in my 86th year and if any of these old comrades are living I do
not know it. A.R. Hudson

The Southern Democrat, 27 Aug 1931
An Old Veteran Dies
Uncle Arch R. Hudson, one of the old veterans of the War Between the States
died at his home on R. 1, Cleveland, last Saturday. He had been in ill
health for sometime and his friends were aware that the end was
approaching. Mr. Hudson was nearly 86 years of age and for 47 years had
been a member of the M.E. Church, South, at Tabernacle. He spent
practically all of his life in the community where he died and was
surrounded by a host of friends who mourn his passing. Mr. Hudson had been
married three times. His first marriage was to Miss Joanna Hayden in 1883.
After her death he married Miss Harriet Smith who died in 1893. After that
he married Miss Ellen Thomas who died in 1916. The deceased is survived by
two sons, Gabe Hudson, of route 1, Cleveland, and Ollis Hudson, of Tarrant,
both sons of his second wife; two brothers, John and Thomas Hudson, both of
route 1, Cleveland, and one sister, Mrs. Anna Hazelrig, of Locust Fork. The
funeral services were held at Locust Fork Sunday and were conducted by Rev.
T.B. Nation and Rev. G.W. Elliott. It is said that the funeral was attended
by the largest crowd that ever assembled at Locust Fork.
Hudson was enumerated on the 1907 Blount County Confederate Census where he reported he was born 17 Nov 1845 at Little Warrior, Blount County, Alabama.
Federal census recorded Hudson was son of Thomas Hudson. Archibald R.
Hudson first married Jo Anna Haden, 14 Jan 1883, Blount County; he second
married Harriet Smith 24 Apr 1887, Blount County; he third married Lucinda
Ellen Thomas who died in 1916.
Monuments in the Tabernacle United Methodist Church Cemetery recorded
Joanna H. Hudson was born 14 Jul 1864 and died 18 Mar 1884; Harriet,
daughter of Tilmon and Lucy Smith, was born 9 Jan 1859 and died 26 May
1893; Arch R. Hudson was born 17 Nov 1845 and died 21 Aug 1931.

Birth

1864

Alabama

Father	Jesse McLeod Haden (1839 - 1887)
Mother	Nancy J. Coley (1844 - )
Sibling	Allis O. Haden (1867 - )
Sibling	Lucy A. Haden (1868 - )
Sibling	George W. Haden (1872 - )
Sibling	Jesse M. Haden (1874 - )
Sibling	John C. Haden (1876 - )
Sibling	Gertrude M. Haden (1878 - )