John Taylor Hughes Headstone is a white marble affair with the typical pointed top of a member of the Confederacy. The text reads:
John Tyler Hughes
Brig. General, Confederate
States of America
Born July 25, 1817
in Woodford Co. Kentucky
Killed While Leading His Troops
in the First Battle of Independence
Missouri on August 11, 1862.
"Omnia Patriae Dedit"
Graduated from Bonne Femme College 1844
Historian for the Doniphan Expedition
During the Mexican War, Appointed as
Receiver of the U. S. Land Office 1849,
Elected to the Missouri Legislature 1854.
A Christian Gentleman, Soldier, Historian,
Educator, Statesman, and Legislator, True
to the American Tradition.
Erected by the Decendants of John T. Hughes
and the Jackson County Historical Society
August 11, 1963
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John T. Hughes (July 25, 1817 - August 11, 1862) was a colonel in the Missouri State Guard and Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He might also have been a brigadier general at the time of his death but documentation of the appointment is lacking.
John Taylor Hughes was born July 25, 1817 near Versailles, Kentucky to Samuel and Nancy (Price) Hughes. His family moved to Fayette, Missouri when he was very young. He was an 1844 graduate of Bonne Femme College and taught school until the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846. He enlisted as a private in the 1st Regiment Missouri Mounted Volunteers of Doniphan's expedition and penned his personal account of the trek upon his discharge in 1847.
Hughes' book provided national fame and following his return to Missouri in 1848, he became editor of a Clinton County, Missouri newspaper, the school superintendent, militia colonel, and state representative in 1854. He was also a planter and slaveowner.
Hughes was a cousin to Sterling Price and like Price professed Conditional Unionism until the Camp Jackson Affair, after which he joined the Missouri State Guard and was elected colonel of the 1st Regiment, 4th Division. He participated in the Battle of Carthage and the Battle of Wilson's Creek. He was slightly wounded in the Siege of Lexington.
At the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, Hughes took over command of a brigade from the wounded Brigadier general William Yarnell Slack. Hughes returned to Missouri in the summer of 1862 to recruit for the Confederacy. At this time he may have been appointed as either an acting Confederate or Missouri State Guard brigadier general. No record of the appointment has been found but he was known as "general."
He, his recruits, and several other recruiting or partisan bands united to attack the garrison of Independence, Missouri on August 11, 1862 with Hughes in overall command. During this battle (the First Battle of Independence), he was killed instantly by a shot to the head while leading a charge, but the city was captured. He is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Independence. He left behind a wife, Mary, and five young sons.
Summary of the 1st Battle of Independence, Missouri:
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The First Battle of Independence was a minor engagement of the American Civil War, occurring on August 11, 1862, in the city of Independence, located in Jackson County, Missouri. Its result was a Confederate victory, continuing the Southern domination of the Jackson County area during the early years of that conflict.
This battle should not be confused with the Second Battle of Independence, which was fought in 1864. That battle also resulted in a Confederate victory.
During the summer of 1862, many Confederate and Missouri State Guard recruiters were dispatched northward from Arkansas into Missouri to replenish the depleted ranks of Trans-Mississippi forces. Among these were Captain Jo Shelby, Colonel Vard Cockrell, Colonel John T. Coffee, Upton Hays, John Charles Tracy, John T. Hughes, Gideon W. Thompson and DeWitt C. Hunter.
Various guerrillas and bushwhackers, most notably those under William Quantrill, had gathered in Missouri and assisted these recruiters as they worked in the region. For example, Upton Hays was aided by thirty men from Quantrill's command under the brutal George Todd. By August 1, Hays was camped near Lee's Summit with 150 men. Additional Confederates continued to infiltrate the area throughout the days that followed.
Union forces, meanwhile, were bivouacked in Independence, the county seat of Jackson County. These were led by Lt. Col. James T. Buel. Like many towns in that part of Missouri, Independence had a number of sympathizers from both sides residing in it.
Colonel Hughes intended to cross the Missouri River, to recruit around his hometown of Clinton County, Missouri. He and Gideon Thompson rode to Hays's camp with 75 men; 25 additional men with Quantrill soon arrived. The officers conferred. Desperate for ammunition, and needing a victory to stir their recruiting efforts, they determined to make a surprise attack against Buel before he could attack them. Cole Younger and another man conducted a successful reconnaissance of the town on the day prior to the Confederate attack.
Lt. Col. Buel for his part had sent one of his officers, a Captain Breckenridge, scouting for eleven days, but Breckenridge found nothing. Buel became aware of Hays's camp, however, and prepared to attack it. On the evening of August 10, several citizens warned Buel of an impending assault on the city; many Union residents had already fled. Buel ignored these warnings, but another of his officers, a Captain Rodewald, did not.
The Federals were positioned in three main concentrations: their camp near a rock wall, the bank serving as Buel's headquarters, and the county jail.
Col. John T. Hughes’s Confederate force, including the partisan leader William Quantrill, attacked Independence before dawn, in two columns using different roads. They drove through the town to the Union Army camp, delivering a deadly volley to the sleeping men. Captain Breckenridge suggested surrender, but Captain Jacob Axline formed the Federal troops behind a rock wall and a nearby ditch while the Confederates rifled through their camp, looking for ammunition. The Rebels made several attacks against Axline's wall, but never succeeded in taking it. Here Colonel Hughes was killed, while Thompson and Hays were wounded.
Lt. Col. Buel attempted to hold out with part of his force in the bank building he used as his headquarters. He was forced to surrender after an adjacent building was set afire. Through a flag of truce, Buel arranged a meeting with the new Confederate commander, Col. Gideon W. Thompson, who had replaced Colonel Hughes, killed earlier. Buel surrendered, and about 150 of his men were paroled; the remainder had escaped, hidden, or been killed.
Realizing that they would be quickly overwhelmed, the Federal troops defending the jail fired a volley and fled. Confederate guerilla leader George Todd freed the prisoners at the jail, among them City Marshal James Knowles, jailed for the killing of a rowdy citizen. Todd also captured a Union Captain named Thomas at this same time. These two men had successfully ambushed Todd's command in an earlier engagement, killing several of them. Todd and his men summarily executed Knowles and Thomas. Ironically, George Todd would later be killed at the Second Battle of Independence, in 1864.
The First Battle of Independence resulted in approximately 344 known Union casualties; total losses for the Confederate side are unknown.
Most of the Union command in Independence was captured, with only a few units making good their escape. The Confederate victory was costly, however, resulting in the death of ten experienced officers, among them Colonel John T. Hughes, and the wounding of Colonels Hays and Thompson. Having taken Independence, the Confederate force headed for Kansas City, which they were unable to take due to heavy Union fortification.
Although the Southerners had won a victory at Independence, they were unable to follow it up in any significant fashion. Confederate dominance in the Jackson County area would continue—but not for long.
Lt. Col. Buel's performance and his failure to heed warnings of impending attack by prominent citizens were widely condemned. Captain Breckenridge's inability to find any guerrillas in the preceding eleven days, together with his eagerness to surrender, were also considered disgraceful. Both men were court-martialled and the soldiers who had been captured were mustered out of service. Since the two officers had been dismissed with their men, nothing ultimately came of the court martial proceedings.
Independence would become the site of a second Civil War battle, in October 1864, as part of General Sterling Price's Missouri Campaign that culminated in his defeat at the Battle of Westport.