Hudson Beverly (Beaverly) was born around 1846 in Albemarle County, Virginia. Not much is known about Beverly's life prior to the war, except that he was enslaved by William McKnight in Old Petersburg, Kentucky, where he worked as a farmer and a quarryman.

Beverly enlisted and mustered in as a private on July 18, 1864, in Paducah, Kentucky. His service record described him as 5 feet, 7 inches tall, with black hair, black eyes, and black complexion. He served in Company D of the 8th USCT Heavy Artillery Regiment, which spent the rest of the war stationed in Kentucky. His regiment participated in operations against Nathaniel Bedford Forest from March 16 to April 14, 1864, action at Fort Anderson in Paducah on March 25, the expedition from Paducah to Haddix Ferry July 26-27, and a skirmish near Haddix Ferry August 27. He later claimed to have been injured by a falling sack of sand at a fort in Paducah in September of 1864. Other sources, however, either placed the incident at Mayfield or claimed that Beverly fell from a horse. Beverly mustered out as a private on February 10, 1866, in Victoria, Texas.

Following the war, he returned to Kentucky, living in Princeton in Caldwell County. His first wife, whose name is unknown, died in 1869. Beverly then married Leanna (Anna) on August 3, 1871, in Princeton. Together, they had four children: Elward, James, Hattie and Norman. Beverly first applied for a pension in 1886, but he was unable to secure one. His case may have suffered because his former superior officer, Lt. John W. Campbell, could not remember Beverly because he believed all black men looked alike. Beverly died of "Purpura hemorrhagica" on June 14, 1889, in Princeton. After his death, his wife and youngest son Norman secured pensions, beginning on August 4, 1890, and February 23, 1899, respectively.