William Tucker (18th USCT)

William Tucker was born into slavery in February 1833 in Albemarle County, Virginia. His owner, John Coles Carter, migrated to Missouri in 1852 and owned 126 slaves on multiple plantations by 1860. Tucker worked as a farmer on Carter's plantation in Pike County. He married Fanny Dillard there on December 20, 1855, and they had two children together: Archie, born September 12, 1857; and Martin, born March 8, 1860.

Tucker enlisted in the Union army as a substitute on August 30, 1864, in Bowling Green, Missouri. He mustered in as a private in Company F of the 18th USCT Infantry Regiment soon after in Benton Barracks in St. Louis. His enlistment records describe him as 5 feet, 9 inches tall, with black hair, black eyes, and a black complexion. Tucker served mostly in Tennessee, taking part in the Battle of Nashville in December 1864 and pursuing Confederate General John Bell Hood to the Tennessee River. Tucker was admitted to the hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in May 1865 and died there of "inflammation of bowels" on July 20. After his death, his family lived in Pike County, Missouri, and Adams County, Illinois. Fanny applied for a pension on April 13, 1866, and on January 22, 1874, the government granted her $8 a month plus $2 for each of her two minor children.

DATABASE CONTENT

Name:

Tucker, William

Alternative names:

Roles:

Soldier
Substitute

Gender:

Race:

Black

Regiment/Ship:

Regiment	Company
18th Regiment Infantry U.S. Colored Troops	F

Branch of service:

Army

Enlistment/Muster:

Type	Date	Place	Accepted/Rejected	Age	Status	Reason
Muster In	1864-08-30	Benton Barracks St. Louis, MO
Enlistment	1864-08-30	Bowling Green, MO	accepted	34	Slave
Muster Out	1865-07-20	General Hospital Chattanooga, TN				Death

Residence at enlistment:

Rank In:

Private

Rank Out:

Private

Highest rank achieved:

Private

Pensions:

Person 1	Person 2	Number	Relation Type
Tucker, William	Tucker, Fanny	124994	application-widow
Tucker, William	Tucker, Fanny	163816	certificate-widow

Birth date:

1833-02

Birth date certainty:

Certain

Birth place:

Albemarle County, VA

Death date:

1865-07-20

Death place:

General Hospital Chattanooga, TN

Causes of death:

disease: inflammation of bowels

Occupations:

Farmer

Relationships:

Person 1	Relation Type	Person 2
Tucker, William	parent of	Tucker, Archie
Tucker, William	parent of	Tucker, Martin
Carter, Sr., John Coles	owner of	Tucker, William
Tucker, Fanny	wife of	Tucker, William

SOURCES

Compiled Service Records for William Tucker, RG94, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Washington, D.C.; Pension Records for William Tucker, RG15, NARA, Washington, D.C.; B. Noland Carter II, A Goodly Heritage: A History of the Carter Family in Virginia, vol. I (2003); Frederick A. Dyer, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, vol. 3 (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Company, 1908).

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