Rufus L. Hughes was born on September 23, 1841, in Pickens County, Alabama, to Benjamin and Jane Hughes. His father was a merchant who owned $12,100 of real estate and $95,000 of personal property in 1860. Hughes grew up and attended school in Pickens County. He began courting Eleanor E. Somerville in 1860, and he confessed his love to her on September 1, 1860. As he later observed, he “told her a great many things that required speedy answers, or painful suspense on my part. I received those replies & they were consoling to my love-sick soul!” She was only 16 years old, and the couple ultimately decided to wait before they got married.

 

He enlisted in the Confederate army in 1861 and mustered in as a private in the 2^nd Alabama Infantry. The men apparently mustered out in early 1862. He re-enlisted soon afterward and mustered in as a private in Company D of the 42^nd Alabama Infantry. The regiment took part in the Siege of Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, and the Battle of Chattanooga. He surrendered as part of the Army of Tennessee on April 26, 1865.

 

As he observed that day, “the fall of [Robert E. Lee’s] Virginia army occasioned the fall of our Army. These two armies—once as good as the world ever saw—were the props to the Confederacy, & with their fall our Country was doomed to ruin. Sad is the thought! But we have spent four years—long & tedious years—for nought, & the amount of blood and treasure we have expended has been immense. We now have nothing but darkness ahead of us.” Hughes returned to Alabama in June 1865, and he married Eleanor on October 25. He died in Pickens County, Alabama, on October 30, 1867.

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