Edward George Hughes was born on February 19, 1837, in Kentucky to Stephen and Abigail Hughes. His father was a clerk who owned $1,500 of real estate by 1850. The family moved to New Albany, Indiana, in the 1840s, and his father died in 1852.

 

He enlisted in the Union army on April 23, 1861, and he mustered in as a private in Company A of the 12^th Indiana Infantry. He eventually earned a promotion to sergeant, and he mustered out on May 19, 1862. He later served in the Mississippi Marine Brigade. He was eventually promoted to captain, and he served until the end of the war.

 

According to an early biographer, he “returned home much impaired in health.” He moved to Perry County, Indiana, around 1872, and he spent the next four years working in the lumber industry. He married Mary E. Frakes on December 19, 1876, and they had at least three children: Morton, born around 1878; Dudley, born around 1880; and Charles, born around 1877. The family lived in Anderson, Indiana, and he worked as a farmer. He moved to Troy, Indiana, in the late 1800s and then to Tell City, Indiana, in the early 1900s. His wife died in 1916, and he died of pneumonia in Tell City on March 14, 1920.

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