|
This regiment became part of the Grand Army of the Republic defending
first Washington DC and then taking part in the Peninsula Campaign to
wrest Richmond, then the capital of the Confederacy, from the Rebel
forces. Then fought their way up from the mouth of the James River to
within several miles of Richmond but the tides of war turned and they
were overwhelmed by Lee's forces. The Fourth New Jersey
fought on June
27, 1862 at Gaines Farm, VA, a battle also referred to as Gaines'
Mill. During the battle of Gaines' Mill, Private Hughes was shot
twice in the left leg, above the ankle and above the knee. He
was taken prisoner, and was transported to Richmond for imprisonment
in the infamous Libby prison. Also taken prisoner at Gaines Mill and
taken to Libby were Lieutenant Colonel William
B. Hatch, his cousin Second Lieutenant Charles H.
Hatch, First Lieutenant Thomas
Grapevine, and First Sergeant Joshua
Fish Stone.
All were exchanged for Confederate prisoners within three
months of capture. For Private Hughes and Lieutenant Hatch the
war was over, their wounds rendering them unfit for further
military service. William
B. Hatch was promoted to full Colonel and took command of the
Fourth New Jersey in late August, 1862. He led the regiment at Fredericksburg in
December 1862 and during the battle of Marye's Heights was mortally
wounded.
Discharged
on November 29, 1862, Woodrow
Hughes returned to civilian life in Burlington County. On March
31, 1863 he married Rebecca Ann Bullock. When the census was
taken in 1870 there were three daughters at home, Lizzie, Ida,
and Ella. Woodrow Hughes was then working as a coal heaver. The
Hughes family was still in Northampton Township, Burlington
County, when the census was again taken in 1880. By 1887 the
family moved from Mt. Holly to
Camden, Woodrow Hughes finding work as with the Pennsylvania Railroad in
the city as a brakeman, conductor, and eventually as a baggage
master.
The
family settled in South Camden, and moved several times in the
late 1880s and early 1890s. The 1887-1888 City Directory shows
the family at 737 Clinton
Street. The 1888-1889 Directory shows them at 636 Berkley
Street, while the 1890-1891 Directory list the Hughes family
at 581 Stevens
Street. It is worth noting that in those times the railroad
ran up along Mickle
Street, and down Seventh
Street. Many railroad workers lived in this neighborhood in
these years.
By 1898
the Hughes family was
living in a large three-story home at 428 Chambers
Avenue in Camden. This street was laid out and the homes on
it built after 1891, and it is well possible that the Woodrow
Hughes family were the original owners. When the Census was once
again taken in 1900 Woodrow and Rebecca Hughes were still at the
address. Also at home were his
blind son Robert, age 21, a daughter, May Hughes, age 19, and
Herbert Hughes, age 16. Also there
was Woodrow's oldest child, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hughes Ireton
and her husband, Charles Ireton, and their son, Harry C.
Another daughter also lived there in 1900, Ella Burdsall,
30, (divorced) and her daughter, Rita Hinkle, age 5, as
well as two boarders, Mary B. Shinn, widow, nurse, age 55, and
her son Josiah Shinn, 23.
Woodrow
Hughes died on October 9, 1913. His widow filed for her Civil
War Widow's Pension on October 13, of that year. The family
remained in the house on Chambers Street through 1946, as
Charles and Lizzie Ireton made their home there. The Hughes and
Ireton families were well known in Camden. May Hughes Platt
taught for many years at the Henry L. Bonsall Scholl and Jesse
Starr School in Camden. Lizzie Hughes Ireton worked at
Hemphill's Dry Goods store on Broadway
for many years.
|
