Tucker, Moses

Moses Tucker

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Company A, 111th United States Colored Infantry (USCI)

Place of Birth:

Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee

Place of Death:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Date of Death:

November 17, 1865

Place of Burial:

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Cemetery Name:

Stones River National Cemetery

Moses Tucker was born enslaved in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee. He was the eldest known child of Caroline Tucker, an enslaved woman on the plantation of James Tucker. His siblings were Richard, Susanna, James, Emily, and Priscilla.

On January 1, 1864, Moses enlisted in the U.S. Army in Richland, Tennessee, committing to three years of service. He joined Company A of the 111th United States Colored Infantry (USCI). His younger brother Richard had enlisted two weeks earlier at Tunnell Hill, Tennessee, and was assigned to Company K of the 110th USCI.

Many soldiers in Moses’s regiment shared his background. They were formerly enslaved field laborers who escaped to Union refugee camps, seeking freedom, safety and work. Some were eventually recruited into the United States Colored Troops.

In April 1864, Moses and his regiment were assigned to the Pioneer Corps, performing construction work and guarding the railroad between middle Tennessee and northern Alabama. He had a brief respite from that labor during the summer of 1864, when he was detached from his company to help retrieve absentees.

On September 25, 1864, Confederate forces under Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked the Union garrison at Athens, Alabama. Moses, Richard, and many soldiers from the 111th and 110th USCI were captured.

Captured Black soldiers were often re‑enslaved. Moses, Richard and their comrades were forced to construct earthen fortifications around Mobile, Alabama. While the details of Moses’s captivity remain unknown, military records show that he spent nearly a year re-enslaved before returning to his regiment in Murfreesboro on August 16, 1865. Richard did not survive re-enslavement; he died in Mobile on January 15, 1865.

In July 1865, the 111th USCI was ordered to locate and disinter the remains of fallen U.S. soldiers across Middle Tennessee and rebury them in Stones River National Cemetery. Their work began in October 1865.

Moses died of smallpox on November 17, 1865. He is buried in Stones River National Cemetery, plot B‑723. 

Tags: stones river national battlefield, stones river national cemetery, american civil war, 111th united states colored infantry, usci, african american history. african american veteran