John P. Hughey

He Seized a Confederate Flag Days Before Appomattox

John P. Hughey was born in 1836. During the American Civil War, he served in the United States Army and eventually became a Corporal in Company L of the 2nd Ohio Cavalry. His name became part of Medal of Honor history during the final days of the conflict, when he captured a Confederate battle flag and its bearer during the fighting at Deatonsville, Virginia.

By the spring of 1865, the Confederacy’s military position in Virginia was collapsing. After the Union breakthrough around Petersburg, General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia began retreating westward in an attempt to escape the pursuing Federal forces and find supplies.

Union cavalry played a critical role in that pursuit.

Mounted troops moved rapidly along the Confederate line of retreat, attacking columns, blocking roads, capturing prisoners, and attempting to prevent Lee’s army from escaping. The pressure culminated in a series of engagements on April 6, 1865, around Sailor’s Creek and nearby Deatonsville.

Corporal John P. Hughey was serving with the 2nd Ohio Cavalry when his unit entered the fighting.

The battle took place only three days before Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, but there was nothing symbolic or harmless about the combat. Confederate formations were still armed, organized, and fighting desperately to continue their retreat.

In the midst of that struggle, Hughey captured the flag of the 38th Virginia Infantry.

His official Medal of Honor citation records the accomplishment in direct terms: the capture of the flag of the 38th Virginia Infantry, Confederate States Army.

A regimental flag was one of the most important objects on a Civil War battlefield. It helped soldiers identify their position when smoke, noise, terrain, and confusion made normal communication difficult. Men rallied around their colors, followed them during advances, and used them as a visual center for the regiment.

That importance also made the color bearer a conspicuous target.

Capturing an enemy flag usually required a soldier to penetrate or confront the heart of an opposing formation. It was not simply the taking of a piece of cloth. A captured standard represented a serious battlefield loss for the unit that had carried it and a visible achievement for the soldier who seized it.

Hughey accomplished that feat during the confused and violent fighting of April 6.

His action occurred at a remarkable moment in the war.

The Army of Northern Virginia was nearing the end of its retreat. Union forces were closing from several directions, Confederate supply conditions were deteriorating, and thousands of men would be captured during the battles around Sailor’s Creek.

Yet Hughey could not have known precisely when the larger war would end.

For the soldiers actually fighting at Deatonsville, the danger remained immediate.

He acted while the battle was still being decided.

Less than a month later, the United States formally recognized his conduct.

On May 3, 1865, John P. Hughey received the Medal of Honor for capturing the Confederate flag at Deatonsville.

He held the rank of Corporal at the time of the action, and no higher verified military rank has been established for his service.

No additional clasp, bar, star, or other device accompanied his Medal of Honor.

The decoration therefore represents one specific battlefield achievement: the capture of the colors of the 38th Virginia Infantry during the final campaign against Lee’s army.

Hughey’s story also illustrates how quickly the Civil War moved toward its conclusion in April 1865.

On April 6, he was still engaged in active combat against Confederate forces.

Three days later, on April 9, Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House.

Hughey’s Medal of Honor action therefore came almost at the end of four years of enormous national conflict, but it remained an act performed under the same immediate dangers that soldiers had faced throughout the war.

After the Civil War, Hughey returned to civilian life. The surviving historical record preserves far more detail about his wartime action than about many parts of his later years.

He died near Hickman, Kentucky, in January 1900.

His exact burial location has not been securely established. A memorial marker at Hickman City Cemetery preserves his name, but the location of his remains is uncertain and should not be reconstructed through assumption.

What remains firmly documented is the moment that brought him national recognition.

On April 6, 1865, during the desperate Confederate retreat through Virginia, Corporal John P. Hughey fought with Company L of the 2nd Ohio Cavalry at Deatonsville.

There he seized the flag of the 38th Virginia Infantry.

The war would effectively end for Lee’s army only days later.

Hughey’s courage in those final battles earned him the Medal of Honor and secured his place among the Union cavalrymen whose actions helped bring the Army of Northern Virginia’s last campaign to its conclusion.