My Genealogy Hound

GEN. LUCIUS E. POLK, a well-known and respected farmer and citizen of Maury County, Tenn., was born in North Carolina July 10, 1833, son of William J. and Mary R. (Long) Polk. The father was a native of North Carolina, born in 1794, and was by occupation a farmer. He came to Tennessee in 1836, and settled in the Twenty-second District of Maury County, where he remained one year, after which he moved to Columbia and lived there until his death, which occurred in 1860. The mother was a native of North Carolina, born in 1797, and was a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. She died at Columbia in 1885. Our subject’s early life was passed on the farm. In 1849 he entered the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, and remained there until 1852, securing a good classical education. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army, First Company of Yell’s Rifles of Arkansas. In July following the company was transferred to Company B, Fifteenth Arkansas Volunteer Infantry. Our subject was in the battles of Shiloh, Richmond and Perryville, Ky., and Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Ringgold Gap, Ga., where he displayed the greatest efforts of his military career. April 11, 1862, for gallant services rendered at the battle of Shiloh, he was promoted to the rank of colonel of his regiment. In the following December he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, in which capacity he served until the close of the war. He was paroled at Courtland, Ala., in June, 1865, and immediately went to his home in Arkansas, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. August 19, 1863, he wedded Sallie M. Polk, a native of Laudersdale County, Ala., and the birth of four sons and one daughter followed their union: Rufus K., Mary R., Lucius E., William J. and James K., all of whom are living. Mrs. Polk was born September 2, 1843, and is a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. In 1866 our subject came to Tennessee and settled on a farm in the Eleventh District of Maury County, where he has since resided. He was president of the Columbia Central Turnpike for three years, and for a like number of years was its efficient secretary and treasurer. He has a farm of 900 acres, all under a good state of cultivation. Politically he has been a life-long Democrat, and was magistrate of the Eleventh District for one year.