By Robert Baker
Strange events sometimes occurred during the Civil War. One involved a member of a Big Sandy Union regiment, the Thirty-ninth Kentucky. Alfred Carter Hailey was one of several soldiers chosen to escort two Kentucky ladies to the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. One of the ladies had a well-known husband in the Rebel military. The other had a Kentucky-born father who, but for the interruption of the war, may well have become President of the United States. Although Hailey was not from Pike County, he did take a girl from neighboring Floyd for his wife. Another interesting piece of Big Sandy history.
John C Breckinridge
ALFRED CARTER HAILEY, County Judge of Boyd County, son of Carter and Elizabeth (Drury) Hailey, was born in Greenup County, Kentucky, May 4, 1835. His father, Carter Hailey, was a native of Virginia, who removed to Scioto County, Ohio, in 1794; was in the War of 1812, serving one year as drum major and supervisor of the musicians; re-enlisted the second year of the war in company with Andis Buford Hailey, who afterward went to Louisiana and became a cotton planter. After Mr. Hailey was mustered out of service he removed to Greenup County, Kentucky, where he was a farmer until his death, December 25, 1838. He was a man of unusual learning for the times in which he lived. His father, John Hailey, was a native of Virginia, who went to Scioto County, Ohio, and was a farmer there until his death.
Elizabeth Drury Hailey (mother) was a native of Scioto County, Ohio, where she received an excellent education. She was a member of the Methodist Church, and was well known and loved for her many good works. She died in Greenup County, February, 1847.
Judge Hailey was the youngest but one of nine children. He was educated in Catlettsburg, and learned the trade of house and sign painting and decorating, which business he followed industriously until his election as county judge in November, 1894.
He was a gallant soldier in the Union army, enlisting September 27, 1862, in Company D, Thirty-ninth Kentucky Mounted Infantry, and did duty in the cavalry arm of the service throughout the war. His regiment was in the command of General Julius White for a time and later in General Boyle’s command, and still later under Generals S.G. Burbridge and Hobson, and finally under General Palmer. He participated in the battles of King’s Salt Works in Virginia, Wireman Shoals, Mount Sterling, Cynthiana, and others, his regiment being confined principally to service in Kentucky.
He entered the army as a private; was elected first lieutenant by a vote of his company, and later captain; was post commissary on the staff of Colonel G. W. Gallup, who commanded the brigade for eighteen months. On March 2, 1865, he was detailed to take charge of a flag of truce and escort Miss Fannie Breckenridge, now Mrs. John Steele of Midway, Kentucky, and Mrs. J. Stoddard Johnston, to Richmond, Virginia; Miss Breckenridge to see her father, General John C. Breckenridge, and Mrs. Johnston her husband. It required about two weeks to make the journey, and there were twenty-five soldiers in the detail.
Judge Hailey has been an active member of the Odd Fellows fraternity for thirty-two years, and was chosen Deputy Grand Master in 1886. He is an enthusiastic member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has filled a number of positions of honor and trust in his post. He has always been interested in politics, first as a Whig and later as a Republican. Having no legal education or experience, his election to the office of county judge was due to his prominence and popularity in his party and to his sound judgment and proverbial honesty of purpose.
He was married January 25, 1857, to Luvenia H. Friend, daughter of Charles Friend of Floyd County. Mrs. Hailey was born September 16, 1837, and was educated in Floyd County. They have four children living: William H., born December 29, 1857; Mollie C., born February 5, 1860, wife of Frank Johnson of Gallipolis, Ohio; Stella, born May 30, 1868, wife of R. N. Braley of Charleston, West Virginia; Andis Buford, born July 30, 1873; and Curtis H., born 1861, died July 11, 1863.
Gresham, John M., et al, compilers, Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Chicago and Philadelphia: John M. Gresham Co., 1896, pp. 183-4
