The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-12-27
HON. ROBERT w. HUGHES.

08iaPby vi bilV SHllliCht hSlhih tsOPoSAi
can whose name heads this article. TIL,
only error committed by the writer was il
predicting the election of Colonel Hughes
to Congress. Had his prediction been yer
tiled, the great James River and Kanawhs
Canal would now be certain of completion
To the efforts of Colonel Hughes, more
than any other, is due the progress this
work has already made in favor with the
present administration.
The time, we predict, will soon come
when Virginia will feel more grateful to
Robert W. Hughes for his able efforts in
her behalf. than to any public man of these
times. She will be proud to aclnowl-
edge him one of her sons, in spite of the
hitherto unpopularity of his political views.
BY this truthful and able sketch of Col
snel Hughes, Mr.. Douglass has proven HIM
self no less able bographer than he is a
statesman
from the New National Era, two years ago,
October q, 1901
HON. ROBERT w. HUGHES.
lnC kCutiGtlltu WlOSo udIllG UcduS LIllS
article is the Republican candidate for Con-
gress in the Eighth district Of Virginia.
For the past fifteen or twenty years he has
occupied very prominent position before
the people of his State, where his name,
by being associated with all great move
ments Of State policy, has become as faml-
lar as household word. He is indigenous
to the sofia Virginian by birth and edu.
cation-and perhaps better understands the
wants, needs and necessities Of the people
Of the Old Dominion than any other citizen
of the State. As the fates have decreed
that he shall be a member of the next
Congress, a brief sketch of his life will no
doubt prove Of interest to the general
reader.
Colonel Hughes is in the prime of life.
He is above the medium height, of square.
firm-built and powerful frame. He has an
active, nervous temperament, which is ex-
cellently balanced by his strong physical
powers.
Colonel Hughes was born in Powhatan,
q county lying little above Richmond, on
the south side Of the James river. His
family were among the pioneers of the
colony of Virginia, and one of the first to
settle in Powhatan county. A considers
BILE stream flowing into the James, called
Hughes creek, takes its name from the
original owners Of the lands it drained.
His grandfather. David Hughes, was a
captain in the War Of Independence, while
his father, Jesse Hughes, was captain in
the war of 1912. His mother was Nor
ton, of Prince Edward county, hugue-
not-a scion of one of the most numerous
and respectable families in Southside Vlr.
ginia. Through her the subject of this
sketch inherits the blood of the Huguenot
families of Watkins, Mosely, Mosby, Dam
lei and others. A.great-great uncle, Jesse
Hughes, was pioneer hunter and Indian
fighter in West Virginia, (see De Hass's
history, from whom Hughes river, flow
ing into the Kanawha, took its name.
From these facts it is plain that the subject
of this memoir is beyond the reach of
those who endeavor to make capital by the
hue and cry of that terrible word ''carpet-
Dagger"
His father inherited large plantation
on the James river, III Powhatan county.
but lost his estate in the financial depres-
sion which followed the close of the last
war against Great Britain. He died soon
after, leaving his family without estate or
means. Colonel Hughes, the subject of
this sketch, who is now man of wealth
and great influence in Virginia, is self-edu-
Gated and selfmade. By his great industry
and energy, and while yet in the prime of
life, he has placed himself in an indepen-
dent position, and is, therefore, not depend
dent on official position for the support of
either himself or family. He has accepted
the leadership of the Republicans of his
district because he believes, if elected, he
can be Of great service to them in advance
ing the interests of the State, and not from
any hope or expectation of selfaggrandize-
ment or personal benefit.
After passing through many vicisstudes
as an orphan boy, Colonel Hughes studied
law on attaining manhood, and began the
the practice of his profession in Richmond
in l846, pursuing it with great assiduity
and success until the close of Mr.. Pierce's
administration in 1857. During nearly all this
time, however, he was constant contributor
to the Richmond Examiner, an independent
Democratic paper of considerable celebrity
and great influence in the South. When
the editor of that journal, John M. Daniel,
ESQ.,, went abroad as United States Min
lister 10 Sardinia in 1853, Colonel Hughes
assumed editorial charge of it. He con-
tinued in this position until the accession Of
Mr.. Buchanan to the Presidency in 1857,
when, on invitation of the President, he ac-
cepted the position of principal editorial
writer for the Washington Union, the ma
tional organ, it will be remembered, of the
Democratic party. This position he filed
with marked ability until the summer Of
1859, when he retired from politics to
farm which he had purchased in Washington
county, in Southwestern Virginia, where
he has since continued to reside, though
during and since the war he has spent most
Of his time in Richmond.
The hostility of Mr.. Buchanan to Judge
Douglas was one of the reasons which
induced the withdrawal of Colonel Hughes
from the Washington Union. He attended
the Democratic convention which convened
in Charleston in April, 1860, as jealous
advocate of Judge Douglas But owing to
his personal relations with the Buchanan
administration he took no part in the Presi-
Dental contest Of that year.
After secession became an accomplished
fact, Colonel Hughes threw in his lot with
the State of Virginia, and at the earnest
solicitation of his old associate, John M.
Daniel, Esq, spent the principal part of
his time during the war in Richmond
as an editorial writer for the columns
of the Examiner. The influence and
celebrity of this journal during that