William Worley

**William Hascue Worley** (September 22, 1843 - November 29, 1922) served as a private in Company D, 13th Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry.

## Personal life

William Worley was born September 22, 1843 in Johnson County, Tennessee to Elias and Luvenia (Grace) Worley. He married Sarah Jane Wardin (1847-1921) with whom he had at least two children.

## Civil War service

Worley enlisted as a private in Company D on September 24, 1863 in Greeneville, Tennessee for a period of three years and mustered in November 8, 1863 at Strawberry Plains, Tennessee.

Worley is listed as present for duty throughout his term of service. The only negative mark on his record is for being intoxicated. In a dispatch dated July 11, 1864 from headquarters at Gallatin, Tennessee, Colonel Miller dictated to Provost Marshal Captain Houck, "You will releas one W. H. Worley that is in prison under your charge[.] [He] belongs to Comp. D. 13th Tennessee Cav [and was] poot in prison for getting drunt[.]"

In April 1865, Worley was serving with a squad of men under the command of Captain Daniel Ellis who were in Johnson County, Tennessee at the time. Samuel McQueen, a prominent Johnson County resident who had previously been the county sheriff, had become a member of the rebel home guards, and "his zeal for the Southern cause had made him a most vindictive enemy to most of his former friends and neighbors[.]" McQueen had been captured in Ashe County, North Carolina, was arrested, brought back to Johnson County and turned over to a Union officer in command of black troops. "That officer told him if what he had learned of his cruelty to the Union people was true he deserved hanging, but as the war was now about ended he would only send him to the jail for the present." The officer ordered a squad of his men to take McQueen to Taylorsville [Mountain City] to be turned over to the jailer. McQueen objected to being led by the black soldiers, and thus came under the charge of Ellis. "Ellis had captured McQueen at one time previous to this and told him he would release him then, but if he ever heard of him mistreating Union men again he would not fare so well the next time he fell into his hands." The squad was moving on foot to Taylorsville when Worley shot McQueen in the back, killing him instantly. When he fell, it was said that Sergeant James Barry also shot McQueen. Colonel Thomas H. Reeves of the 4th Tennessee Infantry ordered Worley and Barry to be arrested, but no punishment has been found. Worley "had been regarded as a rebel until he joined the Federal army in 1863."

Worley mustered out with regiment on September 5, 1865 at Knoxville. He had last been paid to August 31, 1864, owed $49.89 to the government for clothing, had received a bounty of $25, and was owed a $75 bounty.

## Post-war life

Worley applied for an invalid's pension on June 28, 1890. He died November 29, 1922 in Damascus, Virginia and is buried at Acre Field Cemetery in Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee.

## Notes

1. ↑ All spelling is original and appears to have been written quickly by a staff orderly.
2. ↑ Scott & Angel, p. 360.
3. ↑ Scott & Angel, p. 360-361.
4. ↑ Scott & Angel, p. 360.
5. ↑ Ibid.
6. ↑ Ibid.