Early in February 1863, William Silvey set out from home to return to his regiment in Kentucky, heading up through Winter's Gap (present-day Oliver Springs). There he was taken prisoner and expediently shot by Rebels on Feb. 7, dying at the home of Robert Lively, who family lore says was the man who shot him. Uncle Leonard said the site was near the current high school.

Another researcher's family tradition says that when Lively saw who he had shot, he was horrified; and Silvey said to him "My God, why did you shoot me?"

Lively was not only a neighbor, but related by marriage to William Silvey. In turn, William Silvey was the father of the girl who would marry Joseph H. Hacker.

In the meantime, Joel and Joseph Hacker were suffering from the one thing that killed more men in the Civil War than bullets or shells: disease. It decimated the men of the 5th Tennessee.

Both Joel and Joseph had enlisted in 1862, but both were absent without leave for a time. Reviewing their pension files, you can see the list of diseases that plagued them: Joel with smallpox, rheumatism; his son Joseph with mumps, rheumatism. Hospitals were considered a place for soldiers to die; and many soldiers simply went home when they were sick, returning later to their units. This may have been what Joel and Joseph did, as they both later received pensions related to their service.

1863 was the year that Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. It also was the year of Chancellorsville, Vicksburg and Gettsyburg; and the battles were raging in Tennnessee.

In September came the battle of Chicamauga, one of the bloodiest of the war. In this battle Alfred Hacker Jr. sustained a leg injury, and a 12-year-old Jacob Mayton was said by my grandmother to have stood with the wagons. The Chattanooga Campaign also was launched in September; and Gen. Hooker's corps, including the 5th Tennessee, were there.

Jacob Mayton's daughter Maude would later marry a son of Joseph H. Hacker.

By 1864, Grant had formulated his plans to move on Georgia and Atlanta. On May 6, there was a skirmish at Tunnel Hill, where Joseph H. Hacker was listed on sick call.

As the Union Army moved south, it encountered resistance at Resaca, with the main fighting occurring on May 14 and 15. At some point in this battle, Alfred Hacker Jr., was shot through the neck with the bullet striking his shoulder. His injury was severe enough that he had to drop out of the march.

In 1865, Samuel Hacker was part of the Army of Northern Virginia under Joseph E. Johnston and was in North Carolina. On April 9, Lee surrendered; and on April 14, Lincoln was assassinated.

In Tennessee, Joel Hacker was a very sick man; and in one of the many hospitals in Nashville, he died on 23 April. But he lived long enough to know that the war was over and that his president had been killed. He must have wondered about the safety of his son and cousins and what would happen to his wife and other children. Typically, the bureaucracy couldn't get it right: They buried him as Joseph Hacker.

In May 1865, Julius Hacker was released from prison at Ft. Delaware, and after signing an oath of loyalty, was given transportation to at least Philadelphia and possibly Morristown, TN. Likewise in May, Samuel Hacker received permission to return home from North Carolina.

After returning home from Delaware, Julius Hacker married Susannah Hopper in 1865; he died in 1902. His wife drew an "indigent" Confederate widow's pension.

Julius' brother William Hacker also survived the war; he married Mary A. Goin on 26 Feb. 1865. Brother Joseph, who had married Julia Ann Rodgers about 1858, likewise survived. He eventually moved his family to the Oklahoma Territory.

On April 1, 1866, my great-grandfather Joseph H. Hacker married Eliza Jane Silvey, who died in 1881. He remarried in 1890 to Nancy Ann Boles/Balch.

Of his Civil War experience, Joe later told his son Alexander that he was out lying in the woods one night and he felt something warm against his back. He was not sure what had moved in on him. It was a pig that had snuggled up to him to get himself warm. My grandfather later narrated this story to my Uncle Leonard, who in turn passed it to my cousin Terry and myself.

In later years, Joe drew a Union pension; and in 1915, he died at the home of his daughter Maggie Morgan in Morgan Co., TN. Uncle Leonard recalled that they brought him down from Oakdale on the train and buried him at Prospect Cemetery, now called Dyllis, in Roane Co., TN.

Why he was buried at Dyllis after dying in Morgan County was a mystery to us until my cousin Gillis Morgan, whose mother was Maggie Morgan, told us that Grandpa Joe had wanted to be buried with the other "old soldiers" at Dyllis. My grandfather began work on the form to get a veteran's headstone during the 1920s, but was unable to complete it. In 2001, Uncle Leonard, Terry, and I completed the forms and finally received a Civil War headstone for Grandpa Joe, which Terry placed at Dyllis.

Alfred Hacker Jr. eventually moved to McMinn County, where his family had resided previously. His brother George, who also served in the Union Army, survived the war as well and returned to the McMinn/Meigs Counties area.

In 1868, Alfred's first wife died; and he married Nancy Taylor White in 1871. He received a Union pension for his injuries, and was in his 90s when he died in 1937. He outlived most of his children.

Alfred's oldest brother Samuel also returned to McMinn County. He appears to have married at least twice, once to a woman named Nancy, surname unknown; and second in 1887 to Matilda Irwin, born Rhoda Shannon. He never fully recovered from the wound he received early in the war; and the ball, which was never removed, resulted in the muscles wasting away. He later received a Confederate pension for his disability, and his wife Rhoda received an indigent widow's pension after his death.

In Roane County, Sally Hacker and Angeline Silvey began trying to pick up their lives without their men. Neither would marry again. Sarah received a pension and lived into her 80s, residing near many of her children and other relatives.

• Alfred Hacker, probable father of Alfred Hacker Jr. and grandson of Julius Hacker Sr. Served with the Confederate 62nd Tennessee Infantry Regiment, also called Rowan's Infantry Regiment, and also called the 80th Tennessee Infantry Regiment. Confederate service records shows that he entered service in 1862 and died in a Confederate hospital in Jackson Mississippi on 28 April 1863.

• Jasper D. Hacker, 1844 - Aft. 1920, Union Army, 3rd TN Infantry, great-grandson of Julius Hacker Sr., married to Sarah C. Bice. Son of Margaret Hacker (daughter of Jacob Hacker and Martha Register) and unknown father. Died after 1920, probably in Limestone Co., AL.

• Isaac Newton Green Hacker, 1837-1923, Confederate Army, great-grandson of Julius Hacker Sr., bachelor, died in the Masonic Home in Nashville. Son of Isaac Hacker and Mary "Polly" Henry.

• John Hacker, b. bet. 1834-38 - 1862, Confederate Army, great-grandson of Julius Hacker Sr., died 10 Dec. 1862. Son of Margaret Hacker, (daughter of Joseph Hacker Sr.) and unknown father. Home listed as Kingston, TN on enlistment. Appears to have been married to Elizabeth Roberts, daughter of Elias R. "Robbie" and Mary Roberts of Roane Co.

• Newton Hacker, 1836-1922, Union Army, great-grandson of Julius Hacker Sr., married Antoinette Bradley, became a lawyer and served as a TN circuit judge; died in Greene Co. TN. Son of Jacob Hacker and Sarah Lloyd.

• William R. Hacker, brother of Newton Hacker, above; 1847-1920, Union Army, 3rd TN Mounted Inf., great-grandson of Julius Hacker Sr.; married Margaret M. Brown of Greene Co., TN, moved to Joplin, MO, where he engaged in mining; died at the National Military Home in Leavenworth, KS, and is buried in Leavenworth National Cemetery. Son of Jacob Hacker and Sarah Lloyd.