Pugh, Isaac C.

Born: 1805-11-23 Christian County, Kentucky

Died: 1874-11-19 Macon County, Illinois

Flourished: 1830-05-26 Decatur, Illinois

Pugh moved to Illinois in 1821 with his parents and settled in Shelby County. In 1829, he relocated to Macon County and remained there for the rest of his life, working as a merchant and municipal officer. He married Elvira E. Gorin in 1831, with whom he had eleven children. Pugh was a member of the County Commissioners' Court from 1830 to 1832 and served as master in chancery from 1830 to 1860. During the Black Hawk War, he served as a second lieutenant in James Johnson's company of the 5th Regiment of Illinois Mounted Volunteers until May 1832, when he received promotion to captain replacing Johnson, who had received promotion to colonel. He was captain of Company C of the Fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers during the Mexican War. In 1858, he was a member of the Illinois Republican Central Committee. During the Civil War, Pugh initially earned a commission as captain of the 8th Illinois Regiment and later won promotion to colonel of the 41st Illinois Regiment. Near the end of the war, the army gave him a brevet rank of brigadier general.

John W. Smith, History of Macon County, Illinois, from its Organization to 1876 (Springfield, IL: Rokker's, 1876), 35, 43-44, 275-76; Roger D. Hunt and Jack R. Brown, Brevet Brigadier Generals in Blue (Gaithersburg, Md.: Olde Soldier Books, 1997), 495; Isaac H. Elliott, Record of the Services of Illinois Soldiers in the Black Hawk War, 1831-32, and in the Mexican War, 1846-8 (Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker, 1882), 104, 285.