VAUGHAN, ETC N EW S L E T T ER
JANUARY & APRIL 1984
EDITOR; Verna Baker Banes
Page 28
OBITUARY NOTICE OF CHARLES H. VAUGHAN,
son of JAMES H. VAUGHAN. Tennessee
"LAST CONFEDERATE WHO WENT ON HASTINGS EXPEDITION TO AVOID
CARPETBAGGERS DIES"
A Brick Church Pike farmer whose adventuresome younger days carried him into the thick of the
Civil War, then to escape carpetbagging rule in the South, down into South American Amazon
Valley where he found romance and love and finally back to Davidson County's rolling hills, died
last night at the age of 86.
He was Charles H. Vaughan. believed to be the last soldier survivor of the dramatic Hastings
Expedition which carried Confederates and .their families to South America to escape the sad
plight of the stricken Southland under "Carpet Baggers" after the Civil. War. He was also one of
only two survivors of Co.B of Starnes Fourth Term. Confederate Calvary that followed Nathan
Bedford Forrest and "Fighting Jo" Wheeler through their daring war maneuvers. .
Shortly after the surrender of Lee, General Hastings and a group of Confederate soldiers sailed
from Mobile bound for Brazil where they hoped to find new courage, new homes and freedoms.
The little bad of fugitive Southerners followed Gen. Hastings 500 miles up the Amazon until they
reached Santarem. There it was that Vaughan met Leila Riker, pretty daughter of a man who
headed an expedition of Charlestonians that left the Carolina port about the time the Hastings
Expedition sailed.
He wooed and won Miss Riker and the two were married 61 years ago In " .;Santarem, South
America. But shortly after, the dreaded plague, yellow fever, struck the little settlement of
Southerners cutting a wide swathe of death through its homes. When Gen. Hastings fell before
it, the survivors abandoned their new homes and retraced their steps to the reconstructed South.
Among these were Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan. They returned to Davidson County where Mr.
Vaughan's family had pioneered and where his Virginia Grandfather, Johnson Vaughan, had
erected the first brick house in Nashville. The couple settled about a half century ago in the
Whites Creek and Brick Church community where they have lived since.
Mr. Vaughan was the son of James H. Vaughan and a nephew of Squire J.V. Vaughan, whose
estate now comprizes a part of Percy Warner Park. He was widely known through his home
community and was active in civic and church work. Officer in Loves Methodist Church. Buried
in Spring Hill. Died in 1933.
GLENDA CROSS. 4326 Stenberg Rd., Whites Creek, TN 37189 sent the above obituary notice.
She seeks data on children of JAMES H. VAUGHAN & MARX PORTER OLDHAM, m 1833.
Williamson Co TN. Their children: ELIZA b 1835. DORTHULA b 1836. FRANCES b 1837. DEE
JOHNSON b 1838, MARY E. b 1840, JAMES W. b 1844. CHARLES H. b 1847. JOHN W.
b 1849. HUGH b 1852. ETHELDRED b 1855. JAMES H. VAUGHAN m2(?) ELIZABETH BRITT
JENNINGS. Following the Civil War James 6 Elizabeth sailed to Santarero, Brazil with Major
Hastings and settled and died there. Some of their descendants are believed to still be there.
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