Submitted by Clyde H. Wiley
Thomas Jefferson Wiley, the William Wiley family, and the Hightower Brothers were among some of the earliest settlers in the northern portion of Alabama just south of the Tennessee River having established residence there sometime before 1820. William was 43 years old when his son Thomas Jefferson Wiley was born in Morgan County Alabama in 1843. William died when Thomas was only about twelve years old, and when the Civil War started he was living in Winston County near the communtiy of Houston with his mother, Jane, a widow with eight children still at home. Thomas was the oldest son and soon joined many other young men in the area and volunteered for military service in support of maintaining the Union by joining the 1st Alabama Cavalry and during the war years, formulated a relationship with the Hightower family that would last the rest of his life. About 1867 the families of Thomas Wiley and Marion Hightower decided to move to Arkansas and settled in Scott County near the community of Boothe. Several other families from the northern Alabama area, including Jacob Blevins, also settled in this area. Thomas and Martha had six children that lived to adulthood, the three oldest all being sons that became Baptist ministers. John Wiley served various churches in Arkansas. William Sherman Wiley and James Marshall Wiley served most of their ministry in Oklahoma, beginning when it was still Indian Territory. Martha Hightower Wiley died on March 18, 1886. After Martha's passing Thomas married Alice McDonald Hogan, but this marriage was short lived as Thomas died May 8, 1888. His obituary stated he was always proud of his military service and had his discharge papers with him at the time of his death. Both Thomas and Martha are buried in the Wiley Cemetery in Scott County, Arkansas. Alice Hogan Wiley died several years later in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Service records compiled by Glenda Todd and used with her permission. This and other information about the history of the First and the men who fought with the unit
can be found in her book, First Alabama Cavalry, USA: Homage to Patriotism.