author
John H. (John Hill) Aughey
1828–1911
A Presbyterian minister, teacher, and Civil War memoirist, he wrote from direct experience about life in Mississippi during secession and the war. His best-known books, The Iron Furnace and Tupelo, blend autobiography, history, and sharp political witness.
1 Audiobook
The Iron Furnace; or, Slavery and Secession
by John H. (John Hill) Aughey
About the author
Born in New Hartford, New York, on May 8, 1828, John Hill Aughey grew up in Ohio and graduated from Franklin College in 1851. He later moved south to teach in Mississippi, married Mary J. Paden, and entered the Presbyterian ministry. Sources from church and library records identify him as a minister as well as the author of works published under the name John H. Aughey.
Aughey is best remembered for writing about the Civil War era from a strongly Unionist point of view while living in the South. His 1863 book The Iron Furnace; or, Slavery and Secession drew on his own experiences in Mississippi, and Tupelo later expanded that story into a longer memoir and historical account. Those books made him a vivid firsthand voice on secession, imprisonment, escape, and the moral conflicts of the period.
After the war, he continued in ministry and lived long enough to see his wartime memories preserved in print for new readers. He died in 1911, leaving behind a body of writing that is still valued by historians for its personal view of slavery, secession, and wartime Mississippi.