A Biographical Sketch of Isaac Willis Rucker
Isaac Willis Rucker was born 12/12/36 in Amherst County, Virginia, the fifth child of Alexander Marr and Mary Toler. In 1850 Isaac was a 13-year-old at home with his family. Ten years later, he was a lumberman and on 8/29/60 wed 16-year-old he Susan Elizabeth Millner of Bedford County. He had grown to a fair complected man with light hair and blue eyes, and stood five feet, ten inches tall.
There is no evidence in its muster rolls that Isaac joined the local cavalry company, as indicated by the family history. He was apparently content to spend the first year of the Civil War at home with his young bride. He donated five dollars to the war effort in August, to help raise the company of volunteers from Amherst. In the spring of 1862, the Confederacy instituted a draft for men between the ages of 18 and 35, so Isaac took the option of enlistment so as to select his preferred branch of service and unit. He enlisted 4/1/62 as a private in Kirkpatrick's Company of light artillery, in Nelson's battalion. The muster rolls list his term of enlistment variously as "12 months", " three years" and "for the war". Originally a private, he was promoted through the ranks so that by the time of Gettysburg, he was acting quartermaster Sergeant. The rolls show that he was captured the night of 7/14/63 at Waterloo, near Gettysburg. He was imprisoned at Fort Delaware and signed the oath of allegiance 6/21/65, returning home to his anxious wife after almost 2 years of confinement.
Back in Amherst, he and Susan had their first child, John C., in 1866, followed by Emma W. in August of 1869 or 1870. Another child, Mary W., was born 2/21/71, and Albert was born 1877. By 1880, only John, Emma and Albert were at home, Mary having died 5/30/71 of inflamed bowels. By 1910, Isaac and his wife were living with his son, John C., and his family, in Lynchburg. He applied for a pension in November of that year, claiming no income and total disability with bilateral ruptures, having been subject to all the diseases of military imprisonment. He received a yearly benefit of $32.
Isaac passed away of "La Grippe" 3/4/21 at his son's home, survived by his wife, son and daughter, Mrs. A.D. Watts. He was a member of Ella Bethel Methodist Church in Amherst, and is buried there with his wife of 60 years. She had been receiving a Confederate widow's pension of $60 since she applied 7/29/21, and survived until 2/27/31.
