He was an 1844 graduate of Bonne Femme College and taught school until the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846.

[2] He enlisted as a private in the 1st Regiment Missouri Mounted Volunteers of Doniphan's expedition [3] and penned his personal account of the trek upon his discharge in 1847.

Hughes' book provided national fame and following his move to Plattsburg, Missouri in 1848, he became editor of a Clinton County, Missouri, newspaper, the school superintendent, militia colonel, and state representative in 1854.

[2] At the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, Hughes took over command of a brigade from the wounded Brigadier general William Yarnell Slack.

At this time he may have been appointed as either an acting Confederate or Missouri State Guard brigadier general.