He enlisted in the Confederate States Army for the American Civil War, joining the 21st Virginia Infantry Regiment as a private.

He served throughout the war and rose to the rank of captain as commander of Company E, 14th Virginia Infantry.

Hutcheson died at his summer home on Signal Mountain, near Chattanooga, Tennessee on May 25, 1924.

His son, Joseph Chappell Hutcheson Jr., was a Mayor of Houston and a federal judge.

A grandson, Thad Hutcheson, also a Houston lawyer, was a Republican candidate in the 1957 special election for United States Senator, and was defeated by Democrat Ralph Yarborough.