J. Murray Hoag

He lost his arm at Fort Harrison, Virginia, in the Battle of Chaffin's Farm in late September 1864. He was cited for gallant action, "While suffering from fever and on the sick list, he insisted on leading his company, was wounded in two places, and fell 'at the enemy's inner line of abatis'". He was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, and mustered out of service as Captain of the Fourth Colored Troops, as reported in the Army and Navy Journal on February 2, 1867.

Freedmen's Bureau He was transferred from his regiment to duty in Georgia for the Freedmen's Bureau in May 1866. He was assigned to Savannah, Georgia, where he was responsible for supervising schools in southeast Georgia, particularly Savannah and Georgia's Sea Islands. His supervisor was Edmund Asa Ware. His work entailed hiring construction workers and teachers, establishing tuition, opening and closing schools, He generally felt that political activism among the African American population was harming their well-being, and that politics took up time that would be better spent in economic activity. Hoag's work brought him close to the American Missionary Association (AMA), which provided many of the teachers educating the former slaves, and Hoag was respected by the AMA's teachers.

He investigated and reported on violent confrontations between whites and African Americans, including an election-related riot. His statement to the U.S. Congress was among the many harrowing accounts of violent attacks on African Americans, theft of property, attacks on persons attempting to organize voters, and largely complicit local law enforcement. Among these was the November 3, 1868, election day riot in Savannah where three African Americans were killed and 17 injured. Hoag testified in contradiction to rumors that the majority of African Americans were armed, placing the blame instead on white Democrats involved. He married her in June 1867.

Around that time, he moved to Maquoketa, Iowa, where he lived for 40 years and conducted one of the largest shetland pony farms in the country. He was elected president of the American Shetland Pony club in 1891 and vice-president in 1893.

In 1895, his was the largest Shetland pony farm in the United States, and he also bred Angora sheep.

Later life and death In about 1907 he moved to Washington, D.C., where he took charge of the Army's recruiting station in that city. He retired due to ill health in April 1913. and soon after moved to California. and the Grand Army of the Republic.