Joseph Kennedy Hudson

Joseph K. Hudson (4 May 1840 – 5 May 1907) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and military officer from Kansas. A Union Army veteran of the American Civil War, he was recalled to service for the Spanish–American War and served as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers.

A native of Carrollton, Ohio and the son of a prominent abolitionist, Hudson moved to Kansas as a teenager and became active in the anti-slavery movement. At the start of the American Civil War, he joined Company E, 3rd Kansas Infantry Regiment. When his regiment was combined with another to form the 10th Kansas Infantry Regiment, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the new regiment's Company C. He served in the Trans-Mississippi theater until December 1863, when he was commissioned as a major in the 63rd Regiment of United States Colored Troops. He took part in the Red River campaign and served until the end of the war.

After his military service, Hudson farmed and raised livestock on a farm near Leavenworth. In 1871, he served a term in the Kansas House of Representatives. In 1873, he purchased a Leavenworth newspaper, which he subsequently moved to Topeka and renamed the Topeka Capital. He published the Capital until 1895 and served as the state printer from 1895 to 1897. In 1898, the US Army temporarily expanded during the Spanish–American War and Hudson was commissioned as a brigadier general of United States Volunteers. He commanded a brigade in Florida and Alabama, but the war ended before it embarked for Cuba, and he was discharged at the end of 1898. Hudson died in Topeka on 5 May 1907. He was buried at Topeka Cemetery.

Early life Joseph Kennedy Hudson was born in Carrollton, Ohio on 4 May 1840, the son of John F. Hudson and Rebecca (Rothacker) Hudson. John Hudson was prominent in the abolitionist movement and was the publisher of The Anti-Slavery Bugle, the newspaper of the Western Anti-Slavery Society. In January 1895, the state legislature elected Hudson to the state printer's office, and he served in this position for two years. Hudson led his command during mobilization and training in Tampa, Florida and Huntsville, Alabama. Ownership later passed to Arthur Capper. He died in Topeka on 5 May 1907. He was buried at Topeka Cemetery in Topeka.