Tucker entered the Confederate Army as a
captain of Company K, 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He was part of
Barnard Bee's
brigade at the
First Battle of Manassas. Soon afterwards Tucker's company was sent to the
West and merged with the 41st Mississippi Infantry Regiment. Tucker was commissioned
colonel of the regiment in May 1862. He led the regiment at the Battles of
Perryville,
Murfreesboro,
Chickamauga, and
Chattanooga before being promoted to brigadier general to rank from March 1, 1864. Tucker's field duty ended that summer after suffering a severe wound at the
Battle of Resaca during the
Atlanta campaign. In the last weeks of the war he commanded the District of Southern Mississippi and East Louisiana. ==Post-war and murder==