William Orrie Tuggle was born September 25,1841 in Henry County, Georgia near McDonough. He enlisted in the Confederate Army at LaGrange in Company B of the Georgia 4th Infantry Regiment on April 16, 1861. He was discharged on July 9, 1862 and joined General Morgan's Brigade. The year the War ended he passed the bar and married Margaret Antoinette Cox. He practiced law inLaGrange, Georgia and became active in politics, advocating both Georgia and Indian claims against the federal government, as well as becoming a pioneer folklorist. In the 1880s he went to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and recorded the myths, traditions and ceremonies of the Creeks and Yuchi, former inhabitants of the Chattahoochee Valley. He died February 3, 1885 at Thomasville,Georgia and is buried in LaGrange.