USA > Indiana > A history of Indiana from its exploration to 1850 > Part 37
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Many of them, after a stay of a few years, returned to tell the folks at home of the wonderful country. Their let- ters, as well as the accounts of the heroic war of liberation in Texas, and the fight of the warriors at the Alamo, were printed in the Indiana papers and eagerly read.
Keeping these conditions in mind, one can appreciate the dismay with which the Whigs learned that the Demo-
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cratic National Convention in 1844 had discarded Van Bu- ren, who opposed the annexation of Texas, and had nomi- nated Polk, who favored it.1 "What a result!" said one of the leading Whigs when he heard what the convention had done. "It has nominated a man of no distinction, a South- erner, a slaveholder, an anti-tariff man, a sub-treasuryite, and a Texas annexationist."2
His attitude on Texas, together with the fact that Polk favored the annexation of Oregon, whither many Indian- ians had gone in the last ten years, insured his carrying Indiana.3 Could the voters of Indiana be expected to sup- port a man who would disown and cast off hundreds of their friends and relatives who had gone to Texas and Oregon? Not even the great personal popularity of Clay could induce them to do it.
§ 85 INDIANA MILITIA IN 1846
IN territorial times, and for many years after Indiana became a State, the militia were kept in good condition. Every man took his place in the organization. The leading men of the State were proud to be colonels and generals of militia. On training day the companies vied with each other in the expertness of their drill, in the attractiveness of their uniforms, and the condition of their arms.
As the terrors of the War of 1812 were forgotten, and the Indians, year by year, disappeared from the State, the interest in military affairs decreased. In the Black Hawk War, 1832, the State was able to call out some fairly good companies of soldiers. But as there proved no need for them, no permanent interest was aroused. In fact, Major Beckes' company bcame mutinous and Colonel Russell's battalion was made so much sport of by the newspapers that the militia lost rather than gained prestige. By 1840 the "cornstalk" militia had become a joke.4 The law, never-
1 Indiana Journal, June 29, and July 6, 1844.
2 Indiana Journal, June 8, 1844.
3 Indiana Journal, Nov. 23, 1839.
4 Laws of Indiana, 1843, ch. VII. The militia law of 1831. This latter was printed separately and is very rare.
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theless, remained on the statute books.5 The militia offi- cers had become purely nominal, without duties. Neither did the State have any arsenal nor munitions of war of any kind. At the beginning of the year 1846 the State had a few hundred old muskets, yagers, pistols, carbines, and per- haps 500 Hall's Rifles. Even these were scattered over the State, stored away in barns and other similar places. The State also possessed one six-pound cannon. The law per- mitted organized companies to draw these old arms and use them for training purposes. Many of them were very properly thrown away by the militiamen as soon as they were received.6 An adjutant-general was still among the State officers and drew a salary of $100 per year.
David Reynolds, who held the position of adjutant-gen- eral when the Mexican War began, was a man of energy and judgment, though entirely ignorant of all military af- fairs. His tireless activity made up in a large measure for this deficiency of military knowledge and the lack of prep- aration by the State. The General Assembly of 1847 re- warded his efforts by raising his salary to $250.
The last report of the State militia to the ordnance of- fice of the United States had been made in 1832. There were in 1846 a few companies of organized militia, but the State had no record of them. There were, it seems, two colonels, but not a general of either brigade or division, the only officers whose duty it was to report to the State Adju- tant-General.7
Since 1836 there had been a constantly growing inter- est among Indianians for Texas affairs. It was heightened by the Texas Declaration of Independence, the recognition
5 They were called the "Cornstalk" militia because they frequently used cornstalks instead of guns on training day and because the only distinctive part of their uniforms were the corntassels in their caps.
6 Report of the Quartermaster, Samuel Beck, Nov. 30, 1845. Docu- mentary Journal, 1845-6, pt. II, 45.
7 The adjutant general reported that while it was true the system had undergone a general paralysis the martial spirit of the people was not extinguished. A number of energetic independent companies and a few regiments of district militia had survived the general disorganization. Report of Adjutant General Reynolds, Nov. 29, 1845. Documentary Journal, 1845-46, pt. II, 37.
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by President Jackson, March 3, 1837,8 by the various pro- posals for annexation, by the annexation itself in 1845, and by the dispatch of General Zachary Taylor with an army of occupation to the disputed country.9 As he crept slowly toward the Rio Grande with his army the conviction deep- ened that war would result. Finally, May 13, 1846, came the declaration of war,10 the news reaching Indianapolis May 21, in time for the papers of May 23.11
§ 86 ORGANIZING THE INDIANA BRIGADE
MAY 16, three days after the declaration, the United States secretary of war, by letter, required of the governor of Indiana three regiments of Volunteers. The governor received the requisition during the evening of May 21 and issued his proclamation the next day.12 Along with the proclamation was sent a memorandum of the directions of Congress, enacted May 13, for arming and equipping the militia.
Each regiment was to consist of a colonel, lieutenant- colonel, a major, and an adjutant who was also a lieutenant of one of the companies. These were called the field offi- cers. There were, besides, a sergeant-major, quartermas- ter-sergeant, and two musicians. Each regiment was com- posed of ten companies, each containing one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, two musicians, and eighty privates. A full regi- ment thus consisted of 937 men, or a total of 2,811 men to be raised in the State.
The governor designated Camp Clark, just east of New Albany, as the meeting place or rendezvous of the little
8 Messages and Papers of the President, III, 281.
9 Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 102 seq. "I wanted the war, thinking of little else, and I went about hunting news and debating the probabilities. I haunted the Journal office. My pockets were full of newspapers, especially those of New Orleans and New York."
10 Laws of United States, 1846, ch. XVI.
11 Indiana Democrat, May 23, 1846. See also Governor's Proclama- tion, May 22, 1846.
12 Documentary Journal, 1846, pt. II, 8.
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army. The proclamation gave any citizen of the State the privilege of organizing a company.
A wave of military enthusiasm passed over the State with the news of war. Mass meetings were held in the larger towns, where popular speakers inflamed the younger men with stories of the heroism of war. The declaration of war was read and approved almost everywhere. At Indianapolis it was solemnly resolved, on motion of the cir- cuit judge, "that the war ought to be carried into the enemy's country and the Star Spangled Banner planted in the city of Mexico on the halls of the Montezumas."13
Lew Wallace, then a young man of nineteen years, opened a recruiting office at Indianapolis, enrolled a com- pany, and had it organized in three days. The nearest rail- road, in fact, the only railroad in the State, ran from Edinburg to Madison. Patriotic farmers hauled the volun- teers in their wagons to Edinburg, whence they proceeded by rail, or, more properly, by tramway, to Madison and thence down to Camp Clark by boat.14
The response was similar from all parts of the State. Captains William Ford and Thomas L. Sullivan had two companies ready in a short time at Madison. Capt. William Walker of Evansville at once tendered the services of the "Indiana Riflemen," a volunteer company of which he was captain. Two companies came from Fort Wayne by way of the Ohio canals and the Ohio river. Capt. Spier S. Tip- ton's company from Logansport passed Indianapolis June 12; Capt. H. S. Lane's company from Crawfordsville reached Indianapolis June 13, on its way to New Albany. By June 10, the State requisition was filled and the thirty companies accepted; by June 20, all had arrived at New Albany and were ready to embark for New Orleans.
At Camp Clark the volunteers began to experience some of the realities of war. The weather was hot and the camp equipment poor. There was a great deal of politics and consequently a great deal of dissatisfaction in the election of officers. The governor and lieutenant governor were on
13 Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 115.
14 Madison Banner, May 27, 30, 1846.
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the grounds, and the Whigs charged that they were there to see that their political favorites were properly cared for.15
The State treasury had been empty for eight years pre- vious to the outbreak of the war. At no time in its history have the State's finances been in a worse condition than in 1846. The governor at once appealed to the branches of the State bank. Most of the branches responded at once. Madison, Indianapolis, Lawrenceburg, New Albany, Evans- ville, Fort Wayne and Lafayette placed from $5,000 to $10,000 each at the governor's disposal. The South Bend, Michigan City, Vincennes and Terre Haute branches were either unable or unwilling to aid.
With the assistance of these loans the State was able to place its quota in the field in nineteen days. Besides the thirty companies received, twenty others had applied to the governor for service before June 17.16
The volunteers spent about two weeks at Camp Clark.17 They were mustered into the United States service June 19.18 General John E. Wool, Governor Whitcomb and Lieu- tenant Governor Paris Dunning reviewed the troops on the 20th. Tents were drawn, one for each six men, rations distributed, and the Indiana Brigade went into regular camp. At first there was some objection to drinking the warm river water, but no serious sickness resulted.
On July 3, Col. James P. Drake announced that the First Regiment would embark on the 5th. After firing a few rounds with cannon, the soldiers settled down to hard work on the Fourth of July and by sunrise of the 5th they
15 Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 116. It was also charged that the president handed out commissions in the army in return for votes against the Wilmot Proviso. Indiana Journal, April 2, 1847. The In- diana Journal, June 7, 1847, said the election of Colonel William A. Bowles for the responsible position of colonel was directly due to the intrigues of Governor Whitcomb. The Wabash Express referred to Dunning as the "big dog" around the encampment. State Journal, July 15. For a commentary on the miserable, petty, politics employed in organizing the troops, see Dunning's letter in his own defense, Jour- nal, Nov. 20, 1846. See also Thomas O'Neal's letter in the Journal, Dec. 15, 1846.
16 Indiana Sentinel, June 17, 1846.
17 This was frequently called Camp Whitcomb.
18 Indiana Sentinel, June 27, 1846.
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were marching aboard the steamboats "Grace Darling" and "Cincinnati."
The First Regiment reached New Orleans July 11. The six days' journey down the river had given the troops an impression that war was about the most pleasant occupa- tion possible. They received their first shock, however, when they went into camp in the thin mud on the river bank below New Orleans. Their visions of glory began to fade. Several men had died on the trip down. A consid- erable number were sick. There was no dry ground on which to stretch their tents. Having no straw nor brush, they spread their new blankets on the wet ground. Soon the muddy slime had worked its way through the thin blan- kets. The camp took on the appearance of a hog-wallow. The weather was hot, but the air was too moist to dry the muddy blankets.
Four days were spent by the Hoosier volunteers on the glorious slime-covered battlefield of New Orleans, before ships could be secured to carry them across the gulf. They then embarked on two small vessels.19 On the gulf other new experiences awaited the volunteers. They had cleaned up their blankets and new regimentals as soon as the gulf breeze had dried the mud into harmless sand. But seasick- ness struck them with worse damage to their new clothes than had been done by the New Orleans mud. A volunteer from Hendricks county died and was buried at sea. The melancholy sight made a deep impression on the men. One of the transport ships was out eleven days on the trip, hav- ing been driven out by a storm; others crossed in three days.20
19 The soldiers commented on the enormous size of these ships; one, the "Flavio," was of 640 tons burden, the other of 350 tons.
20 The following from a letter printed in the Brookville American, Aug. 21, 1846 :
"Imagine two hundred men stowed away in a small brig with a four and one-half foot hold. All of her crew with two hundred volunteers to sleep in that hold ; warm nights and sometimes a heavy sea ; the hatches all down, without a window or an air hole; to live on coffee, slop fed food, meat and dry crackers; half the men seasick and spewing all about you; sometimes you would find yourself eating and some one close by
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§ 87 CAMPAIGNING IN MEXICO
THE Indiana Brigade landed at Brazos, thirty miles from Matamoras. They were disappointed at finding noth- ing but a barren, sandy coast where they had ex- pected a large city. A hunter's hut was the only sign of human habitation. Two ships were wrecked on the sandy coast, but no lives were lost. Measles and dysentery, due to bad drinking water, broke out in the camp at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Colonel Drake reported that one hun- dred of his command were sick, August 5.21 Thirteen had died by September 1.
The First Regiment was left indefinitely to guard imag- inary supplies at this camp at the mouth of the Rio Grande. The other two regiments camped sixteen miles farther up the river.
Colonel Drake visited General Taylor and asked permis- sion to remove the First Regiment from the unhealthful camp, but the request was refused. Here, then, they re- mained until December 10, when all three Indiana regi- ments started up the river to join the main army. After a short march the First Regiment, to its great disgust, was again ordered back to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The Second and Third Regiments continued their march, reach- ing Monterey shortly after Christmas, and Saltillo January 1, 1847.
General Taylor had gradually crowded the Mexicans south past Monterey to Saltillo. The Mexicans under Santa Anna gathered head again at San Luis Potosi, 200 miles to the south. At this time General Scott took active com- mand of the troops of the United States, and ordered Tay- lor to send him most of his seasoned soldiers to aid in a march on Mexico from Vera Cruz.
The departure of the regular troops compelled Taylor to gather his little remaining army closer together. The Indiana regiments were ordered up to join the other troops
would let slip right on your dinner and your clothes; and then you will imagine how pleasant our trip was from New Orleans to this place."
21 Indiana Democrat, Aug. 11, 1846.
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at the front at Saltillo. A scouting party of eighty Ken- tucky cavalry was surrounded and, on the night of January 21, captured at El Salado, ninety miles south of Saltillo.22 A captain escaped and returned with the news that Santa Anna with an overwhelming army was rapidly advancing on Saltillo. Taylor at once decided to take a position in a mountain pass five miles south of Buena Vista, through which the road to San Luis Potosi passed.
Here on the afternoon of February 22, the little Ameri- can army of 5,000 men was confronted by Santa Anna with an army of 20,000 men. General Wool arranged the line of battle. The seasoned troops were stationed in the pass, expecting a direct frontal attack, while the Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky volunteers were stationed far out on the left flank to prevent the Mexicans coming around that wing, the Second Indiana occupying the extreme left.
The Americans took up their position about the middle of the afternoon of February 22, 1847. A short time be- fore this, clouds of dust had been seen rising in the south. An hour later the advance guard of the Mexican army ap- peared before the fortifications on the main road and de- manded that the Americans surrender. After a show of fight there, a brigade of Mexican light troops marched up the ravine and attacked the Indiana and Illinois volunteers. The fighting continued till dark at that point without ad- vantage.
The tired troops slept, or tried to sleep, where they had fought. Some of them have related how they sat up and watched the fitful flashes of the senti- nels' guns as they kept up a spattering fire through the night. One of them was reminded of the fireflies hovering over the meadows at home on a summer night.23 At daybreak the soldiers were ordered into line just as a Mexican band began to play their national air. A battery of five eight-pounders had taken position on the left of the Indianians, and, as they were moving forward to support this, two Mexican divisions, 7,000 strong,
22 Indiana Sentinel, March 17, 1847.
23 James A. Cravens, Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 169.
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marched out to the ravine in their front and formed in battle line 100 yards away. The Indiana regiment, only 360 strong, was under the immediate command of its old colonel, Gen. Joseph Lane. As the Mexicans defiled from the ravine the Indianians dropped to their knees and the strange battle began, the Indianians outnumbered eighteen to one. A battery of five guns supported the Hoosiers. While the battle was going on, General Lane sought to make the American fire more effective by moving his men up closer. Just at this time a second column of Mexicans appeared on the left. Seeing these, or thinking the battle lost, and that it was best to save what men he could, Colonel Bowles, who was at the opposite end of the line from Gen- eral Lane, gave the order to retreat. Thus, while the left of the line started forward in obedience to General Lane's order, the right started to face back at the command of its colonel.
The retreat soon became a run. Twenty of the men never stopped till they reached the buildings of the ranch at Buena Vista. General Lane, Lieutenant Colonel W. R. Haddon, and Colonel Bowles succeeded in reforming 190 of them, who, along with the Third Indiana and a Mississippi regiment under Col. Jefferson Davis, returned to the field in time to join in the final attack on the charging Mexi- cans. Under their own officer, Lieutenant Colonel Haddon, and formed on their own colors, they helped as bravely as any other troops to restore the lost battle.
These details have been given in order to show exactly what part the Second Indiana took in this battle. General Taylor, in his official report, said: "The Second Indiana, which had fallen back, could not be rallied and took no fur- ther part in the action, except a handful of men, who, under its gallant Colonel Bowles, joined the Mississippi regiment and did good service." In another place General Taylor in his report said: "Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas, and some Indiana men had fought hard all this dreadful day." As evidence of this latter his own official report shows that the Second Regiment lost 107 of its 360
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men; 90 of these fell in the morning, while opposing more than 7,000 Mexicans on the open field. The time during which they stood under fire is shown by the fact that they fired twenty rounds each. Santa Anna in his official re- port said his men were on the point of retreating when the American line broke. Had not the stupid blunder been made by the officers of the Second Regiment, the Mexicans might have been routed and the glory of the battle instead of its disgrace would have belonged to the Indianians.
The fault lies deeper. The officers of the volunteers were all petty politicians. Indiana had competent men, trained for war, but through political juggling not one of them was called into service. Of the three colonels and one brigadier general, not one could have led a company through the manual of arms. Two of them later learned the manual at least, but Colonel Bowles, of the unfortunate Second, did not. His election to the colonelcy was very questionable, and he had never pretended to drill his regi- ment. Gen. Joseph Lane and Col. James H. Lane quar- reled incessantly, and a duel between them was pending at the time of the Battle of Buena Vista. The First Regiment was left at the mouth of the Rio Grande and forbidden even to move its camp out of the swamp. Seventy of its mem- bers were buried there, where the wind and tide soon re- moved the shallow covering of sand and left their bodies to the birds and wild animals. From this same Camp Belknap 259 men were sent home sick. Many of them died on the way. All three of the regiments felt, with what seems at this date and distance good reason, that they had been intentionally neglected by the commander-in- chief. As an explanation, it may be that General Taylor did not care to risk his fortunes in the hands of officers selected as he and General Wool knew the Indiana officers had been. At any rate, the regiments that went away to war carrying flags made and presented by patriotic women, feasted and toasted at every opportunity, hauled in wagons by admiring farmers and finally praised by every expectant politician, returned a sickly, sorry, quarrelsome wreck with
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doubtful reputation for soldierly discipline and bravery. The fault, however, was not with the men.24
The war was not over. April 24 Governor Whitcomb received a requisition for a fourth regiment. This was or- ganized at Camp Clark June 16, under Col. Willis A. Gor- man, and dispatched from New Albany June 27. They were ordered to Brazos to join General Taylor. September 3 they were at the mouth of the Rio Grande on their way to Vera Cruz; September 16 they arrived at Vera Cruz.
August 31 a requisition for a fifth regiment was re- ceived. This was organized at Madison and mustered into service October 22, under James H. Lane, formerly colonel of the Third. It embarked for Vera Cruz October 31.25 It reached that place November 24, after experiencing a se- vere squall on the gulf. By the last of July, 1848, these troops had all returned, having acquitted themselves nobly in the march on Mexico. Gen. Joseph Lane won especial honors in this campaign. A season of barbecues followed, the battle flags were presented to the State amid solemn ceremonials, and the chapter was closed. The State had furnished promptly a small army of five thousand men, who had marched and fought creditably.
24 For the facts in this tangled chapter of our history, see Lew Wal- lace, An Autobiography, I, 163, 193. The New Albany Democrat, Aug. 24, 1848; this latter paper contains the correspondence between General Taylor and John Defrees and George G. Dunn; Indiana in the Mexican War, passim; Official reports are to be found in the Documents of the Mexican War; Documentary Journal of Indiana, reports of the Adjutant General ; manuscript correspondence of George G. Dunn contains many letters bearing on this question. A detailed report by Lieutenant Col- onel W. R. Haddon is in the Western Sun, Aug., 1848. As soon as Tay- lor was nominated for the Presidency Indiana politicians began to criticise him for his report on the Second regiment. A court martial exonerated the soldiers from cowardice and shifted the blame to Bowles and Lane, but the quarrel continued. The net result of this and the Dunning affair was to leave a cloud on the reputation of the State and its soldiers. The fault was in the petty politics that put Bowles and Lane in such responsible positions and in 1848 used the record for par- tisan purposes.
25 Documentary Journal, 1847-8, 290-91.
CHAPTER XX
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1850
§ 88 EARLY AGITATION FOR REVISION
BY the terms of the Constitution of 1816 it was pro- vided that every twelve years a referendum vote should be taken on the advisability or necessity of calling a constitu- tional convention. It was the generally accepted theory then, as laid down in the writings of Jefferson, that one generation had no moral or legal right to bind by constitu- tional limitation a succeeding generation. It is hardly prob- able that the framers of the constitution intended by this provision to prevent the citizens of Indiana from calling a constitutional convention at any time they chose. It is more probable that it was intended by this referendum to insure each generation two chances of holding a conven- tion in spite of an opposing General Assembly. It must be kept in mind that the immediate followers of Jefferson looked with favor upon the constitutional convention as one of the most effective institutions of popular democracy.1
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