USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 2 > Part 22
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Miller, J. C.
Mead, W. S.
Shepard, C.
Eaton, J. R.
Hickey, E.
McFann, A.
Smith, Eugene.
Futter, J. F.
Hauck, J. F.
McReynolds, H
Sharples, Joe
Fraziar, I. A
Hertzell, Elijah
Ott, John
Stephens, Thos.
Foster, A. J.
Isnogle, Elias
Ordway, J. S.
Steel, O. H.
Flucard, J. F.
Johnson, Charles
Ogden, H. N.
Smith, Jacob
Fassett, Herbert
Jones, Edward
Oberly, Peter
Sheerer, Henry
Finch, N.
Jacob, Francis
Pratt, Charles
Shull, John
Fish, John
Johnson, Jacob
Putnam, A. B.
Tutt, J. F.
Friend, W. G.
Jacobus, C. N.
Peterman, G. W
Tarbell, W.
Freyar
Jones, Frank B.
Pomeroy, H. O.
Taylor, Albert
Fest, W. B.
Klingerman, H. F
Parker, J. Q.
Tutt, Joseph D
Giles, Jerome
Kendall, Howard
Penrod, John
Taylor, E. C ..
Green, W. C.
Kollar, J. D.
Platz, Charles
A.
Van Eps, J. S ...
Garrison, M. J.
Kelley, John
Pegg, W. A.
Van Loon, S. M.
Grove, B. C.
Kelley, G. M.
Plumley, G.
Werd, B. F. ..
Hickman, L.
Leusck, Henry
Payne, Henry
Whitten, W. D.
Hall, J. F.
Leibig, G. B. .
Powers, F. G.
Worley, Oscar
Hay, John
Lamadee, August
Pool, Malachi.
Wyman, W.
Hain, Ed. H.
Lamerand, A.
Pool, A. G ..
William, O. W.
Henry, Orrin C.
Lysinyer, J. H.
Pinkerton, A.
Worle, Otto.
Hagerty, Ira
Lamb, J. A.
Piper, A. J ..
Wilson, J. H.
Helm, William
Lichtenberger, J. H.
Roseberry, W. H.
Weatherwax, J. M.
Henrick, M.
Lydick, Irvin
Reed, E. W.
Wallace, J. M.
Housekeeper
Lynch, J. H.
Robinson, Alonzo
Wilcoxen, G.
Hodge, Riley
McMichael, James F.
Randall, Stephen
Haselton, John
Miller, Daniel
Reed, Peter R.
History of Auten Post No. 8, G. A. R
The history of Auten post is coeval with that of the Grand Army of the Republic it- self; for both were instituted in the same year, 1866, and Auten Post has maintained its integrity uninterrupted through all the years since that date It is the only post within the Department of Indiana that did not go down when the department, as originally consti- tuted, went out of existence. With each re- curring year this post elected officers, and on the reorganization, in 1879, our quartermas- ter had a handsome balance in the treasury ready to start over again. Memorial Day, or Decoration Day, as it used to be called, never ceased to be observed by the post; and on each recurring 30th of May the comrades paid their loving tribute of flowers and eulogies to those who had gone before.
The first post of the G. A. R. was instituted
by Major Benjamin F. Stephenson at De- catur, Ill., April 6, 1866. But the first organized department was that of Indiana. From a report made to the twenty-second an- nual encampment of the Department of In- diana, held at Logansport, May 15 and 16, 1901, which report was approved by the en- campment and ordered printed in the Journal, it appears that this department was organ- ized in July and August, 1866. The first or- der ever issued from any department head- quarters was that issued August 20, 1866. by Robert S. Foster, provisional department. commander, Oliver M. Wilson, assistant ad- jutant general. While Major Stephenson, of Illinois, the author of the constitution and ritual of the order, was recognized as pro- visional commander-in-chief, yet there was no national organization perfected until at the
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Spickler, H.
Evans, Elijah
Holmes, G. W.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
first national encampment held at Indianapo- lis, November 22, 1866. At this encampment Stephen A. Hurlburt, of Illinois, was elected commander-in-chief; John B. Mckeon, of New York, senior vice commander-in-chief; Robert S. Foster, of Indiana, junior vice commander-in-chief, and B. F. Stephenson, of Illinois, adjutant general. The delegates from Indiana to this encampment numbered 210. and from all the other states 78. It ap- pears, therefore, that while Major Stephenson was the originator the comrades of Indiana were the organizers of the Grand Army of the Republic.
The Union soldiers of St. Joseph county were early to the front in the formation of the patriotic order. On August 22, 1866, two days after the issue of the first order issued by the provisional department commander, and just three months before the holding of the first national encampment, the earliest steps were taken; and on August 31st Auten Post was duly organized. For the first two years the department was organized by dis- tricts, and this post was at first called Post No. 1, District of St. Joseph, Department of Indiana, G. A. R. The post was named Auten Post from John Auten, a soldier of Company I, Ninth regiment Indiana volun- teer infantry, three months' service, who was killed in action near Laurel Hill, West Vir- ginia. July 10, 1861, at the age of twenty-one years, four months and twelve days. This was the first soldier from this part of Indiana killed in action. He was born on Sumption Prairie, St. Joseph county, and lived the life of a farmer's boy until his enlistment. His body was brought home by his comrades and his funeral was held in the old court house, August 2, 1861. It was the first soldier's funeral in this part of Indiana, if not in the whole state.
In 1868 the district system of organization was abandoned, and this became Auten Post, No. 17, Department of Indiana, G. A. R. The old organization of the Grand Army of the Republic continued only until about
1871. At this time Louis Humphreys, a past post commander of Auten Post, was depart- ment commander. No department officers were elected after this, nor was any depart- ment encampment held until after the reor- ganization. Auten Post, however, continued its organization, and on August 19, 1879, there being no Indiana department, the post, at the suggestion and request of the officers of the Department of Illinois, was duly mus- tered as Post No. 64 of that department.
In the early part of 1879 a movement was made for the reorganization of the Depart- ment of Indiana; but it was not until Octo- ber 3, 1879, that a charter was issued for this purpose from national headquarters. The reorganized department consisted of twelve posts, of which Auten Post was made No. 8, although it would seem that the post might well have been called number one, inasmuch as it was the only post in Indiana that re- mained intact during the whole time when the department itself had ceased to exist. The first meeting of the new organization was held at Terre Haute, October 31. 1879, when the Department of Indiana was formally mustered into the Grand Army of the Re- public, with provisional officers, and on Jan- uary 29, 1880, the first annual encampment was held at Greencastle, at which permanent officers were elected and the reorganization completed. From that date on the Grand Army of the Republic has continued to flour- ish in this department, and Auten Post has pursued a career of almost uninterrupted prosperity.
In 1884, Auten Post, in the person of Ed- win Nicar, past post commander of the post, was, for the second time, honored by the election of one of our comrades as depart- ment commander.
The first serious disturbance in the history of the post occurred when the department commander, by an order issued January 20, 1888, saw fit to annul our charter. While the act caused great sorrow to the post, yet there was no hesitancy in obeying the orders of the
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department commander, and never did the comrades of Auten Post more nobly exem- plify in word and action, the cardinal prin- ciples of fraternity, charity and loyalty. Over two hundred comrades assembled in the post room January 27, 1888, and resolved that a committee be at once appointed to pre- pare an appeal to the Ninth Department En- campment. This appeal was prepared and adopted in due time, and a thousand copies ordered printed for presentation at the en- campment, which was held at Indianapolis, February 22 and 23, 1888. In this contro- versy Auten Post was involved through sym- pathy with Logansport Post, No. 114, of this department. The charter of that post was annulled at the same time. Our appeal was successful. On the explanations made and by reason of the representations of the repre- sentatives of both posts, and particularly through the good offices of Past Department Commander Nicar, the department com- mander, before the opening of the encamp- ment, revoked the order of annulment and the delegates from both posts took their seats in the encampment. It was a happy ending to an unhappy misunderstanding.
On May 13 and 14, 1896, the city of South Bend, and particularly Auten Post, were honored by the holding in the Oliver opera house of the seventeenth department encamp- ment. This encampment was one of the most successful in the history of the Department of Indiana. It was then that Auten Post was further honored by the election of Elmer Crockett, a past post commander of the post, as senior vice commander of the department.
.
One of the chief sources of the continued prosperity of Auten Post has been the sym- pathy of the good people of South Bend and St. Joseph county; but particularly the aid and kindly assistance given by Auten Relief Corps, No. 14, organized May 13, 1885, with Mrs. Mary H. Hill, who is now eighty years old, as the first president. These patriotie ladies have been an inspiration to their com- rades of Auten Post, and we would thus, in
the most public manner, give our testimony to their womanly zeal and continued sisterly kindness to our feeble and disabled comrades, and also to the ornamentation and neatness of our post room.
In 1901, chiefly through the labors of Past Post Commander Joel M. Partridge, the board of county commissioners set apart the court room and adjacent apartments of the old court house for the use of the Grand Army of the Republic; and Auten Post, after the expenditure of seven hundred dollars for repairs, moved into the finest post room in the department.
On June 25, 1903, the St. Joseph County Soldiers' Monument was dedicated under the auspices of the department officers. This monument, the gift of the good people of St. Joseph county, was built at a cost of twenty- five thousand dollars. Auten Post did her full share in securing the favorable action of the people in this patriotic work. The labors of Past Post Commander John Hughes were especially effective.
In the years 1903 and 1904 the work of preparing this roster was undertaken and finally carried to a successful conclusion. It was not an easy task to secure the names of all the officers and comrades of the post from 1866 to 1904; but the work was finally ac- complished, chiefly through the aid of our zealous quartermaster, John Kleindinst.
Other posts in this county, and in Elk- hart and Laporte counties, were organized through the encouragement and friendly offices of Auten Post; among them Elmer Post, 37, Elkhart; Hathaway Post, 110, Rolling Prairie; Patton Post, 147, La Porte; and Shiloh Field Post, 198, Elkhart. The other Grand Army posts in St. Joseph county, all mustered after the re-organiza- tion of the Department of Indiana, and chiefly through the aid, or out of the mem- bership, of Auten Post, are: Deacon Post, 115, New Carlisle; Houghton Post, 128, Mishawaka; Joseph Bowen Post, 197, North Liberty; Jesse Coppock Post, 378, Walker-
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ton; Notre Dame Post, 569, Notre Dame; and Norman Eddy Post, 579, South Bend. Notre Dame Post is noted as being the only post in the national organization which has been made up exclusively of chaplains and other comrades who are all members of a religious society. Norman Eddy Post, named after the heroic and beloved commander of the Forty-eighth Indiana infantry volun- teers, was organized April 27; 1897, by former members of Auten Post. The first officers were: Henry W. Perkins, Post Commander; Charles A. Pratt, Senior Vice Commander; A. P. Matthews, Junior Vice Commander; Wilbur E. Gorsuch, Quartermaster; W. G. Denman, Chaplain; and Milton Titus, Sur- geon. The subsequent post commanders have been : Charles A. Pratt, A. P. Matthews, Edward P. Stanfield, F. S. Carlton, George W. Loughman, Joseph N. Calvert and Wilbur E. Gorsuch. The post has had a successful and harmonious existence.
In all public affairs relating to the work of the Grand Army, Auten Post and Nor- man Eddy Post have worked together as com- rades, apportioning impartially to one an- other all the duties and honors of the several occasions. It is thus that the two posts come together as brothers on each Memorial Day, to pay their common tributes of respect to their comrades gone before. It was thus they united to secure the erection of the fine sol- diers' monument, of which mention will be made further on.
Each post is aided in its patriotic labors by an active Woman's Relief Corps, made up of the loyal ladies of the community. With- out their sisterly assistance the feeble veter- ans would often fail to receive that sympathy and active help so necessary as age comes on. The veterans gave their youth and strength to their country; and many of them have therefore not been able to keep up in the race of life with those who failed to go to the front and with those of the younger gen- erations. Every Grand Army man, every old soldier, is most grateful to the Woman's
Relief Corps, "Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic."
A camp of the Sons of Veterans is estab- lished in South Bend, who, like the Cin- cinnati of the Revolution, will carry on the patriotic work of the Grand Army, when the veterans themselves are no longer able to do it.
Reference is made in the preceding history of Auten Post to the appeal taken to the encampment of the Department of Indiana, in 1888. To cover and preserve the facts of that historical event, the appeal itself, as presented to the encampment, is here set out : Appeal of Auten Post, No. 8, Department of Indiana, Grand Army of the Republic, to the Ninth Annual Department Encamp- ment, to be held at Indianapolis, Indiana, February 22-23, 1888.
Headquarters Auten Post, No. 8, Department of Indiana, G. A. R.
South Bend, Indiana, February 3, 1888. Commander and Comrades of the Ninth An- nual Department Encampment:
At a regular meeting of Auten Post, held at these headquarters on Friday evening, January 27, 1888, the following general or- der from department headquarters was read : HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT INDIANA, GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, INDIANAPOLIS, IND., Jan. 20, 1888. GENERAL ORDERS No. 11.
At a meeting of the Council of Administration of this Department, regularly called and held at these Headquarters on the 27th ult., a printed cir- cular letter, purporting to have been issued by cer- tain comrades as a committee of Logansport Post, No. 114, of this Department, bearing date of the 13th ult .; and reported to have been circulated among the Posts of this Department without authority therefor first sought or obtained from these Headquarters, which circular contains derog- atory and untrue statements concerning the De- partment Commander and other members of the Department Encampment, was presented and read to said Council; therefore said Council appointed a committee of its members to visit said Logans- port Post, No. 14, and to investigate the circum- stances of the issuance of said circular.
Afterward, at a meeting of said Council of Ad- ministration, regularly called and held on the 13th inst., at the same place, said committee of the Council reported that, in pursuance of the pur- pose of its appointment, it had visited said Post No. 14, at a regular meeting thereof held on the 10th inst., and as part of its report said commit- tee submitted to the Council a copy of said circular and certain duly authenticated extracts from the
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minutes of regular meetings of said Post No. 14, held October 11th and 25th, and November 8th, 1887, authorizing the issuing of said circular. And, as a result of its investigation, said com- mittee reported to the Council that said Post should be held responsible for the acts of its said committee in the publication of said circular and the distribution thereof to the Posts of this De- partment.
The Council of Administration, having consid- ered the report, with its said exhibits, thereupon by unanimous vote, ordered: "That the Depart- ment Commander be requested and directed to annul the charter of Logansport Post, No. 14, De- partment of Indiana, G. A. R., for insubordination and violation of the rules and regulations of the G. A. R."
And thereafter, at the same meeting of said Council, official evidence was introduced before it concerning certain reported action of Auten Post, No. 8, of this Department, in relation to said cir- cular letter, which evidence from the Commander of said Post No. 8 was to the effect that said circu- lar so issued by said committee of Logansport Post, No. 14, was presented at a regular meeting of said Auten Post, No. 8, held on the 23d ult .; that action thereon was then postponed; but that at a regular meeting of said Auten Post, No. 8, held on the 30th ult., with a very full attendance, said circular, after being amended, as to the portion thereof in relation to the mode of deciding upon the place of holding Department Encampments, was endorsed by a unanimous vote.
Said Council, having duly considered said evi- dence in relation to said Auten Post, No. 8, re- solved, by unanimous vote, "That the Department Commander be instructed and directed to annul the charter of Auten Post, No. 8, Department of Indiana, 'G. A. R."
Now, therefore, in accordance with the findings, determinations and advice of the Department Council of Administration, above set forth, im- pelled by imperative official duty and the hard necessity of thus preserving and enforcing proper discipline and subordination, the Department Com- mander, by virtue of the authority vested in him by section 4, article I., chapter V., of the Rules and Regulations of the Grand Army of the Republic, does hereby order:
I. That the charter of Logansport Post, No. 14, Department of Indiana, Grand Army of the Re- public, situated at Logansport, Indiana, be and the same is hereby forfeited and annulled; and that the Commander of said Post turn over and trans- mit forthwith to the Assistant Quartermaster- General of this Department all the property of this Department in possession of said Post, including books of record and Post papers, as provided by article 3, section I., chapter V., of said rules and regulations.
II. That the charter of Auten Post, No. 8, De- partment of Indiana, Grand Army of the Republic, situated at South Bend, Indiana, be and the same is hereby forfeited and annulled; and that the Commander of said Post turn over and transmit forthwith to the Assistant Quartermaster-General of this Department all the property of this De- partment in possession of said Post, including books of record and Post papers, as provided by
section 3, article I., chapter V., of said rules and regulations.
III. All Posts and officers of this Department will take notice of the above and foregoing action and decision, and will govern themselves accord- ingly. It is earnestly hoped that sincere devotion to the great principles of the Grand Army of the Republic and a common interest in the welfare and reputation of our Department will induce the Posts and the comrades of the Department to heartily co-operate in the attainment of the only purpose of this order-the preservation of disci- pline and fraternity.
By command of
IRA J. CHASE,
I. N. WALKER, Department Commander. Assistant Adjutant-General.
The reading of this order was the first official information that any unfriendly ac- tion against the post was contemplated, still less that its ancient charter had been ac- tually annulled by the order of the depart- ment commander. The attendance at this meeting of the post was the fullest in its history, over two hundred of its two hundred and seventy-eight members in good standing being present, being drawn out by the in- formation given in the public press that old Auten Post had been stricken from the rolls of the Department of Indiana, and her com- rades banished from their fraternal associa- tions in the Grand Army of the Republic.
Nevertheless, these old soldiers, their hearts swelling with suppressed feeling, did not for- get their duty in the hour of trouble. Their post commander, Cyrus C. Trump, arose in his place and announced that he had received the order the day before, and that, although he felt that the order was a harsh one and its severity utterly uncalled for, and that it was hard to be thus stricken down without a hearing, without even notice, this too by our own comrades placed over us by the suffrages of the Grand Army of the Re- public, yet that a soldier's first duty is to obey orders and submit to lawful authority. even to the death. That he had therefore at once determined to obey the order and sur- render the charter; and he asked for the approval of his comrades of the post upon his action. This approval was given by the practically unanimous adoption of the fol- lowing resolution, offered by Comrade Jona- than P. Creed, there being but three dissent- ing votes, and the comrades rising to their feet in favor of the resolution :
"Resolved, That this post approve of the declared intention of Commander Trump to
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return to department headquarters all prop- erty in the possession of the post belonging to the department, in obedience to General Orders No. 11."
Not only was the action of the post com- mander and the comrades thus emphatic in compliance with the letter and spirit of the order of the department commander and the council of administration, but every word ut- tered in the numerous speeches of the com- rades expressed the same generous spirit. Never, in any post or encampment, was there a nobler exemplification of fraternity, char- ity and loyalty. While the veterans could not repress their emotion in contemplating the wrong they believed done them in their own household, yet they would speak only with respect of the hand that smote them; and even if they should be cut off forever, would still be loyal to the constituted authority of the Grand Army of the Republic.
The undersigned committee were thereupon detailed to prepare this appeal from the order of the department commander to the depart- ment encampment, and ask that our charter be returned and that Auten Post be re-in- stated in full comradeship in the Department of Indiana, G. A. R.
The post, through its committee, specifies the following errors for which General Or- der No. 11 should be revoked :
1 .- The meeting of the Council of Admin- istration, at which it was advised and deter- mined that such order issue was irregular and illegal in this:
a. The members of the council were not all present, nor were all notified to be present. b. The council was not presided over by the department commander, nor by the senior nor junior vice commander, nor did the coun- cil select one of its members as chairman.
2 .- No charges or specifications were pre- sented against the post, nor against any of its officers or members; nor was notice given of any contemplated action against them or any of them.
3 .- The punishment inflicted by the order is excessive, and out of all due proportion to the alleged offense, and is without prece- dent in the history of the Grand Army.
4 .- The order violates the spirit and prin- ciples of the Grand Army of the Republic in this :
a. It is unfraternal in cutting off, without notice, from comradeship and fraternal rela- Vol. II-10.
tions, a faithful post and its veteran com- rades.
b. It is uncharitable, by inflicting the se- verest penalty known to our discipline for a trifling offense unintentionally arising from a free and open criticism of the comrades issuing the order.
c. It is disloyal, by needlessly destroying the post, disrupting the department, and thus striking at the life of the Grand Army of the Republic itself.
We do therefore, comrades of the ninth annual encampment of the Department of In- diana, most earnestly appeal to you, in the name of our common fraternity, charity and loyalty, and in the name and memory of our comradeship in arms, our suffering and tri- umph together in the defense of our beloved country, to revoke this harsh order and re- store us to the household of our brethren and to our rightful inheritance, from which we have been, without a hearing, without even a word of warning, so cruelly thrust out.
That nothing may be concealed from our comrades, we give the offending circular, as follows, in full :
CIRCULAR. LOGANSPORT, IND., December 13, 1887. DEAR SISTER AND COMBADE :-
No reform is brought about without agitation and discussion. So much dissatisfaction exists in the G. A. R. and W. R. C., because of the illegal and unwarranted conduct of some of the comrades, and their advising and counseling of the illegal acts of those ladies composing the Indianapolis faction of the Woman's Relief Corps, that the comrades outside of that faction view with alarm the tendencies of those comrades to either control the two organizations in this State or break them up into factions. We have too much regard for our noble organization to quietly sit by and see these things accomplished. Hence we issue this circular letter to the comrades of the Department of Indiana, and hope that they will carefully ex- amine into the matter, and dispassionately and in a true spirit of charity decide what is the best course to pursue to lift the G. A. R. and W. R. C. out from under the baneful influences of the few who assume that they are the G. A. R.
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