USA > Indiana > Sullivan County > A history of Sullivan County, Indiana, closing of the first century's history of the county, and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth, Volume I > Part 9
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Mention has been made of the formation of companies of home guards in different parts of the state, many of which were secretly
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formed to offset the secret organizations of the Sons of Liberty. Little can be said of the home guards beyond the fact of their existence and their formation during the summer of 1863. The Graysville Guards was the first, the officers of which were R. H. Crowder, captain ; Addison McKee, Ist lieutenant ; Sherrod Burton, 2d lieutenant. This company was mustered in as part of the Indiana Legion, and was supplied with arms by the state. In September the Graysville company had the mis- fortune to lose several muskets, stolen, perhaps, by their enemies. In endeavoring to arrest the guilty parties an encounter followed in which some shots were exchanged, but no one was injured, nor were the guns recovered.
In the issue of August 31, 1863, the Democrat says: "We have heard for several months that an organization of Loyal Leaguers was formed in Sullivan. Such has been kept very secret. General Wilcox having issued an order against such societies, it was changed to 'Union Riflemen,' a company of the Legion. The success of the Graysville company in securing arms last week raised the spirits of the men, and they met at the court house to elect officers. Jesse Burton of Graysville presided. Sewell Coulson explained the purpose of the meeting and the necessity of militia. Indiana had allowed the militia system to fall into disuse ; he dwelt at length on the fact that the Legion would not be required to leave the state." The officers of the Sullivan company were Captain Walls, Stewart Barnes, Ist lieutenant ; Rev. Taggart, 2d lieu- tenant. A little later a similar company was formed at Merom, under Captain B. F. Stover and another at Carlisle under Captain David Edmiston.
To supply comforts for the wounded soldiers in the hospitals of the south, and to aid the families of enlisted men who, while in the army, were unable to properly support those dependent upon them at
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home, a practical charity was necessary which, in thoroughness, has not been duplicated since the war. Organized charity, in the modern sense of the term, was unknown forty years ago, and in consequence the first efforts were largely individual donations and private relief. But as the war continued and the needs became more pressing, aid societies were formed, and the contributions were systematically directed to the points of greatest want. The Sanitary Commission was a national organization, with branches throughout the country, and the various local bodies, ladies' aid societies, etc., co-operated with this larger body.
The women, and citizens generally, of the county began this form of charity in the first year of the war. It became necessary to relieve distress during the first winter after the beginning. of the war. The first great battles of the war in which many of Sullivan county's soldiers took part were those of the western campaign including Corinth in the spring of 1862. By this time the sanguinary character of the war was realized, and in anticipation of the struggle at Corinth, in April, 1862, a meeting was held at Sullivan to collect materials for the relief of the soldiers. Rolls of bandages, lint, half-worn shirts, muslin and money for the purchase of same to the amount of 150 yards, were collected, and forwarded to the field of war.
Individual cases of want were relieved during the winter of 1862-63, but in the latter part of November, 1863, the first society was organized for this purpose. The organization took place in the court house, George Parks being made president and Daniel Langdon secretary. A com- mittee of twelve were appointed to canvass the town and vicinity, taking subscriptions, and ascertaining what families were in need and reporting to the committee of distribution. The members of the latter committee were Murray Briggs, George Parks and James W. Brodie. The can- vassing committee were Mrs. F. D. Neff, Mrs. Dr. Thompson, Mrs. M.
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Malott, Mrs. William Griffith, Miss Mattie Stark, Miss C. M. Reed, J. H. Weir, J. H. Wilson, Matthew McCammon, James W. Hinkle, W. G. Neff, William Griffith.
About the middle of December, 1863, the Democrat reports that the wood hauling demonstration was not a success owing to the rain and bad roads. However, enough was brought to relieve present necessities, and a liberal supply of beef, molasses, meal, apples, etc., was received.
One of the incidents of the rebellion which occurred in Sullivan county was the accidental death of Professor Miles J. Fletcher, state superintendent of education. Early in May, 1862, Governor Morton and a party of friends were on their way to visit the battlefield of Corinth in anticipation of the great battle. Just above the Sullivan station their train ran into a box-car standing on a switch. At the noise of the collision, Professor Fletcher put his head out of the window, and was struck by the edge of the car and the top of his head lifted off. The dead man was cared for at Sullivan, and the governor's party then pro- ceeded on another train. The state of feeling at the time is well illustrated in the charges that were freely made then and for a long time afterward, that the car had been placed on the track to wreck the governor's train. The testimony at the coroner's investigation proved that Milton Belser, a young soldier of the Thirty-first Regiment, re- turning with a friend from making an evening call, had loosed the brakes and started the car "to get a ride." The car ran off the switch and on to the main track, and was not discovered before the governor's . special came along. Belser was arrested near Evansville while on his way to the army, but the jury failed to find an indictment against him.
The following is a list of the battles and campaigns participated in by the various regiments containing, soldiers from Sullivan county. Some of the enlisted men from this county were scattered through other
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regiments, only a few in each, but those named here were the principal regiments containing enlisted soldiers from this county.
Seventeenth Regiment.
Belle Plain road, Georgia, June, 1864.
Chattahoochie River, Georgia, July 7, 1864. Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19-20, 1863. Coosaville, Georgia, October, 1863.
Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April II to May 30, 1862.
Ebenezer Church, Alabama, April 1, 1865.
Elkwater, Virginia, September 12-13, 1861. Farmington, Tennessee, October 7, 1863. Flat Rock, Georgia, October, 1862. Goshen, Georgia, October, 1864. Greenbrier, Virginia, October 3, 1861.
Hoover's Gap, Tennessee, June 23-30, 1863.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864. Leesburgh, Georgia, August, 1864. Macon, Georgia, April 20, 1865. Marietta, Georgia, July 3, 1864. McMinnville, Tennessee, October 4, 1863. Munfordsville, Kentucky, September 14-16, 1862. New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864. Pumpkin Vine Church, Virginia, June, 1864. Rome, Georgia, May 17, 1864. Selma, Alabama, April 2, 1865. Stone Mountain, Georgia, July, 1864. Thompson's Cove, Tennessee, October 3, 1863.
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Twenty-first Regiment.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, August 5, 1862.
Cornet Bridge, Louisiana, December, 1862. Des Allemands, Louisiana, September 8, 1862. Fort Gaines, Alabama, August 5-8, 1864.
Fort Morgan, Alabama, August 5-13, 1864. Lafourche Crossing, Louisiana, June 21, 1863.
Mobile, Alabama (siege), March 27 to April II, 1865. Port Hudson, Mississippi (siege), May 21 to July 8, 1863. Sabine Cross Roads, Louisiana, April 8, 1864.
Spanish Fort, Alabama (siege), March 27 to April 19, 1865.
Thirty-first Regiment.
Atlanta, Georgia (siege), July 21 to September 2, 1864. Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19-20, 1863. Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April II to May 30, 1862. Fort Donelson, Tennessee, February 13-16, 1862. Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864. Nashville, Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864. New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864. Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864. Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6-7, 1862. Stone River, Tennessee, December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863.
Forty-first Regiment of Cavalry.
Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April II to May 30, 1862. Fair Garden, Tennessee, February 19, 1865.
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Gallatin, Tennessee, August 21-27, 1862. McMinnville, Tennessee, August 9, 1862. Newman, Georgia, July 31, 1864.
Pea Ridge, Tennessee, April 15, 1862. Perryville (or Chaplin Hills), Kentucky, October 8, 1862. Scottsville, Alabama, April 2, 1865. Talbott's Station, Tennessee, December 29, 1863. Triune, Tennessee, June II, 1863.
Tuscumbia, Alabama, May 31, 1862. Varnell's Station, Georgia, May 9, 1864. Vinegar Hill, Kentucky, September 22, 1862. West Point, Georgia, April 16, 1865.
Forty-third Regiment.
Fort Pillow, Tennessee, June 5, 1862. Helena, Arkansas, July 4, 1863. Island No. 10, March 10 to April 7, 1862. Marks Mills, Arkansas, April 30, 1864.
New Madrid, Missouri (siege), March 3-14, 1862. Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864. Prairie Leon, Arkansas, April 10, 1864. Red Mound, Arkansas, April 17, 1864. Terre Noir, Arkansas, April 2, 1864.
Fifty-ninth Regiment.
Champion Hills, Mississippi, May 16, 1863. Corinth, Mississippi (siege), April II to May 30, 1862. Corinth, Mississippi, October 3-4, 1862. Island No. 10, March 10 to April 7, 1862. Vol. I-8
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Missionary Ridge, Georgia, November 25, 1863. New Madrid, Missouri (siege), March 3-14, 1862. Vicksburg, Mississippi (siege), May 18 to July 4, 1863.
Thirteenth Battery.
Hartwell, Tennessee, December 7, 1862.
Monterey, Kentucky, March, 1862. Munfordsville, Kentucky, September 14-16, 1862. Versailles, Kentucky, October 5, 1862.
Seventy-first Regiment of Cavalry.
Cassville, Georgia, May 19, 1864.
Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864.
Knoxville, Tennessee, November 17 to December 4, 1863. Lost Mountain, Georgia, June 17, 1864.
Muldraugh's Hill, Kentucky, August 28, 1862. Nashville, Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864. Pulaski, Tennessee, September 27, 1864.
Richmond, Kentucky, August 29-30, 1862. Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864.
Eighty-fifth Regiment.
Atlanta, Georgia (siege), July 21 to September 2, 1864. Averysboro, North Carolina, March 16, 1865. Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865. Cassville, Georgia, May 19, 1864. Culp's Farm, Georgia, June 22, 1864. Dallas, Georgia, May 27, 1864. Golgotha Church, Georgia, June 15, 1864.
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Kenesaw Mountain, June 27, 1864. Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864. Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864. Thompson's Station, Tennessee, March 5, 1863.
Ninety-seventh Regiment.
Atlanta, Georgia (siege), July 21 to September 2, 1864.
Bentonville, North Carolina, March 19, 1865. Big Shanty, Georgia, June 14, 1864. Dallas, Georgia, May 27, 1864. Graysville, Georgia, November 27, 1862.
Island No. 10, March 10 to April 7, 1862.
Jonesboro, September 1, 1864. New Hope Church, Georgia, May 25, 1864. Resaca, Georgia, May 15, 1864.
One Hundred and Fifteenth Regiment.
Blue Springs, Tennessee, October 10, 1863.
One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regiment of Cavalry.
Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864. Nashville, Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864. Pulaski, Tennessee, September 27, 1864.
Sullivan county furnished a large quota, in proportion to population, for service in the Philippines following the Spanish-American war. On the return of some of these soldiers in 1901 a home-coming celebration was made the feature of the Independence day of that year, and it was
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notable for the presence of a great crowd in Sullivan and for the many evidences of military patriotism. The veterans of three wars were pres- ent, there being three Sullivan county survivors of the Mexican war- Willis Benefield, Joe Ingle and John Stanley. A list of the soldiers from this county who had enlisted for service in the Philippines, as prepared by the committee on reception, contained the following names :
Andrews, Boyd, Carlisle. Austin, Alva E., Sullivan .
Barcus, George, Hymera. Bays, Harold C., Sullivan. Bose, Frank, Jackson Hill.
Boles, Benjamin, Sullivan. Buff, John, Merom.
Bunch, John, Sullivan.
Cook, Edward B., Hymera.
Coyner, Earl, Merom.
Cleveland, Herbert, Carlisle.
Crynes, John, Jackson Hill. Day, Homer, Sullivan.
Denny, Charles W., Sullivan. Dooley, Stephen J., Sullivan. Dorsey, Arthur, Sullivan.
Edmonson, Stephen, Jackson Hill. Everhart, William S., Jackson Hill. Foster, William E., Sullivan.
Freeman, Benjamin N., Sullivan.
Gardner, Fred, Sullivan. Groves, Charles, Merom.
Haddon, Jesse, Dugger. Hammack, John, Sullivan. Hammond, Elmer, Sullivan. Hawhee, James H., Carlisle.
Higbee, Ray, Sullivan. Johnson, Robert W., Sullivan.
Keene, Samuel, Hymera.
Kelly, Harry H., Sullivan.
King, James A., Merom.
Kircheval, William, Farmersburg.
Leach, Marshall, Sullivan. Lester, Arthur H., Merom. Lucas, Charles E., Sullivan. Luzader, Claude, Sullivan. McCammon, Herbert, Paxton. McCloud, Fred, Sullivan. McCloud, John, Sullivan. McClure, John, Sullivan.
McClure, Orlando, Sullivan.
Morris, Bert, Merom.
Neal, John J., Sullivan. Neal, Bert, Sullivan.
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Norton, Nelson, Sullivan. O'Haver, Arthur, Sullivan. Pinkston, Arthur, Merom. Purcell, John E., Paxton. Sanders, Earl, Hymera. Sankey, Jesse, Fairbanks. Shake, Norris, Carlisle.
South, Levi, Sullivan.
Spilkey, James F., Sullivan.
Terwilliger, Louis A., Sullivan.
Thompson, Frank H., Merom.
WVible, John W., Merom. Wilson, Perry, Jackson Hill. West, Thomas E., Sullivan. Yeager, James E., Graysville. Young, Walter, Sullivan. Daniels, Will, Merom.
Lee, George, Merom. Wilson, James, Carlisle.
Jenkins, Lee, Carlisle.
Rotramel, Charles, Carlisle. McGrew, Finley, Sullivan.
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CHAPTER VI.
SULLIVAN COUNTY EDUCATION.
The academies and select schools were the chief source of education for the children of this county until about forty years ago. The average public school was hardly worthy of the name, as compared with the modern system. There were no public funds available to support com- mon schools for more than a brief term, and the people learned only slowly to provide for schools by taxation.
The first- constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, provided for education. Yet in an early day the cause advanced slowly. There was no school law under the territorial government, nor any state law on common schools until 1824. Nearly all the schoolhouses built both before and for some time after that date were erected by voluntary efforts of neigh- borhoods ; and all schools were supported by agreements between teachers and patrons. The one definite provision for education made by the national government, in planning the disposition of the public domain, set aside section 16 in every congressional township for the maintenance of public schools. When Indiana became a state the care of these school sections was intrusted to the state government; so that, while the other sections of the township were entered at the government land office, this section 16 was disposed of by the state, and the proceeds turned
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over for the support of schools in that particular township. Hence was produced what is known as the congressional township school fund. There are fifteen townships and fractional townships in the area of Sullivan county, and the total amount realized from the sale of section 16 in each was over $17,000. The largest amount realized from any one section was $3,403.25, for the section in town 6 north, range 10 west, in the southwest corner of the county. Evidently many of the school sections proved of little value, while others sold for a high price, thus causing a wide divergence between the amounts derived from the various sections. In Indiana, since the proceeds of the school section were devoted to the benefit of the schools in the congressional township where the section was located, the inequity of the system proved one of the greatest weaknesses of the common school system during the first half of the century. One township would receive a disproportionately large income for the schools, while perhaps the one adjoining, because section 16 had sold for only a few dollars, had no income for the support of schools except the local tax.
In 1824 the general assembly passed an act to incorporate congres- sional townships and provide for public schools therein. The act pro- vided for the election in each township of three persons of the township to act as school trustees, to whom the control of the school lands and the schools generally was given; and for the building of schoolhouses. Every able-bodied person in each school district who was over twenty- one years of age must work one day in each week, or else pay thirty- seven and one-half cents in lieu of a day's work, until the schoolhouse was built. Almost every session of the legislature witnessed some addi- tion to or modification of the school law. Provision was made for the appointment of school examiners, but the examinations might be private, and the examiners were quite irresponsible. Under such circumstances
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HISTORY OF SULLIVAN COUNTY
it could not be expected that competent teachers be employed. Often the most trivial questions were asked a teacher, and this was called an examination. In many instances there was no examination at all-the teacher was simply engaged to teachı.
A free school system was not provided for until after 1850. Each district had complete jurisdiction over its school affairs, deciding every question concerning the building of a schoolhouse and the regulation of local school affairs. The taxes for building the schoolhouse and for the support of the teacher were assessed by the authority of the district, and the amount of tuition to be assessed against each child attending school was fixed by the local board. There was no considerable state school fund until after 1837, so that the annual distribution of school money by the state had little effect on the individual schools. With local taxation kept · down to the minimum amount by nearly all the counties, the school system of Indiana soon became a reproach to its free institutions. It
was during this depressing period of educational backwardness that the word "Hoosier" became a term of derision, denoting the uncouth and ignorant countryman that the inhabitant of Indiana was supposed by most easterners to be.
In 1840 one-seventh of the adult population of Indiana could not read nor write, and many of those who could were densely ignorant. While one out of seven was illiterate in Indiana, the proportion in Ohio was only one out of eighteen. Ohio raised $200,000 in 1845 for common schools, while Indiana had no means of raising such tax. In the matter of literacy, Indiana stood sixteenth among twenty-three states in 1840; in 1850 she was twenty-third among twenty-six states, "lower than all the slave states but three," as Caleb Mills expressed it.
With such alarming statistics before them, the people of Indiana were soon awakened to their educational necessities, and as a result
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of the agitation the question of free schools was presented to the voters in concrete form in the general election of 1848, when the vote was taken on whether a law should be enacted "for raising by taxation an amount which, added to the present school funds, should be sufficient to support free common schools in all the districts of the state not less than three nor more than six months each year." At the election 78,523 votes were cast in the affirmative ; 61,887 against it. But before the legislation which resulted from this election became effective a new constitution was adopted by the people, followed by the passage of the school law off June 14, 1852. This marked the passing of the district system of schools and the beginning of the era of actual free schools. It abolished the congressional township as limiting school organizations, and made the civil townships into school corporations. Cities and incorporated towns were made school corporations distinct from the townships in which located.
For many years there was a lack of uniformity among the various townships in school affairs, resulting from the absence of anything like a central county supervision. It was not until 1873 that an important step was taken toward unity in school management, by the creation in that year of the office of county superintendent, a county board of edu- cation and of township institutes.
Until 1837 the trustees of each congressional township had examined applicants for teaching positions. From 1837 to 1853 the circuit court appointed three persons as examiners ; this appointing power was trans- ferred to the county commissioners in 1853. In 1861 the number of examiners was reduced to one, with service term of three years. The first to hold the position after the law of 1861 was Murray Briggs, the editor of the Democrat, who held the office two terms, until 1867. He was succeeded by Charles R. Allen. In 1871 George W. Register became
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examiner, and after the law of 1873 continued in office as the first county superintendent. Any account of the schools of Sullivan county ought to make acknowledgment of the work of Mr. Register. His numerous reports in regard to the schools visited, the work in the county as a whole and of each township, his records of county and township examinations, well written and timely articles on school buildings and grounds, on the relations of parents to the schools, on the necessity of more schools, longer terms, more efficient teachers, all show that he put far more time. energy and thought into his official work than could be paid for by the · miserable pittance of $80 a year that constituted the wages of the school examiner.
With the law of 1873 the county board of education was made to consist of the township trustees, the presidents of the school boards of towns and cities, and the county superintendent. The county superin- tendent was elected by the township trustees, for a term of two years, and the trustees and the superintendent have complete oversight of the schools of the county. By the same law the township institute became an effective instrument for securing unity in school work and raising the standards of the teaching body.
The first regularly elected county superintendent after the passage of the law was James A. Marlow, elected by the county board in June, 1875. He served sixteen years, and was followed by C. W. Welman, who served four years, since which time, for fourteen years, Mr. Richard Park has been superintendent. In 1899 the term was lengthened to four years.
In 1858 the total school population of the county was 5,414. In 1861 this had increased to 5,836, and the total school fund distributed that year was $7.936.88. Aside from tuition and taxation, the amount avail- able for the education of each person of school age in the county at the
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beginning of the Civil war was about a dollar and a quarter. In 1866 the enumeration was 6,303, and the fund $14,632.86. In 1870 the enumeration was 7.049, fund, $14,980.25. In 1880, enumeration, 7.349, fund, $15.790.82.
The report of George W. Register in 1873 showed that the enumera- tion in the county for 1872-73 was 7,520. Of these there were enrolled in the schools 5,974, but the total attendance averaged only 3,472, being. about 46 percent of the enumeration. The average term of school then was 83 days. "Can it be expected that the youth of our country will become educated if only 46 percent of them attend school 83 days in the year?", It was also shown that the average per capita cost of education per year in the state at large was $5.53, Sullivan county being below the average with an annual cost of $4.72. In the superintendent's report for 1873-74 the attendance was shown to have increased to 52 percent of the enumeration, the average length of the school term being four months and ten days, and the average daily pay of teachers, $2.15.
There was considerable rivalry among the township trustees over the length of the school term. In the Democrat for March 13, .1872, it was noted that James Spencer of Curry township claimed credit for running schools in his township longer than in any other, schools being maintained over six months and no teacher receiving. less than two dollars a day.
But select schools still supplemented the free schools, as proved by the following resolution adopted at the meeting of the county board of education in September, 1874: "In view of the fact that teachers who have taught private schools in the township houses have failed in almost every instance at the close of their schools to make the reports required by law, be it resolved by this board that any teacher who has failed or
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