USA > Indiana > Newton County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 13
USA > Indiana > Jasper County > A standard history of Jasper and Newton counties, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and country, Volume I > Part 13
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"Everything and everybody were drenched ; not a dry thread could be found in the whole village. Three of the wigwams had been blown down, two pappooses were drowned in the flood, and one was killed by a falling tent pole. Pools were everywhere, and in the level oak openings to the southwest great ponds, and even lakes, spread out like mammoth mirrors in the sunshine. The whole river marsh was one vast lake as far as the eye could reach in the blue vista to the southeast.
"After considerable difficulty a fire was lighted and, others bor- rowing from it, soon each lodge possessed a blaze to dry out the contents.
"Bird-eye made his squaw as comfortable as could be expected under the circumstances, which were bad enough at best.
"At this juncture, a general shout proclaimed the approach of the search party who had followed the trail of the dauntless rider."
This hero of the day had been found much battered, but not dead. After giving the Indian a wild ride of several miles through the woods the infuriated buck had finally thrown its rider, but not before the luckless beast had left one of his ears which the Potta- wattamie youth had slashed away in his efforts to reach the throat of the still very lively piece of venison. The buck certainly deserved his life, after having sacrificed one horn and one ear in the fortunes of the chase.
Vol. I-8
CHAPTER X
JASPER COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR
STATE MILITIA PREVIOUS TO THE CIVIL WAR-JASPER COUNTY IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION-THE NINTH AS A THREE-MONTHS' REGIMENT-GENERAL ROBERT H. MILROY, LEADING MILITARY FIGURE-UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL AT MILROY PARK-JUDGE HAMMOND'S TRIBUTE TO GENERAL MILROY-A NURSERY OF MILITARY RENOWN-FIRST UNION VICTIM OF THE BATTLE- FIELD-COMPANY A, FIFTEENTH INDIANA INFANTRY-THE SEV- ENTEENTH INFANTRY-THE FORTY-EIGHTH REGIMENT-THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH-TWELFTH CAVALRY, COMPANY K-FOURTH BATTERY, LIGHT ARTILLERY.
At the time of the Mexican war, Jasper County was so sparsely settled that no complete body of troops could be drawn from its pop- ulace, but at the outbreak of the Civil war, although still far from overburdened with people, it was one of the few counties of Indiana that had a military organization under the law of 1855.
STATE MILITIA PREVIOUS TO THE CIVIL WAR
From the formation of the state to 1830, the state militia was in high repute, and afforded the surest channel through which to achieve civil distinction. Four years later, the organization was entirely abandoned, and public sentiment seemed to react and render the later efforts to revive the system a failure. On the 14th of June, 1852, an act was passed for the organization of the militia by Con- gressional districts; and on the 12th of February, 1855, an "Act concerning the organization of voluntary associations" was passed, providing for the formation of military companies by filing articles of association in like manner as provided for organizing, building, mining and manufacturing companies. These laws were practically of no value, merely without regulations sufficient to secure any suc- cessful result. Many commissions were issued, in most cases for the mere purpose of conferring honorary military titles upon the
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recipients ; but with the exception of probably a dozen companies (most of which had but a brief existence) formed in various parts of the state in 1859-60, aggregating about 500 men, no organizations were made. Such was the condition of the military force of the state when Fort Sumter surrendered on the 13th of April, 1861, and when on the 15th, Governor Morton telegraphed to President Lin- coln, the tender of 10,000 men, "for the defense of the Nation."
On the same day, the President issued his proclamation calling forth the militia of the several states of the Union to the aggregate number of 75,000 men. The quota of Indiana was subsequently fixed at six regiments of infantry, comprising in rank and file 4,683 men, to serve for three months, if not sooner discharged. No militia existed in fact, and on the 16th inst. Governor Morton issued his proclamation, in which, after stating the cause, he called "upon the loyal and patriotic men of this state, to the number of six regiments, to organize themselves into military companies, and forthwith report the same to the adjutant general," etc. The response from every part of the state was prompt and unanimous. The day after the call there were 500 men in camp; on the 19th there were 2,400 men, and in less than seven days more than 12,000 men had been tendered. Contests to secure the acceptance of companies were earnest and fre- quent, and all seemed anxious to discharge this perilous duty of citizenship. The response from Jasper County to the governor's call was prompt and enthusiastic. A grand rally brought the citizens together from every township. R. H. Milroy took the lead, and called for volunteers, who crowded forward and filled the ranks of one of the earliest companies in the state.
JASPER COUNTY IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
In response to the seven calls for troops issued by President Lin- coln to crush the rebellion, which at first was supposed to be the matter of a three months' task, Jasper County furnished 935 soldiers ; which is a most creditable record, considering that during that period its average population was about 5,000 men, women and children. Little difficulty was experienced in obtaining volunteers during the first two years of the war, and no effort was made by the county to stipulate enlistments by offering bounties. In fact, the finances of the county would not warrant any such step. But the continu- ance of the terrible war finally overrode any considerations of financial caution.
In August, 1862, an order was passed by the county commission-
-
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ers to pay a bounty of $25, but was subsequently rescinded. On November 24, 1863, the subject was again brought forward, and an order passed to pay $60 to volunteers credited upon the quota of the county under the call of October 17, 1863, and this amount was in- creased in the following month to $100, which resulted in the pay- ment of $4,900 as bounties by the county. Various measures of relief for the families of soldiers were introduced, which were car- ried out at an expense of $4,641.77. The various townships, in their independent capacity, added to the general expenditure for both objects, as follows :
Townships
Hanging Grove Township
Bounty $ 2,700.00
Relief $ 400.00 500.00
Gillam Township
1,950.00
Walker Township
25.00
. .. .
Barkley Township
5,900.00
300.00
Marion Township
5,050.00
200.00
Jordan Township
200.00
. . . .
Newton Township
200.00
100.00
Keener Township
30.00
. . . .
Kankakee Township
100.00
... .
Wheatfield Township
323.00
. .. .
Carpenter Township
600.00
...
County Commissioners
4,900.00
4,641.77
$21,978.00
$6,141.77
The ladies also formed a Soldiers' Aid Society at Rensselaer. This was not completely organized, or auxiliary to the city organ- ization, but patriotic ladies, with earnest hearts and willing hands, busied themselves in providing such articles as the hospitals and the boys in the field stood in greatest need. The society met at the resi- dence of its members, and worked up the material that some mem- ber, or the donation of some merchant, had provided. Donations of the usual kind were solicited in the country and town; "boxes" were sent to volunteers of the county ; contributions to general hos- pitals were made, and whenever the demand seemed most urgent, the labor and contributions of these ladies were freely given. The amount thus expended cannot be estimated, but there is no doubt that it would compare very favorably with the amount of the "relief" fund expended by the county treasury.
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
THE NINTH AS A THREE MONTHS' REGIMENT
In the Mexican war, the state had five regiments, and to avoid historical confusion, the regiments raised for the War of the Re- bellion were designated by numbers, beginning with six. The Ninth was, therefore, the third regiment organized, for the War of 1861-65. This regiment was organized and mustered into the service for three months, at Indianapolis, on the 25th of April, 1861, with Robert H. Milroy as Colonel. In this regiment Jasper County was represented by a full company, the original officers of which were Robert H. Milroy, captain ; Gideon C. Moody, first lieutenant, and Edward P. Hammond, second lieutenant. In the organization of the regiment, this company was ranked G; the captain promoted to the colonelcy of the regiment, and the regular promotion of the lieutenants, plac- ing Albert G. Guthridge in commission as second lieutenant. Com- pany G may be said to be the nursery of Jasper County's military renown, as from its organization rose one general, three colonels and a number of line officers.
The Ninth was the first regiment that left the state for Western Virginia, departing from Indianapolis on the 29th of May, and arriving at Grafton on the Ist of June. From this point it marched toward Philippi, in the column commanded by Colonel Kelley, and took part in the surprise of the rebel camp at that place on the morn- ing of the 3d of June. This march of twenty-two miles over muddy roads, in an intensely dark and stormy night, was the first introduc- tion of the regiment to the drudgery of army life. The affair at Philippi was but little more than a skirmish, the enemy, after a mio- mentary resistance, making a precipitate retreat. The expedition returned to Grafton, when the Ninth was assigned to General Morris' brigade. By July 4, 1861, the army at Grafton, under the immediate command of McClellan, numbered 30,000 troops, and operations were at once begun against the enemy, who had taken position at Laurel Hill. Here the rebels made a more vigorous resistance, but, greatly outnumbered, they gave way in a disorderly retreat, not, however, before inflicting a loss of some fifty killed and wounded upon the Union forces.
GEN. ROBERT H. MILROY. LEADING MILITARY FIGURE
Jasper County furnished several companies and a number of contingents for service in the Civil war, which were incorporated with the ninth, fifteenth, seventeenth, forty-eighth and eighty-seventh
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
Indiana infantry regiments; with the twelfth cavalry, the fourth battery of light artillery and other organizations, in which it was less strongly represented. Its most eminent military figure was Gen. Robert H. Milroy, in whose honor the stately memorial at Rensselaer was dedicated fifty-five years after the conclusion of his Civil war career.
Robert Houston Milroy was born in Washington County, Indiana, June 11, 1816. Unable in his youth to secure a collegiate education, he entered the military school at Norwich, Connecticut, at the age of twenty-four, and in three years took three degrees, master of arts, master of military science and master of civil engineering. Afterward he taught fencing for a few months, returned to Indiana, drifted to Texas, relocated in the Hoosier state, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and completed a post-graduate course at Bloomington in 1850. He failed to get to the front in the Mexi- can war, although he enlisted early and received a captain's com- mission in the First Indiana Regiment. He was, however, a men- ber of the convention which created the constitution of 1851, and soon after completing his service in that capacity was appointed judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit. In 1854 he resigned from the bench and transferred his residence from Delphi to Rensselaer.
Judge Milroy was in Indianapolis when the news of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Governor Morton, and, after traveling all night to reach Rensselaer, he at once raised a company of volun- teers. The officers chosen were Robert H. Milroy, captain; Edwin P. Hammond, first lieutenant ; Gideon C. Moody, second lieutenant. The company became G, of the Ninth Regiment, of which Captain Milroy became colonel, April 25, 1861.
The ninth was the first regiment to leave the state, and served in the West Virginia campaigns under Mcclellan and Morris, where Milroy and his command won the name of ever being ready for duty or a fight. When the three months' enlistment was com- pleted, the ninth promptly re-enlisted for three years. The Jasper County company retained its original position, but had Joshua Healey for captain. In September, 1861, for meritorious service, Milroy was made brigadier-general, and again assigned to duty in West Virginia. It was in the Cheat Mountain country that, mounted on "Jasper," he won the title of the Gray Eagle of the Army. Then it was that owing to his severe but efficacious orders in suppressing the mountain rangers, or guerrillas, the Confederate Congress offered a reward of $100,000 for him, dead or alive.
In November, 1862, Milroy was made major-general of volun-
.
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
teers, and was in command at Winchester, in 1863, when Lee's massed forces started to invade Pennsylvania. Ordered to evacuate the place, he replied that he was able to hold it against any force the enemy could send against it. He did defend it for three days, or until both ammunition and food were virtually exhausted, when he cut his way out at night with heavy loss, thus materially retarding the progress of Lee's army as a whole toward Gettysburg. In 1864 he won a merited consolation for the Winchester disaster,
GENERAL ROBERT H. MILROY The Gray Eagle of the Army
in a sally from Murfreesboro, in which he decisively defeated Bates' infantry. His conduct at the former point was made the subject of military investigation, but, although exonerated, he resigned from the army in 1865.
After the war General Milroy served in many positions of trust and responsibility, being a trustee of the Wabash & Erie Canal, superintendent of Indian affairs and Indian agent, with headquarters at Olympia, Washington. It was while in office at that point that he died, March 29, 1890, and was buried with the military honors and civic ceremonies befitting his record and his fame.
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
Although surmounted by an imposing statue of that grand figure in life, known as the Gray Eagle, the memorial is also a tribute to the valor and faithfulness of Jasper County soldiers as a body and by individual names. Miss Mary Washburn, formerly of Rensselaer, was the sculptress of the heroic figure, and Miss Mildred Knight, of Delphi, a grandniece of the General, unveiled it.
UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL AT MILROY PARK
Both Milroy Park and the soldiers' monument, of which it is the central feature, were largely the creation of Mrs. Alfred Thomp-
THE OLD MILROY HOMESTEAD Located on the site of Milroy Park and torn down in 1902
son. The memorial was unveiled on July 4, 1910, in the presence of an assemblage estimated at eight or ten thousand people. The relatives of General Milroy who were present : V. A. Milroy, a son, of Olympia, Washington; C. E. Milroy and wife, Chicago; Mrs. Alice Keith and Miss Jennie Beck, Delphi; Misses Dorothy and Mildred Knight and Harry C. Milroy, Delphi; Robert Milroy, Battle Creek, Michigan; Donald Milroy, Chicago; Will Armitage, wife and daughter, Lafayette; John Armitage, Delphi; Dr. and Mrs. Ballard, Logansport, and Mrs. Carrie Milroy Sims, Delphi.
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
JUDGE HAMMOND'S TRIBUTE TO GENERAL MILROY
The address opening the formal ceremonies of unveiling was by Judge E. P. Hammond, who went out as a lieutenant of Company G, of Colonel Milroy's regiment, and reached the rank of lieutenant- colonel of the forty-eighth before the close of the war. He said, in part : "It is a great personal gratification to preside at the dedica- tion of the monument to this distinguished soldier, and especially on the anniversay of the birth of the Republic. While the nation at large is celebrating the day, we might well, in addition, rejoice in this event which more particularly concerns our own community and state. The monument is to the valor not only of General Mil- roy, but to those who were his comrades in arms. It is a memorial to the honor of all. Great praise is due to the generosity of our citizens in its erection. In particular is praise due to the work of Mrs. Alfred Thompson, who originated and executed the movement.
"All the great generals of the Civil war are gone, General McGinnis being the last, having died a few weeks since. General Milroy has been dead twenty years. He may not have been great, in the ordinary sense of the term as applied to ancient and modern warriors. However, if the term great be limited to pure patriotism and bravery, then no general ever lived who was more entitled to the name than Milroy. He had no conception of fear. Of him Major Benham, of the regular army, remarked in action: 'There goes Milroy. The rebels may kill, but cannot scare him.'
"General Milroy always took the initiative in battle unless restrained by superior authority. He inherited fighting blood from both maternal and paternal ancestors. Through his ancestor, John McElroy, Earl of Annondale, he was descended from Robert Bruce, the Scottish king. The name, changed to Milroy on immigration here in colonial days, is identified with warfare from Indian times. His father, General Samuel Milroy, married Martha Houston, a near relative of General Sam Houston.
"General Robert H. Milroy was born at Salem, Indiana, June II, 1816. Largely self-taught, he entered Norwich Military Uni- versity in 1840 and graduated as class valedictorian in 1843. He experienced much hostility during the war from the prejudice of West Point graduates. He served as captain in Company C, First Regiment Indiana Volunteers, in the Mexican war, afterward gradu- ating in law in the Indiana University, and locating in this city (then a village) in 1854. In 1858 Judge Hammond also located here, and from then until the Civil war was more or less intimately
1
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
associated with General Milroy. A simply trust and faith in others was characteristic of General Milroy, but if anyone infringed on his honor, distance from the General added greatly to his safety. He was a good lawyer, but owing to haste in diction, was not equally good as an advocate. He was a splendid specimen of physical man- hood, being six feet two and one-half inches in height, with unusual
THE MEMORIAL MONUMENT
and symmetrical development, and excelled as a boxer and swords- man. Through seconding a proposed duel, he became estranged from his church in 1861, but late in life renewed his church allegiance.
"At the first news of the fall of Fort Sumter, he raised Company G, Ninth Indiana, of which Judge Hammond was lieutenant, and was soon commissioned .colonel in the three months' service and passed through a number of engagements. The Ninth then re-en-
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
listed for three years with Milroy as its colonel, and February 2, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general, serving under Sigel and Fremont, and in March, 1863, he was commissioned major- general. To check extreme outrages on loyal citizens by rebel neighbors in his district he ordered restitution in twenty-four hours, with the alternative of death. This induced the offer of $100,000 for his head by the rebels and complaint by the rebels to the Federal Government. On investigation, however, the order was not revoked. In the second battle of Bull Run he held that if his wing of the forces had been supported a great mistake would have been avoided and a different result would have been reached.
"Carl Schurz says: 'General Milroy was extremely democratic in the treatment of his troops, discussing plans with and taking the views of his subordinates with the greatest freedom, and was re- spected and liked by all.' As evidence of the esteem in which he was held, he had three swords presented him-one, a gold-plated sword, by his officers ; the second, a $1,000 sword by the Twenty-fifth Ohio, and a third, by loyal citizens of Tennessee."
A NURSERY OF MILITARY RENOWN
The above title has been justly applied to the Ninth Indiana Regiment, as witness the following facts relating to the military careers of those who were originally connected with that organi- zation.
Capt. Robert H. Milroy became a major general.
Lieut. Gideon C. Moody became colonel of the regiment and was afterward a United States senator from South Dakota.
Lieut. E. P. Hammond became lieutenant colonel of the Forty- eighth Regiment and afterward a State Supreme Court judge of Indiana.
Second Lieut. Albert G. Guthridge became a captain in the Forty-eighth.
John M. Garrett became a captain in another regiment.
Joshua Healey became a captain in the Ninth, a major in the 128th and colonel of the 15Ist.
Joseph Brenton became first lieutenant in the Ninth, and W. H. Rhoades advanced to the same rank in the command named.
Mordecai F. Chilcote became a captain in the Forty-eighth Regi- ment.
Reuben H. James became a major and a quartermaster, and James H. Loughridge, a surgeon, in other regiments.
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
FIRST UNION VICTIM OF THE BATTLEFIELD
At Laurel Hill one man of Company G was killed, and it is claimed that he was the first Union soldier to be slain in battle dur- in the Civil war. Dyson Boothroyd, of Company A, also died of wounds received at that engagement, six days afterward, and the claim was often made that he was the first Union soldier killed in the Civil war. During the Spanish-American war military mat- ters were uppermost in the public press and events in connection with the Civil war were often revived. It was soon after Manila had fallen that the old-time discussion again arose as to the first Union soldier killed on the battlefield during the War of the Rebellion, and Judge Hammond sent the following communication to the Lafayette (Ind.) Courier: "In an item in your paper of this date, in speaking of Dyson Boothroyd, you say: 'Boothroyd was a member of Company A, Ninth Indiana, and was killed at Laurel Hill, Virginia,' and also that he was 'the first Union soldier killed in the civil war.' This is a mistake. I was in Company G, of the Ninth Indiana, in the three months' service. That company, on the arrival of the regiment at Laurel Hill, was sent in advance as skirmishers and attacked the enemy on Laurel Hill. This was in the forenoon of July 7, 1861. In that skirmish William T. Girard. a member of said Company G, was instantly killed by a musket ball fired by the enemy. In the afternoon of the same day Dyson Boothroyd, a member of Company A, of that regiment while on the skirmish line received a wound from which he died on July 13, . 1861. This statement may be verified by reference to pages 38 and 45 of the fourth volume of Adjutant General Terrell's reports of Indiana. I was within a few feet of Girard when he fell. I am not able to verify the statement, but I have often heard it said that Girard was the first man killed on the Union side in the war of 1861-65. At all events, he was killed on the field of battle, receiv- ing the fatal shot a few hours before Boothroyd received the wound from which he died, but not until six days after receiving it. Booth- royd and Girard were equally good, brave and patriotic soldiers. The particular time when either received his mortal wound is a matter of no importance so far as his bravery was concerned; but if the event is referred to as a matter of history there should be accuracy as far as possible.
"Sept. 21, 1898.
"E. P. HAMMOND."
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JASPER AND NEWTON COUNTIES
To make the record more complete, it may be added that although a member of Company G, Girard volunteered from Monon, White County.
After the engagement at Laurel Hill, the Confederate force retreated across Cheat River, where it made a brief stand and was dislodged, being pursued by a part of the army under General Hill. This closed the campaign of the Ninth, under their three months' term of enlistment, and in the latter part of July the regi- ment was mustered out at Indianapolis.
On its return, the regiment found the early idea that the war would be over in ninety days exploded, and promptly re-enlisted for three years. The new organization was completed at the rendezvous, at Westville, LaPorte County, under command of Col. R. H. Milroy, and mustered into the service at LaPorte September 5, 1861. The Jasper County company retained its original position, promotions and reorganization, however, making considerable changes in its officers. The original officers under the reorganiza- tion were: Captain, Joshua Healey ; first lieutenant, William H. Rhoades, and second lieutenant, Benjamin R. Farris.
Soon after its organization the regiment moved to Western Vir- ginia and afterward to Virginia, being transferred to Buell's army in February, 1862, and sent to Nashville, Tennessee. As a part of Nelson's division, it participated in the second day's fight at Shiloh. Subsequently it took part in the leading movements and battles of the middle-southwest, such as the pursuit of Bragg, and the engage- ments at Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge. In December, 1863, the Ninth re-enlisted as a veteran organization, returned home on furlough and in February, 1864, again left for the front. It was absorbed into Sherman's grand army and participated in all its marches, campaigns and battles to and around Atlanta. It then was drawn into the fierce contests with Hood's army, including the battles of Franklin and Nashville, and was finally mustered out in September, 1865, as a part of Sheri- dan's army of occupation in Texas.
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