USA > Indiana > Kosciusko County > A standard history of Kosciusko County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development. A chronicle of the people with family lineage and memoirs, Volume I > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
COMPANY H, ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTIETH REGIMENT
The One Hundred and Sixtieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry was formed of the old Fourth Regiment of the Indiana Na- tional Guard, and composed of companies from Marion, Decatur, Lafayette, Wabash, Bluffton, Ossian, Columbia City, Warsaw, Tip- ton, Huntington, Anderson and Logansport. It reached Camp Mount in April, 1898, and was mustered into the volunteer service of the United States on May 12th following. The regiment then entrained for Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, Georgia, and arrived, on the 12th of the month, under orders for Porto Rico.
The regiment broke camp July 28th, and reached Newport News, Virginia, two days later. The Porto Rican orders were counter- manded, and in August the command was shifted from Newport News to Camp Hamilton, Lexington, Kentucky, and thence, in November, to Columbus, Georgia. In January, 1899, the One Hundred and Six- tieth was sent to Matanzas, Cuba, in three sections, where it remained for two weeks and then went into camp. The boys remained in the neighborhood of Matanzas until March 27th, when they were trans- ported to Savannah, Georgia, where they were mustered out of the service April 25, 1899.
REGT
BAND
I.N.G. G.
WA
IND.
READY TO LEAVE FOR THE FRONT
238
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Company H, the local organization which is of particular in- terest to residents of Warsaw, was organized at the county seat on November 23, 1886, and was assigned as Company K, Second Regi- ment of Infantry. Subsequently it was transferred as Company K, Third Regiment, and afterward as Company H, Fourth Regi- ment, under which designation it entered the service at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, being assigned to the One Hundred and Sixtieth Regiment. With its regiment it served from the date of enrollment, April 26, 1898, to the time of muster-out, April 25, 1899.
The officers of Company H were: Captain, Charles A. Sharp of Warsaw; first lieutenant, Edwin G. Hinkley, Fort Wayne; second lieutenant, William L. Hughes, Warsaw; first sergeant, William J. Hafert, Warsaw; quartermaster sergeant, Herbert Kehler, Warsaw.
Memories of the Spanish-American war in Warsaw are kept alive by the organization of Veterans known as Camp No. 4.
KOSCIUSKO COUNTY IN THE WORLD'S WAR
Although President Wilson, in behalf of the American people, issued the declaration that a state of war existed between the United States and Germany, in February, 1917, it was some time before the country fully realized that such was the case. First came the Con- gressional act of May, which created a new National army; then in June the enrollment of all persons subject to military duty, per- formed in one day by 4,000 registration boards sitting in all por- tions of the United States, and calling, for selection, a body of more than 9,500,000 young men; and finally the draft, in July, by which registrants were called by the numbers previously assigned them for examination as to their fitness for military service. The drawing was performed in Washington by lottery, and each number drawn called for the examination of those to whom it had been assigned in approximately the 4,000 registration boards throughout the United States. The registrants had been divided into five classes, broadly determined as to the dependents relying upon them for support, the necessity of retaining them either as home providers or public ser- vants, and their qualifications as to good citizenship, morality and physical health.
REALIZING THAT THE WAR EXISTED
Kosciusko County and every other section in the United States of America commenced to keenly realize that the country was actually at war when the young men everywhere received notifications that
239
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
their registration numbers had been drawn by Secretary of War Baker, and about five months later, when they were filling out their questionnaires, which were to determine their military classification.
The first regulars of the United States army had landed overseas on the 27th of June, 1917, but that fact did not so strike to the homes of the people, as did the business-like draft and the probing ques- tionnaires. In July it was announced that the population of Kos- ciusko County to serve as a basis for the selective draft was 22,039, and its first Liberty Loan allotment had been published as $307,000. The Red Cross workers had also raised more than the county's quota, and evidence was constantly multiplying that a life-and-death task had been assigned to Kosciusko with every other county in the United States.
VOLUNTEERS GET THE START OF THE DRAFT
So many of the eager young men of the county could not wait for the draft that when it finally occurred over 160 had volunteered for service as members of Company H. From that time on until the . armistice with the enemy nations was signed, to outsiders the best evidence of the ceaseless exertions of Warsaw and Kosciusko County to do their share in "landing the knock-out blow," which finally brought a bruised, exhausted and discouraged enemy to the ground, is furnished by the newspapers; the men, women and chil- dren who were in the midst of it all may also call upon their mem- ories for a rounding out of the story into lifelike vitality.
OFFICERS AND ORGANIZATION IN AUGUST, 1917
In August, 1917, it was stated that the following citizens had joined the regular army of the United States: Ernest R. Marvel, second lieutenant, Sixty-second United States Infantry ; Robert Doug- lass, engineer corps, and ten others in the infantry, cavalry, medical and signal corps.
In the navy, Verne Boggs was assistant paymaster, and there were two marines and four others in that branch of the service from Kosciusko County.
Walter Kelly held the commission of captain in the Second Regiment, Indiana National Guard, and Herschel Cook commanded Company F, of the Third.
Emmett Douglass was first lieutenant in the Engineers' Corps of the Indiana National Guard; and there were four others in the same branch of the service.
240
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
Edgar Catlin was first lieutenant in the Reserve Corps of the Ordnance Department.
The Third Regiment, Indiana National Guard, was also repre- sented by the Machine Gun Company, the Headquarters Company and the Supply Company.
On the 6th of the month (August) Frank L. Evans, the build- ing contractor, was appointed captain of engineers in the National army.
BARTOL AND SWIHART SAIL FOR FRANCE
The camp of Company H was established at the Winona golf links.
That the war was really on was a decided matter of home con- cern when the people of the country were informed on August 29th that Lieutenants Walter Bartol and Frank Swihart, the first of their boys to go overseas, had actually sailed for France.
Several days before, Capt. Samson J. North, who was equally ready to offer his life on the battlefield, died at his home in Milford.
Announcement was made that thirty-three Kosciusko County men had been found available for the first call and that, on account of the number who had volunteered and been accepted, the draft quota had already been filled.
FIRST EXAMINATION OF REGISTRANTS
The first day of the examining board was August 6th, and twenty- seven registrants were examined, in the order in which their num- bers were drawn in Washington. No. 258, the first number drawn from the jar and which represented the first potential soldier of the National army to be called under the selective system, proved to be John R. Smith of Pierceton. The other boys promptly responded in the following order: Howard H. Watkins, Syracuse, 458; Walter Ringenberg, Warsaw, 1436; Deleese Kline, Winona Lake, 854; For- est J. Croap, Warsaw, 1894; Pietro Tracio, Warsaw, 1878; Rus- sell G. Barber, Akron, 1095; Forrest J. Kelly, Warsaw, 2022; Albert Darkwood, Milford, 1455; William H. Stout, Warsaw, 783; Harold L. Stockmeyer, Warsaw, 1813; Ralph J. Lucas, Warsaw, 1858; Fred M. Seniff, Warsaw, 1752; Albert Laughman, Silver Lake, 1117; Roy C. Holderman, Nappanee, 1572; Benjamin F. Simcoke, Warsaw, 1748; John O. Warner, Warsaw, 857; Orvel E. Phillips, Warsaw, 2036; James A. Gilbert, Tippecanoe, 337; Phillip H. Pound, Oswego,
241
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
676; George A. Anderson, Pierceton, 275; Oliver W. Miller, Syra- cuse, 509; Jesse E. Newell, Mentone, 1185; Pearl E. Pickering, Mil- ford, 564; Percy R. Ring, Claypool, 945; Lemoyn C. Miller, Warsaw, 1913, and Ortie W. Leemon, Milford, 596.
FIRST LIBERTY LOAN AND RED CROSS DRIVES
In July it was announced through James R. Frazer, chairman of the Finance Committee which managed the First Liberty' Loan drive in the county, that 370 people in Warsaw had subscribed to it, representing nearly 5 per cent of its total population.
In the following month, the Red Cross fund was oversubscribed nearly 50 per cent, about $15,000 being raised.
In September, 1917, the first group of drafted men from Kos- ciusko County went into training, after having been given a farewell demonstration at the Winona camp by Company H.
KOSCIUSKO COUNTY MEN OFF FOR CAMP BENJAMIN HARRISON
On the 10th of the month a delegation of 136 men from Kosciusko County started for Camp Benjamin Harrison. They included the following officers :
Commissioned-Lester L. Boggs, captain ; Fred Longfellow, first lieutenant; and Lawrence Brubaker, second lieutenant.
Non-commissioned-First sergeant, Leroy Bibler; supply ser- geant, Lawrence Gibson; mess sergeant, Fred Cripe; sergeants, Richard Robinson, Ralph Lichtenwalter, Arwid McConnell, Lever- ette Peterson, Merl Zimmerman, Tom J. Douglass, Arthur Clark and Ezra Graham; Corporals Warren Davis, George East, Wynn Win- ship, Otho Enyert, Charles Carteaux, Porter K. Mickey, Benjamin Elder, Tom D. P. Frazer, James M. Ladd, Loren N. Melick, Glenn D. Melick, Russell Phillips, Merl J. Starner, Frank Harlan, Harold Henderson and Jesse Moore.
DR. MILFORD H. LYON LEAVES FOR FRANCE
One of the first of the noted Young Men's Christian Association workers to be supplied by Kosciusko County for the French sector of the western front was Dr. Milford H. Lyon, a well known evangelist of the Winona Lake Assembly, who left for the scene of his labors and dangers on September 17th.
A week afterward the United States regulars were placed under Vol. 1-16
242
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
fire for the first time in the World's war and under the conditions which wrote an entirely new chapter in their military experience. As was to be expected, they acquitted themselves with the daring and steadiness of the best European veterans.
The 1st of October saw the commencement of the Second Liberty Loan drive in Warsaw, under the chairmanship of A. O. Catlin of the State Bank of Warsaw.
THIRD INDIANA REORGANIZED AS ARTILLERY
About this time the old Third Indiana Infantry was reorganized at Camp Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The first and second battalions were organized into the artillery, Lieut. Col. O. B. Kilmer and Chaplain James M. Eakins being transferred to that branch.
Maj. Carl F. Beyer, commander of the third battalion, was trans- ferred to the Depot Brigade.
Second Lieutenant Raymond B. Williams of the Third Infantry Machine Gun Company was transferred to the Headquarters Com- pany of the Artillery.
Company H of the Third Regiment, in the reorganization be- came Battery D, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Field Artillery, and retained Captain Boggs, First Lieutenant Longfellow and Sec- ond Lieutenant Brubaker. Clarence E. Clark was added to its commissioned officers as first lieutenant.
Not long afterward, Lieutenant Colonel Kilmer became an artil- lery officer at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to which were assigned only those of known ability.
Major Beyer of Warsaw was placed in charge of the training battalion of the One Hundred and Fifty-first Infantry. Attached to the battalion were also these Warsaw men: Lieutenants Samuel Murphy, Charles Wagner and Walter Thomas, and Sergt. Maj. Arwid McConnell.
A HOOSIER OPENS THE WAR FOR THE AMERICANS
Hoosierdom was thrilled by the report that the first shot from the National army, which more literally than that fired at Bunker Hill "echoed 'round the world," came from a red-headed sergeant of artil- lery whose residence, in civil life, was South Bend. He thus defied militarism, international deceit and sin against all honor and human- ity, and honored his city, state and nation, at 6 o'clock on the morn- ing of October 27, 1917. It speeded up the good fight all along the
243
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
western front and made every man of Indiana stand up straighter and set his jaw harder to see "the thing through."
COUNTRY'S PART IN SECOND LIBERTY LOAN DRIVE
Two days later, W. H. Kingerly, county chairman of the Second Liberty Loan drive, announced a total subscription of $566,900; the county's quota was $514,000. Warsaw raised $314,000 of that amount, $60,000 more than the city's quota based on its banking resources and $210,000 more than its proportion based on the value of its taxable property. Well done, for the county seat!
JAMES R. FRAZER, COUNTY FOOD ADMINISTRATOR
From the first, the administration perceived that the conserva- tion of food for the Allies was of equal importance with the manu- facture and wise use of ammunition, and in November, 1917, James R. Frazer was appointed food administrator for Kosciusko County.
Jesse E. Eschbach had made a good record as one of the state conscription officers stationed at Warsaw, but resigned toward the last of November, because of the ruling by the Federal Government that such officials should be commissioned as majors in the National army and be subject to transfers from point to point.
COUNTY'S FIRST GOLD STAR
The first gold star claimed by Kosciusko County was because of the death of Howard Stahl of Pierceton, in December. He was one of twenty boys of Company H, of the Third Regiment, who had joined Battery B, mostly composed of Indianapolis men, and gone to France with the Rainbow division. He died of pneumonia.
Toward the last of that month Rev. James M. Eakins, chaplain of the One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Field Artillery, resigned and returned to his home in Warsaw.
Perhaps the great event of national import for December, 1917, was the taking over of the railroads of the country, as a war measure, by Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo.
HOME GUARD ORGANIZED
About the middle of November, the men of Warsaw who did not fall within the scope of the selective draft took advantage of the new military provisions to organize a Home Guard, or company of State Militia. These bodies of second-line soldiers were organized
244
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
and drilled all over the country, aud were designed primarily to replace the National Guard of the states, then being rapidly absorbed into the American Expeditionary Forces. Walter Brubaker was selected by the State Council of Defense to perfect the local organi- zation, which was soon recruited up to about sixty.
In February, 1918, another of Warsaw's physicians was called to the front, Dr. C. Norman Howard being commissioned captain in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States.
OFFICIAL STATE MILITARY BAND
In the same month the Warsaw Band was notified by the adju- tant general that it had been selected to furnish the military music for the new State Militia Regiment.
The succeeding March brought the inspiring and thrilling news from overseas that the first American troops had "gone over the top" in a successful raid into the German trenches, independent of French participation, in the American sector north of Toul. The Yanks had broken the apron strings of their European instructors, and thereafter were considered equal to any emergency which the war could produce. The only fault ever found with them was that they often went so fast that they got out of the sight and hearing of their supports.
LIEUT. J. F. HORICK, WORLD'S CHAMPION PISTOL SHOT
Quite a number of Kosciusko County men had gone to Camp Zachary Taylor to take courses in the officers' training school there, and several of them made notable records in various specialties. The achievements of Lieut. J. Forest Horick of the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Depot Brigade, created nation-wide comment. In the previous year he had carried away the United States championship, at Jacksonville, Florida, in rapid-fire pistol shooting, and in Feb- ruary, 1918, at Camp Taylor, he defeated the world's champion, Captain Raymond, by one point at the same kind of contest in small arms. Lieutenant Horick is a son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Densel of Warsaw.
Thirty-seven candidates for commissions left for Camp Zachary Taylor in April, 1918.
FIRST PERSONAL BATTLE NEWS
A local item of interest to those identified with the fighting men of the war, either directly or by proxy-and what resident of Kos- ciusko County would not thus be included-was that the first War-
245
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
saw boy to send word home of a battle in which he had participated was Bab Gilliam, son of Mr. and Mrs. Claven Gilliam. It came to them April 19, 1918, in the form of a cablegram bearing, under the Atlantic, the welcome assurances of safety.
VERY SUCCESSFUL THIRD LIBERTY LOAN CAMPAIGN
The Third Liberty Loan campaign was completed on May 4, 1918, and the result was to raise in Kosciusko County $662,800; its quota was $450,000. Warsaw subscribed $142,200; its quota, $50,000. Of the former amount, Mrs. W. W. Reed, chairman of the Woman's Committee, reported that her sisters had taken $113,150.
M. L. Gochenour had been selected chairman of the County Committee to raise the loan, and it was under his management that the campaign was fairly inaugurated and pushed to completion. The county was thoroughly organized by townships, speakers and work- ers being appointed to interest the people (if that were necessary) and obtain the practical results in the shape of subscriptions.
The chairmen and respective quotas of this campaign, which was remarkably successful considering not a few discouraging circum- stances, were as follows:
Townships and Chairmen-
Quota.
Clay-Embra W. Kinsey $23,000
Etna-Seth Iden
18,000
Franklin-M. E. Yokum.
27,000
Harrison-Mahloan Mentzer 33,000
Jackson-Elmer E. Circle
22,000
Jefferson-N. F. McDonald
19,000
Lake-William Kern 17,000
Monroe-Talmon H. Idle
12,000
Plain-Cyrus Hall
23,000
Prairie-Art Anglin
18,000
Scott-William Hartzell
13,000
Seward-Andrew J. Hill 22,000
Tippecanoe-J. E. Ruhl 17,000
Turkey Creek-Sol Miller 33,000
Van Buren-Edward Higbee.
26,000
Warsaw City-Norman E. Haymond 50,000
Washington-Eugene Alleman 32,000
Wayne-George Minear
45,000
Total $450,000
246
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
At the height of the campaign came a severe frost which played havoc with the corn, ruined fully a quarter of the peppermint crop and blasted the hemp near Pierceton. Then the drought baked Northwestern Kosciusko County with particular vigor and its entire territory with disastrous results; so that, between frost and drought there was scarcely a square mile of farming country in which the residents were not on the verge of gloom. Yet the work of raising the designated quota went on with unimpaired vigor; and the result was what has been stated.
SALE OF WAR STAMPS
In the sale of War Saving Stamps the result had been equally commendable. James R. Frazer was the county chairman of that movement, and under his supervision and impetus $120,000 had been received for this item since January 1, 1918. The county had been assigned $568,000 for the entire year (1918), and at the conclu- sion of the twelve months had more than passed the mark set for it.
LIEUTENANT BARTOL AT CHATEAU THIERRY
Not a few of the boys from Kosciusko County were in the epochal battle of Chateau Thierry, May 30, 1918, in which the American troops routed hordes of the best disciplined and most fearless of the shock troops of the Imperial German army. Among many other heroes, there appeared Lieut. Walter H. Bartol, of the Ninth In- fantry, who was cited for bravery by Major General Omar Bundy.
In June, 1918, a movement of Battery D boys was noted toward Camp Shelby, and on the 28th of that month forty-five who had been trained there had arrived safely in France.
July, August and September saw the recruits from Kosciusko County still streaming into Camps Shelby (Mississippi), Custer (Michigan), Grant (Illinois), and Taylor and Thomas (Kentucky).
Further news of the fierce and bloody fighting in which some of the home officers and privates were engaged also commenced to come "over here" and be fearfully and eagerly devoured by relatives and friends. Word came that Sergt. John E. Leiter, a veteran ma- rine who lived a mile west of Mentone and had been in the United States army seventeen years, had been badly wounded, and that Capt. Ray P. Harrison of Columbia City had been killed in action.
247
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
THREE THOUSAND MEN REGISTERED
By September, 1918, more than 3,000 men had registered for military service from Kosciusko County, and a classification by ages indicated that a surprisingly large number had been registered be- tween the ages of eighteen and twenty, inclusive, and between forty and forty-five, inclusive. The record follows:
Years.
Number.
Years.
Number.
Eighteen
216
Thirty-seven
179
Nineteen
203
Thirty-eight
174
Twenty-one
170
Thirty-nine
171
Twenty-three
12
Forty
173
Twenty-five
1
Forty-one
140
Thirty
1
Forty-two
193
Thirty-one
127
Forty-three
184
Thirty-two
194
Forty-four
173
Thirty-three
183
Forty-five
175
Thirty-four
195
Thirty-five
169
Total
3,035
Thirty-six
169
On the 18th of September, 1918, Lieut. Merle Lyon, son of Dr. Milford H. Lyon of Winona Lake, instructor at Camp Dix, returned from France on the transport Mount Vernon, which was torpedoed during that month.
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS ENROLLED
Still the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers wrestled back and forth and even the democracies did not know how near was the collapse of the mightiest of their enemies. In the United States, even, whose manhood had scarcely been touched, the High School boys who averaged several years below the minimum draft age, commenced to be formed into companies and be braced into the soldiers of the future, should their services be required. Between ninety and a hundred in Warsaw eagerly responded to such invita- tions of stern, but good old Uncle Sam, in the early fall of 1918.
FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN
The campaign for the raising of the Fourth Liberty Loan ended in September, 1918, and resulted in bracing the Government to the extent of $1,068,500. Its quota was $900,000.
248
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
FIRST MAN OF THE NEW DRAFT
In pursuance of President Wilson's declaration that force would be applied to the task of ending the war, as far as the United States was concerned, without measure and without stint, the new draft went into effect in September, 1918. The first Kosciusko County man drawn was Henry North (No. 322) of Route 3, North Man- chester.
WINONA LAKE TRAINING CAMP OPENED
The training camp at Winona Lake was officially opened October 15, 1918, but the commandant, Lieut. B. L. McNichols, did not arrive upon the ground until the 18th. At that time he found 1,000 selected men ready for orders and military training.
BOYS OF BATTERY D ARRIVE IN FRANCE
About the same time a number of relatives in the county had received cards posted on the arrival in France of the Thirty-eighth Division, in which were seventy-five Kosciusko County boys of Battery D, One Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Field Artillery, who had been in training for over a year at Camp Shelby, Mississippi.
THE UNITED WAR WORK FUND
The next great work at home in financial and moral support of the boys in training and at the front was the formation of the United War Work Fund, raised in one canvass and apportioned among the Red Cross, Young Men's Christian Association, Knights of Columbus, Jewish Welfare Fund and Christian Science Comfort Fund. W. H. Kingery of Warsaw was chairman for the county of this consolidated fund, which was collected in record time during October, 1918. George R. Eckert of the Lake City Bank was dis- triet campaign manager.
The United War Fund was largely used, to the inexpressible relief of the people of the United States, in allaying the wounds and suffering already inflicted, rather than in the alleviation of miseries so progressive and cumulative that the task seemed well nigh hopeless while the awful conflict continued.
249
HISTORY OF KOSCIUSKO COUNTY
THE RIOT OF PEACE
With the coming of peace in November, 1918, Warsaw, the head- center of the celebrations, was carried out of all bounds of reason- at least, of dignity-sharing the inundation of enthusiasm and hilarity which swept away all considerations of age, social position or personal appearances. Those who could remember the peace cele- bration following the surrender of Richmond and the armies of the Confederacy had to admit that the jollification of 1918, if anything, exceeded that of 1865, in volume of noise and absolute abandon, and was also superior to that of half a century previous in that it was sober and sane, measured by the standard of artificial stimulants.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.