USA > Indiana > Clay County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 70
USA > Indiana > Owen County > Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana : Historical and biographical. > Part 70
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can forces. The march from Vera Cruz to Puebla was a continuous skirmish with Mexican guerrillas. At Waumanilla, the Mexican forces numbering 6,000, under the command of Santa Anna, were hotly en- gaged by Gen. Lane's brigade, and after about one hour of fighting, victory declared for the United States troops. The Mexicans were routed, losing 100 killed and wounded, and inflicting a loss on the Americans of five killed and seven wounded. Arriving at Puebla on the . 28th of September, Gen. Lane, after another sharp encounter with the Mexicans, which resulted in their defeat, took possession of the city, and relieved Col. Childs, whose command was almost starved.
Col. Gorman, with the Fourth Indiana, was assigned to the command of the port of Puebla, where they remained until the 1st of April, 1848, engaging in numerous conflicts with the Mexican guerrillas, who were very troublesome. While at Puebla, Lieut. Tansey died, and Benjamin F. Hays was appointed to fill his place.
The first part of April, 1848, Col. Gorman, with the Fourth Indiana, returned to Vera Cruz, where they went into camp and remained until June. Peace having been declared between the United States and Mexico, the regiment was ordered to New Orleans. Taking a steamboat at that place, they arrived at Madison, Ind., and were mustered out of
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the service. At Madison, Company B was received by many friends, a large delegation from Gosport having met them to escort them home. On their way home, at Edinburg and Martinsville, the people received them with great demonstrations. Arriving at Gosport on the 17th day of July, 1848, a little more than one year after they left for Mexico, the war-worn heroes were received in the arms of loving friends, and the cheers of hundreds who had gathered to welcome them home.
There were other citizens of Owen County who served in the Mexican war in other commands.
Peter Applegate and Adam Conder are surviving soldiers of that war.
William D. Hunt and James H. Eller were in Capt. Lunderman's company (from Monroe County) of the Fourth Indiana, and Frederick A. Scholl and Jeremiah Wooden served with the company of James Hughes in the regular army.
THE GREAT REBELLION.
The conspicuous part taken by the sons of Owen County in the war of the rebellion of 1861 makes it proper to devote considerable space to a consideration of it. For a long time, a great storm had been gathering over the nation, and the clouds of war became dark and gloomy. The great disturbing question was slavery. The South wanted to establish the institution on a more enduring basis, and extend it over the Territo- ries. The North, at least a large majority of her citizens, condemning slavery as a monstrous moral wrong, no less than on the score of political economy, desired to confine it within the limits which then marked its existence. The abolition of slavery, although devoutly prayed for by many, was scarcely hoped for except by a very few. The Southern peo- ple were under the complete control of the leading politicians, who were nearly all slaveholders. By them the Union was held in light esteem, and whenever their peculiar institution was considered in danger, threats of dissolution were freely made. The people of the North, as a body, were greatly attached to the Union, and to insure its safety made frequent concessions to the slaveholders. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise was agreed to to conciliate the South; in 1854, it was repealed to satisfy their demands. For a long period of time the slaveholders of the South controlled the Congress of the United States, and dictated legislation on all matters affecting slavery. They became more and more imperious in their demands, and louder in their threats to destroy the Union. So often had the North, although vastly superior to the South in population, wealth and culture, yielded to their wishes in the interests of peace and to preserve the Union, that the Southern leaders began to assume superi- ority over the people of the Free States. Slavery had caused a wide diversity of sentiment in the two sections on many social questions. Under a system of slavery, every man who had to earn his bread in the sweat of his face was compelled to do so in direct competition with the slave under the lash. Hence, in the South, labor was considered degrad- ing and contemptible. In the North, a very different view prevailed. Labor was considered honorable. Her public men, her educators, her press and her pulpits, all united in teaching the dignity and manfulness of honest toil. The Southern press and leaders spoke of the laborers of the North in terms of derision, and called them the mudsills of society. It was even said by some of them that so degraded were the laborers of the North that they would be no match for the chivalrous sons of the
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South. and that one Southern man could whip five Northern men. In- deed, so often was this declaration made that many of the rebel soldiers believed it to be true until they were taught differently on the field of battle.
In addition to the slavery question, there was a radical difference of opinion in the two sections on the question of States' rights. The poli- ticians of the South considered the Union as a sort of confederation of States, which might be dissolved at any moment of time by the act of any one of them. They believed that the State was supreme, and the Union subordinate. A majority of the Northern people, however, held to the doctrine that the Constitution of the United States was adopted by the voice of the sovereign people, and that the Government estab- lished under it was an indivisible Republic, which should be perpetual; and that while the rights of the States were to be held inviolate, yet the Union, under the Constitution, must be forever supreme.
The Presidential election of 1860 was intensified and embittered by these divergent views. The Northern States showed signs of throwing off the yoke of Southern domination, and meeting the slavery question face to face. William H. Seward, speaking the advanced thought of a vast number of people, declared that the conflict between freedom and slavery was "irrepressible." Abraham Lincoln, with what now appears to have been a prophetic tongue, said that the Union could not perma- nently endure half slave and half free; that it would ultimately become all one thing or all the other. As the election approached, great excite- ment prevailed on both sides of Mason and Dixon's line; and when the election of Lincoln became probable, active preparations were begun by the hot-heads of the South for disrupting the Union. On the 5th day of October, 1860, Gov. Gist, of South Carolina, sent a confidential cir- cular letter to the Governors of all the cotton States, saying that if Lin- coln was elected, South Carolina would undoubtedly secede, if she had the assurance that a single other Southern State would follow her, and asked an. interchange of views. This was the first step taken in South Carolina to destroy the Union of the fathers. This State had long been the nursery of extreme disunion sentiment, and perhaps a large number of her public men hated the Union most cordially. The love and attachment of the masses of the people, however, in many of the Southern States, for the Union, was still strong, and out of deference to this well-known sentiment the responses to this circular letter by the various Governors were in guarded language, but in the main encouraged the South Caro- lina view.
The election occurred on the 6th day of November, 1860, and on the morning of the 7th it was known throughout the land that Lincoln was certainly elected. The Legislature of South Carolina, then in session, immediately called a convention, and began preparations for secession and war. The Convention met at Columbia, but soon adjourned to Charleston, where, without delay, it passed an ordinance of secession. Before the inauguration of Lincoln, on the 4th day of March, 1861, all the cotton States had followed the example of South Carolina. In the meantime, as State after State withdrew from the Union, President Bu- chanan took no measures to prevent it. On the contrary, the Southern members of his cabinet were allowed to remain, after it was well known that they were co-operating with the rebels for the overthrow of the Union. Indeed, the President, with a large number of his friends, be-
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lieved that while a State had no right to secede, the General Government had no right to use force to prevent it. Acting upon the theory that the Government had no right to coerce a State to remain in the Union, he stood idly by and saw the Union, of which he was the head, fall to pieces around him. His Secretary, Floyd, was permitted to remain in the cabinet, where he availed himself of every opportunity to scatter the Union forces and property, and place them where they would either fall into rebel hands, or where they could not be made available in defense of the Government.
Under these discouraging circumstances, Lincoln became President on the 4th day of March, 1861. Preparations for war had been made by the rebels on a grand scale, and hostilities soon commenced. Fort Sum- ter, in Charleston Harbor, received the first fire from the guns of the great rebellion, and after a most gallant defense by its small garrison, under the command of Maj. Anderson, the fort was compelled to surren- der. On Sunday, April 14, 1861, the flag of the Union was hauled down,. and its gallant defender, with his small force, marched out. The first shot fired by the rebellion in Charleston Harbor aroused every loyal heart in the North before its echoes were hushed.
On that same day, President Lincoln with his own hand drafted his proclamation and call for 75,000 three months volunteers to defend the integrity of the nation. The proclamation was dated and telegraphed to the country on Monday, April 15, 1861. On the same day the Presi- dent received at the White House in Washington the following telegram:
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF INDIANA, INDIANAPOLIS, April 15, 1861. TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States:
On behalf of the State of Indiana, I tender to you, for the defense of the Na- tion, and to uphold the authority of the Government, ten thousand men.
OLIVER P. MORTON, Governor of Indiana.
This telegram was characteristic of the man who sent it, and fully in- dicated the patriotism, the energy, the readiness, and the unflagging zeal which afterward won for him the proud title of the great War Governor of Indiana. Gov. Morton did not mistake the temper of the people of his State. His offer of men to defend the Union met with a hearty and patriotic response in all parts of Indiana. Owen County heard and heeded the call. The writer of this, on the next day, wrote a call for a public meeting to be held at the court house, in the town of Spencer. on Friday, April 19, 1861, for the purpose of procuring volunteers. The result was a large and enthusiastic meeting. Before the time of meeting, a large number of volunteers had been procured, and on that day a com- pany was organized by the selection of John H. Martin, as Captain, Dudley Rogers, First Lieutenant; Wiley E. Dittemore, Second Lieuten- ant, and David E. Beem, First Sergeant. The company was organized on the same day that the famous Sixth Massachusetts Regiment of Vol- unteers was assailed by a secession mob in the streets of Baltimore, on its way to Washington, and was compelled to fight its way through the city, which it did successfully. A meeting was also held in the town of Gos- port, where a large number of recruits were obtained. The company roll was completed, and on the 8th day of May, 1861, the company was ready to march. The patriotic ladies of Spencer made with their own hands a beautiful silk flag, and presented it to the boys. This testimo- nial was highly prized. It was carried for a long time as the regimental flag of the Fourteenth Indiana Volunteers; its bearer was killed at the
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battle of Gettysburg, and it is now in the keeping of David E. Beem. On the 8th day of May, the company was conveyed from Spencer to Gos- port in wagons, where it boarded the train for Indianapolis, and arrived at Camp Morton about 8 o'clock P. M. They arrived too late for the three months call, the quota having been filled. The Indiana Legisla- ture, however, then in session at Indianapolis, had authorized the Gov- ernor to organize six regiments for the service of the State for one year, and Capt. Martin's company unanimously decided to go into that service. They were accordingly sent to Camp Vigo, near Terre Haute, where they were mustered into the State service for one year, and became Company H, of the Fourteenth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, under Col. Nathan Kimball. This was one of the six regiments called into the service of the State by the Legislature.
In the meantime, however, the President made another call for 42,000 troops for three years. The Fourteenth Indiana, nearly unanimously, responded to that call, and was mustered into the service of the United States for three years, on the 7th day of June, 1861, being the first regi- ment of three years troops mustered into the service from the State of Indiana. On the 24th day of June, the regiment was transferred to Indianapolis, and on the 5th day of July, it boarded the cars for the scene of conflict in Western Virginia. As the trains bearing the Four- teenth Indiana passed through the towns of Eastern Indiana. thousands of people gathered at many places to greet and cheer the soldier boys on their way. At Muncie, the train was stopped long enough to allow the men of the whole regiment to partake of a sumptuous dinner prepared by the ladies and patriotic citizens of that town. During all the three years of arduous service. of the recipients of that magnificent demonstration, their minds often turned back to that place and day, and Muncie to this hour is gratefully remembered by many of the survivors of the old "Four. teenth."
On the 7th day of July, they crossed the Ohio River at Bellaire, a short distance below Wheeling, and proceeded to Clarksburg, Va., where they were supplied with wagous and teams, and started on the march to join Gen. George B. McClellan's army, then in front of the rebels on Rich Mountain. Proceeding through Buchanan, they arrived at McClel- lan's headquarters late on the evening of July 10. The plans for the battle which was fought at that place on the next day had already been perfected, and the Fourteenth being the last to arrive was held in re- serve. The battle was fought on the following day (July 11), and the Fourteenth was so posted as to be in full view of the smoke of battle as it ascended through the treetops on the mountain above and beyond them. The success attending the Union arms at the battle of Rich Mountain was complete, and resulted in the abandonment of that part of Virginia by the rebels. On the 27th day of July, Company H, with the whole of the Fourteenth, was posted on Cheat Mountain summit, eight miles from Huttonville in the valley below. Here the Fourteenth Indi- ana constituted the outpost of the Union forces in that part of Western Virginia, on the road leading eastward to Monterey and Staunton. The rebels were in considerable force on Greenbrier River, thirteen miles dis- tant, and the regiment was compelled to use the utmost vigilance. A great deal of picket duty had to be performed. For a period of nearly three months the regiment remained at this point, fifty miles from the railroad, and in a wild and mountainous region. The weather during
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the summer and fall was very cool, rainy and disagreeable, and, owing to a scarcity of rations and clothing, and also on account of the unusual amount of scouting and skirmishing with the rebel forces in front and bushwhackers on every hand, the men of the Fourteenth at this place performed a great deal of hard service, and endured great hardships and privations. They constructed on the summit of the mountain elaborate fortifications, and did a great deal of hard work in the way of cutting down timber and strengthening their position.
On the 25th day of August, First Lieut. Dudley Rogers and Second Lieut. Wiley E. Dittemore resigned, and David E. Beem was commis- sioned First Lieutenant and Porter B. Lundy Second Lieutenant of Company H.
On the 12th day of September, 1861, the Fourteenth Indiana, still occupying its outpost on Cheat Mountain, was entirely surrounded by a largely superior force of rebels, under the command of Gen. Robert E. Lee, who afterward became the famous leader of the rebel army of Northern Virginia. The Fourteenth, however, was fully prepared to de- fend its position, and after making an ineffectual attempt to take the place, the rebels retired during the night following. The loss of the Fourteenth was three killed, fourteen wounded and two prisoners. The rebel loss was much greater. Company H had no losses in this fight.
On the 3d day of October, the engagement at Greenbrier River was fought. Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds, having concentrated a Union force of ten regiments strong, including the Fourteenth Indiana, moved his command from Cheat Mountain summit with the intention of making a strong demonstration against the rebels, then in camp on Greenbrier River, thirteen miles distant, with a view to ascertain their strength. It was not intended to bring on a general engagement, but in driving in the rebel pickets and outposts considerable fighting and skirmishing oc- curred. Company H, of the Fourteenth Indiana, was ordered to ascend a steep spur of the mountain on the north side of the road, and drive in a rebel outpost. They succeeded in capturing a rebel Lieutenant and six men, without any loss. Later in the day, however, Harrison Myers was killed by a cannon ball which struck him on his right hip, tearing and mangling it in a horrible manner. He was the first Owen County soldier to fall in battle. The regiment lost five killed and eleven wounded.
On the 8th day of October, the Fourteenth was relieved from its arduous duties on Cheat Mountain, and proceeded by way of Hutton- ville, where it remained in camp some time; then proceeded by way of Beverly and Phillippi, to Webster, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Here the regiment boarded the cars, and was transported to Green Spring Run, from which point it marched to Romney, sixteen miles south of the railroad, where it arrived on the 30th day of December. While at Romney, the regiment participated in a lively skirmish at Bloomery Furnace, where a rebel recruiting station was attacked and broken up.
Remaining at Romney until January 10, 1862, it moved to North Branch bridge, on the North Branch of the Potomac, near Cumberland, Md .; from there it went to Paw Paw tunnel, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, where the remainder of the winter was spent. While at this place, it was a part of the command of Gen. Lauder, who died in the camp.
During the stay of the Fourteenth at Paw Paw tunnel, it bore a part in an expedition to Blue's Gap, about twenty miles distant, where, with -
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out loss, it routed the rebels who had occupied that place in considerable force. On the 4th day of March, 1862, the regiment was ordered to Martinsburg, Va., and marched along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to that place. Here it became a part of the division of Gen. Shields. It was also at this point that the brigade, consisting of the Fourteenth Indiana, Fourth and Eighth Ohio and Seventh Virginia Regiments, was formed. These regiments served together in the same brigade to the close of their term of service. They afterward stood shoulder to shoulder on many a hard-fought field, and learned to have great confidence in and respect for each other.
Shields' division went into camp near Winchester about the middle of March. On the 23d of that month, the battle of Winchester was fought between the division of Gen. Shields and the rebel forces under the command of Gen. Jackson, who afterward became known as the great Field Marshal, Stonewall Jackson. The result was a complete victory for the Union arms, the rebels being utterly routed and pursued for twenty-five miles. In this battle, the forces on the opposing sides were about equal. The Union loss was 103 killed and 441 wounded; the rebel loss, 270 killed and several hundred wounded; also quite a num- ber of prisoners and two pieces of artillery. The loss of the Fourteenth Indiana was four killed and sixty wounded. The loss of Company H was as follows: Killed, Peter Schaffer; wounded, Capt. John H. Martin, Lieut. David E. Beem, James R. Fritts, F. H. Burnett, Jesse Wellborn and Harrison Anderson.
After the battle of Winchester, the Fourteenth Indiana, with the bri- gade to which it was attached, proceeded up the Shenandoah Valley to Harrisonburg, where it remained until the 15th day of May. On that day, it left Harrisonburg with Shields' division under orders to report to Gen. McDowell at Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock River. The march to that place was accomplished in six days, the distance, over the route traveled, being 130 miles. The withdrawal of Shields' division from the Shenandoah Valley, however, left the Union forces there. un- der Gen. Banks, so weak as to invite Gen. Jackson to move down upon him. He accordingly did so with a powerful force, and Banks was in a critical condition. On the second day after the arrival of the Fourteenth Indiana at Fredericksburg, it was ordered back to the Shenandoah Val- ley. Accordingly, on the 24th day of May, with Shields' entire division, it started on the return trip, and, making a forced march by way of Manassas Gap, it arrived at Front Royal on the 1st day of June. From Front Royal the division moved to Luray, where it was on the 6th day of June. By this time, Jackson was being driven out of the valley by Banks and Fremont, on the west side of the river. The Fourth Bri- gade of Shields' division had been ordered to Port Republic, thirty- eight miles above Luray, to destroy a bridge across the Shenandoah River, to intercept the retreat of the rebels. The latter, however, had already crossed the bridge, and burned it to detain the advance of Fre- mont. Jackson then turned against the Fourth Brigade with an over- whelming force, and the First Brigade, of which the Fourteenth Indiana was a part, made a long and rapid march to relieve the Fourth, but only arrived in time to find it badly cut in pieces, and to cover its retreat. Both brigades then returned to Luray. During these forced marches, the soldiers of the Fourteenth Indiana endured great hardships, occa- sioned no less by the loss of supplies and extra baggage than by the ex-
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traordinary fatigue of the men. From Luray the regiment with the di- vision marched to Front Royal; thence to Bristow Station, on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, where it arrived on the 23d day of June. The Fourteenth Indiana had thus marched and counter-marched between the 15th day of May and the 23d day of June, 1862, a distance of 339 miles. Owing to the want of Quartermaster's supplies, many of the men were without shoes. It was customary at this time, while on the march, to call out all the men who had no shoes, form them into a separate squad, and allow them to march out of the main column, under the command of an officer detailed for that duty, who allowed them to pick their way. The writer of this article has seen more than fifty men of the Fourteenth Indiana thus marching with bleeding feet over the rough and stony roads of that mountainous part of Virginia. From Bristow Station, Shields' division was ordered to Alexandria, on the Potomac River. Here the division was broken up. The First Brigade was ordered to join the Army of the Potomac, then on the Peninsula of Virginia. Embarking at Alexandria on the fine steamer " Columbia," on the 30th day of June, 1862, the Fourteenth Indiana proceeded down the Potomac into Chesa- peake Bay, and thence by Fortress Monroe, up the James River to Harri- son's Landing, where it landed on the 2d day of July. Here it joined the Army of the Potomac, just after the battle of Malvern Hill, the last of the six days' fighting by the Army of the Potomac, during its celebrat- ed change of base from the Chickahominy to the James River. McClel- lan's whole army was massed in Turkey Bend of the James River, and the rebels were pushing their advance force close up to its lines. The Fourteenth Indiana, with its brigade, was hurriedly thrown out to the front on the morning after it landed, to meet and hold the rebels in check, while the main army was re-forming its lines and strengthening its position. In a lively skirmish which ensued, James M. Dyar, of Com- pany H, Fourteenth Indiana, was seriously wounded by a ball, which passed entirely through his foot. At this place, the brigade which the Fourteenth Indiana belonged to was attached to the Third Division, Sec- ond Army Corps, and was made the First Brigade of the division.
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