USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume I > Part 70
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"Paroled and sent to Vicksburg, we there awaited transportation northward and home. On April 25, 1865, we boarded the Sultana and everything went smoothly until we reached Memphis. There two hundred and fifty hogsheads of sugar were unloaded, many soldiers assisting the crew, thus earning a little money, a fair supper and, for those who wanted it, all the whiskey they could drink. From there still northward the steamer ploughed her way through the night, her living freight wrapped in slumber and no noise, except the steady puffing of the engines, disturbed the sleepers. About two o'clock in the morning of April 27th, the widely chronicled explosion took place. For a moment, the darkness of the night was intensified and then came the screams and groans of the injured." .
"Andy McCormack, Thomas Laboyteaux and myself were sleeping together on the hurricane deck, about half way between the pilot house and the bow of the boat, dreaming of home and friends. The first thing I knew of the explosion, I was standing on my feet, looking right down into the boiler room. The whole of the vessel, amidship, was torn, in pieces; fire quickly followed the explosion and the red glare of the flames disclosed a scene of terror and tragedy. My first thought was, 'How can we save ourselves?' Andy McCormack was sleeping
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soundly and only partly aroused by the explosion, he asked, 'Where is my blanket ?' I told him I didn't think he would ever need a blanket again and that we would be lucky to escape with our lives. Andy turned around and started away. I moved to the bow of the boat and saw dozens of men jumping into the river. So many were taking to the water that I feared to follow, lest I should be dragged down by the clutch of some drowning victim. Looking about, I seized a large rope and slid to the lower deck, where I stood until the fierce heat drove me over the side. I threw a door into the water and on that floated two or three miles, but strugglers in the water kept grasping the door and turning it over so that I abandoned it and swan down the river alone, until I overtook some fifteen or eighteen men on a gang plank, whom I joined. Their combined weight sank them to their necks in the water and the gang plank, constantly turning, threw many under the water, never to reappear. The river, from the boat to Memphis, was full of struggling men and dead bodies. Myself and a sergeant of a Michigan regiment caught some driftwood and tried to raft ourselves ashore, but the men were so excited, we could do nothing. When we came around the bend and saw Memphis, we knew where we were. We drifted past the landing which was crowded with people from the city. Opposite Fort Pickering, two men in a skiff rowed out to within twenty or thirty feet of us, but feared to approach nearer, lest the men, in a scramble for safety, should overturn the boat. The Michigan sergeant and myself (I was a good swimmer) swam to the skiff and were taken ashore."
"Numbed by the cold and exposure, we could hardly walk. Our rescuers took us up the steep bank of the river into the Fort and gave each of us a half pint of whiskey, supplied us with breakfast and lent us clothing, until such time as we could be outfitted by the Government, which was done on the following day, at the hospital to which we were removed from Fort Pickering. From the hospital, we were taken to the Soldiers' Home where we remained until taken aboard the U. S. Mail boat, bound for Cairo, Illinois. Thence we went by rail to Mattoon, Illinois, where the citizens tendered us a reception. From Mattoon, we went to Indianapolis and thence scattered to our homes. This home-coming was to me, as, no doubt, it was to all, the happiest moment of my life."
THOMAS JEFFERSON GINN.
SURVIVOR.
Thomas Jefferson Ginn belonged to the well known family of that name, which before and during the Civil War, was so numerous in and around the village of Cadiz. He was the son of James and Margaret (Youngman) Ginn and was born August 17, 1833.
When the Civil War began, he was living near Mechanicsburg, from which place he enlisted in Company F, 57th Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, November 18, 1861. He served with his regiment continuously, veteranized and came home on ยท veteran furlough. At the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, November 30, 1864, he was captured and held in Cahaba Prison, Alabama, until March, 1865. 'Ginn was a Sultana survivor, but the details of his miraculous escape from death by drowning are not now obtain- able.
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The war being over, he returned to his home in Harrison Township and for many years followed his trade as a carpenter. On December 30, 1874, he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Josiah and Anna McCormack, of the well known family of that name in Harrison Township. He died December 17, 1900, and is buried in Mechanicsburg Cemetery. His widow survives him and makes her home at Middletown. The author has desired to give a more detailed state- ment as to this soldier, but has sought for material to that end without success.
WILLIAM C. HOOBER.
LOST.
On December 18, 1842, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, David M .. Hoober and Fannie Baker were united in marriage. The Hoobers were of Ger- man ancestry and Henry County has received many valuable accessions from this element of the old Keystone State. Hoober and his wife came to Henry County in 1844 and settled in the northern part of Prairie Township, where they ever afterwards lived and raised a large family. The father was born January I, 1820, and died July 2, 1899. The mother was born January 18, 1823, and died July 1, 1900. Both are buried in Buck Creek Cemetery, Monroe Township, Delaware County, Indiana.
That the family was patriotic is attested by the service of its only two sons. who were old enough to go into the army, during the Civil War. John B. Hoober enlisted from Luray in Company I, 69th Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into- the service of the United States, as a private, August 19, 1862. He served with the regiment until mustered out at the end of the war, July 5, 1865.
William C. Hoober, born November 2, 1847, assisted in recruiting in Prairie Township for Company G, 9th Indiana Cavalry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private in that company, January 21, 1864. At Sulphur Branch Trestle, Alabama, September 25, 1864, he was captured, along- with Lewis Johnson, William H. Peacock and other comrades, and held in the Confederate prison, Cahaba, Alabama, until March, 1865, when he and other- prisoners of war were released on parole. The facts attending his capture and the privations endured in the Confederate prison are substantially the same as set out in the personal recollections of the two comrades of his company, Lewis Johnson and William H. Peacock, published in this chapter. Hoober, Johnson and Peacock, all went into the same company and regiment in the army and they went from the same neighborhood in Prairie Township. In fact, they had grown up as boys together. They all boarded the Sultana at Vicksburg, Mississippi, and started with glad hearts on the voyage up the river towards Cairo, Illinois, and thence- home. But when the fatal explosion occurred, William C. Hoober, not so for- tunate as his two comrades, went down to a watery grave. His body was not recovered.
LEWIS JOHNSON.
SURVIVOR.
Lewis Johnson was born in Prairie Township, Henry County, Indiana, near the village of Luray, November 27, 1845. His parents were John and Charlotte:
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Johnson, who came to Henry County in the pioneer days from Muskingum County, Ohio. John Johnson, the father, was a native of Virginia.
When the war came, he was too young to enter the army but December 15, 1863, he enlisted in Company G, 9th Indiana Cavalry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, January 21, 1864. The regiment served with the Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas.
On September 25, 1864, during the severe engagement at Sulphur Spring Trestle, Alabama, Mr. Johnson, with many others of his regiment, was captured by the Confederates under General Forrest and imprisoned at Cahaba, Alabama, where they were kept until March, 1865. During his confinement there, Mr. John- son experienced the terrible privations which were so often the lot of unhappy prisoners. Insufficient and unwholesome food was doled out, usually coarse corn meal and occasionally meat, said to be beef, but which Mr. Johnson says was probably mule meat, "tough, hard to masticate and difficult to digest."
When the prisoners at Cahaba were released in March, 1865, they were not exchanged but were simply paroled and sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they remained in parole camp, until sent on board the steamer Sultana, April 25. 1865, pulling out at once for Memphis, Cairo and home.
On board the steamer, everything went along smoothly until the early morn- ing of April 27th, when the terrible explosion occurred. Mr. Johnson, narrating his experience, says :
"At the time I was lying right in front of the wheelhouse, on the hurricane deck, sound asleep. Aroused by the explosion and taking in the situation as best I could, it was evident that the boat was doomed. I picked up some boards and carried them to the edge of the boat, where I stripped off my clothes, but the flames were already upon me and I was burned about the back and shoulders. Naked as I was, except for a handkerchief tied about my neck, I jumped into the water and sank. On coming to the surface, I struck out with all my strength for the Arkansas shore and finally reached the timber. I, with eight other persons, got on one of a number of logs that were floating about. where we maintained our holds until rescued by boats. The Indiana Sanitary Commission at once took us in hand. I was supplied with a blanket, which I wrapped around me, and was given hot stimulants. We were landed at Memphis and taken to Gayoso Hospital in carriages sent to the wharf for that purpose. After several days spent in the hospital recovering from exhaustion, we were put aboard the United States Mail boat and taken to Cairo, Illinois, thence by rail to Indianapolis, and from there I hurried to my Henry County home, where I remained until final discharge, June 17, 1865. The horrors of that awful catastrophe are indelibly stamped upon my memory."
After his discharge from the army, Mr. Johnson remained on his father's farm and worked for him until his marriage which took place October 18, 1868, his wife being a daughter of David M. Hoober. They were the parents of eight children, six of whom are still living. His wife died January 23, 1899. Mr. John- son is now a prosperous farmer living in Delaware County, three miles west of Muncie.
Silas Johnson, a brother of Lewis, was also a soldier of the Civil War, who served three enlistments. He was mustered into the service of the United States
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as a private in Company K, 57th Indiana Infantry, November 14, 1862, and was mustered out August 14, 1863. He again enlisted in Company B, 134th Indiana Infantry and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, May 24, 1864, and was mustered out September 14, 1864. His final enlistment was in Company B, 147th Indiana Infantry. He was mustered into the service of the United States, as a Sergeant, January 25, 1865, and was mustered out August 4, 1865.
THOMAS LABOYTEAUX.
LOST.
Thomas Laboyteaux was the son of Peter and Anna Laboyteaux, old set- tlers of Henry County, east of New Castle. Peter is buried in the Batson Cemetery, Liberty Township, and Anna, his wife, in the cemetery near Greentown, Howard County, Indiana. The family came to Henry County from near Hamilton, Ohio.
Thomas was born July 4, 1836, and was married April 12, 1860, to Ellen M., daughter of Imla and Susan Cooper, of the well known Cooper family, of Harrison Township. Imla was one of four Cooper brothers, Caleb, Imla, William and John, who, in the early 'thirties, emigrated, with their families, from near Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio, to the western part of Henry County. Indiana, from which fact comes the name of Harrison Township and the town of Cadiz. From their first settlement in the county to the present time, the family has played an important part in the commercial, social, political and religious affairs of Harrison Township.
Thomas Laboyteaux was a farmer, near Cadiz. In the Winter of 1863-4, when Captain Volney Hobson was organizing what became Company E, 9th Indiana Cavalry, Laboyteaux joined the company and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, January 8, 1864. He was a faithful and efficient soldier and, voicing the sentiment of his surviving comrades, he was brave and daring. He was captured near Franklin, Tennessee, December 1, 1864, along with Robert W. Gilbreath and Andrew J. McCormack. Sultana survivors. and all were held, as prisoners of war, in Cahaba Prison, Alabama, until March, 1865, when they were released on parole and sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where they remained until they boarded the doomed Sultana, homeward bound. Laboyteaux, less fortunate than his companions, was lost and his body never recovered.
When Private Laboyteaux went into the army, he left his family, consisting of his wife and two children, living in Cadiz. The children were Agnes, born February 10, 1861, and Leonora, born September 24. 1864. Mrs. Laboyteaux has ever since her husband's death retained his name, residing continuously with her daughters, in Cadiz, where the family is universally respected and esteemed.
ANDREW JACKSON MCCORMACK.
SURVIVOR.
Andrew Jackson McCormack was born June 26, 1846, on the farm of his parents, Melon and Mary McCormack, near Cadiz, Henry County, Indiana. He had three brothers in the Civil War, for one of whom, John R. McCormack Post,
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
No. 403, G. A. R., Cadiz, was named. In the biographical sketch of John Rowdy McCormack, attached to the history of that Post, published elsewhere in this history, will be found further reference to the parents and to the military services of his brothers.
Andrew J. McCormack enlisted in the army in 1863, in Company E, 9th Indiana Cavalry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, January 8, 1864. The regiment served with the Army of the Cumber- land and was engaged in the military operations against the advance of General Hood's Confederate forces towards Nashville, Tennessee.
In an affair with the enemy, near Franklin, Tennessee, December 1, 1864, he was taken prisoner, along with several comrades of his company. They were captured by the 6th Texas Rangers and taken to Corinth, Mississippi, and thence transferred to a Confederate prison at Meridian, Mississippi, and from there to Calaba, Alabama, where they arrived in January, 1865. Here was a noted Con- federate prison, known during the war as "Castle Morgan." Here they were confined until March, 1865, when Mr. McCormack, along with the other prisoners, was paroled and sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he remained in parole camp, until the arrival of the steamer Sultana, April 25, 1865, when he embarked in that ill fated vessel for the journey northward and home.
At Memphis he helped unload the vessel's cargo of sugar and received seventy five cents for his labor, and this was all the money he had, having received none since the time of his capture. Leaving Memphis, the soldiers were resting in fancied security, but disaster and death were already closing in upon them. Mr. McCormack says :
"About eight miles north of Memphis, the explosion occurred. All was excite- ment and confusion. I was on the hurricane deck asleep, but aroused by the ex- plosion and gathering my senses, my first thought was of safety. I started towards the bow of the boat but the crowd was too great and I turned and started for the stern. Amidship of the vessel, I was driven back by the flames. Thus hemmed in I climbed to the top of the wheel house and from there jumped into the river and began swimming down stream. I was a good swimmer and after a time, I began to make for the shore on my right, but could not stem the swift current. About four miles below the wreck, I found some twenty five men holding onto a gang plank and I joined them. Some of them, becoming chilled by the water and losing their strength, could no longer hold on but sank beneath the waters. Float- ing in this way, we passed the city of Memphis but, about a mile below that city, three canoes found us and we were rescued by willing hands. From the wreck to the point of rescue was about ten miles and we were in the water about four hours.
"We were taken to Memphis and cared for there in the general hospital. After two or three days' rest, we were put on board the United States Mail boat and taken to Cairo, Illinois ; thence we were transferred to Indianapolis, and from there I went as soon as possible to Knightstown and then home to Cadiz, where I was received as one from the dead. After a few weeks of rest, I reported in per- son to the Adjutant General at Indianapolis and was furloughed back home, where I remained until final discharge, September II, 1865. I never saw my regiment again after my capture. From about two months before my capture until my final
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
discharge from the army, I drew no pay, but upon discharge, I received for pay and allowances three hundred dollars.
"There were two other boys from Cadiz aboard the Sultana, Thomas Laboy- teaux. a member of my company, who was drowned, and Thomas J. Ginn, of Company F, 57th Indiana Infantry, who escaped. There were other men of my regiment aboard the boat but, with the exception of Robert W. Gilbreath, I did not know them nor did I meet them prior to nor after the disaster. It was a fearful experience, never to be forgotten, to which neither pen nor brush can do justice."
In May, 1866, Andrew J. McCormack was united in marriage with Catharine Haggy and to them have been born eight children, five of whom are now living. Mr. McCormack is a carpenter and contractor, living at Cadiz.
ENOCH THOMPSON NATION. LOST.
The Nation family has been, for a long series of years, identified with the history of Dudley Township, Henry County. The history of the family in Henry County is nearly as old as the county itself. Enoch Nation, the father of Enoch Thompson, was born in Tennessee, September 18, 1804, and died February 15, 1879. The mother, Sophia Thompson, was born in Virginia, March 16, 1807, and died May 12, 1876. They were married in Henry County, Indiana, on December 29, 1825. the ceremony being performed by Elisha Long, Associate Justice, and both are buried in the Leakey Graveyard, north of New Lisbon.
The family was earnest and active in its support of the Government, during the Civil War. Six sons of Enoch Nation marched under the banner of the Union. Sampson served in a Kansas regiment ; David was Captain of Company B, 69th Indiana Infantry ; William, a private in Company C, 5th Indiana Cavalry ; James Rariden, a Sergeant in Company A, 8th Indiana Infantry (three years), afterwards became Captain of Company G, 9th Indiana Cavalry, and Major of the regiment; Seth was a private in Company A, 8th Indiana Infantry (three years) ; and Enoch Thompson; who lost his life by the explosion of the boiler of the Sultana, and whose body was never recovered.
William Nation, brother of Enoch and the uncle of the above named soldiers. sent two sons into the army, namely: Wallace, who lost his life in front of Atlanta, while serving in the 20th Indiana Battery, and Enoch H., who served in the Indiana Legion and with the State troops, in the Morgan Raid.
All of the above named soldiers, except Sampson and David, are properly accredited to Henry County, and their records will be found appropriately set out in this History under their respective organizations. The record of Sampson in the Kansas regiment is not obtainable ; David went into the army in command of a company, from Delaware County. He was for a time a resident of New Castle. where he was editor of the New Castle Courier, and will be remembered by many Henry County people. He was the husband of the Carrie Nation who achieved notoriety in the State of Kansas by her strenuous advocacy of the temperance cause.
Enoch Thompson Nation, who was born January 31, 1845, enlisted as a private in Company G, 9th Indiana Cavalry, of which his brother, James R., was
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Captain, and was mustered into the service of the United States January 21, 1864. He was taken prisoner at Sulphur Branch Trestle, Alabama, September 25, 1864. along with William C. Hoober, Lewis Johnson, William H. Peacock and other members of the company. With his above named comrades he was taken to Cahaba Prison, Alabama; he was released with them at the same time, going thence to Vicksburg, Mississippi. As was perfectly natural, the members of Company G, 9th Indiana Cavalry, who had been captured together and had suffered together in Cahaba, were bound by the closest ties, while at Vicksburg, awaiting transportation north, and after they had boarded the Sultana. They were a merry band of comrades homeward bound, when the awful explosion occurred which sent young Nation to his grave beneath the waters of the turbut- lent Mississippi.
WILLIAM HENRY PEACOCK.
SURVIVOR.
William Henry Peacock was born in Tyler County, Virginia. May 28, 1845. His parents were Elijah and Mary (Wright) Peacock. They came to Indiana in 1846, settling near the village of Luray in Prairie Township, Henry County. He spent his youth on a farm and remained with his parents until he was seven- teen years old, when he enlisted December 15, 1863, in Company G, 9th Indiana Cavalry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, January 21, 1864. Later he was appointed a Corporal of his company. He was captured at Sulphur Branch Trestle, Alabama, September 25, 1864, and was confined in the Confederate prison at Cahaba, Alabama, until March, 1865. Dur- ing his captivity, he suffered from privations of a most aggravated character. The food especially was of a scanty and unsanitary character, the daily ration con- sisting of one quart of coarse corn meal, ground cob and all. When captured, he was in robust health and weighed one hundred and ninety seven pounds ; when released, his weight was eighty one pounds, and his health so shattered that he did not fully recover until long after the war.
When released from Cahaba on parole, he was sent to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he remained until the arrival of the steamboat Sultana, on which he and many hundreds of other paroled soldiers embarked April 25, 1865, homeward bound. The vessel reached Memphis, Tennessee, on the evening of April 26th. Leaving there later in the same evening, the boat was gliding smoothly through the waters of the Mississippi, when without warning, she was shaken from stem to stern by the explosion of her boiler and immediately burst into flames.
Mr. Peacock, in his vivid recollections of the event, says :
"When the explosion occurred, I was on that part of the boat where the officers' berths were located, called the 'Texas,' in front of the pilot house. There were four of my comrades with me, but of the five, I alone was saved. The others perished by fire or were drowned in the icy waters of the river. Enoch Nation and myself. when the explosion took place, fell back on the boat together and were covered with the flying debris. Freeing ourselves from this, we started to find some escape from the impending doom. Enoch went into the flames and was never heard of afterwards. I climbed to the wheel house, which was torn and wrecked, and there, picking up a piece or two of timber, I plunged with them into the river.
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I started down stream, struggling and battling with the waves, until some distance below Memphis, where I was rescued and taken to the hospital in that city. When rescued, I was entirely naked, except for a pair of drawers, one stocking and a handkerchief around my neck. The explosion was a terrible fatality and the impression made upon my mind by its sufferings and horrors can never be effaced.
"April 30, 1865, I left Memphis by boat for Cairo, Illinois, and thence I went by rail to Indianapolis. There I was furloughed home, but afterwards returned to Indianapolis, where I received my full pay and allowances and my final discharge from the army, June 25, 1865."
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