USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 11
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S.
COMPANY H, 69th INDIANA INFANTRY.
S. FIFER
NOAH
W.
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HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
excited the populace. The act was regarded as an insult to their religion and a violation of the most sacred of its institutions. The excitement among the Mexi- cans was very great and there were ominous threats. There were perhaps, not to exceed 10,000 American troops in the city and its suburbs and these were quar- tered remotely from each other. At the time of the greatest excitement I was in charge of the guard at the Custom House where eight hundred Mexican women were engaged in making clothing for our troops. Half of the guard was with- drawn and ordered to report at the convent where an attack by the infuriated populace was threatened. Fortunately the excitement subsided without serious results.
The rations doled out to the regiment at Santa Clara showed no improvement. All of our money was spent since the last pay day and so with a boldness born of impecuniosity and a hunger never quite satisfied, I entered a bakery and asked for bread. The baker placed several loaves on the counter. With my limited knowledge of Spanish, I said to him, A poco tiempo, meaning that I would pay for it in a short time. The baker reached for the bread, but I anticipated him and picked up the loaves. I wrote my name on a slip of paper and handed it to the baker, who placed it in a drawer. I took the bread to our quarters and for two or three days our mess fared sumptuously. A few days afterwards, our regiment was paid off and with my monthly stipend in my pocket, I went to the place of business of my friend, the baker, who remembered me, and to his great surprise, paid for the bread. The news of this little transaction spread among the dealers along the street, and my credit was so well established, that I could, I think, have bought all the bakeries on the street, on time.
Death was decimating the ranks of our army. Men out of an equable climate of the North temperate zone could not withstand the fevers of a plain in the torrid zone, 7.500 feet above the level of the sea. To the dangers of the climate to an American, were added those of the bad sanitary conditions of a great city. Many members of the Fifth Regiment were in the hospital. Captain Cary and Lieutenant Marshall died in the City of Mexico and Lieutenant Shunk was pro- moted to the captaincy of Company H. The bodies of our dead officers were placed in metallic coffins and taken to Vera Cruz, whence they were to be trans- ported to their homes at Marion, but the superstitious sailors would not allow the corpses to be brought on shipboard, and their remains were buried in the cemetery at Vera Cruz where several hundred American soldiers were buried.
There was an ancient cemetery connected with the convent of Santa Clara, for every ecclesiastical edifice of importance had its burying ground. Here in this cemetery, 2,500 miles from home, many members of the Fifth Regiment were buried. Every cemetery of importance, whether in peace or war, is apt to have its grave robbers. It was discovered that Mexican ghouls were despoiling the graves of our dead comrades. No valuables were ever buried with the bodies of our comrades, but their graves in numerous instances had been opened and the corpses stripped of their clothing. I was ordered one night to take a squad of men and capture the wretches if possible. We stealthily approached the cemetery under the cover of night, but the ghouls who had opened three graves and stripped two bodies, had confederates, and fled into the chapparral.
After performing garrison duty in the City of Mexico, for a month, the Fifth
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Regiment was ordered to Molino del Rey, or The King's Mill, five miles east of the capital and not far from the Castle of Chapultepec. We bade farewell forever to the old convent and marched to our new quarters. Here we selected a pleasant camp and pitched our tents. The Mill of the King from which the place takes its sonorous Spanish name was a stone building several hundred feet long and one story high. Previous to the battle which was fought here, on September 8, the Mexicans had used the mill as a cannon factory. Here the regiment performed ordinary garrison duty and had daily drill. Our regiment had no chaplain, but on Sunday, the members of the regiment were accustomed to attend religious services in a grove near the Castle of Chapultepec.
A Mexican lady of high rank who had known Colonel Lane on the Rio Grande paid him a visit at Molino del Rey. She was mounted on a fine horse and was attended by an escort. There was nothing unusual in her visit and the only thing which attracted our attention was the fact that she rode astride her horse. Her habiliments which came well down on both sides of her horse were modest and decorous and I only recall the incident now to illustrate the fact that the strictest conventionalities of the country permitted her to ride in a manner both comfortable and safe. I afterwards learned that this was the usual way for all Mexican women and people of Spanish extraction to ride, commonly called, "riding Spanish."
An armistice had been agreed upon by the commanders of the American and Mexican armies, August 24, 1847. This armistice provided that "hostilities should instantly and absolutely cease between the armies of the United States of America, and the United Mexican States within thirty leagues of the capital of the latter State." Nicholas P. Trist, the commissioner for the United States, had for a long time been vainly endeavoring to negotiate a treaty of peace with the Mexican Government. Notwithstanding the armistice, bodies of Mexican Cavalry oc- casionally made dashes within our lines, and the monotony of garrison life at Molino del Rey was varied by an exciting episode one night when our regiment and the Third Tennessee were ordered out to disperse a body of Mexican Cavalry. We hastily formed in line and marched to Guadalupe seven or eight miles distant, only to find the enemy fleeing and hear the splashing of the water as their cavalry plunged into a ditch along the road side.
Our regiment remained at Molino del Rey about six weeks and was then ordered to San Augustin, eleven miles south of the City of Mexico. San Augustin was an aristocratic place with its beautiful residences and lovely orange groves, a suburb of the capital and the home of many wealthy Mexicans and proud hidalgos. Here our regiment was assigned to a brigade with the Fourth Regi- ment of Tennessee commanded by Colonel Waterhouse. I remember Colonel Waterhouse as an old gray bearded farmer-like gentleman, whose appearance was in marked contrast with that of our handsome colonel.
Our surroundings at San Augustin were very agreeable, and our duties the ordinary and uneventful duties of garrison life. The regiment was quartered in a building used for cocking mains. There was an open space in the center where the cock fights took place and the benches rose one above another as in an amphi- theater. Here upon these benches where the Mexican rabble were accustomed to sit, our soldiers slept at night. On the 28th of May, 1848, our comrade William
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H. Roby of Fall Creek Township died at San Augustin and his remains repose there in an unknown grave. Life and property were more secure in Mexico, after its occupation by our troops than ever before, and our army furnished an excellent market to the Mexicans for all their products. And while we were invaders of the country and our arms had everywhere been victorious, the Americans were not wholly unwelcome and the people of all classes, descendants of one of the proudest races of Europe treated us with great consideration and with the polite- ness proverbial among the higher classes of Mexicans.
Soldiers proverbially enjoy favor in feminine eyes and as the most attractive young Mexicans were at the time absent from home, riding over the country as Lancers, los Americanos, and the officers especially were in high favor with the Mexican ladies at San Augustin, and many little courtships were carried on under the guise of language schools, in which the Americans taught English to the senoritas and in turn received instruction in Spanish. Some amusing stories were in circulation at the time, concerning these international language lessons. One member of our company from Henry County confessed that he had serious intentions of marrying a wealthy Mexican lady and remaining in the country, but a feeling of homesickness so overcame him when the regiment began its homeward march, that he bade farewell forever to the fair lady and soon after his return home, found solace in a Henry County wife.
The reflections made by General Taylor in his official report of the battle of Buena Vista concerning the conduct of the Second Indiana Regiment in this engagement, and the criticisms of Jeff Davis, who commanded the Mississippi Rifles, and others upon the conduct of this regiment, were much discussed through- out the army. The members of the Fifth Regiment were indignant at the reflections upon our State, and while the regiment was stationed at San Augustin Colonel Lane, in order to give us an opportunity of wiping out what we considered an unjust stigma upon the soldiers of Indiana had asked permission to lead the advance of our army in the direction of San Luis Potosi, and as I understand this privilege had been granted, in case hostilities were resumed in that direction.
On February 2, 1848, a treaty of peace had been signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo, by Nicholas P. Trist, commissioner on behalf of the United States. Several months elapsed before the treaty received the approval of the government of the United States. In the latter part of May, however, it became definitely known that hostilities were at an end and the Fifth Regiment received orders to march to Vera Cruz. Leaving forever our pleasant quarters at San Augustin, and casting a last look upon the historic City of Mexico, we set out upon our long march. Our march to the sea was a leisurely and uneventful one over the same route by which we had entered the country. At Puebla, eight recruits joined our company only to return home within a few weeks after their enlistment. Dr. Montgomery of Lewisville, had been promoted to the rank of Assistant Surgeon ,
of the regiment, and on our return march died shortly before we reached Vera Cruz.
About twenty five miles from Vera Cruz our regiment went into camp on the hacienda of General Santa Anna. Here we remained about ten days awaiting a steamer to carry us North. About the first of July we sailed from Vera Cruz. The walls of San Juan de Ulloa slowly faded from our sight and we were home-
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ward bound. On July 4, Levi Donihue, one of the eight recruits who had joined our company at Puebla, died on shipboard. I well remember the event and the muster rolls give the date of Donihue's death. As First Sergeant I had charge of the burial and by my direction, the dead body was sewed up in a blanket with stones placed at the feet, and with the ceremonies attending a sailor's burial, the body was cast into the Gulf. . With this exception our voyage across the Gulf was an uneventful one. Joyful anticipations of meeting loved ones at home filled our hearts. But withal we could not wholly escape a feeling of sadness, for many of our comrades were left behind, never to return. The vessel bearing us home steamed up the Mississippi. The regiment disembarked at New Orleans, where, after a delay of a day or two, we took a boat for the North. There had been many changes in our company. Noting the changes among the living, I had been promoted to be first Sergeant ; Henry Shank, Second Sergeant ; Richard Webster, First Corporal, and Charles Fifer, Fourth Corporal. On July 10, while on the Mississippi, another member of Company H died. About the 25th of July the Fifth Regiment reached Madison in our own beloved State and here on July 28, 1848, where, ten months before, we had been mustered into the service of the United States, we were discharged, and the members of the company regretfully bidding each other goodby, many of them never to meet again, were soon in the bosoms of their respective families.
The war with Mexico was one of conquest undoubtedly, for when the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was ratified, 900,000 square miles of territory were added to the domain of the United States, including California and what is now New Mexico and Arizona. The war in its inception and prosecution had been severely condemned by a large portion of the people of the Northern States. But of the men from Indiana, who marched under the flag. in this struggle, and the same is true of the vast majority of the rank and file of the army, no one, I think, believed he was fighting for conquest, much less for human slavery. The men who con- fronted the dangers of death from disease and upon the battlefield, saw only the Nation engaged in a struggle with a foreign power, and rallied as patriots and soldiers to the defense of their country and its flag in time of peril.
Men propose but an overruling Providence seems often to dispose of human events. And thus if the war was begun in the interests of human slavery, its purpose wholly failed, for in 1848, California was admitted into the Union as a free State, and its admission gave the free States a preponderance in the affairs of the government. In the same year gold was discovered in the new State and the wealth of the Nation vastly increased. New Mexico and Arizona with their mountainous areas and arid climate yet remain territories, with vast possibilities, but the civilization of the Anglo-Saxon has supplanted that of the Spaniard in all this vast territory. And whatever may have been the motives which led to the Mexican War, there can be no doubt that its results advanced the cause of human freedom, increased the National prosperity and promoted human intelli- gence and the cause of civilization.
When the Fifth Regiment reached Madison, death had fearfully decimated its ranks. Company H had suffered greatly and twenty one of its members sleep today in unknown graves in a foreign land. Many of its members returned broken in health and Abner Phillips and Jeremiah Gossett died within a short time
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after their return, victims of an inhospitable climate and as much a sacrifice upon the altar of their country as if they had fallen upon the battlefield. Every man from Henry County, so far as lies within my knowledge, did his whole duty and reflected credit upon his State and county. Some of them afterward did service in the war for the Union. But nearly all of them are now with the silent majority, and after the lapse of almost half a century, it affords me pleasure to pay this tribute to all my comrades, living and dead.
Two of the above named Mexican War soldiers had records in the Civil War. Elam Armfield enlisted from Knightstown in Company A, 57th Indiana Infantry, as a private, and was mustered into the service of the United States, December 13, 1861. He was discharged for disability, June 24, 1862. George W. Thomp- son went from Cadiz to Illinois and enlisted at Young America, Pulaski County, that State, in Company C, 36th Illinois Infantry, as a private, and was mustered into the service of the United States, September 23, 1861. He was captured and held in a Confederate prison, and after his release was mustered out March 15, 1865. After his release from the Confederate prison and when about to be dis- charged from the army, he purposely refrained from advising his family, which had remained at Cadiz, during his service in the war, of his prospective return home. His purpose was to go direct from Camp Parole, Annapolis, Maryland, to Cadiz and surprise them by his unexpected return. He arrived in Cadiz un- announced and went directly to the house where he supposed his wife to be living and knocked at the door. Alas! his wife had been dead for a week or more. He continued to. reside in Cadiz until his death and his remains are buried in the Hess Cemetery, near Cadiz.
MEXICAN WAR SOLDIERS NOT MENTIONED BY CAPTAIN WOODWARD.
David Bearley, born in Warren County, Ohio, August 27, 1829. Moved to New Cas- tle atter the Mexican War. Enlisted in what was known as the First Rifles Company, First Ohio Infantry, June 29, 1846. Took part in the siege of Monterey, Mexico, and was mustered out with his regiment, at New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Summer of 1847. He also served in the Civil War, during the Morgan Raid, in Company A, 110th Indiana In- ťantry.
James Brown, Knightstown. Said to have served in the Mexican War, going from Knightstown. Information furnished by Colonel Milton Peden. Record of military serv- ice is not obtainable.
George Burton, born'in Jefferson County, Indiana, October 4, 1824. Moved to New Castle after the Mexican War. Served in Company H, 3rd Indiana Infantry, in the Mexi- can War. Took part in the battle of Buena Vista, Mexico. In the Civil War, enlisted from New Castle in Company A, 30th Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into the serv. ice of the United States, as a private, September 22, 1864. Mustered out June 23, 1865. He also served, during the Morgan Raid, as Captain of Company B, 110th Indiana In- fantry, identical with the New Castle Guards, Indiana Legion.
John Davis. Said to have served in the Mexican War, later moving to Henry County and living at Greensboro. Information furnished by Daniel W. Saint, now de- ceased. Record of military service is not obtainable.
Theophilus Everett, born at Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, in 1806. Moved to Mid- dletown after the Mexican War. Enlisted in Colonel Dodge's regiment of Dragoons when about twenty five years old, and served on the frontier about two years. Enlisted in Magruder's Battery in 1847 and served in the War with Mexico, two years. Enlisted from Middletown in Company D, 2nd Indiana Cavalry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as Saddler, September 18, 1861, and was discharged for disability,
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March 28, 1863; re-enlisted in Company K, 124th Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, December 19, 1863, and was mustered out August 31, 1865. He took part in the battles of Shiloh, Atlanta Campaign, Franklin, Nashville and Wise's Forks. Served in the Civil War, forty two months; total servive, seven years and six months.
Oliver P. Fort, Knightstown. Served in the Mexican War in the company of the 4th Indiana Infantry, of which Oliver H. P. Cary (afterwards Colonel of the 36th Indiana Infantry) was First Lieutenant. He went to Pike's Peak, Colorado, in 1859, with the Colonel Peden party. He remained in Colorado and, when the Civil War broke out, en- listed in Company K, 2nd Colorado Cavalry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, January 27, 1863. He died at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, January 12, 1864. His remains were taken to his old home at Knightstown and there buried in the Old Cemetery.
Ezra Gillingham, Baltimore, Maryland. Said to have served in the Mexican War. Record of military service in that war not obtainable. In the Civil War he enlisted from Weisburg, Dearborn County, Indiana, in Company I, 21st Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, September 7, 1861. Mustered out September 12, 1864. Moved to Knightstown after the Civil War.
George W. Hazzard, New Castle. Second Lieutenant, 4th Artillery, U. S. A. (See U. S. Military Academy ).
Alexander McAdoo. Said to have served in the Mexican War. later moving to Henry County and living at Greensboro. Information furnished by Daniel W. Saint, now deceased. Record of military service is not obtainable.
Thomas Morton, born in Preble County, Ohio, August 15, 1826. Moved to Middle- town after the Civil War. Enlisted in Captain Hawkins' company of Ohio volunteers for the Mexican War, in May, 1846. The company was not accepted and the men were mus- tered out in June, 1846; re-enlisted in March, 1847, in Company F, United States Mounted Rifles. Took part in the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Chapultepec and City of Mex- ico. Severely wounded in the taking of the city, September, 1847. Mustered out in Septem- ber, 1848. In the Civil War, enlisted at Eaton, Preble County, Ohio, in Company C, 20th Ohio Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the United States as a private April 27, 1861. Promoted Captain and Colonel. Mustered out August 18, 1861. Re-entered the service as Colonel of the 8Ist Ohio Infantry, August 19, 1861. Resigned July 30, 1864. Took part in the battles of Shiloh, Siege of Corinth, Town Creek, Layton and Corinth. Served in the Mexican War, nineteen months, and in the Civil War, thirty nine months.
Henry Ray, St. Thomas, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Moved to Henry County, Indiana, in 1852. Said to have served in a Pennsylvania regiment, for eighteen months, as a private, during the Mexican War. Information furnished by Henry L. Powell, of New Castle. Record of military service in that war is not obtainable. In the Civil War, he enlisted from New Castle in Company B, 8th Indiana Infantry (three months' service), and was mustered into the service of the United States, as First Lieutenant, April 25, 1861. Took part in the battle of Rich Mountain, West Virginia, July 11, 1861, and was mustered out Angust 6, 1861. Re-enlisted as a private in Company B, 5th Indiana Cav- alry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, August 6, 1862. Appointed Wagoner. Mustered out June 15, 1865. Buried in Elliott Cemetery, two miles south of New Castle.
Reuben B. Stephenson. Moved to New Castle after the Mexican War. Said to have served in the Mexican War. Information furnished by George Burton, of New Castle. Record of military service in that war is not obtainable. In the Civil War, went to Iowa and enlisted at Des Moines, Polk County, in Company K, 10th Towa Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the United States, as a private, March 6, 1862. Vet- eran. Appointed Corporal and Sergeant. Discharged for disability, June 25, 1865.
Frederick Tykle, born in Preble County, Ohio, June 7, 1825. Moved to Middletown after the Mexican War. Enlisted in Captain Hawkins' company of Ohio volunteers for the Mexican War, in May, 1846. The company was not accepted and the men were mus- tered out in June, 1846. In March, 1847, he enlisted in Company G, 4th Infantry, U. S. A.,
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and on arriving in Mexico was assigned to Company 1. Took part in the battles of Churu- busco, Molino del Rey, Storming of Chapultepec and the taking of the City of Mexico. Mustered out in August, 1848. General Ulysses S. Grant was at that time First Lieu- tenant and Quartermaster of the 4th Infantry. In the Civil War, enlisted in Company B, 8th Indiana Infantry (three months' service), and was mustered into the service of the United States, as Captain of the company, April 25, 1861, and took part in the battle of Rich Mountain, West Virginia, July 11, 1861. He was mustered out August 6, 1861. Re- entered the service and was mustered in as Captain of Company E, Sth Indiana Infantry (three years' service), September 5, 1861. Resigned October 22, 1861. Served in Mexico, eighteen months, and in the Civil War, six months. He also served during the Morgan Raid as Captain of Company C, 109th Indiana Infantry.
Jacob Wood. Said to have served in the Mexican War. Died and is buried in Lib- erty Township, near the old town of Chicago. Information furnished by his brothers, living in Liberty Township. Record of his military service is not obtainable.
COMPANIES ORGANIZED IN HENRY COUNTY FOR THE MEXICAN WAR, NOT CALLED INTO ACTIVE SERVICE.
The executive records of the State of Indiana, on deposit in the office of the Secretary of State, at Indianapolis, show that under the Act of Congress, of May 13. 1846, the following provisional companies were organized in Henry County. under the authority of Governor James Whitcomb, none of which were ever called into active service. The first one of these companies is fully described by Captain Woodward, but the other five are not. They are as follows :
Henry County Guards, New Castle. January 18, 1846. Mathew S. Ward, Captain; Henry Shroyer. First Lieutenant; Pyrrhus Woodward, Second Lieutenant.
Lewisville Guards, Lewisville. July 31, 1846. William S. Price, Captain; George W. Truslow, First Lieutenant; Emery Southwick, Second Lieutenant; Joseph Spaw, Ensign.
Middletown Rifle Company, Middletown. August 1, 1846. Simon Summers, Cap- tain; Henry Shank, First Lieutenant; Charles Riley, Second Lieutenant.
Ringgold Troop, Independent Militia, New Castle. August 10, 1846. Richard Good- win, Captain; John Shroyer, First Lieutenant; George W. Woods, Second Lieutenant.
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