USA > Indiana > Henry County > Hazzard's history of Henry county, Indiana, 1822-1906, Volume II > Part 17
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 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
(3.) "Whereas, in the infant state of the Country, defense and protection are ab- solutely essential, all male inhabitants of the age of sixteen years and upwards, shall be armed, equipped, and accoutred in the following manner: with musket and bayonet, or rifle, cartridge box and pouch, or powder horn and bullet pouch, with forty rounds of cartridges, or one pound of powder and four pounds of lead, priming wire and brush and six flints.
(4). "And whereas, for securing principles of defense and protection, it is neces- sary to be assembled upon certain times and at certain places for examining and in- specting the arms and accoutrements, and for disciplining the men in a soldierly manner; and whereas, the assembling of the community at fixed periods, conduces to health, civili- zation and morality and such assembling without arms in a newly settled country, may be attended with danger, therefore the corps shall be paraded at ten o'clock in the morn- ing of each first day of the week (Sunday), armed, equipped, and accoutred as aforesaid, in convenient places, next adjacent to the place or places already assigned for public worship. At other times and places, the corps shall be paraded for muster, exercise and review, as the Commander in Chief may direct. And whereas. in the present state of the Territory, it is necessary that guards be established, the Commander in Chief and the commanding officers of counties and smaller districts shall make such detachments for guards and such other military services as the public exigencies may in their opin- ion, or their opinions, require.
(5). "Those who have borne commissions, civil or military, in the service of the United States, or either of them, or who have been honorably discharged therefrom, and all such as have been graduated in colleges or universities, shall comprise the senior class. Males over the age of fifty shall be liable to military duty in cases of actual invas- ion only, and then at the direction of the Commander in Chief. Officers of the Civil Government or commissioned by the Governor are exempted from the duties aforesaid."
The remaining six sections of the law provide for its enforcement, establish courts martial, and provide for their method of procedure and determine the penalties such courts may inflict.
The fines for neglect of duty and other violations of the law were at first light, running from a maximum of one dollar down to a minimum of five cents for a trivial offense, twenty five cents being the more usual fine, but all officers were subject to courts martial which seem to have been endowed with almost unlimited powers.
Under an amendment to the law made in November, 1788, fines were assessed and collected against all persons subject to military duty, for neglect or refusal to provide themselves with the equipment required by law and established a fine for each separate offense, ranging from fifty cents for failure to provide a musket or rifle to five cents for failure to provide a priming wire or brush. Arms. accountrements and ammunition were to be inspected by the officers on the first Sabbath day of each month. Under a subsidiary act passed July 2, 1791, the regular weekly musters were permitted to take place on Saturday instead of Sunday, compelled militiamen to go armed. when attending places of worship, and fixed the fines for neglect : the law to be enforced by distress and sale of property. when necessary.
In 1799 the General Assembly repealed the law of 1788 and all subsequent laws for the establishment of the militia and substituted for them a law of twenty
757
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
seven articles, including altogether forty three sections and covering twelve pages of closely printed matter. By this law, all able bodied white male citizens, between the ages of eighteen and forty five years, were made subject to militia duty, except civil officers and ministers. It provided for artillery. one battery to be attached to each brigade, an Adjutant General for the territory, and for general, regi- mental and company officers, as well as non-commissioned officers, much as they exist today in the Army and in the Volunteer Militia. Perhaps the greatest de- parture from the former law was in the greatly increased severity of the penalties for failure or refusal to obey the provisions of the act, the fines running from five cents to three dollars for enrolled men, up to a maximum fine of one hundred dollars for certain offenses of commissioned officers, while parents and guardians were made responsible for fines assessed against their sons or wards. Fines were to be collected by distress and sale of property or by imprisonment of the offender. Officers and men were to be free from arrest while performing military duty. The men were required to furnish their own arms and accoutrements as under the old law, and the militia was subject to immediate call to repel invasion.
There were various reasons for the increased rigor of this act. The law of 1788 was intended for the organization of the men, young and old, of the Ohio Company's Marietta Colony, for defense against the assaults of Indians, and there was probably not a man or boy in the Company, who was not in accord with the ideas of the leading men of the Colony, on the necessity and duty of self defense imposed on the citizens by the militia law of 1788. But in 1799, thousands of settlers from many parts of America and Europe had come into the Territory and the widely scattered settlements made it a different and more difficult task to provide an efficient militia system for their defense. Besides this, the rapid influx of Quakers and other non-combatants, for conscientious reasons, into the new land, doubtless kindled the old warrior zeal of Puritan and non-conscientious Southron alike, resulting in a determination to make the Quakers train for war or pay the cost of a like number of militiamen.
It is not the author's purpose to discuss the wisdom of the more rigorous law but merely to point out that the law of 1700 and the acts that preceded it, were the foundation upon which all subsequent militia laws, whether coercive or volunteer, have been based. The muster did not originate with the law. In some form it is, doubtless, as old as war itself, but it was this law of the Northwest Territory that brought it into Indiana Territory and State. It was this law also that provoked the long struggle with the Society of Friends and other sects, conscientiously opposed to war. As the danger of invasion passed away, the non-combatants gradually succeeded in their contention for immunity from mili- tary duties in times of peace. In 1800 Indiana Territory was established by Act of Congress and in 1802 the new Territorial Government was in full control. The old Northwest Territory had passed into history, but had bequeathed its laws and their spirit to its successor.
THE MUSTER, AND THE MILITIA LAWS IN INDIANA TERRITORY.
The law of 1799 was continued in full force in Indiana Territory, having in order to insure its binding force, been re-enacted by the first Territorial General
758
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Assembly. In 1810 the General Assembly passed an act supplemental to the law of 1799, which made a number of changes in the methods of administration, the most radical of which related to the Society of Friends or Quakers, and their conscientious scruples as to bearing arms. Under the laws of 1799, the Quakers had been the objects of frequent persecution for neglect of military duty, and seizures and sales of their property for the payment of military fines had been of frequent occurence, for the Quakers held it to be the same in effect to pay fines that went to the support of the militia as to render military service in person. The thirteenth section of the law of 1810 provided as follows :
"Whereas the universal benevolence which governs said society, established by their ample contributions to all charitable and useful institutions, and particularly their exertions to civilize the Indians, a fund having actually been raised to be devoted to that object in this Territory, therefore, for these reasons, as also from the circumstances of the said society being always in the habit of supporting its own poor, although they cheerfully pay their poor tax for the support of those of other denominations, be it enacted that the persons composing said societies shall be, and they are hereby exempted trom military duty, provided always, that in time of actual war, they will be subject to such additional tax or contribution in lieu of military service, as the legislature may think proper to impose."
This section constituted one of the first legal acknowledgments of the rights of conscience with reference to military service, that was made in this country. It was, however, of short duration, for the shadows of Indian troubles and the gathering clouds of the Second War with England, known as the War of 1812-15. . then beginning to thicken rapidly, caused the repeal of the section at the very next session of the Territorial General Assembly.
The law of 1810 also forbade the sale of intoxicants within two miles of a parade or muster, a provision which seems to have been dropped from the next militia law. The last Territorial law on the subject of the militia was finally passed and approved at the session of 1814. It was an elaborate enactment of no less than seventy nine sections. It retained the principal features of the old law of 1799 but enlarged upon it and brought it down to the needs of the time, which was one of imminent danger from Indian massacres and invasions, while the Treaty of Ghent had not yet brought to a close the Second War with England. It substituted an exemption fee of five dollars for the free exemption given by the preceding law to the Quakers and renewed the old rigorous collection laws. Some changes were made in the titles and duties of officers and the cavalry and artillery branches of the service were better organized. All regiments or parts of regiments were made subject to immediate call by the Commander-in-Chief, to repel invasion or for other specific duties connected with the public safety. Officers and men were still required to equip themselves, and cavalrynien were to furnish their own mounts, but if the animal was killed or rendered worthless when the company was called into active service, the owner was to be paid its appraised value from the Territorial Treasury. Company and battalion musters were to be held in April and September of each year and the regimental musters were to take place in September of each year. The law seems to have been silent as to more frequent company or squad drills ; but tradition seems to establish that they were, in most places, matters of monthly occurrence, the hours of muster being from ten o'clock in the morning to three o'clock in the afternoon.
759
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
The first Constitution of the State of Indiana provided that "The Militia of Indiana shall consist of all free, able-bodied male persons, negroes, mulattoes and Indians excepted, resident in said State, between the ages of eighteen and forty five years ; except such persons as now are or hereafter may be exempted by the laws of the United States or of this State, and shall be armed, equipped and trained as the General Assembly may provide by law."
It made proper exemptions for persons conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. Subalterns, captains, majors and colonels were to be elected by those persons subject to military duty in their respective Company, Battalion and Regi- mental districts ; non-commissioned officers of companies were to be appointed by the captains; brigadier generals were to be elected by the commissioned officers in their respective brigades and major generals by the same class of officers in their respective divisions. The manner of forming troops in the several branches of the service was left to the General Assembly. The appointment of an Adjutant General for the State, and of a Quartermaster General and his aids de camp was assigned to the Governor.
While giving the sanction of the State to the rights of conscience in the matter of bearing arms, it still made exemption from military duty on account of conscientious scruples, the subject of a money consideration to be collected by the civil officers. This was materially softened, however, by section three of article nine, which provided that the money which "shall be paid as an equivalent by persons exempt from military duty, except in times of war." should be exchi- sively and in equal proportion, applied to the support of county seminaries, a class of high schools or academies, for which the constitution elsewhere provided. This did not for many years, even measurably satisfy those who resisted the collection of exemption fees and fines, possibly because the money was applied to special schools rather than to popular schools, in the benefits of which all might partake.
The organization of Henry County was completed June 1. 1822, and the county's connection with the militia system began August 23, 1823. The Adjutant General's office is not in possession of State military documents of any kind that antedate the War with Mexico, which began in 1846. There is, however, a record in the office of the Secretary of State, which contains the names of the militia officers of the State, with the dates of their commissions, and the regiments to which they belonged from 1816 forward. From this record it is found that Elisha Long was commissioned Colonel of the Forty Eighth Regiment of Indiana Militia, on August 28, 1823. So it may be safely assumed that the regiment came into existence in that year, and that the militia system of the county began then. The list of militia officers, who were commissioned at various times, contains the names of many men, who were prominent in the early life and councils of the county, but perhaps no one of them was more distinguished than the first Colonel. Elisha Long. He was the son of a Revolutionary soldier, Christopher Long, whose grave is kept green at the cross roads near the Boyd Schoolhouse in Liberty Township. Colonel Long was a soldier of the War of 1812-15 from Virginia, before coming to Henry County, and played an important part in the affairs of the country as is shown elsewhere in this History.
760
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
LIST OF MILITIA OFFICERS FROM HENRY COUNTY.
COM MISSIONED FOR SERVICE IN THE 48TH REGIMENT, INDIANA MILITIA FROM 1823 TO 1846, INCLUSIVE, WITH THE DATES OF THEIR SEVERAL COMMISSIONS.
August 28, 1823 .- Elisha Long, Colonel; James Johnson, Lieutenant Colonel; John Dorrah, Major.
November 29, 1823 .-- Brice Dillee, Captain; George Isham, Lieutenant; Edmund Liston, Ensign.
December 16, 1823 .- Achilles Morris, Captain; Michael Swope, Lieutenant; William Huff. Ensign; John Baker, Captain; Anthony Boggs, Lieutenant; Stephen Batson, En- sign; Daniel C. Priddy, Captain; Robert Johnson, Lieutenant; William Wick, Ensign; Jesse Forkner, Captain; George B. Bates, Lieutenant; Thomas Ralston, Ensign; Charles B. Finch, Captain; John Smith, Lieutenant; Asahel Woodward, (Grandfather of the au- thor of this History), Lieutenant; William McDowell, Ensign.
September 13, 1824 .- John Odom, Lieutenant.
September 3, 1825 .- John Whittaker, Lieutenant; Watson Roe, Lieutenant.
March 11, 1826 .- Thomas Porter, Ensign of Riflemen; Mathew McKimmey, Lieuten- ant of Riflemen.
April 4, 1826 .- Brice Dillee, Lieutenant Colonel; Elijah MeCray, Captain; Nathan Crawford. Lieutenant.
May 23, 1826 .- It was ordered by the Governor and Commander in Chief, that the Militia of the counties of Rush, Decatur and Henry be organized into a brigade to be known as the Eighteenth Brigade, and that it comprise a part of the Seventh Division of the Militia of the State.
August 23, 1826 .- Amaziah Morgan. Brigadier General, Eighteenth Brigade; Gen- eral Morgan lived in Rush County. He represented the district of which Henry County formed a part, in the State Senate, 1826-30.
November 1, 1826 -Michael Swope, Captain; John Shortridge, Lieutenant; Ed- ward Sharp, Ensign: John Keene. Lieutenant; Christopher Hedrick. Ensign; William Ramsey, Lieutenant. .
April 17, 1827 .- Samuel Howard, Lieutenant Colonel.
August 14, 1827 .- John Freeland, Captain; Samuel Griggsby, Lieutenant; John Whittaker, Captain of Riflemen; William Hughes, Lieutenant.
January 14, 1828 .- James R. Leonard, Lieutenant; Michael Buck, Ensign.
December 26, 1828 .- William Hobson, Lieutenant of Riflemen; John E. Templeton, Lieutenant; William Murphey, Ensign.
August 4. 1829 .- Miles Murphey, Major; Samuel Howard, Captain of Cavalry; Jacob Thornburgh, First Lieutenant of Cavalry; William Silver, Second Lieutenant of Cavalry; William Mellett, Cornet of Cavairy; Christopher Hedrick, Captain; Andrew Fletcher, Lieutenant: Joseph Robbins, Captain; Armstead Watkins, Lieutenant; Sam- uel Marsh, Ensign; Anthony Dunlavy. Captain; Richard Wilson, Lieutenant; Alfred Moore, Ensign; John Odom, Captain; Samuel D. Wells, Lieutenant; William Hill, En- sign; Watson Roe, Captain: John McShirley, Lieutenant; Joel Robinson, Ensign.
February 1, 1830 .- Jonathan Bedwell, Captain: Andrew D. Blount, Lieutenant ; James Alexander, Ensign.
June 17. 1830 .- Richard Wilson, Captain; William B. Wilson, Lieutenant.
August 3, 1830 .- John Hill, Lieutenant; Barzillai Rozell, Ensign.
October 11, 1830 .- Robert Hudelson, Captain; Alfred M. Brattain, Lieutenant; John Wick, Ensign; Jacob H. Powers, Captain; Edward Jones, Lieutenant; Thomas C. Calk- ins. Ensign: Thomas B. Miller. Lieutenant; Edmund Liston, Ensign: James Boggs. En- sign.
December 13, 1830 .- William Silver. First Lieutenant of Cavalry; Ezekiel T. Hick- man. Second Lieutenant of Cavalry.
January 21. 1831 .- John Evans, Ensign.
February 10. 1831 .- Asa Leonard, Captain; Joseph G. Cooper, Lieutenant: William
----
PRIVATE
OF
PORAL
DORAL
ELI F . MILLIKAN.
LIEUTENANT
NATHA!
NICHOLSON. B.
SAMUEL
WINI
RGEANT
aPORAL
MAHLON HENDRICKS. PRIVATE
MILLIKAN.
5
A
BERTSON.
AME
JOH
IN
HEN
MOORE
COMPANY C. 36th INDIANA INFANTRY.
)
IGS.
761
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
Crane, Ensign; Daniel Custard, Lieutenant; Darius Berger, Ensign; William Bruner, Ensign.
April 21, 1831 .- Aaron Houghum, Captain; John Wilson, Lieutenant; Ransom Long, Ensign.
May 25, 1831 .- Stephen Cory, Ensign.
August 22, 1831 .- Miles Murphey, Colonel; Asahel Woodward, (Grandfather of the author of this History), Major.
January 11, 1832 .- William Parker, Captain of Riflemen; Jacoh Rhinehart, Ensign of Riflemen; John Dennis, Lieutenant; James Holtsclaw, Ensign.
February 27, 1832 .- David Fleming, Captain; Valentine Summers, Ensign; John Davidson, Lieutenant; Minor Allee, Ensign.
March 22, 1832 .- Ezekiel T. Hickman, Major; William J. Hobson, Lieutenant of Riflemen; Jonathan Pierson, Ensign of Riflemen.
July 30, 1832 .- Levi Leakey, Lieutenant.
September 11, 1832 .- William S. Bell, Captain: Jacob Donald, Lieutenant; John Millis, Ensign; Jeremiah Veach, Captain; Lemuel Evans, Lieutenant.
October 16, 1832 .-- William A. Thompson, Captain of Artillery; James Ball, First Lieutenant of Artillery; Caleb Cope, Second Lieutenant of Artillery; Harris H. Pool, En- sign.
April 13, 1833 .- Silas Ruggles, First Lieutenant of Cavalry.
September 19. 1833 .- Samuel D. Cory, Ensign.
December 21, 1833 .-- David D. Priddy, Captain of Riflemen.
February 13, 1834 .- William Templeton, Captain; James Carr, Lieutenant; James E. Bell, Ensign; Edward Gillgeese, Ensign.
April 22, 1834 .- Joseph Kellum, Captain: Levi Leakey, Captain of Artillery.
March 13, 1836 .- William C. Rohinson, of Rush County, Brigadier General, Eigh- teenth Brigade.
November 26, 1840 .- George Tarkleson, Captain Light Infantry; Henry Shank, Lieu- tenant Light Infantry: James C. Murray, Ensign of Light Infantry.
February 17, 1842 .- Isaac France, Captain; James M. Whitesel, Lieutenant; Robert G. Emerson, Ensign.
July 15, 1842 .- Green T. Simpson, Captain of Riflemen; James Wilson, Lieutenant of Riflemen: Peter Harter, Ensign of Riflemen.
Jannary 18, 1846 .- Henry County Guards, New Castle, mustered for the Mexican War, but not called into active service. Mathew S. Ward, Captain; Henry Shroyer, First Lieutenant; Pyrrhus Woodward, (Uncle of the author of this History), Second Lieuten- ant.
July 31. 1846 .- Lewisville Guards mustered for the Mexican War, but not called into active service. William S. Price. Captain: George W. Truslow, First Lieutenant; Emory Southwick. Second Lieutenant; Joseph Spaw. Ensign.
August 1, 1846 .- Middletown Rifle Company, mustered for the Mexican War, but not called into active service. Simon Summers, Captain; Henry Shank, First Lieutenant : Charles Riley, Second Lieutenant.
August 10, 1846 .- Ringgold Troop, Independent Militia, New Castle. Mustered for the Mexican War, hut not called into active service. Richard Goodwin, Captain; John Shroyer, First Lieutenant; George W. Woods, Second Lieutenant.
August 10, 1846 .- A company organized in Prairie Township. Mustered for the Mexican War, but not called into active service. Jeremiah Veach. Captain; Abraham W. Bouslog, Lieutenant.
September 2, 1846 .- Knightstown Grays, mustered for the Mexican War, but not called into active service. Solomon McCain, Captain: Gordon Ballard. First Lieutenant; James Tyler. Second Lieutenant.
NOTE .- All the companies organized in 1846 were under the Act of Congress of May 13, 1846, and can, therefore, hardly be classed as belonging to the Forty Eighth Regiment. Yet they are so set out on the record in the office of the Secretary of State as above referred to. Further reference to these companies will be found in the Chapter relating to the Mexican War.
762
HAZZARD'S HISTORY OF HENRY COUNTY.
A careful study of this list will disclose several matters of interest to the student of our early local history, among which is the fact, that many of the names it contains are the same as those of members of the county's most substantial and honored families of the present time. Another is, that as the years advanced and there came to be less and less danger of Indian outbreaks which might threaten disaster to any of the State's inhabitants, while we were at peace with all civilized nations, the military spirit gradually declined. In the year 1846, when the War with Mexico began, there does not seem to have been an active militia company in the county, until certain companies were formed for service in that war, under an Act of Congress approved May 13. 1846. Prior to the organization of these Mexican War Companies, not one of which was ever called into active service, but three companies of militia had been organized within the county for twelve years ; one at Middletown in 1840; one at Knightstown in 1842, and one in Liberty Township in 1842. Practically speaking the Liberty Township Company, of which Green T. Simpson was Captain, was the last ever organized in the county, under the old militia law.
The legislation which affected the militia of Indiana from and after 1823, con- sisted of the following enactments :
(T.) An Act approved January II, 1823. which provided that "no major general or brigadier general shall be authorized to take command of any regi- ment, unless requested by the commandant to do so." and. made it unlawful to contest the election of any militia officer declared elected ; changed company mus- ters from April to May, and extended exemptions to all persons who had at any time prior to the former act, or at the date of the act. served five years in the militia.
(2.) An act to regulate the militia of Indiana, approved January 19, 1828. provided for taking account of public arms belonging to the militia, and their dis- tribution to commandants of divisions and making all persons receiving public arms accountable for the same. It also fixed the number of regimental musters, at one for each year, "at such time and place as the brigadier general shall deter- mine," while the company muster was to occur on the second Saturday in April. the captains to give notice to their companies in July of the times and places of muster for the ensuing year.
(3.) An act approved February 2, 1833, provided as its most notable fea- ture that. "Any person subject to military duty, commissioned officers excepted. shall henceforth be annually exempted from such of the fines as may have been imposed on him by law for each annual failure to perform such duty, upon the payment of one dollar to the person having charge of the seminary fund of his county, provided the same be paid before the first day of October in each year."
Section Four of the same act extended, "All and singular, the rights, privileges and benefits, etc.," of said act, "to persons conscientiously scrupulous as to bearing arms, provided that every conscientiously scrupulous person wishing to avail him- self thereof shall make the payment in the first section of this act mentioned, to the officer of his county having legal charge of the seminary fund."
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.