USA > Indiana > Monroe County > Bloomington > Historic treasures: true tales of deeds with interesting data in the life of Bloomington, Indiana University and Monroe County--written in simple language and about real people, with other important things and illustrations > Part 25
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LAST CALL FOR MEN OF UNION CAUSE IN WAR OF REBELLION MADE DECEMBER 19, 1864- BOUNTIES OFFERED RECRUITS
Rebellion Seen Tottering in 1865-Quota of 161 Men Sent From Monroe County -Summary of Men Furnished To Armies of North During Whole War Reflects Honor Shown in Patriotism of People.
When the call for 300,000 additional men was made on December 19, 1864, Monroe county was about drained dry, as was both the North and the South, as far as furnishing new material was concerned. The county newspa- pers all over the North published edi- torials offering large bounties and called upon every one to assist in fil- ling the quotas required of their com- munities. This proved to be the last call for men during the war.
Monroe county papers were full of bounty offers and stirring articles urging men to support the cause, and about the middle of January, 1865, Ira Browning, deputy provost mar- shal, called a meeting in each town- ship to correct the enrollment lists.
$1,143 Bounty Offered.
Early in January, 1865, Captain S. W. Bonsall opened an enlistment of- fice for veteran recruits for the First Veteran Army Corps, offering Gov- ernment bounties of $400, $500, and $600, for one, two and three years, respectively to Bloomington and Mon- roe county men.
Then his offer of $1,143 bounty
for one year was tempting, indeed, and when a large offer of local bounty was made the recruits began to take heed.
The county board appropriated $500 for each volunteer in Monroe county under this call. Townships began to offer several hundred dollars as boun- ty to their recruits.
Rebellion Seen Tottering.
Men felt encouraged to enlist, for besides the bounties offered, it was pretty well known by this time that the rebellion was seen to be tottering on the verge of its "last ditch."
Major James B. Mulkey, of Monroe county, was appointed general re- cruiting officer for the Third District, with headquarters at Coumbus, Ind. He called for a company from Monroe county, whose quota was 161 men.
Lieuenants N. E. Mathers and J. F. Douglas began recruiting these men about the middle of January, 1865. John T. Eller, James H. Miller, Ren C. Smith and others also enlisted men for service in Monroe county. Within a comparatively short time nearly a whole company was enlisted
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in Monroe, and the remainder of about fifteen men were raised in Brown county.
This company became Company E, 145th Regiment, one year's service, when mustered into Federal service at Indianapolis, February 4 and 5, 1865, and on February 18 left for Nashville, Tenn. The officers of this company from Monroe county were: John F. Douglas, captain; James H. Miller, first lieutenant, and Ren C. Smith, second lieutenant.
Captain Douglas Promoted.
About half of Company I, of the same regiment was raised in Monroe county immediately after the boys had left, and were mustered in on February 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The officers of this company were: John P. Crav- ens (of Madison), captain; Newton E. Mathers (of Bloomington), first lieu- tenant, and William M. Crossfield (of Smithville), second lieutenant. The other half of the company came from Madison.
On February 18, 1865, Captain Douglas, of Company E, was ·promo- ted to Lieutenant Colonel of the regi- ment, and on the same day John T. Eller, of Monroe county, was com- missioned quartermaster.
A few recruits were furnished from Monroe county to the 145th Regiment, during the month of March, but it seems that after April 14, 1865, all efforts to raise troops in Bloomington and the county were abandoned. The draft had been fixed for January 6 at first, but was postponed until Feb- ruary 15; then to the latter part of March. In the meantime the recruit- ing was slowly continuing under the call of Lieutenant Eller.
Monroe county did not quite escape this draft, however, which took place in Polk and Salt Creek townships during the last week of March, 1865. Four or five men only were drafted, one of whom entered the service.
Summary of County's Troops.
On September 19, 1862, Monroe county was credited with having fur- nished 1,039 volunteers for the Civi war.
Under the six months' call of 1863, she supplied a full company of about 100 men.
The quota under the call of October, 1863 was 143 men for the county.
Under the four calls of 1864, Mon- roe county's quotas were, 277, 111, 287 and 161 men, respectively.
All these quotas were filled by Mon- roe county, and a close estimate of the number of men sent into the ter- rible conflict in the Union army may be made, as follows: at the close of the war Monroe county had a surplus of ten men to her credit; taking the sum of 1,039, 100, 143, 277, 111, 287, 161 and 10, gives a grand total of 2,128 men-equal to more than two full regiments.
As the total enrollment of Monroe county militia in 1861 was 1,727 men, it will be seen how thoroughly the strength of the county was exhausted. This estimate does not include the four companies of "minute men" that were mustered into state service for the Morgan campaign_probably 400 men. But, as they were actually in
the service, they should properly be included in the above estimate, which would raise the number of troops Monroe furnished to 2,528.
"Old Monroe" may well be proud of this showing.
100-DAY MEN CALLED- HEAVY DRAIN ON NORTH
President Lincoln again called for 300,000 added men for the armies of the Union, to continue the dreadful conflict, on October 17, 1863. The call was for men for three-year service. Monroe county's quota for this call was 143 men, and Colonel McCrea, Captain Buskirk and Henry Eller were commissioned to recruit volun- teers.
Offices for recruiting were estab- lished in Bloomington and in several rural localities, but volunteers seemed slow to respond at first; and on Nov- ember 28 a war meeting was held in the court house at Bloomington where quite a large squad was raised. They were sent to Columbus, Ind., for in- struction while the rest of the com- pany was being recruited.
Recruiting Continues.
The company was so nearly filled by December 18 that Colonel McCrea left Bloomington for Columbus, and on January 14, 1864, these Monroe county men were mustered into Fed- eral service, at Camp Shanks, near Indianapolis. In the meantime re- cruits continued to be enrolled in Monroe county to the number of about twenty men, who were mustered into service on January 24, March 2, and some in April, of 1864.
This company of Monroe county men became Company 1, 10th Cav- alry (125th Regiment), and Isaac S. Buskirk was captain; James E. Mathers, first lieutenant, and G. P. Bailey second lieutenant. A squad of men was raised for this company at Ellettsville. The regiment did not leave the State of Indiana until May, 1864, when it was moved to Nash- ville, Tenn.
In December, 1863, and January, 1864, about fifteen Monroe county
men were sent as recruits to Company K, 21st Regiment (First Heavy Ar- tillery,) and about ten more to the 22nd Regiment; also a small num- ber were sent to recruit the 27th Regiment from Bloomington.
Sergeant J. Frank Fee recruited about twenty men in Bloomington for Company G, 21st Regiment during the month of February, 1864. In Decem- ber, 1863, and in January and Febru- ary, 1864, about fifteen recriuts were sent from Monroe county to Company G, 38th Regiment, being mostly El- lettsville boys. About half a dozen recruits were sent to Company F, 82nd Regiment from Monroe county, and a few men went to other regiments.
One Hundred Days' Men.
A large war meeting was held in Bloomington on the evening of April 27, 1864, to take steps toward raising a company in Monroe county for ser- vice in the field, under the call for 100 days' men, issued in April, 1264.
Governor Dunning adressed the au- dience at this meeting, and explained the nature of this call for volunteers, and the enlistment roll was circulated in the crowd. About a dozen names were secured at this time After pas- sing a resolution, asking Monroe coun- ty's commissioners to offer a bounty of $30 for volunteers, the meeting ad- journed. Active measures were con- tinued to complete the company, and by May 3 the company, though partly raised in Clay county, was completed. The officers for this company were: Jechonias Rutledge, captain; A. B. Wheeler, first lieutenant; W. R. Cress, second lieutenant.
About three-fifths of the company was from Monroe county, including its captain. The men became Company K, 123rd Regiment, 100 days' service when mustered in at Indianapolis on May 17, when they were sent at once to Tennessee.
Heavy Call of 1864.
The call of President Lincoln on July 18, 1864, for 500,000 more men for one, two and three years' service staggered the people of Monroe coun- ty as it staggered the citizens of the whole North, and at first little was
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done toward raising volunteers to fill the county's quota of 287 men.
On August 6, 1864, volunteers had cut down the number of men to be furnished by Monroe county to 179, a few recruits were sent to the old regi- ments in the field, but no attempt was made to raise a full company.
A draft was threatened, but the citi- zens seemed to fold their hands with philosophic indifference, and quietly awaited events. Bloomington, Richland and Clear Creek townships had fur- nished an excess, Perry raised her eleven men, Bean Blossom furnished five, Benton one, and Van Buren three; but the other townships from which men were due, Indian Creek, Polk, Salt Creek, Washington and Marion, did not produce a solitary man.
On September 23, 1864, the draft came off at Columbus, Indiana, with
the following result for Monroe coun- ty townships: Bean Blossom must furnish 37 men; Washington, 25; Marion, 14; Benton, 9; Van Buren, 6; Salt Creek, 19; Polk, 17; Indian Creek, 32; total, 159 for Monroe county. Double this number were drafted to make allowance for those unfit for service, and by December 31, 1864, the records of the Adjutant-General's of- fice showed that each township in Monroe county had furnished her quo- ta, either in recruits or substitutes or conscripts, and the Monroe county as a whole by reason of eight townships having furnished a surplus, was ahead of all calls for men (except the late call of December 19, 1864-which was the last in the great war) to the number of 86 men.
This report shows that the county had a record which citizens of the present day may well be proud of.
END OF CIVIL WAR-MAMMOTH CELEBRATION HELD AFTER SURRENDER OF GEN. LEE- ASSASSINATION A SHOCK
Monroe County Citizens Go Mad With Joy When Good News Comes Telling
People the Horrible Conflict Was At Last Over With Victory for the Union-President's Death Casts Undescribable Gloom Over Nation-Por- trait of Dead Leader Painted by Marion Blair in Striking Likeness.
The news reached Bloomington on Tuesday, April 4, 1865, that Richmond had been evacuated, and that the Army of Northern Virginia, under General Lee, shattered and depleted, was flying before the army of General Grant.
This glorious news seemed to kindle a degree of universal joy that had been heretofore unknown in Monroe county during the four awful years of the Civil War. A large crowd gath- ered on the public square in Bloom- ington that night to testify the people's unbounded gratification. Ev- erything in the old town that would make a noise was brought into use, and a great bonfire was kept alive until after midnight. Every man, woman and child seemed to have come out on the streets, and all was chaos.
Volleys of musketry were fired, ringing out into the night; bands and glee clubs rendered patriotic music, which was appreciated as it had never been appreciated before. Long pro- cessions of men and boys with torch- lights marched gaily from point to point, led by bands playing martial music. All buildings were lighted, some with candles.
Eloquent speeches were delivered by Governor Dunning, Judge Butler and the Rev. Mr. Bain, who were loud- ly cheered by the throngs.
Jubilee Continued.
On the following Friday, April 7, 1865, news came of the surrender of General Lee, and the jubilee was again taken up where it had been left off the preceding Tuesday night. That Friday evening was probably the most brilliant ever witnessed by Monroe's county seat. Old men who
had learned to love their country, and had been constantly praying for its success and peace with national honor, were overcome with joy at tlie glorious news, and acted like mad men. Tears of joy, which they could not repress, and cared not to conceal, trickled down their furrowed cheeks as they clasped each other by the hand and thanked God for the nation- al preservation.
"Glory enough for one day!" ex- claimed the Bloomington "Republi- can" in its account of the celebration of victory.
President Lincoln Shot.
One week later, while the people of Bloomington were still rejoicing, the news came that President Abra- ham Lincoln had been assassinated at Ford's theater, in Washington, D. C. So terrible was the sensation pro- duced that people at first refused to believe this horrible deed could have been committed, and waited anxiously for more details. When the dreadful truth became confirmed on April 15, 1865, the deepest gloom of horror and despair seized every heart.
Men had no heart to think of any subject but the national calamity. Crepe was instinctively hung on dwellings and all public buildings in Bloomington.
Memorial Services Held.
On Sunday, memorial services were held in all the churches of the town and Monroe county, in honor of the beloved President who lay cold in death, and on Monday, April 17, 1865, pursuant to a call, a large crowd of sorrowing citizens assembled at the court house in Bloomington to give
public expression to the sentiments agonizing all.
A large portrait of the dead Presi- dent was hung and draped in black crepe, the Rev. William Turner was chosen chairman of the meeting, and John H. Louden, secretary. Dr. E. H. Sabino, Governor Dunning, the Rev. T. M. Hopkins, William F. Browning, Esq., and the Rev. S. T. Gillett were appointed a committee to prepare suitable resolutions.
While these men were preparing resolutions, the president of Indiana University, Dr. Nutt, delivered a brief address of great pathos, and when he ceased speaking there was hardly a dry eye in the vast audience.
Painted Picture of Lincoln.
When President Lincoln's body was placed in the State House at Indiana- polis, where it lay in state for the public to view, en route from Wash- ington to Springfield, great lines of Indiana people stood day and night in line to get a last glimpse of the be- loved hero of all time.
A Monroe county man, who had graduated from Indiana University, and who had won some fame as an artist by painting a portrait of Gov- ernor Oliver P. Morton which was hung in the Indiana State House, was one of those who stood in line to view the honored remains.
This man was Captain Marion Blair, who had been stationed at Indi- anapolis while in service. He man- aged to get in the line and pass Presi- dent Lincoln's bier three different times and so impressed the features of the martyr in his memory that he was enabled to keep and refresh them after he reached his home in Indian Creek township, where he painted one of the most striking likenesses of Abraham Lincoln that was ever pro- duced by a portrait painter. (In later years this man Marion Blair became a recluse and when asked to go to Indianapolis to retouch his painting of Governor Morton, refused on the pre- text that it was too much bother to dress up).
This excellent picture of President Lincoln is now in the possession of a nephew of Marion Blair, Dr. Rodney Smith, of Bloomington, who treasures it very highly as an artistic as well as memorial treasure.
Rebellion Closes.
Thursday, June 1, the day set apart by President Johnson as one of humil- iation and prayer on account of the assassination of President Lincoln, was duly observed in Bloomington and throughout the county.
The people gradually recovered from the shock of President Lincoln's death. They joyfully saw the Rebel- lion close, and made preparations to publicly receive the returning soldiers.
The news of the capture of Jeff Davis, while endeavoring to escape in woman's attire, created much amuse- ment, and the "Republican" said: "Hang him like Haman between Heaven and earth as being fit for neither."
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FEATS OF CONFEDERATE NAVY READ LIKE FICTION
The Confederate army in size and in accomplishments completely over- shadowed the south's little naval es- tablishment, and the feats of the sea- men have received tardy recognition at home and elsewhere, except per- haps at he hands of the Geneva tri- bunal, which awarded damages of $15,500,000 against Great Britain in connection with the depredations of Confederate cruisers upon United States commerce.
A former superintendent of the United States naval records has given the Confederate navy credit for de- veloping ironclads, creating the iron- clad ram, creating the best and most effective gun of the war, the Brooks rifle, creating and extending the tor- pedo service, and operating the first successful submarine torpedo boat. It was an army officer, George E. Dixon, of the 21st Alabama, though, that commanded the historic little subma- rine when it finally achieved its ill- fated victory by sinking the U.S.S. Housatonic and going to a watery grave beside it.
Shut off from home ports by a vigi- lant blockade, without adequate means of communicating with Richmond, and thrown constantly on their own re- sources, the officers of the Confeder- ate navy upon the high seas were very largely independent of higher authority.
Semmes a Great Commander.
Raphael Semmes, who received the rank of rear-admiral in the Confed- erate navy in recognition of his serv- ices aboard the Alabama, captured sixty odd United States vessels and sank one in action, the Hatteras, with that vessel. He captured eighteen others while commanding the Sump- ter, a converted packet boat. Though commonly referred to about Washing- ton in the sixties as a "pirate," he has come to be recognized as one of the most exact exponents of law that the seas has ever known.
He "never, even in the bitterest time of the civil war, sank a ship without providing for the safety of its passengers," Theodore Roosevelt said in 1918 in a speech at St. Paul. Roosevelt's uncle, Commander James D. Bulloch, C.S.N., was present at the christening of the Alabama, off the Azores.
But Semmes was more by a good deal than a "sea lawyer." He was an extraordinary seaman, eluding cap- ture by the United States vessels sent in search of him for three years, twice escaping from the island of Martin- que, once in the Sumpter and later in the Alabama, while superior United States vessels lay outside prepared to sink him when he came out. He was also a wonderful commander. From the day he hoisted the flag of the Sumpter to the breezes of the gulf, June 30, 1861, till the flag of the sink- ing Alabama was hauled down off Cherbourg, June 19, 1864, he never
lost a man from disease on either ship.
Running the Blockade.
The only Confederate flag to re- ceive the salute of a foreign power was the flag of the Confederate cruis- er Florida. It was saluted by Eng- lish guns at St. George, Bermuda Islands, July 16, 1863. The career of the Florida was picturesque. One of the most daring feats of the war is credited to her. In the open daylight, on the afternoon of September 4, 1862, she dashed into Mobile bay, her guns not in commission, her crew short-handed, and an epedemic of yel- low fever aboard, the guns of the Onedia, the Winona and the Rachel Seaman meanwhile playing upon her at close range with heavy shell and shrapnel. For allown? the Florida to break the blockade, Comamnder H. Preble, of the Onedia, ranking officer present, was summarily dismissed from the United States navy, but Lin- coln five months later reappointed him. The Florida's passage of the blockade was made the subject of an investigation by a naval court of in- quiry in 1872 and John Newland Maf- fitt, late commander of the Florida, was one of the important witnesses called by Preeble. Maffit, one of the notable officers in the Confederate navy, was born at sea. His father, a preacher, helped to launch at Nash- ville the predecessor of the Christian Advocate, the organ of the Southern Methodist church. The son's career in the Confederate navy was full of thrills, his final assignment being as commander of a blockade runner.
New York City in Panic.
A youngster who was assigned to the Florida while it lay in Mobile bay, being repaired, was Charles W. Read, of Mississippi, then only twenty-two years of age, but a veteran of the fight with Farragut below New Or- leans, and of the dash of the ram
Arkansas out of the Yazoo river through Farragut's fleet to the wharf at Vicksburg, July 15, 1862. His cruise up the Atlantic coast in the captured brig Clarence, in the Ta- cony, another pirze, and the Archer, still another prize, to the harbor of Portland, Me., where he cut out the revenue cutter, Caleb Cushing, only to be captured while geting away with the vessel, was one of the most successful commerce raids that a handful of men (he had but twenty) ever engaged in. Read's raid lasted from May 6, 1863, to June 27, in the course of which he captured twenty vessels, one an ocean liner of New York and another an immigrant ship off Boston, though twenty United States warships and as many more chartered vessels were sent out to capture him. New York city for the moment was even in a state of panic lest the raider attack it. The lad con- cluded his Confederate naval career by a desperate attempt to take the ram William H. Webb out of the Red river, down the Mississippi and into the gulf.
Fired Last Confederate Gun.
The final chapter of Confederate history was written by the navy, by the cruiser Shenandoah. James L. Waddell was its commander.
"The Shenandoah," her commander wrote, "was actually cruising after the enemy's property but eight months during which time she made thirty- eight captures, more than four a month. She released six on bond and destroyed thirty-two.
"She visited every ocean except the Antarctic.
"She was the only vessel which car- ried the flag around the world and she carried it six months after the overthrow of the south.
"She was surrendered to the Brit- ish nation November 6, 1865. The last gun in defense of the south was fired from her deck June 22, 1865, in the Arctic ocean.
"She ran a distance of 58,000 statue miles and met with no serious injury during a cruise of thirteen months.
"She never lost a chase, and was second only to the celebrated Ala- bama."-Kansas City Star.
BLOOMINGTON WOMAN 80 YEARS OF AGE PRO- TESTS ERRONEOUS STORY-SAYS FATHER PLAYED WITH INDIANS
Mrs. Martha E. Adams, Widow of Three Civil War Soldiers, Tells of Grand- father, William Alexander, and Pioneer Days-Late Widow of "Squire Bill" Adams Relates Interesting Incidents in Bloomington's Life.
"A strange coincident happened," said Mrs. Martha E. Adams, 80 years of age, of East Cottage Grove avenue, Bloomington, "in connection with the land upon which Indiana University new Men's Gymnasium now stands.
"On the day that college boys cut down the old Dunn orchard in what
is now a part of Indiana University's land, the man who sold this old Dunn farm to the State authorities for the college, in 1883-1884, was also cut . down by death.
As the boys laid the old fruit trees to the earth-the old trees which the pioneer founder of the Dunn home-
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stead had planted-Moses Dunn, the last descendant to own the land, lay a corpse in Bedford, Indiana, where he had parted this life on that very day.
Erroneous Story Told.
"A story has been told and printed to the effect that when work was in progress in grading the new Indiana University campus, in 1884, or there- abouts, a man named Dunn, who had owned this land and sold it to the Uni- versity, had dropped dead suddenly while working on this grading of the land.
"This story is not true!" contnued Mrs. Adams.
"Moses Dunn, the man told of in this story, is the man to whom I re- ferred above. One reason I am so sure that my memory is correct in this instance is the fact that at the time my late husband, Squire William Adams, who died September 10, 1914, at the age of 84 years, was living, and he and I talked of the strange coinci- dence of the death of Mr. Dunn and the felling of the old family orchard.
How Story Was Confused.
"However, there was a man who died suddenly of heart failure at the time of the grading work on the Uni- versity campus was being done. But his name was Small, and not Moses Dunn.
"It seems that the man named Small had been merely watching workmen building Third street pike, and had drawn a little apart from the other men, in order to do some little thing. After a while, the other men noted his absence from the work, and some per- son went into the surrounding bushes to investigate, where he discovered Mr. Small's body in a sitting posture.
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