USA > Indiana > Marshall County > History of Indiana : containing a history of Indiana and biographical sketches of governors and other leading men. Also a statement of the growth and prosperity of Marshall County, together with a personal and family histry of many of its citizens, Vol. I > Part 12
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
138
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
act of war. On the 26th of April, the Mexican General, Ampudia, gave notice to this effect to General Taylor, and on the same day a party of American dragoons, sixty-three in number, being on the north side of the Rio Grande, were attacked, and, after the loss of sixteen men killed and wounded, were forced to surrender. Their commander, Captain Thornton, only escaped. The Mexican forces had now crossed the river above Matamoras and were supposed to meditate an attack on Point Isabel, where Taylor had established a depot of supplies for his army. On the 1st of May, this officer left a small number of troops at Fort Brown, and marched with his chief forces, twenty-three hundred men, to the defense of Point Isabel. Having garrisoned this place, he set out on his return. On the Sth of May, about noon, he met the Mexican army, six thousand strong, drawn up in battle array, on the prairie near Palo Alto. The Americans at once advanced to the attack, and, after an action of five hours, in which their artillery was very effective, drove the enemy before them, and encamped upon the field. The Mexican loss was about one hundred killed; that of the Americans, four killed and forty wounded. Major Ringgold, of the artillery, an officer of great merit, was mortally wounded. The next day, as the Americans advanced, they again met the enemy in a strong position near Resaca de la Palma, three miles from Fort Brown. An action commenced, and was fiercely contested, the artillery on both sides being served with great vigor. At last the Mexicans gave way, and fled in confusion, General de la Vega having fallen into the hands of the Americans. They also abandoned their guns and a large quantity of ammunition to the victors. The remain- ing Mexican soldiers speedily crossed the Rio Grande, and the next day the Americans took up their position at Fort Brown. This little fort, in the absence of General Taylor, had gallantly sustained an almost uninterrupted attack of several days from the Mexican batteries of Matamoras.
When the news of the capture of Captain Thornton's party was spread over the United States, it produced great excitement. The President addressed a message to Congress, then in session, declar- ing " that war with Mexico existed by her own act;" and that body, May, 1846, placed ten millions of dollars at the President's dispo- sal, and authorized him to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers. A great part of the summer of 1846 was spent in prep- aration for the war, it being resolved to invade Mexico at several points. In pursuance of this plan, General Taylor, who had taken
139
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
possession of Matamoras, abandoned by the enemy in May, marched northward in the enemy's country in August, and on the 19th of September he appeared before Monterey, capital of the Mexican State of New Leon. His army, after having garrisoned several places along his route, amounted to six thousand men. The attack began on the 21st, and after a succession of assaults, during the period of four days, the Mexicans capitulated, leaving the town in possession of the Americans. In October, General Taylor terminated an armistice into which he had entered with the Mexican General, and again commenced offensive operations. Various towns and fortresses of the enemy now rapidly fell into our possession. In November, Saltillo, the capital of the State of Coahuila was occupied by the division of General Worth; in December, General Patterson took possession of Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, and nearly at the same period, Commodore Perry captured the fort of Tampico. Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, with the whole territory of the State had been subjugated by General Harney, after a march of one thousand miles through the wilderness. Events of a startling char- acter had taken place at still earlier dates along the Pacific coast. On the 4th of July, Captain Fremont, having repeatedly defeated su- perior Mexican forces with the small band under his command, de- clared California independent of Mexico. Other important places in this region had yielded to the American naval force, and in Au- gust, 1846, the whole of California was in the undisputed occupa- tion of the Americans.
The year 1847 opened with still more brilliant victories on the part of our armies. By the drawing off of a large part of General Taylor's troops for a meditated attack on Vera Cruz, he was left with a comparatively small force to meet the great body of Mexican troops, now marching upon him, under command of the celebrated Santa Anna, who had again become President of Mexico.
Ascertaining the advance of this powerful army, twenty thou- sand strong, and consisting of the best of the Mexican soldiers, General Taylor took up his position at Buena Vista, a valley a few miles from Saltillo. His whole troops numbered only four thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, and here, on the 23d of February, he was vigorously attacked by the Mexicans. The battle was very severe, and continued nearly the whole day, when the Mexicans fled from the field in disorder, with a loss of nearly two thousand men. Santa Anna speedily withdrew, and thus abandoned the region of
140
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
the Rio Grande to the complete occupation of our troops. This left our forces at liberty to prosecute the grand enterprise of the cam- paign, the capture of the strong town of Vera Cruz, with its re- nowned castle of San Juan d'Ulloa. On the 9th of March, 1847, General Scott landed near the city with an army of twelve thousand men, and on the 18th commenced an attack. For four days and nights an almost incessant shower of shot and shells was poured upon the devoted town, while the batteries of the castle and the city replied with terrible energy. At last, as the Americans were pre- paring for an assault, the Governor of the city offered to surrender, and on the 26th the American flag floated triumphantly from the walls of the castle and the city. General Scott now prepared to march upon the city of Mexico, the capital of the country, situated two hundred miles in the interior, and approached only through a series of rugged passes and mountain fastnesses, rendered still more formidable by several strong fortresses. On the 8th of April the army commenced their march. At Cerro Gordo, Santa Anna had posted himself with fifteen thousand men. On the 18th the Amer- icans began the daring attack, and by midday every intrenchment of the enemy had been carried. The loss of the Mexicans in this remarkable battle, besides one thousand killed and wounded, was three thousand prisoners, forty-three pieces of cannon, five thousand stand of arms, and all their amunitions and mate- rials of war. The loss of the Americans was four hundred and thirty-one in killed and wounded. The next day our forces · advanced, and, capturing fortress after fortress, came on the 18th of Angust within ten miles of Mexico, a city of two hun- dred thousand inhabitants, and situated in one of the most beautiful valleys in the world. On the 20th they attacked and carried the strong batteries of Contreras, garrisoned by 7,000 men, in an impetuous assault, which lasted but seventeen minutes. On the same day an attack was made by the Americans on the fortified post of Churubusco, four miles northeast of Contreras. Here nearly the entire Mexican army-more than 20,000 in number- were posted; but they were defeated at every point, and obliged to seek a retreat in the city, or the still remaining fortress of Chapul- tepec. While preparations were being made on the 21st by Gen- eral Scott, to level his batteries against the city, prior to summon- ing it to surrender, he received propositions from the enemy, which terminated in an armistice. This ceased on the 7th of September. On the 8th the outer defense of Chapultepec was successfully
141
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
stormed by General Worth, though he lost one-fourth of his men in the desperate struggle. The castle of Chapultepec, situated on an abrupt and rocky eminence, 150 feet above the surrounding country, presented a most formidable object of attack. On the 12th, however, the batteries were opened against it, and on the next day the citadel was carried by storm. The Mexicans still strug- gled along the great causeway leading to the city, as the Americans advanced, but before nightfal a part of our army was within the gates of the city. Santa Anna and the officers of the Government fled, and the next morning, at seven o'clock, the flag of the Ameri- cans floated from the national palace of Mexico. This conquest of the capital was the great and final achievement of the war. The Mexican republic was in fact prostrate, her sea-coast and chief cities being in the occupation of our troops. On the 2d of Feb- ruary, 1848, terms of peace were agreed upon by the American commissioner and the Mexican Government, this treaty being rati- fied by the Mexican Congress on the 30th of May following, and by the United States soon after. President Polk proclaimed peace on the 4th of July, 1848. In the preceding sketeh we have given only a mere outline of the war with Mexico. We have necessarily passed over many interesting events, and have not even named many of our soldiers who performed gallant and important ser- vices. General Taylor's successful operations in the region of the Rio Grande were duly honored by the people of the United States, by bestowing upon him the Presidency. General Scott's campaign, from the attack on Vera Cruz, to the surrender of the city of Mexico, was far more remarkable, and, in a military point of view, must be considered as one of the most brilliant of modern times. It is true the Mexicans are not to be ranked with the great nations of the earth; with a population of seven or eight millions, they have little more than a million of the white race, the rest being half-civ- ilized Indians and mestizos, that is, those of mixed blood. Their government is inefficient, and the people divided among them- selves. Their soldiers often fought bravely, but they were badly officered. While, therefore, we may consider the conquest of so extensive and populous a country, in so short a time, and attended with such constant superiority even to the greater numbers of the enemy, as highly gratifying evidence of the courage and capacity of our army, still we must not, in judging of our achievements, fail to consider the real weakness of the nation whom we vanquished.
142
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
One thing we may certainly dwell upon with satisfaction-the ad- inirable example, not only as a soldier, but as a man, set by our com- mander, Gen. Scott, who seems, in the midst of war and the ordinary license of the camp, always to have preserved the virtue, kindness, and humanity belonging to a state of peace. These qualities secured to him the respect, confidence and good-will even of the enemy he had conquered. Among the Generals who effectually aided General Scott in this remarkable campaign, we must not omit to mention the names of Generals Wool, Twiggs, Shields, Worth, Smith, and Quitman, who generally added to the high qualities of soldiers the still more estimable characteristics of good men. The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo stipulated that the disputed territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande should belong to the United States, and it now forms a part of Texas, as has been already stated; that the United States should assume and pay the debts due from Mexico to American citizens, to the amount of $3,500,000; and that, in consideration of the sum of $15,000,000 to be paid by the United States to Mexico, the latter should relinquish to the former the whole of New Mexico and Upper California.
The soldiers of Indiana who served in this war were formed into five regiments of volunteers, numbered respectively, 1st, 2d, 3rd, 4th and 5th. The fact that companies of the three first-named reg- iments served at times with the men of Illinois, the New York volunteers, the Palmettos of South Carolina, and United States marines, under Gen. James Shields, makes for them a history; be- cause the campaigns of the Rio Grande and Chihuahua, the siege of Vera Cruz, the desperate encounter at Cerro Gordo, the tragic contests in the valley, at Contreras and Churubusco, the storming of Chapultepec, and the planting of the stars and stripes upon every turret and spire within the conquered city of Mexico, were all carried out by the gallant troops under the favorite old General, and consequently each of them shared with him in the glories at- tached to such exploits. The other regiments under Cols. Gorman and Lane participated in the contests of the period under other com- manders. The 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, comprising ten companies, was formally organized at Jeffersonville, Indiana, by Capt. R. C. Gatlin, June 15, 1847, and on the 16th elected Major Willis A. Gorman, of the 3rd Regiment, to the Colonelcy; Ebenezer Dumont, Lieutenant-Colonel, and W. McCoy, Major. On the 27th of June the regiment left Jeffersonville for the front, and
143
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
subsequently was assigned to Brigadier-General Lane's command, which then comprised a battery of five pieces from the 3rd Regi- ment U. S. Artillery; a battery of two pieces from the 2nd Regiment U. S. Rrtillery, the 4th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers and the 4th Regiment of Ohio, with a squadron of mounted Louisianians and detachments of recruits for the U. S. army. The troops of this brigade won signal honors at Passo de Ovegas, August 10, 1847; National Bridge, on the 12th; Cerro Gordo, on the 15th; Las Ani- mas, on the 19th, under Maj. F. T. Lally, of General Lane's staff, and afterward under Lane, directly, took a very prominent part in the siege of Puebla, which began on the 15th of September and terminated on the 12th of October. At Atlixco, October 19th; Tlascala, November 10th; Matamoras and Pass Galajara, Novem- ber 23rd and 24th; Guerrilla Ranche, December 5th; Napaloncan, December 10th, the Indiana volunteers of the 4th Regiment per- formed gallant service, and carried the campaign into the following year, representing their State at St. Martin's, February 27, 1848; Cholula, March 26th; Matacordera, February 19th; Sequalteplan, February 25th; and on the cessation of hostilities reported at Madison, Indiana, for discharge, July 11, 1848; while the 5th In- diana Regiment, under Col. J. H. Lane, underwent a similar round of duty during its service with other brigades, and gained some celebrity at Vera Cruz, Churubusco and with the troops of Illinois under Gen. Shields at Chapultepec.
This war cost the people of the United States sixty-six millions of dollars. This very large amount was not paid away for the at- tainment of mere glory; there was something else at stake, and this something proved to be a country larger and more fertile than the France of the Napoleons, and more steady and sensible than the France of the Republic. It was the defense of the great Lone Star State, the humiliation. and chastisement of a quarrelsome neighbor.
SLAVERY.
We have already referred to the prohibition of slavery in the Northwestern Territory, and Indiana Territory by the ordinance of 1787; to the imperfection in the execution of this ordinance and the troubles which the authorities encountered; and the complete estab- lishment of the principles of freedom on the organization of the State. The next item of significance in this connection is the following lan- guage in the message of Gov. Ray to the Legislature of 1828: "Since our last separation, while we have witnessed with anxious solicitude the belligerent operations of another hemisphere, the cross contend- ing against the crescent, and the prospect of a general rupture among the legitimates of other quarters of the globe, our attention has been arrested by proceedings in our own country truly dangerous to liberty, seriously premeditated, and disgraceful to its authors if agitated only to tamper with the American people. If such ex- periments as we see attempted in certain deluded quarters do not fall with a burst of thunder upon the heads of their seditious pro- jectors, then indeed the Republic has begun to experience the days of its degeneracy. The union of these States is the people's only sure charter for their liberties and independence. Dissolve it and each State will soon be in a condition as deplorable as Alexander's conquered countries after they were divided amongst his victorious military captains."
In pursuance of a joint resolution of the Legislature of 1850, a block of native marble was procured and forwarded to Washington, to be placed in the monument then in the course of erection at the National Capital in memory of George Washington. In the absence of any legislative instruction concerning the inscription upon this emblem of Indiana's loyalty, Gov. Wright ordered the following words to be inscribed upon it: INDIANA KNOWS NO NORTH, NO SOUTH, NOTHING BUT THE UNION. Within a dozen years thereafter this noble State demonstrated to the world her loy- alty to the Union and the principles of freedom by the sacrifice of blood and treasure which she made. In keeping with this senti- ment Gov. Wright indorsed the compromise measures of Congress on the slavery question, remarking in his message that "Indiana takes her stand in the ranks, not of Southern destiny, nor yet of
(144)
147
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Northern destiny: she plants herself on the basis of the Consti- tution and takes her stand in the ranks of American destiny."
FIFTEENTII AMENDMENT.
At the session of the Legislature in January, 1869, the subject of ratifying the fifteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution, allowing negro suffrage, came up with such persistency that neither party dared to undertake any other business lest it be checkmated in some way, and being at a dead lock on this matter, they adjourn- ed in March without having done much important business. The Democrats, as well as a portion of the conservative Republicans, opposed its consideration strongly on the ground that it would be unfair to vote on the question until the people of the State had had an opportunity of expressing their views at the polls; but most of the Republicans resolved to push the measure through, while the Democrats resolved to resign in a body and leave the Legislature without a quorum. Accordingly, on March 4, 17 Senators and 36 Representatives resigned, leaving both houses without a quorum.
As the early adjournment of the Legislature left the benevolent institutions of the State unprovided for, the Governor convened that body in extra session as soon as possible, and after the neces- sary appropriations were made, on the 19th of May the fifteenth amendment came up; but in anticipation of this the Democratic members had all resigned and claimed that there was no quorum present. There was a quorum, however, of Senators in office, though some of them refused to vote, declaring that they were no longer Senators; but the president of that body decided that as he had not been informed of their resignation by the Governor, they were still members. A vote was taken and the ratifying resolution was adopted. When the resolution came up in the House, the chair decided that, although the Democratic members had resigned, there was a quorum of the de facto members present, and the House proceeded to pass the resolution. This decision of the chair was afterward sustained by the Supreme Court.
At the next regular session of the Legislature, in 1871, the Democrats undertook to repeal the ratification, and the Republican members resigned to prevent it. The Democrats, as the Republi- cans did on the previous occasion, proceeded to pass their resolu- tion of repeal; but while the process was under way, before the House Committee had time to report on the matter, 34 Republican members resigned, thereby preventing its passage and putting a stop to further legislation.
INDIANA IN THE WAR.
The events of the earlier years of this State have been reviewed down to that period in the nation's history when the Republic de- manded a first sacrifice from the newly erected States; to the time when the very safety of the glorious heritage, bequeathed by the fathers as a rich legacy, was threatened with a fate worse than death -a life under laws that harbored the slave-a civil defiance of che first principles of the Constitution.
Indiana was among the first to respond to the summons of patri- otism, and register itself on the national roll of honor, even as she was among the first to join in that song of joy which greeted a Re- public made doubly glorious within a century by the dual victory which won liberty for itself, and next bestowed the precious boon upon the colored slave.
The fall of Fort Sumter was a signal for the uprising of the State. The news of the calamity was flashed to Indianapolis on the 14th of April, 1861, and early the next morning the electric wire brought the welcome message to Washington :-
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT OF INDIANA, INDIANAPOLIS, April 15, 1861.
TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States :- On behalf of the State of Indiana, I tender to you for the defense of the Nation, and to uphold the au- thority of the Government, ten thousand men.
OLIVER P. MORTON, Governor of Indiana.
This may be considered the first official act of Governor Morton, who had just entered on the duties of his exalted position. The State was in an almost helpless condition, and yet the faith of the " War Governor " was prophetic, when, after a short consultation with the members of the Executive Council, he relied on the fidelity of ten thousand men and promised their services to the Protectorate at Washington. This will be more apparent when the military condition of the State at the beginning of 1861 is considered. At that time the armories contained less than five hundred stand of serviceable small arms, eight pieces of cannon which might be use- ful in a museum of antiquities, with sundry weapons which would merely do credit to the aborigines of one hundred years ago. The financial condition of the State was even worse than the military.
(14S)
149
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
The sum of $10,368.58 in trust funds was the amount of cash in the hands of the Treasurer, and this was, to all intents and purposes unavailable to meet the emergency, since it could not be devoted to the military requirements of the day. This state of affairs was dispiriting in the extreme, and would doubtless have militated against the ultimate success of any other man than Morton; yet he overleaped every difficulty, nor did the fearful realization of Floyd's treason, discovered during his visit to Washington, damp his indomitable conrage and energy, but with rare persistence he urged the claims of his State, and for his exertions was requited with an order for five thousand muskets. The order was not exe- cuted until hostilities were actually entered upon, and consequently for some days succeeding the publication of the President's procla- mation the people labored under a feeling of terrible anxiety min -. gled with uncertainty, amid the confusion which followed the crim- inal negligence that permitted the disbandment of the magnificent corps d' armee (51,000 men) of 1832 two years later in 1834, Great numbers of the people maintained their equanamity with the result of beholding within a brief space of time every square mile of their State represented by soldiers prepared to fight to the bitter end iu defense of cherished institutions, and for the extension of the prin . ciple of human liberty to all States and classes within the limits of the threatened Union. This, their zeal, was not animated by hos- tility to the slave holders of the Southern States, but rather by a fraternal spirit, akin to that which urges the eldest brother to cor- rect the persistent follies of his juniors, and thus lead them from crime to the maintenance of family honor; in this correction, to draw them away from all that was cruel, diabolical and inhuman in the Republic, to all that is gentle, holy and sublime therein. Many of the raw troops were not only unimated by a patriotic feeling, but also by that beautiful idealization of the poet, who in his un- conscious Republicanisın, said:
" I would not have a slave to till my ground, To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth That sinews bought and sold have ever earned No: dear as freedom is-and, in my heart's Just estimation, prized above all price- I had much rather be myself the slave, And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him."
Thus animated, it is not a matter for surprise to find the first call to arms issued by the President, and calling for 75,000 men,
150
HISTORY OF INDIANA.
answered nobly by the people of Indiana. The quota of troops to be furnished by the State on the first call was 4,683 men for three years' service from April 15, 1860. On the 16th of April, Gov- ernor Morton issued his proclamation calling on all citizens of the State, who had the welfare of the Republic at heart, to organize themselves into six regiments in defense of their rights, and in opposition to the varied acts of rebellion, charged by him against the Southern Confederates. To this end, the Hon. Lewis Wallace, a soldier of the Mexican campaign was appointed Adjutant-General, Col. Thomas A. Morris of the United States Military Academy, Quartermaster-General, and Isaiah Mansur, a merchant of Indian- apolis, Commissary-General. These general officers converted the grounds and buildings of the State Board of Agriculture into a military headquarters, and designated the position Camp Morton, as the beginning of the many honors which were to follow the pop- ular Governor throughout his future career. Now the people, im- bued with confidence in their Government and leaders, rose to the grandeur of American freemen, and with an enthusiasm never equaled hitherto, flocked to the standard of the nation; so that within a few days (19th April) 2,400 men were ranked beneath their regimental banners, until as the official report testifies, the anxious question, passing from mouth to mouth, was, " Which of us will be allowed to go?" It seemed as if Indiana was about to monopolize the honors of the period, and place the 75,000 men demanded of the Union by the President, at his disposition. Even now under the genial sway of guaranteed peace, the features of Indiana's veterans flush with righteous pride when these days-re- membrances of heroic sacrifice-are named, and freemen, still un- born, will read their history only to be blessed and glorified in the possession of such truly, noble progenitors. Nor were the ladies of the State unmindful of their duties. Everywhere they partook of the general enthusiasm, and made it practical so far as in their power, by embroidering and presenting standards and regimental colors, organizing aid and relief societies, and by many other acts of patriotism and humanity inherent in the high nature of woman.
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.