USA > Indiana > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol. I > Part 37
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The founder of the blind asylum of Indiana was William H. Churchman, himself blind. He was born in Baltimore and educated in Pennsylvania. He began teaching in 1839. James M. Ray, of Indianapolis, visited his school in Louisville and at once became interested in the work. A small appropriation in 1845-6 enabled Mr. Ray and Mr. Churchman to visit
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
different parts of the State and awaken an interest in the condition of the blind. The ministers, as usual, assisted in the charitable work, Mr. Beecher taking the lead. The friends of the unfortunate blind were at first reluctant to let them go from their immediate care. Finally, Mr. Churchman and his friends found twenty blind persons who would attend, and twenty-eight more who were eligible and friendly to the under- taking. With these the asylum was opened in Indian- apolis in 1847. The school grew slowly but surely and during the next ten years earned for itself a place in the public confidence.6
6 George W. Cottman in Indiana Magazine of History, March, 1914. Goodrich and Tuttie, History of Indiana, ch. 34. The news- papers of the decade from 1840 to 1850 contain the popular dis- cussions of this question. The public interest which from 1827 to 1840 had been absorbed in internal improvements was turned to schools and benevolent institutions.
CHAPTER XIX
THE MEXICAN WAR
§ 84 TEXAS AND OREGON QUESTIONS
As early as 1820 young men of Indiana became interested in Texas. The extraordinary offers of land by Moses Austin and others who had received large land grants from the young Mexican Republic attracted these adventurers. Visiting New Orleans in the flat- boat trade, they heard with astonishment the stories of border life. The decade from 1840 to 1850 in In- diana offered little inducement to the adventure- loving sons of the old Indian fighters, while the Texas country, covered with herds of buffalo, almost sur- rounded by warlike Indians and Mexicans, and in- habited by such renowned heroes as Bowie, Houston, Crockett, and Travis, had for them a resistless fascina- tion. After a month's trip on a flatboat, finding them- selves at New Orleans in the opening of the spring, with more money in their pockets than they had ever had before, with romantic Texas, easily reached on one hand, and far-away, prosaic Indiana, reached by a tedious upstream trip in a rowboat, or a walk of 1,500 miles, on the other hand, it is not hard to under- stand how many of the young flatboatmen in the early days drifted into Texas.
Many of them, after a stay of a few years, returned to tell the folks at home of the wonderful country. Their letters, as well as the accounts of the heroic war of liberation in Texas, and the fight of the warriors at the Alamo, were printed in the Indiana papers and eagerly read.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
Keeping these conditions in mind, one can appre- ciate the dismay with which the Whigs learned that the Democratic National Convention in 1844 had dis- carded Van Buren, who opposed the annexation of Texas, and had nominated Polk, who favored it.1 "What a result!" said one of the leading Whigs when he heard what the convention had done, "it has nemi- nated a man of no distinction, a Southerner, a slave- holder, an anti-tariff man, a sub-treasuryite, and a Texas annexationist."2
His attitude on Texas, together with the fact that Polk favored the annexation of Oregon, whither many Indianians had gone in the last ten years, insured his carrying Indiana.3 Could the voters of Indiana be expected to support a man who would disown and cast off hundreds of their friends and relatives who had gone to Texas and Oregon? Not even the great per- sonal popularity of Clay could induce them to do it.
§ 85 INDIANA MILITIA IN 1846
IN territorial times, and for many years after In- diana became a State, the militia was kept in good con- dition. Every man took his place in the organization. The leading men of the State were proud to be its colonels and generals. On training day the companies vied with each other in the expertness of their drill, in the attractiveness of their uniforms, and the condition of their arms.
As the terrors of the War of 1812 were forgotten, and the Indians, year by year, disappeared from the State, the interest in military affairs decreased. In the Black Hawk War, 1832, the State was able to call out . some fairly good companies of soldiers. But as there proved no need for them, no permanent interest was
1 Indiana Journal, June 29, and July 6, 1844.
2 Indiana Journal, June 8, 1844.
3 Indiana Journal, Nov. 23, 1839.
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THE MILITIA
aroused. In fact, Major Beckes' company became mu- tinous and Colonel Russell's battalion was made so much sport of by the newspapers that the militia lost rather than gained prestige. By 1840 the "cornstalk" militia had become a joke.4 The law, nevertheless, re- mained on the statute books.5 The militia officers had become purely nominal, without duties. Neither did the State have any arsenal nor munitions of war of any kind. At the beginning of the year 1846 the State had a few hundred old muskets, yagers, pistols, car- bines, and perhaps 500 Hall's rifles. Even these were scattered over the State, stored away in barns and other similar places. The State also possessed one six-pound cannon. The law permitted organized companies to draw these old arms and use them for training pur- poses. Many of them were very properly thrown away by the militiamen as soon as they were received.6 An adjutant-general was still among the State officers and drew a salary of $100 per year.
David Reynolds, who held the position of adjutant- general when the Mexican War began, was a man of energy and judgment, though entirely ignorant of all military affairs. His tireless activity made up in a large measure for this deficiency of military knowledge and the lack of preparation by the State. The General Assembly of 1847 rewarded his efforts by raising his salary to $250.
The last report of the State militia to the ordinance office of the United States had been made in 1832. There were in 1846 a few companies of organized
4 Laws of Indiana, 1843, ch. VII. The militia law of 1831. This latter was printed separately and is very rare.
5 They were called the "Cornstalk" militia because they fre- quently used cornstalks instead of guns on training day and be- cause the only distinctive parts of their uniforms were the corn- tassels in their caps.
6 Report of the Quartermaster, Samuel Beck, Nov. 30, 1845. Documentary Journal, 1845-6, pt. II, 45.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
militia, but the State had no record of them. There were, it seemed, two colonels, but not a. general of either brigade or division, the only officers whose duty it was to report to the State Adjutant-General .?
Since 1836 there had been a constantly growing interest among Indianians for Texan affairs. It was heightened by the Texas Declaration of Independence, the recognition by President Jackson, March 3, 1837,s by the various proposals for annexation, by the annex- ation itself in 1845, and by the dispatch of General Zachary Taylor with an army of occupation to the disputed country.9 As he crept slowly toward the Rio Grande with his army the conviction deepened that war would result. Finally, May 13, 1846, came the declaration of war,10 the news reaching Indianapolis May 21, in time for the papers of May 23.11
§ 86 ORGANIZING THE INDIANA BRIGADE
MAY 16, three days after the declaration, the United States secretary of war, by letter, required of the gov- ernor of Indiana three regiments of volunteers. The governor received the requisition during the evening of May 21 and issued his proclamation the next day.12 Along with the proclamation was sent a memorandum
Z The adjutant general reported that while it was true the sys- tem had undergone a general paralysis the martial. spirit of the people was not extinguished. A number of energetic independent companies and a few regiments of district militia had survived the general disorganization. Report of Adjutant General. Rey- nolds, Nov. 29, 1845. Documentary Journal, 1845-46, pt. II, 37.
8- Messages and Papers of the President, III, 281 ..
9 Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 102. seq. "I wanted the war, thinking of little else, and I went about hunting news and debating the probabilities. I haunted the Journal office. My pockets were full of newspapers, especially those of New Orleans and New York."
10 Laws of United States, 1846, ch. XVI.
11 Indiana Democrat, May 23, 1846. See also Governor's Proc- lamation, May 22, 1846.
12 Documentary Journal, 1846. pt. II, 8.
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THE INDIANA BRIGADE
of the directions of Congress, enacted May 13, for arming and equipping the militia.
Each regiment was to consist of a colonel, lieuten- ant-colonel, a major, and an adjutant who was also a lieutenant of one of the companies. These were called the field officers. There were, besides, a sergeant- major, quartermaster-sergeant, and two musicians. Each regiment was composed of ten companies, each containing one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals, two musi- cians, and eighty privates. A full regiment thus con- sisted of 937 men, or a total of 2,811 men to be raised in the State.
The governor designated Camp Clark, just east of New Albany, as the meeting place or rendezvous of the little army. The proclamation gave any citi- zen of the State the privilege of organizing a company.
With the news of war, a wave of military enthusi- asm passed over the State. Mass meetings were held in the larger towns, where popular speakers inflamed the younger men with stories of martial heroism. The declaration of war was read and almost everywhere approved. At Indianapolis it was solemnly resolved, on motion of the circuit judge, "that the war ought to be carried into the enemy's country and the Star Spangled Banner planted in the city of Mexico on the halls of the Montezumas."13
Lew Wallace, then a young man of nineteen years, opened a recruiting office at Indianapolis, enrolled a company, and had it organized in three days. The nearest railroad, in fact, the only railroad in the State, ran from Edinburg to Madison. Patriotic farmers hauled the volunteers in their wagons to Edinburg, whence they proceeded by rail to Madison and thence by boat down to Camp Clark.14
13 Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 115.
14 Madison Banner, May 27, 30, 1846.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
The response was similar from all parts of the State. Captains William Ford and Thomas L. Sulli- van had two companies ready in a short time at Madi- son. Capt. William Walker of Evansville at once tendered the services of the "Indiana Riflemen," a vol- unteer company of which he was captain. Two com- panies came from Fort Wayne by way of the Ohio canals and the Ohio river. Capt. Spier S. Tipton's company from Logansport passed Indianapolis June 12; Capt. H. S. Lane's company from Crawfordsville reached Indianapolis June 13, on its way to New Al- bany. By June 10, the State requisition was filled and the thirty companies accepted ; by June 20, all had ar- rived at New Albany and were ready to embark for New Orleans.
At Camp Clark the volunteers began to experience some of the realities of war. The weather was hot and the camp equipment poor. There was a great deal of politics and consequently a great deal of dissatis- faction in the election of officers. The governor and lieutenant governor were on the grounds, and the Whigs charged that they were there to see that their political favorites were properly cared for.15
The State treasury had been empty for eight years previous to the outbreak of the war. At no time in its history have the State's finances been in a worse condi- tion than in 1846. The governor at once appealed to the branches of the State bank. Most of the branches
15 Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 116. It was also charged that the president handed out commissions in the army in return for votes against the Wilmot Proviso. Indiana Journal, April 2, 1847. The Indiana Journal, June 7, 1847, said the election of Col. William A. Bowles for the responsible position of colonel was di- rectly due to the Intrigues of Governor Whitcomb. The Wabash Express referred to Dunning as the "big dog" around the encamp- ment, State Journal, July 15. For a commentary on the miser- able, petty politics employed in organizing the troops, see Dun- ning's letter in his own defense, Journal, Nov. 20, 1846. See also Thomas O'Neal's letter in the Journal, Dec. 15, 1846.
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OFF FOR MEXICO
responded at once. Madison, Indianapolis, Lawrence- burg, New Albany, Evansville, Fort Wayne and Lafay- ette placed from $5,000 to $10,000 each at the govern- or's disposal. The South Bend, Michigan City, Vin- cennes and Terre Haute branches were either unable or unwilling to aid.
With the assistance of these loans the State was able to place its quota in the field in nineteen days. Besides the thirty companies received, twenty others had ap- plied to the governor for service before June 17.16
.
The volunteers spent about two weeks at Camp Clark.17 They were mustered into the United States service June 19.18 General John E. Wool, Governor Whitcomb and Lieutenant Governor Paris Dunning re- viewed the troops on the 20th. Tents were drawn, one for each six men, rations distributed, and the Indiana Brigade went into regular camp. At first there was some objection to drinking the warm river water, but no serious sickness resulted.
On July 3, Col. James P. Drake announced that the First Regiment would embark on the 5th. After firing a few rounds with cannon, the soldiers settled down to hard work on the Fourth of July and by sunrise of the 5th they were marching aboard the steamboats "Grace Darling" and "Cincinnati."
The First Regiment reached New Orleans, July 11. The six days' journey down the river had given the troops an impression that war was about the most pleasant occupation possible. They received their first shock, however, when they went into camp in the thin mud on the river bank below New Orleans. Their vision of glory began to fade. Several men had died on the trip down. A considerable number were sick. There was no dry ground on which to stretch their
18 Indiana Sentinel, June 17, 1846.
17 This was frequently called Camp Whitcomb.
18 Indiana Sentinel, June 27, 1846.
J
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
tents. Having no straw nor brush, they spread their new blankets on the wet ground. Soon the muddy slime had worked its way through the thin blankets. The camp took on the appearance of a hog-wallow. The weather was hot, but the air was too moist to dry the muddy blankets.
Four days were spent by the Hoosier volunteers on the glorious slime-covered battlefield of New Orleans before ships could be secured to carry them across the gulf. They then embarked on two small vessels.19 On the gulf other new experiences awaited the volunteers. They had cleaned up their blankets and new regiment- als as soon as the gulf breeze had dried the mud into harmless sand. But seasickness struck them with worse damage to their new clothes than had been done by the New Orleans mud. A volunteer from Hendricks county died and was buried at sea. The melancholy sight made a deep impression on the men. One of the transport ships was eleven days on the trip, having been driven out of its course by a storm ; others crossed in three days.20
§ 87 CAMPAIGNING IN MEXICO
THE Indiana Brigade landed at Brazos, thirty miles from Matamoras. The Soldiers were disappointed at finding nothing but a barren, sandy coast where they
19 The soldiers commented on the enormous size of these ships; one, the "Flavio," was of 640 tons burden, the other of 350 tons. 20 The following from a letter printed in the Brookville Ameri- can, Aug. 21, 1846 :
"Imagine two hundred men stowed away in a small brig with a four and one-half foot hold. All of her crew with two hun- dred volunteers to sleep in that hold; warm nights and some- times a heavy sea; the hatches all down, without a window or an air hoie; to live on coffee, slop fed food, meat and dry crack- ers; half the men seasick and spewing all about you; some- times you would find yourself eating and some one close by would let slip right on your dinner and your clothes; and then you will imagine how pleasant our trip was from New Orleans to this place."
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ON THE RIO GRANDE
had expected a large city. A hunter's hut was the only sign of human habitation. Two ships were wrecked on the sandy coast, but no lives were lost. Measles and dysentery, due to bad drinking water, broke out in the camp at the mouth of the Rio Grande. Colonel Drake reported that one hundred of his command were sick, . August 5,21 Thirteen had died by September 1. The First Regiment was left indefinitely to guard imagin- ary supplies at this camp at the mouth of the Rio Grande. The other two regiments camped sixteen miles farther up the river.
Colonel Drake visited General Taylor and asked per- mission to remove the First Regiment from the un- healthful camp, but the request was refused. Here, then, they remained until December 10, when all three Indiana regiments started up the river to join the main army. After a short march the First Regiment, to its great disgust, was again ordered back to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The Second and Third Regiments con- tinued their march, reaching Monterey shortly after Christmas, and Saltillo January 1, 1847.
General Taylor had gradually crowded the Mexi- cans south past Monterey to Saltillo. The Mexicans under Santa Anna gathered head again at San Luis Potosi, 200 miles to the south. At this time Gen. Win- field Scott took active command of the troops of the United States, and ordered Taylor to send him most of his seasoned soldiers to aid in a march on Mexico from Vera Cruz.
The departure of the regular troops compelled Taylor to gather his little remaining army closer to- gether. The Indiana regiments were ordered up to join the other troops at the front at Saltillo. A scout- ing party of eighty Kentucky cavalry was surrounded and, on the night of January 21, captured at El Salado, ninety miles south of Saltillo.22 A captain escaped and
21 Indiana Democrat, Ang. 11, 184B.
22 Indiana Sentinel, March 17, 1847.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
returned with the news that Santa Anna with an over- whelming army was rapidly advancing on Saltillo. Taylor at once decided to take a position in a mountain pass five miles south of Buena Vista, through which the road to San Luis Potosi passed.
Here on the afternoon of February 22, the little American army of 5,000 men was confronted by Santa Anna with an army of 20,000 men. General Wool ar- ranged the line of battle. The seasoned troops were stationed in the pass, expecting a direct frontal attack, while the Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky volunteers were stationed far out on the left flank to prevent the Mexicans coming around that wing, the Second Indiana occupying the extreme left.
The Americans took up their position about the middle of the afternoon of February 22, 1847. A short time before this, clouds of dust had been seen rising in the south. An hour later the advance guard of the Mexican army appeared before the fortifications on the main road and demanded that the Americans sur- render. After a show of fight there, a brigade of Mexi- can light troops marched up the ravine and attacked the Indiana and Illinois volunteers. The fighting con- tinued till dark at that point without advantage.
The tired troops slept, or tried to sleep, where they had fought. Some of them have related how they sat up and watched the fitful flashes of the sentinels' guns as they kept up a spattering fire through the night. One of them was reminded of the fireflies hovering over the ; meadows at home on a summer night.23 At daybreak the soldiers were ordered into line just as a Mexican band began to play their national air. A battery of 1 five eight-pounders had taken position on the left of the Indianians, and, as they were moving forward to support this, two Mexican divisions, 7,000 strong, ;marched out of the ravine in their front and formed in
23 James A. Cravens, Lew Wallace, An Autobiography, I, 169.
.
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BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA
battle line 100 yards away. The Indiana regiment, only 360 strong, was under the immediate command of its old colonel, Gen. Joseph Lane. As the Mexicans defiled from the ravine the Indianians dropped to their knees and the strange battle began, the Indianians out- numbered eighteen to one. A battery of five guns sup- ported the Hoosiers. While the battle was going on, General Lane sought to make the American fire more effective by moving his men up closer. Just at this time a second column of Mexicans appeared on the left. Seeing these, or thinking the battle lost, and that it was best to save what men he could, Col. William A. Bowles, who was at the opposite end of the line from General Lane, gave the order to retreat. Thus, while the left of the line started forward in obedience to General Lane's order, the right began to fall back at the command of its colonel.
The retreat soon became a run. Twenty of the men never stopped till they reached the buildings of the ranch at Buena Vista. General Lane, Lieutenant Colonel W. R. Haddon, and Colonel Bowles succeeded in reforming 190 of them, who, along with the Third Indiana and a Mississippi regiment under Col. Jeffer- son Davis, returned to the field in time to join in the final attack on the charging Mexicans. Under their own officer, Lieutenant Colonel Haddon, and formed on their own colors, they helped as bravely as any other troops to restore the lost battle.
These details have been given in order to show exactly what part the Second Indiana took in this bat- tle. General Taylor, in his official report, said: "The Second Indiana, which had fallen back, could not be rallied and took no further part in the action, except a handful of men, who, under its gallant Colonel Bowles, joined the Mississippi regiment and did good service." In another place General Taylor in his report said: "Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas, and
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HISTORY OF INDIANA
some Indiana men had fought hard all this dreadful day." As evidence of this latter his own official report shows that the Second Regiment lost 107 of its 360 men; 90 of these fell in the morning, while opposing more than 7,000 Mexicans on the open field. The time during which they stood under fire is shown by the fact that they fired twenty rounds each. Santa Anna in his official report said his men were on the point of re- treating when the American line broke. Had not the stupid blunder been made by the officers of the Second Regiment, the Mexicans might have been routed and the glory of the battle instead of its disgrace would have belonged to the Indianians.
The fault lies deper. The officers of the volunteers were all petty politicians. Indiana had competent men, trained for war, but through political juggling not one of them was called into service. Of the three colonels and one brigadier general, not one could have led a company through the manual of arms. Two of them later learned the manual at least, but Colonel Bowles, of the unfortunate Second, did not. His election to the colonelcy was very questionable, and he had never pretended to drill his regiment. Gen. Joseph Lane and Col. James H. Lane quarreled incessantly, and a duel between them was pending at the time of the Battle of Buena Vista. The First Regiment was left at the mouth of the Rio Grande and forbidden even to move its camp out of the swamp. Seventy of its members were buried there, where the wind and tide soon re- moved the shallow covering of sand and left their bodies to the birds and wild animals. From this same Camp Belknap 259 men were sent home sick. Many of them died on the way. All three of the regiments felt, with what seems at this date and distance good reason, that they had been intentionally neglected by the commander-in-chief. As an explanation, it may be that General Taylor did not care to risk his fortunes in
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THE LAST REGIMENTS
the hands of officers selected as he and General Wool knew the Indiana officers had been. At any rate, the regiments that went away to war carrying flags made and presented by patriotic women, feasted and toasted at every opportunity, hauled in wagons by admiring farmers and finally praised by every expectant poli- tician, returned a sickly, sorry, quarrelsome wreck with doubtful reputation for soldierly discipline and bravery. The fault, however, was not with the men.24
The war was not over. April 24 Governor Whit- comb received a requisition for a fourth regiment. This was organized at Camp Clark June 16, under Col. Willis A. Gorman, and dispatched from New Albany, June 27. They were ordered to Brazos to join General Taylor. September 3 they were at the mouth of the Rio Grande on their way to Vera Cruz; September 16 they arrived at Vera Cruz.
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