History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 55

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 55

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).

Eng2 by HRMall &Sons A Harday St NY

I. a. morris

301

MILITARY MATTERS.

Morris possessed the natural qualities of a military commander, developed by a thorough course of in- structien at West Point, and when the eivil war broke out they made him of inestimable value to Governor Morton's irrepressible but inexperienecd energy. He was the commander of all the Indiana regiments in the three months' service, and thus in command of the first West Virginia campaign, where all were sent, which he planned and won be- fore Gen. MeClellan knew more of it than he could learn from the papers. The latter absorbed the credit of it, and became commander-in-chief by luckily reaching the field about a week before the end of it, and proved before Richmond, as well as Rich Mountain, that his glory was a second-hand acquisition.

GEN. THOMAS ARMSTRONG MORRIS is the third son of Morris and Rachel Morris, and was born in Nicholas County, Ky., Dec. 26, 1811. In 1821 his parents removed te Indianapolis, then a settlement of a few families and designated as the place where the State capital was to be. In 1823 he began to learn the printer's art, and found employment on a newspaper which is now the Indianapolis Journal. The boy continued at his trade for three years, and became an excellent printer, which in those days in- eluded the " theory and practice" of hand-press work as well as type-setting. He was then sent to school, and at nineteen years of age appointed to a cadetship at West Point, for which place he started on horse- back to Cincinnati, whence the route east was by way of the Ohio River. He was graduated in 1834, standing fourth in a class of thirty-six, and imme- diately brevetted second lieutenant of the First Artil- lery, in the regular army. After about one year's service at Fort Monroe, Va., and Fort King, Fla., he was detailed by the War Department to assist Maj. Ogden, of the engineer corps, in constructing the National road in Indiana and Illinois, and had charge of the division between Richmond and Indi- anapolis, Ind. This was the first turnpike road in the State. After a year he resigned from the United States service and was resident engineer in the Indi- ana State service, having charge of the construction of the Central Canal during this period. From 1841

to 1847 he was chief engineer of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and built it after its abandon- ment by the State at Vernon from that point to Indi- anapolis. This was the first railroad in the State. From 1847 to 1852 he was chief engineer of the Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, connecting Terre Haute and Indianapolis, and now part of the " Vandalia." During the same time he was chief engineer of the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Rail- road, now part of the " Bee Line." From 1852 to 1854 he was chief engineer of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad, and from 1854 to 1857 its presi- dent. From 1857 to 1859 he was president of the Indianapolis and Bellefontaine Railroad, and from 1859 to 1861 chief engineer of the Indianapolis and Cineinnati Railroad. At the beginning of the war he was appointed by Governor Merton quartermaster- | general of the State, and as such had charge of the equipment of Indiana's first regiments, which were so promptly in the field. As general, he commanded the first brigade of troops from the State. He was in the West Virginia campaign, and commanded at the battles of Philippi, Laurel Hill, and Carrick's Ford, all of which he won. His first battle, that of Philippi, was the first confliet of the war of the Re- bellion. At the termination of the three months' service assurance was given Gen. Morris that he should immediately receive promotion to a major- general's command. This was delayed and a briga- dier-general's commission offered him, which he declined, as also a junior major-general's commissien, believing his services to have been worthy a more speedy recognition. From 1862 to 1866 he was chief engineer of the Indianapolis and Cincinnati Railroad, and during that time built the road from Lawrenceburg to Cineinnati. From 1866 te 1869 he was president and chief engineer of the Indianap- olis and St. Louis Railroad, building the road from Terre Haute to Indianapolis. From 1869 to 1872 he was receiver of the Indianapolis, Cincinnati and La- fayette Railroad, and in 1877 was appointed as one of the commissioners to seleet plans and superintend the construction of the new State capitol,-the same position his father held nearly half a century ago with reference to the old State capitol, which was

302

HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

torn down to make room for the new. The Madison and Indianapolis State Railroad had been undertaken as a part of the State system of internal improve- meuts, built as far as Vernon, and then abandoned. Private corporations had been allowed to take charge of any of the abandoned schemes, and Gen. Morris became the chief engineer of the company which assumed the construction of the abandoned railroad. He conceived the plan of taking land for subscrip- tions to build the road, and was instrumental in passing a bill through the Legislature authorizing the procedure. Under this bill lands were received by the road at an appraised value. Upon thesc lands scrip was issued to the amount of the appraisement. The serip of the company was used to pay for the construction of the road, redeeming the scrip with lands on presentation. This is the first instance where land was used as the basis of railroad construc- tion. With the increase of the number of railroads eentring in Indianapolis, Gen. Morris conceived the idea of a system of union tracks and a union depot. He drew the plans and superintended the construc- tion of the edifice, which was completed in 1853, and was the first union depot in this country. He is now president of the water-works company, and it has been under his experienced and wise direction that the great new " gallery" and inexhaustible supply of pure water have been secured.

The life of the subject of this biographical sketch has been one of constant activity. From the time he entered West Point in 1830, a boy not yet out of his teens, to the present time, when he is engaged in the construction of the new State capitol, there is hardly a period that has not its enterprise calling for active work. All these schemes have been of public con- cern. First in the employ of the United States, then of his State, he has since that time been at the head of various railroads, especially in their construction and early management, and finally crowned his work by again serving the United States during the war, and later entering the State service. This work has been a pioneer work, so to speak. It has fallen to his lot to be the first in more enterprises of different kinds, and all of public importance, than often falls to the lot of any one person.

The Guards were incorporated in 1838, and con- tinued in efficient existence till 1845. In 1840 or 1841 they were followed by the Marion Riflemen, commanded by Thomas Mc. Baker. They were uni- formed in blue " hunting shirts," much like an old "wamus" or a modern "blouse," fringed in the backwoods style of buckskin dress, and armed with breech-loading rifles clumsy and ugly beyond any conception by those who never saw them. The lower six inches of the barrel was cut off, worked on a hinge at the brcech, and pushed up at the upper end by an awkward big trigger, no easier loaded than a muzzle-musket, and liable to be fired with the movable breech partly raised when there was danger. In time the weapon was discarded, and it and the ac- coutrements-belts, plates, cartridge-boxes, ramrods -were left uncared for in one of the garret-rooms of the Governor's house in the Circle, where they were a store of material for the fun of the boys for years. The military spirit continued active till about the time the Mexican war was close at hand. The two city companies in 1842 formed a battalion for regimental drill, with Hervey Brown, brother of Hiram, lieutenant-colonel, and George W. Drum, major. Parades were frequent and encampments no rarity. So that when the Mexican war came it struck a community here in a better condition of military feeling than the civil war did. As related in the general history, three companies were raised here for that service.

The first was commanded by James P. Drake, sub- sequently State treasurer, with John McDougall as first and Low Wallace as second lieutenant. When the company was massed with others in the First In- diana Regiment, Capt. Drake was chosen colonel. The regiment passed its year of service in watching stores and hospitals at Matamoras and up the Rio Grande. When discharged, shortly after the battle of Buena Vista, Capt. MeDougall, who had succeeded Capt. Drake, raised a second company here in the spring of 1847, and Edward Lander, brother of Gen. Fred. of the civil war, raised another in the fall. These latter were given a public welcome on their return in October, 1848. There was to have been a big demonstration, a barbecue, and other expressions

303

MILITARY MATTERS.

of popular admiration, but the day was bad, the rain incessant and chilly, and the show consisted of little more than a speech from Senator Edward A. Hanne- gan in the State-House yard. Everything was unfa- vorable to the orator, and nothing is remembered now of his speech but an adapted quotation from Mark Antony. Pointing to a flag which had been toru by a mesquit bush, he said, "See what a rent that twenty-four-pounder made." In July, 1847, the body of Trusten B. Kinder,-son of Isaae, an old settler of Indianapolis,-who had gone to a south- ern county of the State to practice law, and there joined the Second Indiana Regiment, so defamed by Jeff. Davis' report, and been killed in the battle of Buena Vista, was returned here and buried in the old cemetery with military honors and a popular demonstration never witnessed at a funeral here be- fore nor ever since, except at the death of Governor Morton. A strenuous effort was made to obtain a roster of the companies that went from this county to Mexico, but the records have been so indifferently preserved that no satisfactory result was possible. Adjutant-General Carnahan had copies of the Indi- ana rolls made at his own expense in Washington, hut they do not show the residences of the men except as the name might indieate it to the neighbors.

The City Guards were formed in 1852, with Governor Wallace as captain, and the next year the Mechanie Rifles were organized, but both soon col- lapsed under the indifferent feeling of the times. Railroads, manufactures, material improvements, were absorbing men's attention then, and mere decorative avocations received little encouragement. From this time till 1856-making a period of military deca- dence altogether extending from about 1847, with only this temporary revival to break it, to 1856- there was as little military splendor shining about Indianapolis as any city of any age since men began being soldiers. Ten years was long enough for the growth of a second erop of military spirit, and the presence of the St. Louis Guards here in 1856 (February) was just the favoring condition to sprout the seed. The National Guards were formed here that year,-dressed in blue, with caps and white plumes,-and continued in existence until it went

into the civil war in the Eleventh Regiment. It was commanded while on the peace establishment by William J. Elliott, Thomas A. Morris, George F. MeGinnis, Irwin Harrison, brother of the general and senator, John M. Lord, a Mexican war veteran, and Winston P. Noble, son of Governor Noble. The City Grays were organized in the summer of 1857, uniformed in gray with bear-skin shakos, and went into the war as Company A of the Eleventh Regi- ment. The City Grays Artillery was organized in 1859 as a supplement of the infantry company, and was commanded by Capt. John H. Colestock. An accidental explosion of the gun ruined his arm, and the organization went down. In 1858, Capt. John Love, afterwards a valuable assistant to Governor Morton in organizing the first troops and getting them ready for the field, formed a cavalry company called the Marion Dragoons, but it soon collapsed under the heavy pressure upon a volunteer body of the expense of maintaining horses as well as men.

On the 22d of February, 1860, the Montgomery Guards, of Crawfordsville, commanded by Capt. Lew Wallace, visited Indianapolis, and in connection with the Capital companies gave a parade on the 22d, fol- lowed by a zouave drill by drum beat that was much admired, and impelled the formation of a company called the Independent Zouaves here, commanded by Capt. Frank Shoup, who resigned before the war broke out, went South, and became a rebel brigadier. Mr. Ignatius Brown says he was the first man to pro- pose the use of negroes as soldiers by the Confed- erates ; if so, it was his only claim to distinction. No one here ever heard anything definitely of him after- wards. The Zouaves became Company H of the Eleventh Regiment. On the 27th of June, 1860, a military convention, inspired and directed by Capt. Lew Wallace, met here, representing eleven volunteer companies, and decided to hold a regular encampment on the military ground, then the State fair ground, the following 19th of September. It came and continued about a week, and contained the Indianapolis Guards, Grays, and Zouaves, the Montgomery Guards (Craw- fordsville), the Fort Harrison Guards (Terre Haute), Vigo Guards (Terre Haute). Gen. Love was com- mandant and Capt. Shoup adjutant. In August, 1860,

304

HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

a company of Zouave Cadets was formed, and in Oc- tober the Zouave Guards, Capt. John Fahnestock. The former continued for a year or two, with Capt. George H. Marshall, but mostly entered the national army at one time or another. The latter went into the Eleventh Regiment as Company K. When the call for troops was made by Governor Morton, these four companies-the Guards, Grays, Zouaves, and Zouave Guards-filled up and were all in eamp by the 17th of April. This was quiek work. The President's proclamation calling for seventy-five thou- sand men was issued April 15, 1861. Governor Mor- ton's calling for the State's quota of six regiments was issued next day, the 16th, and these four compa- nies filled to their limit and went into eamp on the 17th.

After the elose of the war there appeared to be little disposition to play at soldiering. There had been too much of the real thing to make an imita- tion an amusement. A battalion of National Guards was soon after organized, however, largely composed of veterans; but in a couple of years it went to pieces, and in 1870 only one company was left, with an independent Irish company called the Emmett Guards. Within the last half-dozen years there has been a revival of military feeling, and several com- panies have been organized here. The exertions of Adjutant Carnahan have put the volunteer companies of the State in better condition than they have ever been before; the encampments and prize-drills held at Indianapolis annually, inviting a great many compa- nies from all parts of the State and from other States, contributing effectively to that end. The Indianapo- lis companies oow are the following :

The Indianapolis Light Infantry. Captain, James R. Ross; First Lieutenant, William McKee; Sec- ond Lieutenant, R. F. Scott.

The Richardson Zouaves. Captain, B. F. Rich- ardson ; First Lieutenant, W. J. Kercheval ; Sceond Lieutenant, H. J. Haldrick.

Tecumseh Rifles. Captain, E. J. Griffith ; First Lieutenant, Frank Richards ; Second Lieutenant, C. S. Todd.

The Streight Rifles. Captain, Lawson Seaton ; First Lieutenant, W. H. Murphy ; Second Lieuten- ant, G. W. Davis.

The Indianapolis Light Artillery. Captain, George W. Johnson.

At the first grand encampment and prize-drill held here, under the management of the "Raper Com- mandery" of the Masonic order, but directed wholly by Gen. Carnahan, July 4, 1882 (with some days preceding), there were in attendance from other States the Crescent Rifles, of New Orleans (took second prize in the competitive drill) ; the Louisi- ana Rifles, of the same city ; the Chickasaw Guards, of Memphis, Tenn. (took the first prize in the competitive drill); the Porter Rifles, Nashville, Tenn. ; the Quapaw Gnards, from Little Rock, Ark. ; Company G of the First Missouri Regiment ; two other Missouri companies ; one company from Geneva, N. Y .; four companies from Illinois ; three companies from Ohio ; two companies from Miehi- gan ; two batteries from New Orleans; one battery from Nashville, Tenn .; one from Louisville, Ky .; one battery from Danville, Ill .; one battery from Chicago, Ill .; two batteries from St. Louis, Mo .; one battery from Greeneastle, Ind. (Asbury Cadets, took first prize in artillery drill); the Indianapolis Light Infantry, and eighteen companies from other parts of Indiana.

At the encampment of Aug. 17, 1883, most of the companies from other States were here that at- tended the first one, with the Light Infantry, from Paris, Ill., the Branch Guards, of St. Louis, and one or two other St. Louis companies. The first prize in drilling was taken by the Indianapolis Light Infantry ; the second, by the Branch Guards, of St. Louis. There were thirty-six Indiana companies in attendance. Besides these displays of military spirit and efficiency, there are occasionally parades of the veterans of the war, when general meetings of the Grand Army of the Republic are held at the capital. The Raper Commandery of Knights Templar the past year attended the competitive drill and parade of the order in San Francisco, and carried off the second prize, a mounted knight in bronze with gold trappings and armor, set upon a pedestal of gold-bear- ing quartz, and valued at two thousand five hundred dollars. The latest phase of the military spirit of Indianapolis is the project of building an armory

Photo-Electrotube Co. Boston, Mass

UNITED STATES ARSENAL.

305

MILITARY MATTERS.

adequate to the needs of all the companies, with a vast parade-room and publie hall capable of seating seven or eight thousand people. Up to the beginning of 1884, however, it had not taken on the form of definite action.

The Arsenal .- One of the material results of the war affecting the city especially was the establishment here of the United States Arsenal, the suggestion, doubtless, of that established and conducted by Gov- ernor Morton during the war to supply our troops with ammunition. The central situation of the city and the conspicuous services of Governor Morton readily developed the suggestion into action. Authority was given by an act of Congress of 1862, and a temporary establishment made in March, 1863, by the late Wil- liam Y. Wiley, captain and storekeeper, in a building on the corner of Delaware and Maryland Streets. He remained in charge at this place till 1870, when he resigned. The site for the permanent arsenal was selected by Gen. Buckingham, and work upon the buildings commenced in August, 1863. They were all completed and occupied by 1867-68. There are seven buildings, upon seventy-six acres of ground, fronting southward on the eastward extension of Michigan Street, and entered directly from Arsenal Avenue, running nearly a half-mile north from Washington Street to the main gate of the grounds. The distance to Circle Park is a mile and a half.

The main building, for the storage of small-arms (shown in the eut), is one hundred and eighty-three feet long by sixty-three wide, three stories high, with . a square tower in the centre containing an excellent public elock. The artillery store-house is two stories high, and two hundred and one feet long by fifty-two wide. The office is forty-three feet long by twenty- two wide, and one story high. The barraeks for enlisted men are two stories high, eleven hundred and five feet long by thirty-two wide. Two sets of officers' quarters, eighty feet by forty, two and a half stories high. One set of officers' quarters, forty- seven feet long by twenty-eight wide, one story and a half high. The magazine is banked about with earth, and covered with sod and shrubbery, making the most striking feature of the grounds. These have been tastefully laid out with walks and shrub-

bery and carriage drives, and Pogues Creek helps the general effect of picturesqueness by running for a quarter of a mile across the northwest corner. Propositions have been made to Congress to donate the grounds and buildings to the State or city for educational purposes, in case it was determined to abandon the arsenal here, for the maintenance of which there appears to be no very cogent argument. The arsenal gun every morning at six o'clock and the evening gun at sunset have come to be as familiar sounds in the city as the whistle of locomotives.

The Civil War .- From the secession of South Carolina to the attack on Fort Sumter, opinion was divided in Indiana on the measures to be taken with the seceded States. The more demonstrative and probably stronger division, led by Governor Morton, held it the duty of the government to reduce the disobedient States by force, proceeding by aggressive warfare, invasion, and destruction of life and prop- erty, as in the case of any other public enemy. The other division, represented by John R. Cravens, David C. Branham, and the Journal, under the direction of B. R. Sulgrove, thought that an aggressive war on the part of the government, which would make it strike the first blow and shed the first blood, while the South acted only by ordinances and reso- lutions, would force all the border States into the Confederacy, repel the sympathy of Europe, and probably induce alliances there, consolidate Demo- cratic sympathy in the North with secession, and present a front of hostility against which the govern- ment might be broken hopelessly. Considering the condition of Indiana after the elections of 1862,-and Indiana was no worse than other States,-and the course of the Legislature of 1863, and the active sym- pathy with the rebellion that made draft riots all over the country, with numerous murders of draft officers, and considering, further, our narrow escape from an English war in the Trent ease, it is now far from clear that the aggressive poliey would have been wise or successful. But all differences were blown to pieces by the first gun fired at Maj. Anderson's little garrison. Those who differed about aggression could have no difference about resisting aggression. North- ern feeling united instantly and solidly upon war,

UNITED STATES ARSENAL.

305

MILITARY MATTERS.

The Arsenal .- One of the material results of the war affecting the city especially was the establishment here of the United States Arsenal, the suggestion, doubtless, of that established and conducted by Gov- ernor Morton during the war to supply our troops with ammunition. The central situation of the eity and the conspicuous services of Governor Morton readily developed the suggestion into action. Authority was given by an aet of Congress of 1862, and a temporary establishment made in March, 1863, by the late Wil- liam Y. Wiley, eaptain and storekeeper, in a building on the corner of Delaware and Maryland Streets. He remained in charge at this place till 1870, when he resigned. The site for the permanent arsenal was selected by Gen. Buckingham, and work upon the buildings commenced in Angust, 1863. They were all completed and occupied by 1867-68. There are seven buildings, upon seventy-six aeres of ground, fronting southward on the eastward extension of Michigan Street, and entered directly from Arsenal Avenue, running nearly a half-mile north from Washington Street to the main gate of the grounds. The distance to Circle Park is a mile and a half.

The main building, for the storage of small-arms (shown in the eut), is one hundred and eighty-three feet long by sixty-three wide, three stories highi, with .a square tower in the centre containing an excellent publie clock. The artillery store-house is two stories high, and two hundred and one feet long by fifty-two wide. The office is forty-three feet long by twenty- two wide, and one story high. The barraeks for enlisted men are two stories high, eleven hundred and five feet long by thirty-two wide. Two sets of officers' quarters, eighty feet by forty, two and a half stories high. One set of offieers' quarters, forty- seven feet long by twenty-eight wide, one story and a half high. The magazine is banked about with earth, and covered with sod and shrubbery, making the most striking feature of the grounds. These have been tastefully laid out with walks and shrub-

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.

History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 55

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942