USA > Indiana > Lawrence County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 15
USA > Indiana > Monroe County > History of Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana : their people, industries, and institutions > Part 15
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the principal address of welcome. and Captain Davis and Lieutenants Hog- gatt and Lewis made the responses. The soldiers from Leesville were also given a barbecue similar to that of Bedford.
The brave fellows who fought for the States during the war with Mexico are ofttimes forgotten in the blaze of glory which surrounds the later heroes in the war for the Union. This should not be true. Their patriotism was just as high, their courage as great, and their willingness to sacrifice life and home was just as sincere. The graves of the Civil war men far outnumber those of the Mexican, but the honors to be accorded the honored dead should be distributed equally among the silent mounds, whether of '46 or '61.
The muster roll of Company F included the officers already mentioned, and the following: Isaac Carothers, Calvin R. Fox, William F. Dodds, and Virgil Vestal. sergeants ; John Bishop, Ambrose B. Carlton, Eli H. Alexander and Nathaniel B. Stearns, corporals: Levi Bailey, Dillard Bell, Alexander Caldwell. John R. Carmon, Mathias Clampitt, William Clampitt, John C. Crawford, Lewis Crawford, Jabez Cox, Housan Clifton, William Day. J. F. Deckert, William Dougherty, L. G. Fell, John Foote, James Franklin, Caleb Fry. Callahan Fisher, Thomas Goens, Joseph Gough, Alexander Hawkins, William Hawkins, Davis Hart, John Helton, David P. Houston, Stephen Humphreys, Philip Huff, Daniel Jackson, James Kilgore, Benjamin McFar- land, George Miner, E. W. Moberly. James Owen, Daniel A. Peck, Chalfant Purcell, W. H. Pender, John W. Pool, Finley Reynolds, Charles Ross, Abra- ham K. Smith, Austin G. Shear, John Thomas, John Tressler, Reuben Pitcher, I. N. Templeton, Oscar Foote, William Purcell, John McCoy, George Tyler, Robert Brown, William McPike, Elijah C. Litton, Davis Harrison, Josephus Talbot, John Woody, James H. Boyd, Charles Myers, Joseph Dayton, Henry N. Brown. and the two musicians, James J. Brown and James Duncan.
Two boys of the Winegar family were called by death by disease, and Harrison Wilson, N. W. Irwin and Harvey Mathis were killed at Buena Vista, on February 22, 1847. The following men were discharged during their period of service on account of disability : Oscar Foote, John McCoy, William Purcell, George Tyler, H. N. Brown, John Woody, Joseph Dayton, Davis Harrison. J. H. Boyd, Robert Brown, William McPike, Josephus Tal- bot. E. C. Lytton, Charles Myers and Oscar Templeton.
Robert Mitchell was a quartermaster of the Second Regiment, and he died at Matamoras, Mexico. The Fourth Indiana Regiment had in its com- plement William H. Bivens and Benjamin F. Brinegar, and they were a part of the company under command of Jesse Alexander. Ebenezer S. Thompson, Oscar Foote. James C. Carlton, William Purcell, Thomas Purcell and James
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Purcell were members of Company F, Fifth Regiment, under Capt. John S. McDougall; Jerry E. Dean, afterwards captain in Company F, Fifteenth In- diana, Absalom Veach, James Hughes, Ralph G. Norvell, Samuel Reynolds, John Wallace, Phelps Reed, Charles Burkley, Seymour Cobb and James Rupert. . were members of Company I, Sixteenth United States Regulars, under Capt. Thomas F. Bethel. McHenry Dozier, former deputy clerk under Robert Mit- chell, joined the company of Captain Rousseau at Bloomfield, and was killed at the battle of Buena Vista. His death is described as brutal murder by Mexican lancers, while he was lying, wounded, in an ambulance. Samuel Mitchell and Rice M. Brown were both in the service, the latter in the capacity of officers' cook, being unfit for active service on account of a crippled leg.
THE UTAH WAR.
After the Mexican war the next military activity was in 1858, when Brigham Young and his Mormons were creating disturbance in the state of Utah. Albert Sydney Johnston, a regular army officer, had received orders from the President to start for the scene and subdue the bigamists. On March 30, 1858, the young men of Bedford met at the court house, to make preparations for the raising of a company of volunteers for the so-called "Utah war." Their military aspirations were short-lived, however, for no sooner had they organized a company and elected officers than the following notice appeared in the Lawrence Democrat : "Attention Company! The company of officers lately organized in this place for the Utah war are hereby notified. that they need not meet again until President Buchanan is heard from; there is some doubt yet whether he needs them. They are still ex- pected, however, to keep on in their drilling exercises on stove boxes and grindstones." This bit of sarcasm ended the affair in Lawrence county.
THE CIVIL WAR.
In the early sixties the question of politics was largely based upon the paramount topic of states' rights. The secession of South Carolina from the Union had brought matters to a near issue, and the controversy in Lawrence county was as hot as any place in the Hoosier state. The truth of the matter was that many of the thinking class of people were in doubt as to which side of the question they really did favor. Many adopted the view that the confederation of states was at the beginning a voluntary act on the part of each individual state, and that any or all of them had the right to withdraw
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from this union if thereby she saw the opportunity to better herself. Not- withstanding, these same people hated to see the prosperous Union broken, and they questioned the constitutional legality of the course. Those opposed to coercive measures by the North, saw in that course the destruction of the institution which had made the South the rich country it was at the time, namely, slavery. Without that class of people, they argued, the rich sugar, rice, cotton and tobacco plantations would be lost to the country. Then, on the other hand, the people in favor of coercion declared that the existence of the Union was of greater advantage to the country than a few plantations. As in Monroe county, these two factions were ever at sword's points, and the dis- cussion was not always confined to words. The Southern families were well represented in Lawrence county, as in the adjacent counties, and consequently they hesitated on the question of combative measures. President Buchanan's dilatory tactics were not popular with the majority of Lawrence people, and his refusal to quell the secession by force on the grounds of violating the Constitution was not favored very strongly by the Union adherents. When Abraham Lincoln took the presidential chair, there was an added effort to settle the state difficulty by peaceful methods, and there was a subsequent feeling of despair in the hearts of those who wanted war. The outlook was indeed forbidding and doubtful, when instantly the solution arrived. Sumter was bombarded and had surrendered to the Confederate forces. The call to arms followed immediately from Washington.
Bedford received the news of the fall of Fort Sumter on Monday morn- ing, April 15, 1861. and great excitement and anxiety were caused in the town. The people of the county gathered in the streets of Bedford and awaited breathlessly for further details. The ordinary business of the day was forgotten in the general turmoil, and the preparations begun for the rais- ing of troops to fill the quota of the county. George J. Brown, Robert Mc- Afee and Samuel W. Short took the initiative in the soliciting of names pre- paratory to enlistment, and in a very few hours a full company was on hand. The town of Mitchell was also very successful in these first enlistments.
The first call for men from Lincoln, after the fall of Sumter, was for seventy-five thousand men. Nearly two hundred left Lawrence county shortly afterward, on April 22d, most of them going to the city of Indianapolis, in hopes of getting in the three-months service. In this, however. they were disappointed, as the first enlistments had been so heavy that the quota was more than filled. They remained in the capital city, thinking to get into the one-year service, and in this they would have been successful had it not been for the calls in July and August for three-year men, the total asked for being
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close to five hundred thousand. These men, now reaching a total of about three hundred, accordingly joined this longer service. The Fifteenth Regi- ment received almost a full company from this number. About twenty-five men from Lawrence county were in the regiment, and they were assigned the letter F. with the following officers: Frank White, Greencastle, captain, and afterward succeeded by Jeremiah E. Dean. Dean was, at the beginning, first lieutenant, but was succeeded by Alfred F. Berry, once second lieutenant. Lycurgus Irwin became second lieutenant. The Fifteenth Regiment assembled at Lafayette for the one-year state service, but was reorganized and mustered into the three-year service on the 14th of June, 1861, with George D. Wagner as the colonel.
Perhaps no regiment in the Civil war saw harder service or suffered more loss than the gallant Fifteenth. From beginning to end they were in the maelstrom of warfare, and the men who fell before the rebel bullets were many and constituted the flower of the regiment. On July 1, 1861, the regiment entrained at Indianapolis, and were transported to western Virginia. On the Ith, while the battle of Rich Mountain was in progress, the regiment reached the spot, but were too late to participate, except in the pursuit and capture of prisoners. Until November 19th the regiment occupied Elk Water valley, and engaged in the meantime in the battle of Greenbrier, which resulted in the repulse of Lee. In the latter part of November the regiment joined the divi- sion commanded by Buell at Louisville, Kentucky. As Buell's campaign was a strenuous one, including the sanguinary struggle at Shiloh, the siege of Corinth and the battle at Perrysville, the boys underwent a rigorous life dur- ing those days; the regiment was also among the troops which pursued the army under Bragg to Cumberland Gap. In the month of November, 1862, it was at Nashville, where Gustavus A. Wood became colonel. It engaged at Stone River on December 31, 1861, and January 1 and 2, 1863, and out of the four hundred and forty men engaged, the loss by death and disability by wounds was one hundred and ninety-seven. Until June 24th the regiment quartered around Murfreesboro, participating in several small expeditions. The next step of any importance was in the movement on Tullahoma, then en- campment at Pelham, Tennessee, and on the 17th of August began the ad- vance toward Chattanooga. The routine here was monotonous, and the boys failed to get a taste of battle until the bloody combat at Mission Ridge, when the regiment suffered frightfully, losing by death and wounds two hundred and two men out of the three hundred and thirty-four engaged. The next day the regiment marched to the relief of General Burnside at Knoxville, and they made the remarkable record of covering the one hundred miles in six
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days, on short rations and lack of other necessities. They stayed in Knox- ville until February, 1864, then went to Chattanooga, where part of the men veteranized. On June 16th they departed for Indianapolis to be mustered out. The veterans and a company of recruits remained, and were assigned to the Seventeenth Regiment, serving until being mustered out on August 8, 1865.
Company B, of the Eighteenth Regiment, was made up mostly of men from Lawrence county, and was commanded by Capts. Samuel W. Short, William S. Cook, D. R. Bowden and Francis M. Dugger ; First Lieuts. Will- iam S. Cook, D. R. Bowden, Napoleon H. Daniels and Robert Hardwick; Second Lieuts. Parker Pearson, N. H. Daniels. Coleman Duncan and William Mitchell. The regiment was mustered in on August 16th, along with several other companies, under Col. Thomas Pattison. N. H. Daniels was made a major and Doil R. Bowden a colonel. The Eighteenth was also once in com- mand of Henry P. Washburn. The regiment left for St. Louis immediately after being mustered in. During the war which followed the gallant Eigh- teenth ever distinguished itself, participating in the engagements at Elkhorn Tavern, Cotton Plant, Port Gibson, Champion's Hill. Black River Bridge, Vicksburg, Fort Esperanza, Pea Ridge, Opequon, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. In the latter engagement the regiment lost heavily. In the other battles the regiment was not fortunate by any means. Their quota of dead and wounded always mounted high, a stern testimony to their courage and undaunted devotion. In the spring of 1863 the regiment was joined with Grant's army, and in the next year was with Butler's division, and then that of Phil Sheridan. On August 28, 1865, the regiment was mustered from the service at Indianapolis.
In the month of July about twenty-five men from Bedford and the west- ern portion of the county entered Company F, of the Twenty-first Regiment, four or five men joining the regimental band. Henry F. McMilian, of Bed- ford, became adjutant in August of 1862, and continued as such under the reorganization of the Heavy Artillery. James W. McMillan, also of Bedford, was commissioned colonel of the regiment in July, 1861, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in November, 1862, and breveted major- general on March 5, 1865. Benjamin Newland was appointed to the office of surgeon of the Twenty-second on August 12, 1861, but resigned on Novem- ber 4, 1862.
The Twenty-first was mustered in on July 24, 1861, and was immediately ordered east. After a period of service there, the regiment was taken to the vicinity of New Orleans, and there underwent the hardest campaigning ex- perienced by them during the war. In the battles of Baton Rouge, Port Hud-
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son and Sabine Pass the men won renown for their colors and always were in the thick of the fight wherever it waged. During the New Orleans campaign with Butler, part of the men were transferred to gunboats and accompanied Weitzel's advance up the Bayou Teche, fighting at Cornet's Bridge, and also destroying the "Cotten." At Baton Rouge the regiment sustained a loss of a hundred and twenty-six men, including Adjutant Latham and Lieutenants Seeley, Grimstead and Bryant. Most of Company F, in which Bedford was represented, were captured during the fighting around Brashear City. In 1863 and 1864 large numbers of the men re-enlisted, and were re-mustered at New Orleans.
Company A, Twenty-fourth Regiment, was the third raised for the war, and the period of enlistment covered June and July, 1861. Hugh Erwin, George Sheeks and Charles H. Dunihue were captains during the period of service ; George Sheeks and C. H. Dunihue, first lieutenants ; Hiram F. Brax- ton. Jesse I. Cain and Richard F. Cleeland, second lieutenants. By regimental reorganization. John L. Stewart, of Mitchell, became second lieutenant of Company I; John S. Bailey, of Bedford, second lieutenant of Company G; David Kelley, of Mitchell, major, and Francis A. Sears, of Bedford, lieuten- ant-colonel. Alvin P. Hovey, afterward brigadier-general, and Governor of Indiana, and William T. Spicely were colonels of the Twenty-fourth Regi- ment. The regiment was mustered in at Vincennes on July 31, 1861, and im- mediately marched to St. Louis, joining Fremont's army, which was in Mis- souri at the time. The regiment engaged in the battle of Shiloh, and lost many men, among them Major Gerber. The companies of the Twenty- fourth also participated in the siege of Corinth. In the campaign against the city of Vicksburg, the regiment was a part of Grant's army. With this division they also engaged at Champion's Hill and Port Gibson. Their ulti- mate destination was Louisiana and New Orleans. On December 10, 1864, the Sixty-seventh Regiment consolidated with the Twenty-fourth, the new organization retaining the latter name. In July, 1865, the regiment was re- organized as a battalion of five companies, and was mustered out on July 19, 1865. The regiment had also been in the movement against Mobile in April of that year.
William Guthrie, of Tunnelton, second lieutenant in Company G. Twenty- fifth, was commissioned on April 10, 1862, and died on April 28, 1862, in the hospital at Mound City, Illinois.
In the month of August, 1861, there was a fourth company organized in Lawrence county and sent into the field. At Indianapolis the company was joined to the Twenty-seventh Regiment, which organization was mustered
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into the three-year service on September 12th, under Col. Silas Colgrove. The company was given the letter D, and during the progress of the war had the following officers: Captains, John A. Cassady. Theodore E. Buehler and Thomas J. Box ; first lieutenants, James M. Kern, Thomas Peters, T. J. Box and George H. Stephenson ; second lieutenants, Meredith W. Leach, Daniel R. Conrad, T. J. Box and Joseph Balsley. In 1863 Balsley became captain of Company H. and was mustered out as such on November 4, 1864.
The Twenty-seventh Regiment joined Banks' Army of the Shenandoah, after a short time spent at Washington City. The winter was passed at Camp Halleck, near Frederick City, Maryland, and in the month of March, 1862, the troops crossed the Potomac river into the Shenandoah valley. They marched into the city of Winchester on the 9th of March, and after the en- gagement of Winchester Heights, joined in the pursuit of Stonewall Jack- son's army. May 23d the regiment fought at Front Royal, and was in the historic retreat the next day along the Strasburg road. That night they reached Winchester, and at the break of dawn the next day engaged hotly with the Confederates. The brigade of which the Twenty-seventh was a part stood off twenty-eight rebel regiments for a period of three and one- half hours, repulsing every onslaught made upon them. The Southerners finally massed and attempted to flank the brigade and in this maneuver were successful. The brigade gallantly held together, and for a time held the rebel host on even terms, but sheer force of numbers prevailed and they fell back in order to Winchester, where the fighting continued unabated in the streets. On May 26th the regiment crossed the Potomac.
Afterward the Twenty-seventh was transported into Virginia. and fought at Cedar Mountain : then moved north of the Rappahannock, and took promi- nent part in the Maryland campaign. The ranks were depleted by the clash at Antietam on the 17th of September, and its regiment was placed on picket duty along the banks of the Potomac until the vacancies had been supplied with new men. The winter months were spent near Stafford Court House. In May, 1863, the regiment was at the front at Chancellorsville and suffered great losses. Close on the heels of Robert E. Lee the regiment proceeded northward, and during the first three days of July, 1863. engaged on the blood-red field at Gettysburg, and was one of the regiments which helped re- pulse the famous Pickett charge of July 3d. Heavy losses occurred on this field, but the gallant Twenty-seventh won her spurs and bore the reputation afterward of the utmost courage in the time of danger. After following the Army of Northern Virginia to the Potomac, the regiment rested until Sep- tember, and then was transferred to the West, along with the Twelfth Corps.
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During the fall and winter following, the regiment remained at Tullahoma, and early in 1864 a portion veteranized and returned home on a furlough. On May 15, 1864, the regiment won conspicuous renown by engaging with two Alabama regiments on the field of Resaca, Georgia, and defeating them, killing and wounding a large number and capturing some one hundred prison- ers, besides the enemy's battle flag. The Twenty-seventh lost sixty-eight killed and wounded. They moved to the city of Atlanta and fought in all of the battles of the Atlanta compaign. Here the non-veterans were mustered from the service and the veterans and recruits were transferred to the Seven- tieth Regiment, which organization served well in the Carolina campaign, later becoming a part of the Thirty-third Regiment. On July 21, 1865, the regi- ment was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky.
Springville. this county, placed a company in the field in September, 1861. The organization bore the name of Company F, and was assigned to the Forty- third Regiment. They were mustered into the three-year service on Septem- ber 27th, under the command of Col. George K. Steele. The company from Springville had as officers during the war the following: Alexander H. Gainey, Joseph Lane, and James B. Dyer, captains ; Joseph Lane, John P. Pot- ter, John Bugher, James B. Dyer, John East and Miles F. Richeson, first lieu- tenants; Ira H. Rainwater. John Bugher, John R. Hall, James B. Dyer, Charles W. Holland, second lieutenants. They assembled at Terre Haute, and shortly after being mustered in moved to Spottsville, Kentucky, and from there to Calhoun. In February, 1862. the regiment went to Missouri, where it participated in the seige of Island No. 10 and New Madrid. The Forty-third was a unit in the division which moved on Fort Pillow, the scene of one of the cruelest and barbaric massacres of the war, and was one of the leaders when Memphis was entered, remaining in the latter city for about two months.
In July, 1862, the Forty-third traveled up White river, to Helena, and on Independence day, 1863. won a hotly contested battle against a force triple their number, in support of a battery, holding off three successive attacks and capturing the entire rebel regiment. The regiment moved against Little Rock and, as a part of Steele's expedition, engaged at Elkin's Fork, Jenkin's Ferry, Camden and Marks Mills. On April 30th, at Marks Mills, while on guard over four hundred supply wagons, the regiment was attacked by a large force under General Marmaduke, and in the fight which resulted lost nearly two hundred men killed, wounded and missing. Veterans numbering one hundred and four were captured (the regiment had veteranized in January, 1964). Soon after this disaster the Forty-third returned home on a furlough, but en route went to Frankfort to aid in repelling Morgan's cavalry, also to
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engage briefly with Jesse's guerillas near Eminence. The next period of serv- ice for the regiment was at Indianapolis, on guard duty over Confederate prisoners. The final muster out occurred on June 14, 1865. A dozen or so of the Forty-third's men met their death in the miasmic filthy horror of Southern prisons.
Two and one half companies were raised for the Fiftieth Regiment in October, 1861, which regiment was organized at Seymour, under the command of Cyrus L. Dunham. Company G was made up entirely of men from Law- rence county, and was officered during the war by the following: Isaac Carothers, captain ; Hiram Malott. Austin G. Spear and William C. Newkirk. first lieutenants ; Caswell R. Burton, A. G. Shear, W. C. Newkirk and John F. Flinn, second lieutenants. Company I was also made up mostly of Law- rence county boys, and their officers were : Abraham H. Miller, captain; Jacob McHenry and Daniel A. Baker, first lieutenants : Daniel J. Dean, Thomas J. Falkenburg and Alva West, second lieutenants. Company D, of the Residu- ary Battalion, was also largely from this county. William C. Newkirk was captain : S. A. Harrah, J. F. Leonard, James H. Watts, W. C. Newkirk and John T. Flinn were first lieutenants; Albert Adams, John Judy, John F. Leonard, John T. Flinn and James Gray, second lieutenants. Henry C. Huston, of Bedford, was a first lieutenant in Company A.
In January, 1862, twenty-five men entered Company E, of the Fifty- second Regiment, and about ten in Company K, of the same regiment. John W. McCowick was the captain of Company E. A great deal of Company D. after the reorganization, was from the county of Lawrence, and their officers were : John T. Flinn, captain : John T. Flinn and James Gray, first lieutenants ; James Gray and Alexander Marley, second lieutenants. All of the men from Lawrence county were mustered into the service on February 1, 1862. The regiment participated in the Civil war to a large extent, and performed meri- torious service during all the years of its service. In these movements the Fifty-second was engaged at the siege of Fort Donelson. siege of Corinth, skirmish at Durhamville, Tennessee, other skirmishes with guerillas. raid on Meriden, battles of Jackson. Fort DeRussey, Pleasant Hill. Moore's Planta- tion, Yellow Bayou, Lake Chicot. Tupelo, Hurricane Creek, Franklin. Mis- souri, Nashville, Tennessee, pursuit of Hood, Spanish Fort, Blakely, and in addition many other less important expeditions. The regiment was mustered out of the service on September 10, 1865. In the month of August, 1862, fifteen men entered Company F. of the Sixty-fifth Regiment, and an added ten recruits joined in 1863. James Marley, of Lawrence county, was a second lieutenant, and later a first lieutenant.
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