USA > Indiana > Vermillion County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 26
USA > Indiana > Parke County > History of Parke and Vermillion Counties, Indiana : with historical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 26
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The colonel of this regiment was James Biddle, of Indianapolis. At first this regiment was organized as infantry, at Terre Haute, in July and August, 1862. Its first duty was to repel the invasion of Kirby Smith in Kentucky. August 30th, it was engaged in the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, with a loss of two hundred and fifteen killed and wounded and three hundred and forty- seven prisoners. After the latter were exchanged, four hundred men and officers of the regiment were sent to Muldraugh's Hill to guard trestle work. and on the following day they were attacked by a force of four thousand Rebels under the command of Gen. John H. Morgan, and after an engagement of an hour and a half were surrounded and captured. The remainder of the regiment then returned to Indianapolis, where they remained until August 26, 1863. .
During the ensuing autumn, with two additional companies. L and MI, they were organized as cavalry, and were sent into eastern Tennessee, where they engaged in the siege of Knoxville and in the operations against General Longstreet, on the Holston and Clinch rivers, losing many men in killed and wounded. May 11, 1864, they joined Gen. W. T. Sherman's army in front of Dalton, Georgia, where it was assigned to the cavalry corps of the Army of the Ohio, commanded by General Stoneman. They engaged in the battle of Resaca, also Cassville, Kenesaw Mountain, etc., aided in the capture of Ala- toona Pass, and was first to take possession of and raise the flag upon Lost Mountain. . In Stoneman's raid to Macon, Georgia, the Sixth Cavalry lost one hundred and sixty-six men.
Returning to Nashville for another equipment. it aided General Rousseau
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in defeating Forrest at Pulaski, Tennessee, September 27th, and pursued him into Alabama. In the engagement at Pulaski the regiment lost twenty-three men. December 15th and 16th, it participated in the battle at Nashville, and after the repulse of Hood's army, followed it some distance. In June, 1865, a portion of the men were mustered out of service. The remainder was con- solidated with the residual fraction of the Fifth Cavalry, constituting the Sixth Cavalry, and they were mustered out the following September.
EIGHTY-FIFTH INFANTRY.
Company D of this regiment was made up from the southern portion of Vermillion county. William Reeder, of Rockville, was captain until June 10, 1863, and thenceforward Caleb Bales, of Toronto, was captain, being pro- moted from the rank of second lieutenant. The vacancy thus made was filled by Elisha Pierce of Clinton, who was promoted from the office of first ser- geant. The sergeants were James W. Taylor, of Toronto; William A. Rich- ardson, John A. C. Norris and David Mitchell, of Clinton; and the corporals were Brazier E. Henderson, Ben White. Samuel Craig, James Andrews, Valentine Foos, Harrison Pierce, Joseph Foos and Wesley A. Brown. The musicians were Andrew J. Owen and John A. Curry.
The colonels of this regiment were John P. Baird of Terre Haute, to July 20, 1864, and Alexander R. Crane, of the same city, until the mustering out of the regiment.
This regiment was organized at Terre Haute September 2, 1862. Its first engagement was with Forrest, with Col. John Coburn's brigade, March 5, 1863, when the whole brigade was captured. The men were marched to Tulla- homa, and then transported to Libby Prison at Richmond, amid much suffer- ing. many dying along the route. Twenty-six days after their incarceration the men were exchanged, and were stationed at Franklin, Tennessee, where they fought in skirmishes until Bragg's army fell back. The following sum- mer, fall and winter the Eighty-fifth remained in the vicinity of Murfreesboro, guarding the railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga. It took part in every important engagement in the Atlanta campaign, being in the terrible charge upon Resaca, and in the battles at Cassville, Dallas Woods, Golgotha Church, Culp's Farm and Peach Tree Creek. At the last named place it did deadly work among the Rebel forces.
. This regiment followed Sherman in his famous march to the sea, and back through the two Carolinas, engaging in numerous battles. At Averas- boro it was the directing regiment, charging the Rebel works through an open
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field, but suffered greatly. It destroyed a half mile of railroad in forty min- utes time, corduroying many miles of wagon road, and after a twenty-mile march one day it worked hard all night making a road up a steep, muddy bluff, for which they were highly complimented by Generals Sherman and Slocum, who had given directions for the work and were eye witnesses to its execution. After several other important improvements, it had the pleasure of looking as proud victors upon Libby Prison, where so many of them had suffered in captivity in 1862. Marching on to Washington, D. C., it was mustered out of service June 12, 1865. The remaining recruits were trans- ferred to the Thirty-third Indiana Regiment, who were mustered out July 21st. at Louisville, Kentucky.
THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINTH INFANTRY.
Of this gallant regiment, Company K was from Vermillion county, and it was recruited from the tenth congressional district during the winter of 1863-64, rendezvoused at Michigan City, and was mustered into service March I, 1864, with Charles Case, of Fort Wayne, as colonel, and Charles A. Zollinger, of the same city, as lieutenant-colonel. Of Company K. John Q. Washburn, of Newport, was captain; Joseph Simpson, of Highland, first lieu- tenant, and the second lieutenants in succession were Thomas C. Swan, of Clinton, Joseph Simpson, of Highland, William F. Eddy, of Warsaw, and James Roberts, of Clinton. Henry J. Howard, of Toronto, was sergeant. Corporals, Jasper Hollingsworth, Granville Gideon and John W. Nixon, of Vermillion county, with members from other counties. After much long `marching, the first battle in which this regiment took part was the severe con- test at Resaca, opening the celebrated campaign of Atlanta. This was a great victory for the Union troops. The next battle was that at New Hope Church. Before and after this, however, there was almost constant skirmishing, in very rainy weather. July 19, 1864, the regiment was engaged in a severe fight near Decatur, Georgia, where they lost heavily. Soon afterward they were in the fight at Strawberry Run, where they lost twenty-five men, but enabled General Hascall to turn a position which our forces, a brigade of General Schofield's corps, had failed to turn the day before. Then on until mid-winter the regiment was kept guarding and engaging in skirmishes. November 29th, occurred the battle of Franklin, where the enemy were repulsed with great loss. During the latter portion of the winter they were marching and battling near the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, and engaged in the battle of Wise's Forks, where the enemy met with signal disaster. The regiment was
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engaged in provost duty about Raleigh during the summer of 1865, and on August 29th was mustered out of service.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
The foregoing is but an outline of what transpired at home and in the Southland during the years of that long-drawn-out war, in which brother took up arms against brother, and in which family ties were broken asunder, never to be reunited again. While the soldiers above mentioned were doing their part bravely and well, in field and on march, those remaining at home were busy at raising funds with which to support and maintain the families of the volunteers, as well as in numerous ways help the general government to carry on the war, which all loyal patriots believed was a just war. Every town- ship in this county had its aid societies and relief funds. Men and women were alive to the pressing demands for hospital supplies for the men who had been sent to the front. The county commissioners, from time to time, levied taxes for the furtherance of the cause in the field. Bounties were freely paid and each patriot vied with his neighbor in seeing how much he could do toward relieving suffering at home and in the tented field.
It is not possible to give a complete list of the soldiers from this county, and the larger part of those who donned the loyal blue, from 1861 to 1865, have long since answered the last roll-call, some being asleep under Southern skies, while the remainder are buried in home cemeteries and their graves are cared for and tenderly decorated with the return of each Memorial day. Be it said with a just pride, that Vermillion county was loyal to the Union cause. Its sacrifice was indeed great, but its victory was an eternal gain-an everlast- ing inheritance to the oncoming generations who shall here reap the just re- ward of liberty and union.
The records show that Vermillion county raised funds in Civil war days as follows :
Bounties
$ 76,032
Relief for Soldiers' Families
41,839
Miscellaneous Funds
986
Total
$119,547
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ENTRIES FROM A SOLDIER'S DIARY.
The following paragraphs have been extracted from the private diary kept by Edwin C. Bishop, of Clinton, who was in the Engineering Corps of the Union army, and a member of the Eighteenth Indiana Infantry. These are chiefly paragraphs of letters that he wrote home to his parents and brothers, and throw much light on the inside life and private opinions of soldiers who marched and fought in the Rebellion from 1861 to 1865. Finally this brave man sacrified his life at Cedar Creek, near the close of the conflict. We are indebted to L. O. Bishop, of the Saturday Argus (a nephew), for the manu- script transcript from which the following is quoted :
"Springfield, Missouri, Nov. 5. 1861.
"Friends at Home :- Since I wrote to you last there have been some stir- ring times out here. I did not think then that within three hours we would be on a forced march; but such was the case. We received orders to march immediately and started just at sunset. After marching twelve miles we stopped for the night, built our camp fires and slept by them. The next morn- ing we took up our line of march and stopped at eleven o'clock to get break- fast. We cooked all our provisions and filled our haversacks, and got ready for a hard march and a fight. We had halted in a prairie and when we ยท started the long line of soldiers showed to a good advantage ; it was a nice little army of about seventeen thousand men. It was enough to make one feel like fighting to see so many in one line going onward to battle. In the morning the news came that we would have to cut our way through the Rebel army to Fremont ; upon hearing this the enthusiasm became very great and the soldiers would press forward and 'Forward' was the cry. We got to within seven miles of Springfield that day and stopped to rest. After that we went to within a half mile of town, expecting to begin the fight in the morning. But we were disappointed, for in the morning Fremont went past and camped with his guards and Indians on the road to St. Louis, he having been super- seded, and we found that Price was not near here. There is now an army of fifty thousand men here, who all expected to fight when they got here. We are under the command of General Hunter. We do not know, but many be- lieve that we will be sent to 'Old Kaintuck.' Our tents came up today, so we are at home again. We have not got over our disappointment of not finding Price, after running all over the state. The dirty skunk has got away without our men getting a chance to see him. It is most time to get dinner and I will
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have to quit before long. I guess I shall do some washing this afternoon. Lon is washing now. Give my respects to all,
"ED. C. BISHOP."
"Little Sugar Creek, Ark., March 12, 1862.
"Dear Father :- I suppose it is with feelings of anxiety you receive this letter, for I suppose you heard of our great fight. When I wrote last I was on the picket, and that evening I was relieved and went to camp. That night about twelve o'clock we were ordered to cook two days' rations. The next morning we packed up our things and sent the wagons back about one mile. . Then we went onto a hill not far from our camp and commenced throwing up earth-works. Our battery and the Eighth Regiment were on a hill to our left. That evening we heard the firing between Siegel and the Rebels. We had been fighting on a retreat from a cross hollow. The next morning we went to our wagons to cook some rations; but were soon ordered back to our breast- works; then we were ordered to the rear, as the enemy had come up on that side. By this time the firing had become very heavy and sharp. We came up in front of the enemy's right wing, composed of their best troops under McCulloch ; they had Indians: I cannot tell you in words so that you will understand, so I will tell you some, and draw a plan of the field. White's brigade, composed of the Thirty-seventh and Fifty-ninth Illinois Regiments went in first, but were driven back, and then by a skillful movement the Rebels were driven back and our battery saved. This was the first day of the battle we were in; I was not in the second day; I got lost from the company in the night and was put on guard over the prisoners. I have not heard the loss on either side; but I think ours was about one hundred and twenty killed and two hundred wounded. I understand the Rebels left from two hundred and fifty to three hundred on the field. We have about three hundred prisoners. The Rebels left the field in a hurry, leaving several hundred stand of arms along the road.
"Good Bye for this time. "E. C. B."
"Helena, Ark., August 30, 1862.
"Friends at Home :-- I am as well as could be expected and the company is in good spirits. I understand that five boats are to start for White river this morning. I do not know the object of the expedition ; it may be a scout- ing party, perhaps it is going to gather cotton. It is rumored that the Rebels,
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forty thousand strong, are advancing on this place, and these boats may be sent up White river to keep them from crossing, but I do not believe that there are that many Rebels in this state; however, if there are that many, I do not believe they can whip us. They are building some fortifications here which are to mount thirty-two-pounders. This seems to me to be a good place for a fortification, as the river can be seen for a distance of eleven miles down and four or five up stream, from a ridge that runs through town and it is separated from the bluff by a hollow. The ground is such that a battery could not charge upon, so the only way to dislodge troops would be to shell them or starve them out, either of which would be hard to do, as long as the river is kept open. I understand that this is to be the military capital instead of Little Rock. We are having very good times here, for since it has come to be the policy to subsist on the country in which the war is carried on, the boys have most everything this country is able to raise. No longer are the corn fields guarded, so that 'roasting ears' can be had without paying two prices or run- ning the risk of getting into the guard-house. There is an old 'secesh' living in our camp or rather it was built around him. When we came here he had lots of bee hives; there are none now; but that is all right for he gave two thousand five hundred dollars to build gun-boats and was tanning leather for old Jeff Thompson; but the leather was not finished, so our men are having him finish it for us. At first taking wagons and other property belonging to the Rebels was a low thing; now it is the only thing that can be done. I have found out how the thing worked; every Rebel was out fighting against us, while the darkies raised corn; we will have to stop their supplies, and then give them a whipping.
"Yours, E. C. B."
"November 21, 1862.
"Dear Friends :- The sentence for sleeping on one's post is to. forfeit one month's pay ; march ten days, four hours a day, in front of the colonel's quarters, wearing a head-dress barrel bearing this inscription, 'I slept on my post.' "
"Patterson, November 18, 1862.
"Dear Friends at Home :- I will commence this letter tonight. I re- ceived those things you sent me, and the long letter; I tell you it does a soldier good to get long letters. Captain Bell brought some good butter from home and also a cooked chicken, which with the bread you sent me made a good breakfast; a real 'Hoosier breakfast.' The bread tasted home-like, and the
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can of peaches which we ate for dinner was excellent-all acknowledged them the best they had eaten for a long time. Captain brought a can of peaches and I am going to make a pie of them. Now you may laugh, when I speak of cooking, but I tell you I can cook some. I and Lon went out of camp to try our rifles ; for a long time I was busy cleaning my gun. You may think half a day a long time to be cleaning a gun ; but it is as bright as a new silver dollar all over. I have a splendid rifle ; it is a Springfield rifle and I would not take in trade for it one of the much boasted Enfield rifles. While we were out I saw a squirrel, and thought I would like to try my gun on him; so Lon went around the tree and made a noise and that scared the squirrel around to my side of the tree and I shot him. Well I must quit and go to bed ; perhaps you would like to know about my bed. Well, we get corn stalks and put them on the ground and over them are spread two blankets and our oil cloth. Then we have three blankets over the three of us.
"There were some five or six thousand Rebels building winter quarters on Black river, but we went down and shelled them; they run, leaving all be- hind, and have not been seen or heard of since.
"Yours,
"ED."
"January 1, 1863.
"Today another year is ushered into Time's great circle : another year to witness the unhappy state of our country. Shall this year see the end of this great war? I see by looking around me that all are of the same opinion and mind. None wish to see '63' grow old and die without seeing the traitor meet his doom; without seeing the American eagle sit in peace upon the pal- netto undisturbed by the serpent that crawls at its foot. How different the scenes of today and former New Year days, when all was peace. Then the cannon's loud roar broke upon the ear telling only of joy and mirth; now that roar speaks of bloodshed and every boom sinks deeper into the heart as we think of the souls then sent and perhaps transported to meet their God. Then proud hearts that have long since gone to rest engaged in the merry dance and tried to lose sight of time for a little while. Those that are left are soldiers, tossed on the battle-stained waves of war; they are changed; time and hard- ships of a soldier's life have made their impressions. The once light, loving heart has been turned to stone, by constantly coming in contact with scenes of strife.
"Yours,
"E. C. B."
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"Milligan Bend, April 3, 1863.
"Friends :- I do not feel much like writing. I came into my quarters last night and found those things you sent me had come. We got them up from the landing about ten o'clock and went to work to see what there was. Most of the things were spoiled ; some cakes were good; but all the bread and pies were spoiled. Some of the green apples were good ; they were quite a treat, for they are from fifteen to twenty-five cents apiece here now .. The boots you sent were too large. Some of the furloughed boys are fast coming back into camp. We are fifteen miles from Vicksburg and twenty-five by river. No news from Yazoo, and we do not know what is going on around us, as much as you do there. We can hear the shelling at Vicksburg, when- ever there is any going on there. Our position is at the siege as follows : First United States Infantry, Eighth, Thirty-Third and Ninty-Ninth Illinois, a battery of six pieces, siege guns and all stationed at the mouth of the canal opposite Vicksburg. We are in the Fourteenth Division and the Thirteenth Army Corps ; our brigade is under General Baxter. I found a piece of poetry in the box you sent entitled 'Come Home.' I say :
How gladly would I do it, And stay with my friends for ever, But first let us down with the Rebels, That our Union are trying to sever. "EDWIN C."
"Near Vicksburg, Miss., June 12, 1863.
"My Dear Sister :- I will send you a few lines to let you know I am alive and well. We had a battle at Champion's Hill. The Rebels run, as usual, and we had a fine time overhauling their knapsacks, which they left at Edwards Station. We all got clean clothes, tobacco, writing paper. etc. This sheet is one I got ; captured enough to last for a while. We took in two or three regi- ments at the ridge ; they stuck cotton in their guns and bayonets, when the charge began, and turned and run for the bridge. I have not found any good place from which I can make a map of this field. I went to a place and was trying to make a map of the field, but was shot at several times, so I left. The Rebels do not fire much. They opened a few guns this morning, but soon found that place too hot for them. Deserters come in all the time; they all tell different tales, and we do not know which to believe. But I guess they have hard times; one of the Iowa boys gave a deserter his breakfast, and he ate four crackers, one loaf of bread, a lot of potatoes and ham, and drunk five
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cups of strong coffee. He told General Lawler that he had had but little for a week. We hear they can hold out fifteen days. The boys are in fine spirits. When they want a little exercise, they take their guns and go out to the rifle pits and take a few shots at the Rebels, if they can see one to shoot at. I have sent several dispatches to them to get in. What 'Rebs' are in the city 'are surely ours, unless they dig out under the hill. I guess after we get this place we will have to go over and help the boys in the Army of the Potomac; poor fellows, never were intended to fight, and not in the least frightened about Johnson. We will run him all over the state for a breakfast spell and take him in for dinner. I am now about four feet in the ground and feel perfectly safe. Write soon to yours,
"EDWIN."
CHAPTER VIL.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF VERMILLION COUNTY.
Article 7, section 1, of the constitution of Indiana, declared that : "Knowledge and learning generally diffused throughout a community, being essential to the preservation of a free government, it shall be the duty of the . government by its General Assembly to encourage, by all suitable means, moral, intellectual, scientific and agricultural improvements, and to provide by law for a general and uniform system of common schools, wherein tuition shall be without charge and equally open to all."
No state or territory has manifested an equally profound and intelligent interest in the subject of education as has Indiana, commencing with the terri- torial existence in 1800. While the Congress of the United States, under the controlling influence of Jefferson, had been wise and far-seeing on this subject, yet it is a fact that in the organization of the new territories and states that body was more or less influenced by the men who approached Congress. in the interests of the new municipality-men who were identified with it. And according to whom these men were and the suggestion that they would urge, would be many of the provisions in the enabling acts on the subject of schools.
Liberal provision had been made by the general government for popular education in all the Northwestern states. Before any of these states had been formed, while the general territory in which they were embraced was a wilder- ness, inhabited almost exclusively by savages, Congress, on the 20th of May, 1785, passed an ordinance reserving every sixteenth section of land in the whole territory northwest of the river Ohio for the maintenance of public schools. Two years later, in the famous ordinance of 1787, it was declared that "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools, and the means of education, shall be forever encouraged."
In Indiana there was from the first a class of public-spirited men who were the friends and earnest advocates of popular education. In 1807 an act was passed by the General Assembly of the territory, for the incorporation of a university at Vincennes. The first board of trustees of this university named
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in the incorporating act were men of large and liberal ideas of education. They reflected the true spirit of the framers of the ordinance of 1787. In the preamble to the incorporating act it was declared that "the independence, happiness and energy of every republic depended (under the influence of the destinies of heaven ) upon the wisdom, virtue, talents and energy of its citizens and rulers; that science, literature and the liberal arts contributed in an eminent degree to improve those qualities and acquirements, and that learning had ever been found the ablest advocate of genuine liberty, the best supporter of rational religion, and the source of the only solid and imperishable glory which nations can acquire."
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