USA > Indiana > Porter County > History of Porter County, Indiana : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests > Part 10
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After the schools and the press, the public library probably stands next in importance as an educator. On February 17, 1838, the governor approved an act of the Indiana legislature providing that, whenever a certain amount of money had been subscribed or pledged, the people of any county or city might organize a library association. In the summer of that year, the requisite sum of money having been subscribed, a meeting was called for the purpose of organizing the "Porter County Library Association." The exact date of this meeting, or who eonsti- tuted the first board of trustees, cannot be ascertained, but an old undated record of the board shows that the librarian was to be allowed ten dollars per annum for his services, and that the following by-laws were adopted :
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"1. That none but subscribers shall be allowed to read the books, or to draw any of them from the said library.
"¿2. That any volume of 300 pages or under may be drawn for one month by any subscriber.
"3. That any volume over three hundred pages and under 500, may be drawn for two months by any subscriber.
"4. That any volume over 500 pages may be drawn for three months.
"5. That the Librarian shall mark cach book, showing the length of time said book may be drawn.
"6. That any person keeping a book over the time marked as the pe- riod for which it may be drawn, shall forfeit the sum of five cents for ev- ery weck it may be kept over said time, and that any fractional part of a week shal be considered as a week, and the fine collected accordingly.
"7. That no person shall draw more than one volume at a time, and after a subscriber shall have drawn a book, he shall not be allowed to draw any more until he shall have duly returned said book, and paid all fines and forfeitures due said library from him.
"8. That the Librarian shall examine all books upon their return, and if any shall have been damaged or disfigured more than reasonable wear, he shall assess a fine upon said subscriber drawing the same, and said subscriber shall never after be allowed to draw any book until he shall have duly paid such fine.
· "9. That said Librarian shall purchase a blank book at the expense of said library, in which he shall keep a full list of all subscribers, the time subscribing, the date each shall draw a book and return the same, and the amount of fines assessed to, and paid by, each subscriber, and of all other matters of interest to said library a complete and full report he shall make of which at each term of the County Commissioners' Court."
As the subscriptions were paid and new subscribers came into the association, new books were added from time to time, until in 1850 the library. contained some 500 volumes. This was not a public library in the sense that any one could draw books from it, only members of the
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association enjoying that privilege. But even with this restriction the library was the means of disseminating a great deal of useful knowledge among the people of the'county. In the early '50s the township library law went into effect, and the books belonging to the association were dis- tributed among the several townships. The old township library system was a failure. Librarians were generally very lax in enforcing the ₹ rules against their neighbors, and though books were added by the state for several years they were drawn in such a loose manner that most of them became lost and the libraries finally died a natural death from inanition.
Early in the present century Hubbard and Finette M. Hunt gave to the city of Valparaiso the old Hunt homestead on North Washington street, "to be the property of the city as long as it should be used for public library purposes." By the terms of the bequest the property was placed under the control of the school board, but that body did nothing toward the establishment of a library. In 1904 the school board, the city council and the judge of the circuit court, acting under a state law, took the necessary steps to have a library board appointed. That board consisted of O. P. Kinsey, president; William E. Pinney, vice- president; and Mrs. Clara De Motte, Mrs. W. H. Gardner, Prof. A. A. Hughart, Mrs. Alla Bryant and Mrs. N. L. Agnew as members. The library was opened to the public in 1905 with about 560 volumes upon the shelves. In 1909 the institution was made a township library under the state law of 1903, and John W. MeNay and Thomas Brown were added to the board as the members for Center township. Miss Mabel Benney and Prof. L. F. Bennett have taken the places of Mrs. Gardner and Mrs. Agnew on the board, which otherwise remains as originally organ- ized in 1904. In 1912 the library contained about 5,500 volumes. Miss Bertha Joel has been the librarian from the beginning. The Valparaiso public library is the only free circulating library in the county, but prae- tically every school district has a selected library of books on history, geography, travel and reference works, those in Center township num- bering about 100 volumes each. Through the public schools, high schools,
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Valparaiso University, the press, and the public and school libraries, the youth of Porter county enjoy educational facilities as good as those of any county in the state, and the percentage of illiteracy is considerably lower than in many counties having equal opportunities.
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CHAPTER VI
MILITARY HISTORY
HISTORIC WARS OF THE NATION-REVOLUTIONARY VETERANS IN PORTER COUNTY-WAR OF 1812-THE BLACK HAWK WAR -- WAR WITH MEXICO- CAPTAIN SMITH'S COMPANY-POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860-SECESSION -FALL OF FORT SUMTER-CALL FOR TROOPS-PORTER COUNTY AROUSED- MEETINGS AT VALPARAISO-RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED-FIRST COMPANY OFF FOR THE WAR - NINTH INFANTRY - ITS RECORD - PRIVATES' BATTLE OF BELINGTON-FIFTEENTHI INFANTRY-OTHER INFANTRY REGIMENTS IN WHICH PORTER COUNTY WAS REPRESENTED-CAVALRY AND ARTILLERY ORGANIZATIONS-ROLL OF HONOR-WORK OF THE CITIZENS WHO RE- MAINED AT HOME-TOTAL NUMBER OF PORTER COUNTY TROOPS-STATE MILITIA-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR-MEMORIAL HIALL.
The historie wars in which this country has been engaged were the War of the Revolution, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico, the Civil war between the North and South-1861-65, and the War with Spain in 1898. In the first, the English colonies in America rebelled against the tyranny and oppression of the Mother Country, and after a struggle which lasted for eight years established their independence and founded the government of the United States-the first government on earth to derive its powers direct from the people. The War of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain, was brought on by the impressment of American seamen and other arrogant aets on the part of the British auth- orities. It was concluded by the treaty of Ghent in December, 1814, Vnt. I- ;
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which recognized practically every claim of the American government. The War with Mexico resulted from the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845, and in this conflict the United States were again victorious. For nearly half a century before the beginning of the Civil war, the slavery question had been a "bone of contention" between the North and South. Compromise after compromise was tried, but when Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States in 1860 the slaveholders of the South immediately began taking steps to withdraw from the Union and establish a government of their own, in which the institution of slavery should be recognized without question or dispute. The national administration, supported by the people of the North and West, denied the right of the states to secede and the Civil war followed. It lasted for four years and was one of the most sanguinary and destrue- tive wars in the history of the world. For many years Cuba was a depen- deney of Spain, and for the greater part of that time the people of the- island were treated like slaves by the Spanish government and its agents. They finally revolted, and about 1895 the citizens of this country began to demand that Congress recognize the beligerent rights of the Cubans. After three years of agitation and diplomatic efforts at reconciliation, war against Spain was declared in the spring of 1898. The war lasted but a few weeks, but in that short time the superiority of the American arms was fully demonstrated on both land and sea.
At the time of the Revolution no white man had established a resi- denee in what is now Porter county. In faet, it was nearly forty years after the elose of that great contest before Joseph Bailly built his lonely eabin upon the bank of the Calumet river, and fifty-three years before the organization of the county. Hence, the county had no part in the War for Independence, though two men who served in the Conti- mental army eame to pass their declining years in Porter county, and the widow of a Revolutionary soldier also lived here for several years prior to her death. Henry Battan settled in Westchester township about the time or soon after the county was organized. In May, 1910, Mark L. Dickover, of the Valparaiso State Bank, wrote to the United States
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Bureau of Pensions to learn something of Mr. Batian's military record. Through this medium it is learned that he was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania in 1750; that he enlisted in Angust or September, 1776, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, as a member of Captain William Harrod's company, Colonel Thomas Gaddis' regiment of the Pennsylvania line, and served with that command until the following February. In April, 1777, he enlisted in Captain Cross' company and served for four months, when he became a member of Captain Theophilus Phillips' company, under Colonel Minor and served eight months. He was then for two months in the company commanded by Lieutenant MeKinley, after which he returned to Captain Phillips' company and served until in Sep- tember, 1778, when he left the army. On March 11, 1833, he applied for a pension, being at that time a resident of Fountain county, Indiana. On July 3, 1840, he united with the Presbyterian church of Valparaiso by letter from a congregation in Virginia, and the records of the church show that his death occurred on February 1, 1845. His place of inter- ment cannot be ascertained. A daughter accompanied him to Porter county.
Joseph Jones, the other Revolutionary veteran, came to Porter county from Holmes county, Ohio, in the spring of 1841, and located at Boone · Grove. Little has been learned of his military service, but it is believed that he was one of those who came into the Northwest Territory with a Revolutionary land grant, and finally found his way with the tide of emigration into Porter county. He died at an advanced age a few years after settling at Boone Grove and his remains rest in an unmarked grave in the old Cornell cemetery.
Susannah Fifield, the Revolutionary widow, came to Indiana from Enfield, New Hampshire, and located in Porter county at a comparatively carly date. The records of the Valparaiso Presbyterian church show that she was received into that congregation by letter on August 22, 1852. She drew a pension, out of which she gave annually ten dollars for foreign missions. She died in 1856.
The War of 1812 closed more than twenty years before the organiza-
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tion of Porter county, but several veterans of that war afterward became citizens of the county. Among these were Isaac Cornell, Robert Folsom, John and Eliphalet D. Curtis and Myron Powell. Of the first two little is known, further than they are buried in the Cornell graveyard, both having died within a few years after settling in the county. John Curtis enlisted in New York, came to Porter county in 1836, settled near Wheeler, and died there in 1865. E. D. Curtis also joined the army while living in New York. He came to the county in 1838, and settled near Porter Cross-ronds, where he died in the spring of 1865. Myron Powell enlisted in Vermont, came to the Western Reserve in Ohio shortly after the war and from there to Porter county where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1865. Ruel Starr and James W. Buell served in the Black Hawk war and later settled in Porter county.
About ten years after the organization of Porter county came the · Mexican war. The population of the county was still rather sparse, and it does not appear that any attempt was made to organize a company of volunteers within the county. Joseph P. Smith, at that time clerk of Lake county, resigned his ,office and in 1846 recruited a company, an old muster roll of which shows that when it was mustered into service in the spring of 1847, the following Porter county men were among the mem- bers: Jacob Alyea, Daniel Brown Oliver Conklin, Hudson S. Farwell, M. Hopkins, Clinton Jackson, David Musselman, Simeon P. Patterson, Newell Pulsifer, Cyrus H. Risden, John Sparks, Lewis P. Streeter and Gilbert Wariner. Daniel Brown and Newell Pulsifer were sergeants. Oliver Conklin, Cyrus H. Risden and John Sparks died while in service. The company was not assigned to either of the three volunteer regi- ments raised in Indiana, but became Company H, Sixteenth United States infantry, which regiment was commanded by Col. John W. Til- betts. While in the service the principal duty of the company was to guard wagon trains. Although not in any great battles, the company lost heavily through sickness, due to the climate, as only thirty-six men re- turned out of the 119 who went out. There were also a few Porter county
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men in other commands, but in the absence of the muster rolls it is it- possible to tell who they were or in what companies they served.
The political campaign of 1860 was one of the most bitterly con tested in the history of the country up to that time. The Democratic party, which for several successive administrations had controlled the affairs of the nation, was rent in twain by the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas and John C. Breckenridge by two contending factions, and as a result Mr. Lincoln, the Republican candidate, was elected to the presi- deney. "No extension of Mave territory," had been the slogan of the Republicans during the campaign, though the leaders of that party had declared they had neither desire nor intention to interfere with slavery where it already existed. It seems the slaveholders doubted the sincer- ity of this declaration, for no sooner was the result of the election known than they began preparations for seceding from the Union. This action had been threatened for years, in case the " Abolitionists" succeeded in gaining control of the national government, but the people of the North did not believe they would carry out the threat. There was there- fore a rude awakening when, on the 20th of December, 1860, the tele- graph flashed the message over the country that the State of South Carolina had just passed an ordinance of secession. Mississsisppi fol- lowed on January 9, 1861; Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas passed ordinances .of secession during the next thirty days; a provisional Confederate government was established by the convention at Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1861; the forts and arsenals in the South were seized by the seeessionists; a large number of officers in the regular army resigned their commissions to join the movement for the establishment of the Southern Confederacy; so that when President Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, he found the Union menaced with disruption.
War develops or brings out the latent patriotism in the individual as no other influence ean. Many good men, in times of peace, may talk of war as unnecessary, barbarous and inhuman, and advocate inter- national arbitration as a remedy for disputes; but let some hostile
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power assail their country or its institutions and these men will be among the first to leave their peaceful pursuits and take up arms in defense of their government and its laws. So it was in 1861. At twenty min- utes past four o'clock on the morning of April 12th the first shot of the Civil war went crashing against the solid walls of Fort Sumter. It was fired by Edmund Ruffin, a native of Virginia and a personal and po- litieal friend of John C. Calhoun. That shot was "heard around the world." President Lincoln was prompt to accept the challenge, and on the fifteenth called for 75,000 volunteers "to suppress the rebellion." That day the publishers of the Valparaiso Republican issued an extra edition containing the following call for a meeting at the court house in the evening :
"Amerieans! Union Men! Rally. The war has begun. Fort Sumter has fallen ! Our flag has been insulted, fired upon and struck to traitors! A Pelican and a Rattlesnake banner floats in its stead! Let it be torn down and the Stars and Stripes Hoat in its place, or let us perish in the attempt. Davis, the traitor, says that next the Secession flag shall wave . over the Capitol at Washington Shall it be so? A thousand times NO! Then to-night let us rally at the court house, burying all party names, and come to the rescue of the Republie against its mortal enemies. We are beaten at Sumter, but not conquered, and must rally to preserve the inheritance left us by our fathers. Come one, come all who love their country ! To-night let us pledge our lives, our fortunes and our saered honor to the defense of the proudest flag that ever waved over a free people."
Porter county was aroused and the court-house was packed to its utmost capacity within a few minutes after the doors were opened. Dr. E. Jones was elected to preside over the meeting, 'and J. F. McCarthy and A. J. Berry were chosen as secretaries. On motion of Dr. R. A. Cameron, a committee of five was appointed to draft resolutions indica- tive of the feeling that pervaded the entire North. The committee con- sisted of Dr. Cameron, Jacob Brewer. S. S. and J. N. Skinner, and Mark L. De Motte. It is quite probable that the resolutions had been prepared
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in advance as the committee retired but a short time when it returned and submitted the following :
"Whereas, A band of traitors have combined together to break up and destroy our glorius Union, and have confederated themselves for that purpose; and whereas, they have attacked the American flag and bombarded Fort Sumter, causing the gallant Anderson and his little band, exhausted by fatigue and hunger, to surrender; and whereas, they are now threatening to march upon the Nation Capitol if their independence is not acknowledged and their treason submitted to; therefore,
"Resolecd, That we are unconditionally for the Union, now and hereafter, without regard to any sacrifice that we may be called upon to make.
"Resolved, That now our country is in peril, we will know no North, no South, no party names or times, but stand by the Union men both South' and North, and never be satisfied until treason and treachery are erushed.
"Resolved, That yet we believe in Republican institutions, and the right of free men to be heard at the ballot box, and that we do not des- pair of the Republic; but in the name of our Heavenly Father, appeal- ing to ITim. as the God of nations, we promise and swear never to desert the flag which was in His name unfurled at Ticonderoga, and carried through the storms of '76, and under which, for many years, civilization and christianity have flourished.
"Resolved. . That we hereby pledge to the Government our lives, our fortunes, and our saered honor for the maintenance of the Constitution and the supremaey of the laws."
The unanimous adoption of these resolutions showed that the people of Porter county were fully aroused. During the campaign of the pre- ceding year they had differed in their political views, and in some in- stanees bad felling was engendered by bitter personal argument. But now, when the government was menaced, when the Union was threatened with dissolution, all these personal animosities were laid aside, party affiliations were forgotten, and the spirit of loyalty was universal. At
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VALPARAISO BAND, 1858
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this meeting several patriotic speeches were made, the old Union Band played patriot airs, and at the close of the proceedings an opportunity was offered to those who might desire to answer the president's call for volunteers, to enroll their names upon the roll of a company which it was proposed to organize. The response was so general that within a few days a company numbering 130 men was ready for organization. At a meeting held at the court-house on the afternoon of the 18th, the men selected the officers of the company, several addresses were made by . distinguished speakers, and the following resolutions were adopted :
"Whereas, the United States are now engaged in a civil war, and whereas that war has been forced upon the Union by a band of traitors; and whereas we do not recognize the right of any state to secede. and whereas we are loyal to the Union and pledged to its maintainalice, therefore,
"Resolved. That to encourage Secession, furnish stores, provisions, arms or ammunition to the enemy, is TREASON.
"Resolved, That as we believe the citizens of Porter county, without regard to party, are loyal to the Union, that they are requested to pro- cure and wear Union badges.
"Resolved. That if it is found that there are Secessionists in our . midst, that we will not encourage violence and bloodshed at home, but we will witlldraw from them our social relations, and, if business men, that we will not favor them with our patronage."
On Sunday, April, 21, a sermon was preached to the members of the company by Rev. Mr. Gurney, and that evening they left for Indi- anapolis, where they arrived early the following morning. A temporary eamp was formed on the state house grounds at six o'clock, where at nine o'clock they were sworn in by Judge Perkins of the supreme court, Governor Morton being present. The company was then ordered to Camp Morton, and having more men upon its muster rolls than the army regulations permitted, it was reduced to seventy-seven enlisted men. The surplus members were organized into a new company which took the name of. the "Valparaiso Guards." On the 23d the original company
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was mustered into the United States service as Company II, Ninth Indiana Infantry, Col. Robert Il. Milroy commanding, with the follow- ing officers : Robert A. Cameron, captain ; Isaac C. B. Suman, first lieu- tenant ; Gilbert A. Pierce, second lieutenant. At that time the prev- alent opinion was that the war was not a serious affair and would soon be ended, hence the first troops were mustered in for a term of only three months.
After a few days spent in drilling and perfecting the regimental or- ganization, the Ninth was ordered to western Virginia, where it was assigned to General Morris' command, which was stationed at Belington with instructions to prevent the Confederate General Garnett from rein- forcing General Pegram at Rich mountain. Hardly had the camp been pitched when the Confederate sharpshooters began their work of firing upon the Union troops from the shelter of a piece of woods near by. Colonel Milroy asked for permission to drive them out of the timber, but was informed that the orders were not to bring on an action. On Sunday morning Sergeant Copp, the "fighting parson" of the Ninth, was preaching a sermon to "the boys." when the Confederates renewed thes deadly work. Quickly putting his Bible in his pocket, the parson grabbed a gun and started for the woods. The congregation immediately followed his example. General Morris sent an officer to call back the. men. A few returned to the camp, but the majority accepted the leader- ship of Sergeant Copp and continued their way into the woods, driving the sharpshooters before them as they went. Colonel Barnett fired two percussion shells which exploded in front of the enemy's works, while a third shell went over the hill and exploded in the midst of a cavalry troop that was preparing to attack the Federal camp, causing consterna- tion in the ranks. This affair is known as "the privates' battle of Beling- ton." It was fought without orders, by men of the Ninth Indiana and Fourteenth Ohio under command of a sergeant, but it showed the Con- federates that the northern men would fight.
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During the three months' service the regiment was in several minor skirmishes in western Virginia, the most important one being the battle
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of Lanrel Hill, July 8, 1861, in which John Mathews, of Company II, was wounded. Although in no heavy engagements, the willingness of the men to performn a soldier's duty in any action that might be brought on gave the regiment the name of the "Bloody Ninth." At the expira- tion of the three months' term, the Ninth was ordered to Indianapolis, where it arrived on July 24, and was mustered out on the 29th. On August 27, 1861, it was reorganized at Laporte for the three years' service, and was there mustered in ou September 9th, with Colonel Milroy again in command. Company II was officered by Isaac C. B. Suman as captain ; DeWitt C. Hodsden as first lieutenant; William II. Benney, second lieutenant. Again the regiment was ordered to western Virginia, where it took part in the engagements at Green Brier and Alle- ghany, as well as a munber of slight skirmishes. In February, 1862, it was ordered to join General Buell's army at Nashville, Tennessee, where it was assigned to General Nelson's division. It participated in the second day's battle at Shiloh, the campaign against Corinth, the pur- suit of Bragg's army through Kentucky, fighting at Perryville, Dan- ville and Wild Cat mountain. It then returned to Tennessee, where it · took part in the battle of Stone's river, and later was in the battle of Chickamauga and the military operations about Chattanooga. In the spring of 1864 it joined General Sherman in the Atlanta campaign. After the fall of Atlanta it returned to Tennessee with General Thomas and was in the battle of Nashville on December 15, 1864, pursuing Hood's retreating army as far as Huntsville, Alabama. Its next serv- iee was in Louisana and Texas as part of General Sheridan's command, and was finally mustered out on September 28, 1865. Throughout the entire service of the Ninth, the Porter county company was on the firing line whenever the regiment was called into action.
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