USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > Hyman's Handbook of Indianapolis : an outline history and description of the capital of Indiana, with over three hundred illustrations from photographs made expressly for this work (1897) > Part 5
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The other prisoners were taken to Camp Morton, where they were joined by several hundred others who had been cared for temporarily at Madison, Terre Haute and other places. They were kept in Camp Morton until exchanged in the September following The camp then remained unoccupied until after the surrender of Vicksburg when it was again used for a prison camp, and from that time to the close of the war it held from three thousand to five thousand prisoners. At one time a plan was formed by citizens of the state who sympathized with the
BAKER-KANDOLPH ENG.BO
SOLDIERS' GRAVES IN CROWN HILL CEMETERY.
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South, to overthrow the state government, release the prisoners and arm them from arms contained in the state arsenal, and march them to the South. The plan was discovered, and re- sulted in what has since been known as the "Treason Trials." Some very ludicrous incidents came from this abortive attempt, among them being the celebrated "Battle of Pogue's Run." To hide the attempt from the eyes of the authorities and to fur- nish an excuse or explanation for the presence of such a great number in the city, a mass meeting of those opposed to the
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war was called. The intention was that under the guise of this meeting a raid should be made on the camp by armed men, the guards overpowered and the prisoners released. The pris- oners had been fully advised of the effort that was to be made in their favor and were ready to do their part.
The authorities, however, were fully informed of the whole matter and were on the watch. The mass meeting was being held on the state-house grounds, and by some means a rumor was started that troops were on their way to disperse the meet- ing. A panic ensued, and those in attendance hastily scattered
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in every direction. Troops had been placed in various parts of the city prepared to suppress any violence and to nip any effort to carry out the plan of releasing the prisoners. As the sol- diers saw the crowds hastening through the streets toward the union station they added to their terror by shouts of derision. The crowd of panic stricken visitors clambered into the cars ready to leave the city. They might have been permitted to go in peace, if some of them in passing the Soldiers' Home had not fired their revolvers from the car windows. The trains were immediately stopped, and soldiers went from car to car search- ing for arms. This added to the fright, and many of those who, a few moments before, had been boldly exhibiting their revolvers hastily threw them from the car windows. A large number of revolvers and knives were taken, and for several weeks were kept on exhibition at the headquarters of the gen- eral commanding.
This opposition to the war soon developed a number of secret organizations, whose object was to furnish aid and com- fort to the South. At last the leaders in this movement were arrested and brought to Indianapolis for trial before a military commission. The leading prisoners were H. H. Dodd, of this city ; William Bowles, of Orange county ; Lamdin P. Milligan, of Huntington county, and Stephen A. Dorsey, of Martin county. Several others were arrested at the same time but afterwards released, either because of the want of any evidence connecting them with the conspiracy or that they might become witnesses against the others. During the trial Dodd escaped from prison and fled to Canada. Bowles, Milligan and Dorsey were sen- tenced to death, but the sentence was commuted by President Johnson to life imprisonment in the Ohio penitentiary. They were afterwards released by the supreme court of the United States, on a writ of habeas corpus.
While Camp Morton was still occupied, Camp Burnside was formed just south of it. It was here while it was occupied by the Seventy-first regiment in the summer of 1862 that the first
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PLEASANT LAKE GARFIELD PARK
PLEASANT-LAME GARFIELD PARKE
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military execution that ever took place in the state occurred. Robert Gay had been charged with desertion and as being a spy. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to be shot, al- though hanging was the penalty for being a spy. He was shot in the old Henderson orchard, between Camp Morton and Camp Burnside. The regiment and spectators formed three sides of the square, the open side being to the east. Gay was brought out by the guard and placed in front of his coffin. He made a speech protesting that he had no guilty purpose in deserting. He told the firing party to aim at his heart. He then sat down on his coffin and was blindfolded. The signal to fire was given. The firing party consisted of ten, but one of the guns was loaded with a blank cartridge. Eight of the nine balls struck him in the heart while one went through his neck. In 1864 three "bounty jumpers" were shot on the same ground. In 1864 General Hovey, who was then in command, prepared a scaffold on the same ground for the hanging of Bowles, Milligan and Dorsey, but the sentence, as mentioned before, was never carried out.
Almost as soon as the war began Governor Morton, was satisfied that the federal government would be unable to supply the demand for ammunition and he determined to establish here an arsenal for the manufacture of catridges. He secured the services of Gen. Herman Sturm, and throughout the war this arsenal not only supplied the state troops, but many times fur- nished the federal government with ammunition for the troops at the front. The supplies thus furnished on several occasions saved the Union armies from defeat. At the close of the war, upon a settlement with the government, it was found that the arsenal had not only paid its expenses but had a large surplus of money, which was turned over to the state treasury.
Among other camps established near the city during the war were Camp Carrington, which was considered the best arranged, and best managed military camp in the United States; Camp Noble, which under command of Col. W. W. Frybarger, was
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used for artillery purposes, the practice ground being between the Bluff road and the river bottom, and Camp Fremont used by the colored troops.
Governor Morton, early in 1861, became convinced of the necessity of some extraordinary effort to supply the troops with good winter clothing, and he devised a system which afterward proved the foundation of the great sanitary commission. He purchased through his agent at New York nearly thirty thousand overcoats. Some of these overcoats were purchased at a cost of $1.25 more than the regulation price, and United States Quartermaster Meigs refused to pay this extra price. Governor Morton at once announced that Indiana would bear the burden. Socks, shoes and blankets, together with underclothing of all kinds, were greatly needed, as well as mittens, sheets, pillows, bandages, dressing gowns and other things for hospital use. On the 10th of October, 1861, the governor issued an appeal to the women of Indiana. The response came very quickly, and many thousands of dollars worth of these supplies were con- tributed. Competent agents were appointed and sent to the best points to carry on this work of furnishing relief to our sor- diers, especially to the sick and wounded. The sanitary stores were sent to them for distribution. Surgeons and nurses were sent to every place where Indiana troops were to be found. Combined with the sanitary service agents were sent out to take care of the pay of the soldiers and bring it home to their fam- ilies without cost, to write letters for the soldiers, to see to the burial of the dead, and keep registers of all men in the hospitals and to assist returning soldiers to get transportation home. The headquarters of the commission was in Indianapolis, and during its existence, from February, 1862, to the close of the war, col- lected in cash $247,570.75, and in goods $359,000, making a total of sanitary contributions in the state of $606,570.75. This was the first sanitary work done by any state.
Indianapolis was the main depot and recruiting station for the state, and was the chief resting place of all troops passing
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to the front. Governor Morton, in his solicitude for the soldiers, early in the war determined to make some arrangements where- by the troops passing through the city, or coming into it, could be temporarily provided for without cost to them. During the first months of the war the sanitary commission had agents at the union depot to supply passing troops and to take care of the sick at hotels, but this was expensive and inconvenient, and a camp was established on the vacant ground south of the depot with hospital tents and other conveniences, and maintained until 1862, when the governor determined to establish a permanent home. The grove on the west side of West street, just north of the Vandalia railroad, was selected and temporary frame build- ings erected, which were enlarged from time to time until they could accommodate about two thousand with beds and furnish eight thousand with meals every day. From August, 1862, to June, 1865, the home furnished 3.777,791 meals. The bread was supplied by a bakery maintained by the quartermaster with such economy that the rations of flour, to which the men served in the home were entitled, sufficed for all they needed, and for thousands of loaves distributed among the poor. The saving of flour, after all bread supplies were completed, the sale of offal and a suttler's tax paid $19,642.19. The saving in the rations of other articles amounted to $71, 130.24. Thus the home was sustained in all its expenses almost wholly by the rations of the men provided for in it. On holidays the ladies of the city fur- nished festival dinners of their own preparation, and waited on the tables. A Ladies' Home, for the care of soldiers' wives and children, was opened in a building near the union depot, in December, 1863, and was maintained until the close of the war, taking care of an average of about one hundred a day.
The good people of Indianapolis did not stop at these ex- traordinary provisions for the comfort and care of the soldiers, but the families left behind by the soldiers were equally well cared for, the city itself on several occasions appropriating large sums for the purchase of fuel and other necessaries for soldiers'
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families. On one occasion a fair was held that netted $40,000 for this purpose. Other fairs were held at different times, but none of them realized so great an amount. The good people of the county outside of Indianapolis were not behind in their patriotic offerings, and it was no uncommon sight to see long processions of wagons loaded with fuel and food contributed by the farmers of Marion county. They frequently turned the oc- casion into a holiday, parading the streets behind a drum and a fife.
During the war the city was not at all times peaceful and quiet. The excitement at all times was very high, and on the receipt of news from the front of some great battle it became intense. At the beginning of the war there was no open divis- ion of sentiment, but as the war went on, and taxes increased, and the call for troops became more urgent, a strong opposition to the further continuance of the war grew up. The city was always full of soldiers, and they could bear with but little pa- tience words of opposition to the government, or of sympathy with the South. On a number of occasions it required the cool- est and most determined efforts upon the part of the authorities to prevent violence and bloodshed. On one occasion, especially in 1862, some of the speakers at a county convention indulged in some very bitter denunciations of the war, the government and the soldiers. There were many soldiers in the crowd and a riot followed, some of the speakers and those sympathizing with them barely escaping with their lives. At the October election of that year the opponents of the war were excluded from the polls by threats of violence. In 1864 while one of the regiments was here on furlough, an attempt was made to mob the Sentinel office, but it was prevented by Col. Conrad Baker, provost marshal.
On two or three different occasions rebel raids were made in- to the state, and on such occasions the excitement grew in in- tensity. This was especially the case in 1863 when Gen. John Morgan crossed the Ohio river with about three thousand men,
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and the news was flashed that his aim was to reach Indianapo- lis, and to overturn the state government and release the rebel prisoners at Camp Morton. Volunteers were called for, and the troops that were already in the city were hastened forward to intercept him. A horrible catastrophe accompanied this sud- den movement of the troops. A Michigan battery which had been stationed here was hastening one day from the artillery camp to the depot when the jolting caused a shell to explode in one of the caissons. This exploded all the contents of the caisson, blowing two of the men over the tops of the shade trees along the sidewalk, killing them instantly. A man and a boy who were on the street watching the movement of the battery were also killed. This was the first catastrophe of the kind that had ever occurred in the city.
Since then the city has been visited by three catastrophes, each of which for the time being spread a pall of gloom over the entire city. The first occurred during the state fair of 1869. Two saw-mills were running a race on the first day of October of that year, receiving their power from the boiler in power hall. The boiler exploded and killed and wounded nearly one hundred people. The disaster would have been far more terrible if it had not been for the fact that a great part of the crowd had left the vicinity only a few moments before to witness one of the races. A large amount of money was soon after subscribed, and a committee of prominent citizens appointed to distribute it. The second occurred on March 17, 1890. On the after- noon of that day a fire broke out in the great book house of Bowen & Merrill, and while the fire was fiercely raging the roof and floor fell in, carrying to death ten of the gallant firemen. Nineteen others were injured at the same time, two of whom afterwards died. The news of the terrible accident soon spread throughout the city and thousands of anxious citizens crowded to the vicinity. The work of rescue began at once, but was materially interfered with by the fire and falling walls. On the second day after the fire, while a score or more of men were en-
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gaged in hunting for the bodies, one of the walls toppled and fell, covering the bodies with an additional depth of debris. Fortunately those engaged in the work of rescue received timely warning and all escaped without danger. In a very few mo- ments, however, the news went abroad that they too had met their death, and it looked as if the whole city was rushing to the scene. The fire occurred on Monday, but it was not until Friday that the last body was removed. A relief fund for the benefit of the families of the killed and the wounded was imme- diately started, and soon reached the sum of about $70,000.
About midnight, on January 21, 1892, it was discovered that the Surgical Institute, which then occupied several old buildings on the corner of Illinois and Georgia streets, was on fire. It was filled with crippled men, women and children, the children largely predominating. When first discovered it was seen that Indianapolis was to have a night of horror. The buildings were soon wrapped in flames, and it was found imposi- ble to rescue the alarmed inmates. Nineteen perished in the flames, and a large number of others were more or less seriously injured. Even the fatal Bowen & Merrill fire of two years be- fore did not create such intense excitement.
Before the war ended, volunteering became so slow that it was necessary to resort to a draft to fill the ranks of the armies at the front. In several parts of the state the draft was resisted, and enrolling officers were assassinated, but nothing of that kind occurred in Indianapolis. In 1864 the city council appropriated $132,000 as bounty money for the city's quota of the draft, and on two other occasions appropriated $125,000 for a like pur- pose. When this money was about all paid out, and the quota was nearly full, it was discovered that by a blunder the war department had failed to give proper credits to the city, and the city's quota under all calls had already been more than filled, she having several hundred still to her credit.
While the city was rejoicing over the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee, the news came that President Lincoln had
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been assassinated. Never within the history of the city had such excitement existed as was occasioned by this news. In almost an instant the news was spread over the whole city, and in another instant the streets were filled with an excited throng. Tears coursed down the cheeks of strong men as they stood on the streets discussing this terrible event. Deep anger was at once aroused against all who had been known to be opposed to the war, and it required the most strenuous exertion of Governor Morton and other high officials to prevent a riot that would have destroyed the property and lives of the known Southern sympathizers. A meeting was called of the citizens to take some appropriate action, and among others Senator Hendricks was called upon to address the crowd. During his remarks he began a sentence the first words of which did not please the audience, and a rush was made for the platform while a thou- sand men uttered cries of vengeance. Governor Morton and others stilled the angry crowd, and Senator Hendricks com- pleted his sentence, showing that what he was saying was not offensive but on the other hand highly commendable. This in- cident is related simply to show how sensitive the people were in that time of excitement.
The city was dressed in mourning from one end to the other. The funeral cortege of the dead President was to pass through the city on its way to Springfield, and extensive arrangements were made to suitably receive it and pay due honor to this great statesman. The funeral train was expected to arrive here on Sunday morning April 30, 1865. Governor Morton, together with his staff, members of the legislature and the city council went to Richmond to meet the train and escort it to the city. Sunday morning came bringing with it a cold, drizzling rain, but before daylight thousands of people had congregated in and around the union depot to await the coming of the train. The immense crowd stood for hours talking in whispers. It seemed as if every one felt the awful solemnity of the occasion. At about seven o'clock the train slowly pulled into the station.
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The coffin was tenderly lifted from the car in which it had rested, and was slowly borne to the catafalque which had been constructed for the purpose of conveying the body through the streets and to the state-house where it was to lie in state. A procession followed in solemn silence except the funeral music discoursed by the band, and the low sobbings of the multitude who lined the streets. The whole city was elaborately decorated with funeral emblems.
The body was placed on a platform erected under the dome of the capitol, and the citizens for hours marched through the great hall of that building, and gazed upon the face of the man they had learned to love, and whose guiding wisdom they would miss in the days to come. All day long and far into the night the throng continued its slow, and solemn tread. The falling rain seemed to have no influence in keeping any one away from the solemn scene. One of the most touching incidents of this occasion was the visit of the Sunday-school children of the city to view the remains. Proper arrangements had been made for their visit, and several thousands of them marched through the state-house and poured out their tears as a loving tribute to the memory of the martyred president. At one time the procession of citizens desiring to see the remains reached from the state- house doors for many squares up Washington street, and thou- sands stood in line, in the pouring rain, for several hours, waiting for their turn to enter the portals of the state-house. While this vast throng of citizens was viewing the remains funeral music was alternated between a band on one side and a choir of voices upon the other. A guard of honor, composed of the leading citizens and of army officers who were in the city, watched over the body. A little after midnight the doors of the state-house were closed and the body was taken again to the funeral train. It was estimated that fully 50,000 strangers were in the city on that day and that more than 100,000 persons passed through the state-house.
This was the last great scene of the war in Indianapolis.
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The war soon ended and the troops came marching home. They were received into the city by Governor Morton and all honor paid them. It was not, however, for several months after the final surrender of the Confederate forces that the last of the troops arrived at home.
The close of the war found Indianapolis budding out into a real city. Its population had largely increased, and the impe- tus given to business put the city on a firmer foundation. The heavy taxes during the four years of war made necessary by the vast sums voted in aid of the soldiers and their families, and to encourage enlistments, had prevented anything like a sys- tematic improvement of the streets and sidewalks, and at that time Indianapolis was about as dirty a town as could be found on the continent. Some new business houses and some resi- dences had been built, and there was some little more pretentions to architectural effect than had been manifested in previous years. The influx of visitors, and the great number of soldiers that had been here at one time or another, had largely in- creased the volume of trade, and then, too, it had grown into a sort of a habit with many of the merchants in the smaller towns around Indianapolis to depend upon the merchants here for their supplies during the war, and that habit remained with them when peace came.
Up to the close of the war there had been no steps taken by the city to mark the growth of the city in any way, but in 1864 the council passed an ordinance requiring those proposing to build to take out permits, and since then there has been a record by which the changes could be noted. The war practically ended in May, 1865, but the doom of the Confederacy was cer- tain before then, and as soon as spring opened the work of building began. The record shows that during the year 1865, 1,62I houses were built, at the cost of $2,060,000. That year the city began to improve the streets and sidewalks, and nine miles of streets and eighteen miles of sidewalks were graded and graveled. The next year 1, 112 buildings were erected at a cost
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of $1,065,000. More of the streets and sidewalks were im- proved. In 1867 the street lights were largely extended, and the work of improvement continued. Since then the city has grown steadily, meeting with only one or two backsets.
In 1863 it became apparent that the existing cemetery for the disposal of the dead would very soon prove inadequate, and an organization of citizens was effected to purchase ground for a new cemetery. Mr. S. A. Fletcher, Sr., proposed to advance whatever money might be needed for such a purpose, and the grounds now known as "Crown Hill" were purchased. In 1864 the new cemetery was dedicated, Hon. Albert S. White deliv- ering an oration.
Among other necessities occasioned by the growth of the city and the evil effects of the war was some house or home for abandoned women, and in 1863 an effort was made to establish one, Mr. Fletcher giving the ground, but after part of the work of constructing the building had been completed it was aban- doned. In 1866 the ladies of the city formed an association to operate a Home for Friendless Women. They at first rented a house for their purposes, but not long afterward received gifts and help enough to erect a commodious building on Tennessee street, now Capitol avenue. In 1870 the building was partly destroyed by fire, but it has always been well managed and very successful.
Other charitable organizations have at different times been perfected, until now the poor and unfortunate of Indianapolis are well looked after and taken care of. In addition to what the city has done the state has erected, in connection with a female prison, a reformatory for girls, and so well has it been managed that it is ranked as the foremost institution of the kind in the United States.
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