USA > Indiana > Reunion of the 9th regiment Indiana vet. vol. infantry association, 1892-1904 > Part 25
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The President declared the next order of business was the selection of a place for our next reunion and Comrade H. O. Kremer on behalf of resident comrades and good citi-
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zens of the city presented the claims of Mishawaka. Com- rade Whitehall seconded the nomination and Mishawaka was chosen by acclamation.
The election of officers being in order Capt. Amasa John- son said he felt a serious mistake had been made at Hebron in the adoption of a resolution making Gen. Suman Presi- dent of this Association for life. lle felt that as long as General Suman was able to attend the meetings he would be selected president, but it was un-American, unwise and un- constitutional to elect even General Suman for life, when this Association had a Constitution adopted of Elkhart at the organization of the reunion assocaition, providing for the election of officers at each annual meeting. He yielded to no man in his respect for General Suman, but he was opposed on principle to bar the choice of the com- rades at each meeting as our constitution provides and he felt sure that had a protest been made at the time and the section relating to officers been read the resolution would not have been adopted, and he called upon the Pres- ident himself to rule on the question as to whether or not the President and all other officers were not required by the Constitution to be eleced at each annual meeting.
The President directed for his own information and of the members that the Secretary read the Constitution and by laws of the Association.
Whereupon the President said, gentlemen Capt. John- son is correct. You have certainly a clause in the Con- stitution requiring the President as well all other officers to be elected at each annual meeting and a way is provid- ed for amending the Constitution and no amendment has been made in the manner provided in the Constitution, hence the resolution passed at Hebron was contrary to the Constitution and I must hold that the President of this Association must be elected annually as your Constitution provides.
Capt. Johnson said, now let us stick to the law and give every man a chance to vote each year for our officers so long as they serve us faithfully we can re-elect them as of- ten as we please, even it should so happen that it was for the remainder of their life.
Comrades, I now move you that the Secretary cast the ballot of this Association for Gen. I. C. B. Suman for Pres- ident for the ensuing year and all who favor it please rise. The vote was unanimous and Gen. Suman was declared
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elected President. The following were then unanimously re-elected: Alex. L. Whitehall, Corresponding Secretary and Lt. John M. Helmick, Recording Secretary, Lt. John Ban- ta, Treasurer.
The following comrades were elected as Vice Presidents: Band, John W. Jackson: Co. A, A. S. MeCormick; Co. B, Geo. W. Blackman; Co. C, Sergt. A. Dils; Co. D. Jones Grant; Co. E, J. P. Baldwin; Co. F', Lt. Sam. Dustan; Co. G, Lt. B. R. Faris; Co. H, Dan Lynch, Co. I, John N. Holliday and Co. K, Sergt. Sam Landis. And the following were elected as executive committee: Gen. I. C. B. Suman, H. O. Kremer, Maj. J. D. Braden, Lieut. R. F. Drullinger and Capt. Amasa Johnson.
Samuel Swinehart, late Corporal of Co. C, said in part, Comrades, this is one of the happiest moments of my life. It is the realization of a hope I have long cherished, that I might again look into the faces of my old comrades of Ninth Indiana. Many dear old faces are gone some only absent from this reunion, while others we shall never more see in this life. You were young men when I parted from you and you are much older men now, though most of you hold your own surprisingly well.
For thirty years I have lived in the South right among the "Johnnies" we often met in battle and many of the boys in gray are now my best friends and they told me to tell you, old Yanks, to come and see them and you would be received with open arms, and comrades, I can assure you that the old fighting men of the South have solid respect for the fighting men of the North. The Negro question is still the bone of contention in the South and I don't know when it will be settled. I am connected with Hunts- ville, Ala., postoffice and I shall always be glad to meet any old soldiers of the 9th Regiment. My wife is a Southern woman, but I can assure you she has plenty of respect for the Ninth Indiana and if any of you old comrades should revisit the scenes of your soldier life you know you would have to come to Huntsville and if you do get there you must hunt me up for the latchstring of our house hangs on the out- side for any old comrade of the Ninth.
The Special Committee appointed to consider the charge against George Van Auken for publicly denouncing a com- rade in open meeting in ungentlemanly language made the following report:
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Hobart, Ind., Aug. 27, 1900.
Your committee appointed to investigate the charges against Comrade Van Auken of using in a public session of this Association unparliamentary and ungentlemanly language, towit: Against Capt. Madden, a worthy member of this Association, thereby doing a great wrong aganist a gallant soldier. ,
Your Committee would recommend, that Comrade Van Auken be expelled from this Association.
Signed by the Committee, W. H. RIFENBURG, Co E. CHARLES E. KETCHAM, Co. H. JONES GRANT, Co. D.
Capt. Amasa Johnson offered the following tribute to the Memory of General William Grose,
and moved its adoption and the same was unanimously adopted.
Resolved, That we express our sincere sorrow at the death of General Wm. Grose, our old Brigade Commander, who died since our last reunion. That we feel in his death a personal loss of one that we all admired for his true patri- otism and splendid soldierly qualities.
Resolved, That we desire to testify anew our admira- tion for his splendid abilities as our Brigade Commander and that we who were with him in the camp, on the march- es, skirmishes and great battles of the war of the Rebel- lion will ever remember him as always under all circum- stances and amid the greatest of hardships and dangers as a general, who was ever ready to do his full duty, and in his death we have lost a comrade, and an able Commander.
Hon. W. II. Rifenburg, moved the corresponding secre- tary send a suitably engrossed copy of said Resolution to the widow and family of General Grose, which motion pre- vailed.
Comrade W. H. Rifenburg presented the following amend- ment to Art. 3, of the Constitution of the Assocaition, to- wit: adding the words, "and the president shall have pow- er to appoint a chaplain to serve one year or until his suc- cessor is appointed.
By a vote of more than two-thirds of members present the amendment was adopted.
Capt. Johnson also offered the following resolution, which was by a rising vote unanimously adopted that is to say:
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Resolved, That the Ninth Indiana Veteran Asssociation tender to our comrades residing in Hobart and the citizens who have so generously provided for our comfort and splen- did entertainment at this our 14th Annual Reunion our sincere thanks, and that we assure them we will ever re- member with pleasure our pleasant reunion at Hobart, and our thanks are especially due the ladies.
On motion of Captain Johnson Gen. Suman and Maj. J. D. Braden were appointed a committee to report a resolu- tion complimenting General Lawton as a non-commis- sioned officer in the three months service of the 9th Indiana.
Gen. Suman named Washington Kelly as Chaplain for the ensuing year. After some discussion it was decided that in the Parade of National Encampment on tomorrow each man of the 9th, who takes part march with the Post, of his own choice.
On motion Association took a recess until hour of re- assembling for the Campfire.
CAMPFIRE.
Regardless of the extreme heat the Hall was well filled with the good people of Hobart and President Suman called the meeting to order and announced that the Execu- tive Committee had prepared a program for the evening's entertainment, which he felt sure would prove interest- ing to our friends of Hobart, and visiting veterans of the Ninth. A regiment he was proud to say he had the honor to command during the latter half of the great civil war, and as quite a large number of men enlisted from Lake Porter and La Porte counties he felt the people of Hobart knew of what manner of men the regiment was made up of and hence felt a very kindly interest in the regiment and on this occasion were present to give the boys a royal wel- come.
We will now listen to an invocation by our good friend: REV. J. L. GREENWAY.
The reverend gentleman in beautiful words thanked God that it was yet possible for the people to look upon veterans of the war for the union and in fitting speech and song cheer their hearts with the assurance that the great loyal heart . of the loyal young men and women of this generation main- tained an abiding love for the defenders of our country and
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its flag. May God bless this fragment of one of the noble regiments from Indiana and bless their comrades who from wounds or disease or for any reason could not be present with their brothers at this annual reunion.
Thank God for the liberty, peace and prospertiy these men and their comrades living and dead brought to us and to our country, and for the fight they made and the loyalty and heroism they displayed at a time when this Republic depended upon the manhood of its sons for its safety and perpetuity and the preservation of the God-given privileges free men enjoy.
May God deal gently ever with the men who showed the kingdoms of earth, the grandest example of patriotism and heroism the world ever witnessed, and bless the nation's de- fenders wherever under the flag of the free they are struggl- ing for the cause of liberty, justice and humanity.
Hon. Joseph H. Conroy, City Attorney of Hobart, was next introduced and delivered the address of welcome in these words:
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen :- Upon me has been devolved the pleasant task of welcoming to our town, the Comrades and friends of the Ninth Indiana Veteran Infantry Association assembled at their fourteenth annual re-union. That you are welcome, com- rades, goes without saying; and, on behalf of the authorities and citizenship of Hobart and vicinity, whose instrument I ain, we greet you, and extend to you every freedom of the City, and in unstinted measure, offer you the fullness of our hospitality.
We are mindful of the fact that under ordinary circumstances, uurestrained liberty, and free license leads invariably to anarchy, and to gross violations of social ethics. However, extraordinary occa- sions may justify the introduction of extra-ordinary rules, Acquain- tanceship may ripen into friendship; and friendship inevitably resolves itself into confidence. When that confidence has been in- gratiated into our hearts by a long train of experiences, consecrated by baptism in the blood of our sires, and revealed to us by a long series of trials and sacrifices, we would indeed, be ungrateful to you Comrades, and belittle ourselves, if on this occasion, our fellow citizens did not open the doorway of their heart's sacred shrine that you may enter and feel the central pulse beat of the great love they bear you as Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic.
The thirty-five years or more passed since your discharge from service has been rolled back as a curtain, and once more as men, young in spirit and memory, you grasp the hand of a Comrade who
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was with you at Philippi, Mission Ridge, or Nashville, and the com- radship of danger ripens into one of love.
With no conceited pride you tell each other that you are glad to have been a member of the first Indiana Regiment to leave for the front. You recount your experiences from the wild fastnesses of Western Virginia to Borderland of Texas, from '61 to '65 making the history of the " Ninth Indiana " replete with incident and adventure. The truest courage sees the ludicrous amidst the roar of battle. Amidst the greatest dangers, heroes see many comical situations. And now, living only in memory, you recount the many foraging ex- peditions ; you hear again the wrath of Nelson ; you or some of you, at least, liave cause, indeed, to be grateful for the many diplomatic intercessions of Suman. In your mind's eye, you again contrast the ragged and dirty Ninth with the spick-span petted Ohio regiment, and with that picture in your mind, you recall the many cursings and malignings you received from Nelson. You recall the beautiful morning of April 6, 1862, succeeding a night of rain and storm, at Shiloh, with the Ninth Indiana stationed at a post on the front line of battle. Twice had the enemy been repulsed. Shrapnel slot, winged messengers of deatlı, plowed through your ranks, and at eight o'clock in the morning, I have been informed, a large propor- tion of Gen. Suman's old Company had either been killed, wounded, or disabled. A portion of the Brigade fell back. The Ninth Indiana stood firm, with no thought of retreating. The hated Gen. Nelson came riding by. He saw the shattered ranks. Gen. Suman will tell you lie saw the desperate expressions on their countenances." Nelson was touched. The dirty and ragged Ninth was made up of heroes, and with tears trickling down his cheeks, he said: "Ah! Volunteers are the men to fight after all !" "Believe ine, my brave Boys, I bear you no ill will."
"Three Cheers for General Nelson," passed along the line. The old General replied. "I shall give the Ninth Indiana as fine colors as any regiment ever had. "I do this in order that your people at home may know of my good feeling for you and that history may record this affair." And the Ninth Indiana received the banner.
We welcome you comrades to again tell your stories, and renew your friendships, and as children we worship at your feet and drink the nectar of true inspiration from your glorious deeds.
On April 25, 1861, the Ninth Indiana was mustered into service from some of the first volunteers of the Civil War. In fact the first man killed in battle by the enemy was William T. Girard, a private of the Ninth Indiana, on July 7, 1861. You had in your ranks the hot blood of patriotism, the budding genius, of future generations. One great man comes to my mind who typifies the "make-up" of the Ninth Indiana, and
"The emphasis of (his) death makes manifest"
"The eloquence of action in our flesh."
He was a man whose determination and personal worth inade him a Major General of Volunteers, and whose sublime courage and patriotism marked him a hero -Gen. Henry W. Lawton. He fought for integrity of the Union ; he fought for the down-trodden of foreign climes; and, at last, the bullet of a Filipino pierced his manly breast and the Filipinos lost one of their best friends, and the greatest soldier of his day passed to his reward and a great nation still mourns. He will ever be hailed by all patriotic American citizens as the true- est type of American manhood and American soldiery.
On Indiana soil is to be reared a monument to Lawton's memory and "we trust that it will be prosecuted, and that springing from a broad foundation, rising high in massive solidity and unadorned granduer, it may remain as long as heaven permits the works of men to last, --- a fit emblem, both of the events (and the man) in memory of which it is raised, and the gratitude of those who reared it."
Is it any wonder then, my friends, that the Ninth Indiana was one of the first 300 fighting regiments of the Civil War? With such men as Lawton in the ranks at its first organization, is it any wonder that the Ninth Indiana was chosen at the close of the war to defend the Texan Boundary to ward of the feared encroachment of the French? Is it any wonder that after a perusal of your history, we .should not vie one with the other in tendering you, a remnant of that loyal regiment, the homage which is your due and say that the inspi- ration of your presence lends strength to our conviction that Ameri- can Manhood, American patiotism, American loyalty, and American principles are not dead ?
I recall reading some time ago as an incident cencerning Abra- ham Lincoln. In 1853, the President and Secretary Chase paid a visit to the Findlay Hospital. On one of the cots was a young Ver- mont boy, sixteen years of age who had been mortally wounded. The Pressident passed from cot to coi speaking a kind word to eacl soldier boy. To the young Vermont soldier the President said. "My boy, what can I do for you?" as he took his fevered haud. "Won't you write to mother?" "That I will," said the President, and calling for paper and pencil wrote three full pages as dictated by the soldier; The young soldier told his mother of his mortal wound ; told of his great love he bore his mother ; He told her of Lincoln's presence, and of the duties each owed his Country; that while love for her was great, yet fate had settled on him and chosen him as a martyr. The President folded the letter and dispatched a special orderly, and with quivering lips kuelt down and kissed the brave boy. He rose to go, and the boy looked beseechingly at the President. "What is it my boy? "Mr. President, won't you stay until its over?" Without a
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word the President sat down by the side of the boy and chafed his hands and parched lips, and while the boy in his dying deliriumi was now chasing the enemy over some contested battle ground ; Now coasting down some hill near his Vermont home with merry glee ; then waking, opening his eye to meet those of Lincoln ; then dash- ing off in delirious sleep again. - The President sat for two long hours silently weeping. Every one in the hospital was touched. The eino- tion of the great Lincoln seemed to move the hearts of the most hardened. The end came and with tears still streaming down his cheeks, the President folded the wasted hands of the dead young hero, and with all standing at attention with bowed heads Lincoln passed on. Is it much to marvel at why the Boys in Blue loved Abra- hamn Lincoln ?
So it is with you, Comrades. You dared to stand for the preser- vation of this Union when opposing forces were sapping away its very life. You dared to go forth in strength of your youth and young manhood to do your duty, and that lesson, unexcelled, which you have taught shall ever be to us a beacon light to lead us into the har- binger of right being and right doing. And here and now in your presence and in the presence of each other, and under the folds of this grand old flag whose honor you so valorously defended, let us of the later generations consecrate ourselves to the works of our fathers, and as has been so nobly said.
"Let our object be, Our Country, Our whole Country, and noth- ing but Our Country, and by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of wisdom, and peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze wit admiration forever."
Is it much to marvel at why we graciously welcome you, Com- rades, and revere the memories of your valorous deeds ?
This occasion does not call for a recital of the causes that im- pelled you Veterans to quit the works and arts of peace and go forth in defense of the Union, and in deadly conflict with your brothers. Time has hallowed those days, and experience has crystalized the thought that the Constitution is not a compact between sovereign States, but that it is an instrument guaranteeing American Liberty and American Union. The 210,497 Indiana Volanteers of the Civil War shall not be forgotten. The memory of the 24,416 Indiana Vol- unteers who gave up their lives to unify and strengthen this nation shall not have died in vain. We, of the "Now" have enobling exam- ples to teach us the duties we owe our state and to make us worthier of the work "you passed ou to us." May we not be recreant to that trust !
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Southern genius has now coupled with Northern thrift; South- ern chivalry has joined with Northern honor; the interest of the North is now the enthusiasin of the South. To day we witness the unexampled precedent of a Veteran of the Northern Army, as chief Magistrate of this Nation, installing an ex-confederate as commander of one of the great departments of our regular army. But the chival- rous spirit of the South and its regenerated faith iu American Union is embodied in that brave old man and hero, Gen. Joseph Wheeler.
We know no North, we know no South. In one great Union are we now cemented, cemented by the laws of progress, joined heart to heart and hand to hand by all the impulses of brave souls in the rescue of the oppressed whose liberty has been trampled upon through three hundred years of tyranny.
And to you, Comrades, is due the honor and the credit, and for all that you have done, we desire to thank you, and we welcome you in our midst so that we may drink heartily from the deep wells of patriotism which your presence lends.
COMRADE B. A. DUNN,
of Company C, responded on behalf of the regiment, saying in part:
My dear old comrades, I only wish that I possessed the ability to pour ont my thoughts in beautiful and fitting lan- guage to aptly respond for you to this eloquent and touching welcome you have just heard fall from the lips of our young friend. On your behalf I can only in my poor way thank him earnestly and sincerely for his burning words of patri- otism, God bless our young men. Today, as in those dark days of 1861 to 1865 they are the nation's hope and liberty's bulwark. They have, indeed, drank deeply at the well of patriotism and as sons of patriot fathers and loyal moth- ers they will ever prove fearless defenders of the right and our dear old flag. This young man, speaks not only for his townspeople but for his generation, has convinced us that we of the 9th Indiana and other comrades who wore the army blue and fought in other noble regiments by our sides in the great struggle for the preservation of our union of the states have a warm place in the hearts of the people. And as ex-soldiers we do not forget what the Grand Army of the Union-the loyal men, women and even chil- dren were doing while we were battling with the enemy out on the firing-line, now that we have wives and children of our own we begin to realize something of the anguish that wrung the heart of many a loving mother and wife in those awful
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days of the war. Boys, the leave-taking of our loved ones and the long days, weeks and months of anxious waiting and suffering in heroic silence is only known to them and God. From the very bottom of our hearts we can only say: God bless the patriot fathers and mothers of this country in the dark and bloddy days of 61 to 65.
My comrades of the 9th Indiana I can truly say my heart goes out in respect and love for you and say, may God bless you one and all, officers and men alike. I know sometimes we fellows who trudged along in the mud carry- ing our rifles on our shoulders and slim rations in our haver- sacks often thought the officers were not using us right and did not treat us as well as they might have done, but time has not only changed our hair, but has changed our ideas as well and we conclude the officers were pretty good fel- lows and probably did as well for us in the main as they could and shared many of the privations and dangers in com- mon with us and so we have forgiven them long ago for being officers as officers were a sort of a military necessity.
Many times we may have thought this or that officer was a little too free in asserting his authority over volunteers, who were every whit as good as he and too severe on us, simply because he was over us, but time and circumstances has mellowed us and so we feel they were not such bad fel- lows after all, and so we feel ready to forgive them for overstrictness and harshness at times, if they will overlook our stubbornness and disposition to stand on our rights and make trouble when there was no real occasion for it, if we had all used reason and forbearance. We are so proud of what we done as soldiers, fighting under Old Glory and have lived to see the grand results of the war and to receive from a grateful people so many handsome compliments and such hearty receptions as we meet in our re-unions, that we are in a forgiving mood and, like the fellow who got religion and sent for his old enemy, publicly forgave him, saying, he felt as if he could forgive a dog and even him.
The comrade spoke touchingly of the gallant conduct of Ninth at Shiloh and the great loss it sustained and of the vivid impressions made on his boyish mind. Shiloh being his first battle and paid a glowing compliment to Gen. Nel- son insisting that Nelson was the real hero of that battle, as he urged Buell to make a rapid march to Grant's relief and was the first to cross the river and hurl his splen- did division between Grant's weakened army and the Con-
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federates. Nelson publicly complimented the Ninth for its be- havior at Shiloh and the tell tale of list of dead and wound- ed reported by the regiment was a silent but most convinc- ing proof of its gallantry at Shiloh. In the second day's bat- tle at Stone River, Gen. Hazen's Brigade held the Round Grove, and the Ninth Indiana fighting on the ground where the Hazen Brigade monument stands wrought terrible de- struction in the enemy's ranks and withstood many des- perate attempts to dislodge it from its position.
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