USA > Indiana > Reunion of the 9th regiment Indiana vet. vol. infantry association, 1892-1904 > Part 26
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At Chicamanga the Ninth stands out as prominently as any regiment that fought in that bloody battle and passed into history as the last regiment to fire a volley into the ene- my at the close of the awful conflict.
Comrades, it is pleasant for us to be not. only able to partake of the whole-hearted hosiptality of our friends and admirers in Hobart and vicinity, but to again look into each others' eyes and recall the days of the war. The roll of our dead grows longer each year and we must all ere many more years have whitened our head and furrowed our cheeks pass over to the great majority, and join our old comrades on the shores of Eternity. Only those of us who lived through the war have grown old the gallant boys who fell at our sides appear to us in our minds' eye just as we last saw them and knew them, big hearted, jolly, rollicking boys full of fun in camp and on the march and as full of fight when the battle came. God bless those brave boys who so gallantly gave up sweet life for the old flag, home and country, again, good people of Hobart, I thank you for myself and comrades for your cordial welcome, and Col. Suman, I want to thank you, sir, for the favor of call- ing upon me, a private soldier in the old Ninth, to respond to this eloquent welcome to our regiment. May the flag we love so dearly never be pulled down by hand of either a domestic or foreign foe, I thank you.
Miss Florence Swinney, of Kankakee, Ill., the accom- plished daughter of Comrade L. Swinney of Com- pany K, of the Ninth, favored us with a beautiful and ap- propriate solo and was warmly applauded for her effort.
Comrade Samuel Swinchart, late of Company C, residing at Huntsville, Ala., on being invited by Gen. Suman to speak responded briefly by thanking the committee for designat- ing him to say a few words said, Comrades, I seem to see now why the good Lord has spared my life so long, it was it seems to me, that I might in this last year of 1900 stand
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once more with my old comrades of the Ninth. I am very proud that I can say I served four years and two months in the ranks of the Ninth Indiana and I tried to do my duty and am like the rest of you very proud of the record of my regiment. For over 30 years I have lived among the Johnnies; the captive of a woman of the Southland. The people of my section have always treated me well and among my very best friends are men who carried a musket in the Confederate army. Many of you no doubt remember Huntsville and Northern Alabama very well. We have a beautiful country in the Tennessee Valley and some of you boys used to think we had some beautiful women and you were right we have. I am glad to meet you and have enjoyed with my old comrades not only the cordial recep- tion here by the citizens and the to me exceedingly pleasant renewal of old acquaintanceship I came North to meet my friends and every hour is a pleasure to me and I hope to have the pleasure at some future time of meeting in my Southern home some of my old comrades of the Ninth.
The G. W. Scholler Male Quartette of Hobart composed of W. M. Foster, F. H. Werner, A. D. Buchanan and William Pyatt with G. W. Sholler as director, rendered "Brave Boys in Blue" in such an acceptable manner as to compel them to respond to an encore with a jolly melody that greatly pleased the audience.
Comrade S. L. Swinney was next called upon said, that Wm. T. Girard of Company G, of the Ninth Indiana, was not only the first Indiana soldier from the State of Indiana to fall as a martyr to Liberty and Union, but was also the first volunteer soldier of the Union to fall, after all my . service in the Ninth Indiana it was just my luck to lose my leg since the war, while acting as railroad conductor. The comrade then narrated an instance in his life to show young men that pluck and devotion to duty is almost always sure to win. The loss of his leg caused him to lose his position as a conductor and he became city clerk at Springfield, hav- ing a firm friend in Gen. J. M. Palmer, his old division commander and though opposed in politics Gen. Palmer continued loyal to him as a friend. As city clerk he enjoyed a salary of $2,500 a year, but failing, with his party to se- cure a re-election he was thrown on his own resources and applied at railroad headquarters for a position and was giv- en charge of a target at $1 a day and his political and per- sonal friends remonstrated with him, but at last through
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the intercession of Chas. Ridgeley the prominent Spring- field banker and capitalist, who admired his grit, secured him a position again as conductor and eventually he be- came roadmaster with good pay and was in comfortable cir- cumstances today simply as he believed by insisting that any labor was honorable and not degrading and faithfulness to an employer would in the end bring recogition and fur- ther increase in wages and he hoped every young man would learn what many of the comrades in the army learned that pluck and devotion to duty was a sure winner in the battle for life and bread. He was proud he served with the splendid young men of the Ninth Indiana and glad to know so many of them had proved to be the very best of citizens in their own community.
Major J. D. Braden was next called for, but was reported as having left the hall, which fact moved Gen. Suman to say "now that is just like Major Braden he stands his ground first rate when there is danger and a fight ahead, but when it's a speech that is ahead he gets scary and quietly retires. At Stone River when I had to leave you boys to hunt a surgeon saw Jim Braden leaving the field, but he wasn't being carried out of action that time and I feel pretty sure he was not carried out of this hall, but he fails to re- port for duty, and comrades I will have to call on our little secretary he can both write and talk for the old Ninth."
COMRADE ALEX. L. WHITEHALL.
Ladies and gentlemen: The secretary protested that he hadn't time to talk, but the comrades insisted and he talked and what he said we have no record of
COMRADE A. S. McCORMICK.
On being called for said I understand I am expected to tell you people something about Andersonville prison pen. Well, I was in that den of horrors 15 months. I was a good big husky young man when I was captured at Chicamauga and when I came out I weighed 75 pounds, as you look on me now I suppose it is hard for you to credit this; neverthe- less it is true I have expanded since I got back to God's country.
Comrade McCormick then gave a description of the stockade and the guards a cannon planted to sweep it with Canister ote., and said, imagine 36,000 men crowded into
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this horrible den and remember that 15,000 men died of starvation and abuse within those walls and you can have some idea of the deadly character of the place and will not wonder that thousands of men came from there mere living skeletons and when they did recover flesh and apparent health never regained the vitality they lost in that den of death and torture. The government pays me $8 a month for what I endured and suffered and for loss of health while I was in Andersonville.
No place on earth was a grander exhibition of Amer- ican manhood and undying loyalty to the government and flag. I am proud of my comrades from 61 to 65, and don't think their courage and loyalty was ever excelled by any soldiers since the world began and while we are proud of our soldiers in the war with Spain and in the last few weeks in China we remember that the men who have led our sons to victory are graduates of the great civil war. Lawton and Liseum who died with faces to the foe were comrades of ours in the civil war, and Gen. Chaffee who led in the as- sault and capture of Pekin is an old comrade. No soldiers on earth ever fought better than the American soldier and I believe we shall come out of China at the head of the Powers, for I believe American pluck and American diplom- aey the best in the civilized world.
I hope, comrades, that as long as God lets me live I may be able to meet you in these reunions.
Again the quartette sang a most appropriate selection and won the hearty plaudits of the old vets and the whole com- pany.
Gen. Suman said I am now about to call on our old quar- termaster. If you boys were hungry you were always anxious to have Kelley show up because you knew if there was anything to eat Kelley would find it and bring it to you, and if you were fighting you looked mighty anxiously for Kelley to come up with the ammunition and now I want our old quartermaster honor my requisition and come up with a talk for the boys.
COMRADE KELLEY
declined to mount the rostrum, but speaking from his place among a group of comrades said: I am proud that of the Ninth regiment I am proud that I was one of its members, and can say that I know the regiment and what it went through and it was always at the front and had no soft snaps
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as some more favored regiments had and knowing the character of our men I think the active dangerous and hard service they saw on the march and in frequent skirmishing and the hard battles they took an active part in was more to their liking than garrison duty could have been, while not reckless the boys were adventurously and intensely in earn- est and wanted to end the war and get home.
Our sons are showing splendid soldiership in the last two wars and I think it is because the blood of their fath- ers is in them and that we can safely trust our young men to guard this Republic from danger and our flag from in- sult. They have been schooled in patriotism and will act their part grandly as the defenders of Old Glory and the flag consecrated by the blood of the fathers will not be hauled down by any foe while the sons, have life and strength to strike down an enemy.
When we put off the blue of the union we hoped for peace and the preservation of our country as one and indivis- ible, but we did not dream the results of the war would be so far reaching and that the stupendous wave of progress and prosperity would follow in the peace brought about by the splendid fight of our comrades, but so it did and the old soldier can die happy, feeling brave men are on guard and our government is established on a firm basis, and that peace and prosperity will bless our America. Com- rades I hold dear to my heart each and every one of you of the old regiment and I hope I have no enemy among the men who served with the Ninth, I thank you for your ex- pressions of respect for and confidence in me as your com- rade.
The President said, now I will call on our neighbor and friend, who went out in the ranks of Company E and done his duty handsomely until disabled by the enemy and then came home and has in spite of his crippled condition been one of the most active citizens in the northern .end of Lake county. Comrade Rifenburg come to the front. Rifen- burg who had been the soul of the reunion working "like an "harvest hand" in receiving the delegations and helping the ladies in the preparation for meals and in every way doing yeoman work to make things move off in time and successfully had been enjoying the songs and speeches di- vested of his thin coat and sitting in the back part of the hall as near to a window as he could get was trying to rest and keep coo: when the call to make a speech saluted his
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ears. Struggling with his good left arm and the stump of his right to crawl into his coat. Gen. Suman says, Come on without the coat, William, I saw you doing some pretty good work on a day as hot as this once at Laurel Hill in West Virginia.
HON. WM. H. RIFENBURG
said in part, Our old comrades, when they get together in a re-union think they are boys again and they talk so jolly and seem so gay I am sometimes afraid our young folks will conclude after all the war for the Union was a great big picnic and these old vets just tramped around over the Southern confederacy, and did just a little fighting and had a whole lot of fun and a great big time, but it wasn't that way they run up against some of the worst people to fight you ever saw whole lot of fellows like Joe Wheeler, Forrest, Lee and other fellows, gritty Americans just like our folks, and they didn't do a thing but shoot right at us and spoiled the pienie idea pretty badly. I haven't time to tell you of the hard fighting and the suffering of the Ninth only one good regiment out of hundreds of regiments went through in the four years of service. Some of us got back as you see, but some of the bravest and best boys of the regiment we left down there in Dixie, victims of shot and shell and dis- case and starvation in the prison pens, and yet in the face of greatest danger these old veterans had their jokes and their jolly moods seeming to think it was better to face death laughing than crying and just the same they were pretty ugly fellows to meet on the skirmish line or in open battle.
If I could draw as fine a word picture as some men can I would show them as fine a panoramic view of the grand- army the sun of heaven ever looked down upon-the Grand Review at Washington as the army of the Union tramped past the reviewing officers at the Capitol steps, all eyes were strained to see Sherman's army, the men of the West who had marched from Atlanta to the Sea then up through the Carolinas and Virginia to Washington, 2,000 miles they had tramped to swing into line and pass in review before the President and his cabinet, and the diplomats of the civ- ilized world, at 9 o'clock the signal gun boomed and Sher- man's army moved down past the Capital portico, they proudly marched with that sturdy springy-stride that had carried them triumphantly through the heart of the Confed-
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eracy, at their head rode Sherman and Logan with his 15th corps, grand leaders superb soldiers, magnificent represent- atives of the great loyal West. Gen. Grant after this army, which it took $ 1-2 hour- to pass the reviewing stand turned to an English officer and said: Men of England, what think you of Sherman's army? and quick came the frank answer: The finest body of men ever marshalled in arms, sir! and so it was and of such was the armies of the Union and mind you the fallen foe were their brothers and men of magni- ficent manhood, fighting for a lost cause.
We had men those days, north as well as south, who really sought to assail the government and revile our brave sol- diers and we have them today, but thank God this nation is in the main a patriotic people. I think it was the brave Com- inodore Decatur who once said I hope my country will al- ways be right in war, but right or wrong I am for my coun- try, and this sentiment should inspire us all. Let us be for our country first, last and all the time.
LIEUT. ALFRED ALLEN
of Kansas, late of Co. D, was called and said, Comrades, I am not accustomed to speaking and so I won't be long in talking to you. I am glad I served in the Ninth Indiana, I am proud of my old state, but for many years I have been in Kansas and I am proud of Kansas. I think we are just now justly proud of Col. Funston and our 20th Kansas for what he and his regiment did in upholding our flag in the Philippines. Our state is now prosperous and we think holds a proud place in our great Union of States and while I am proud I was a soldier in the old Ninth from this good old Hoosier state I am also proud that I am today a Kan- san. At Shiloh our regiment sent out two companies as skir- mishers very early in the morning before day light of the second day's fighting and as it has been said, many of them were killed or wounded, I think they did the miost ef- fective work I ever saw done by skirmishers in all my experi- ence and I think that skirmish line was what first drew Gen. Nelson's attention to our regiment and that with the hard figliting done that day by our regiment made us the favor- ites of General Nelson. Comrades, I am glad to see your faces after years of absence I have already met many of you and I hope to shake every man's hand before we part.
Gen. Suman said: I believe the committee expect me also to make a little talk and I have felt tonight just as I used
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to down South, I felt quite willing to let my brave boys of the old Ninth go ahead and I would follow them. I al- ways felt pretty safe when I was in the rear of the old Ninth. I have always felt very proud that I served in the Ninth both in the three months and the three year and veteran service of the regiment and that I came out of the service as colonel of such regiment as the Ninth proved itself to be.
We hear a good deal nowadays about expansion and I sup- pose I might be called a sort of an original expansionist my- self, for when only a small lad I left the South and slavery environments to expand myself in the freer atmosphere of the North and as a boy volunteer in the old Second Dragoons I went to Mexico in 1846 and helped to expand this great Republic and have never felt very guilty that I was one of the soldiers in that war that secured us a good big slice of territory that we have done a good deal better by than it was ever possible for the Mexicans to do, and then again as you boys of the Ninth know who were in the old 3d brigade, which I then had the honor to command, we went down io the border lands of Mexico in 65 with Phil Sheridan to use our old fighting 4th Corps in a little more expanding if it became necessary.
The General then referred in complimentary terms to Gen. Lawton as a sergeant in the Ninth in the three months campaign and how at Bealington as a young lieutenant he felt called upon to take a rifle and try to climb up the mountain and pick off a certain rebel sharpshooter that was with a long range rifle, picking off men and artillery horses and how after he got into a serap with the fellow and succeeded in stirring up the Confederate's friends young Lawton quick to see that he (Suman) was getting in a mighty close place made a dash with a squad of comrades to rescue him and punish the sharpshooter and his backers and thus quite a little skirmish between the pickets resulted, and on that day Lawton made himself respected, loved by the man - he helped get back to our lines in safety.
Later as a brother officer much of the time serving near Lawton and for the latter part of the service in the same brigade on the Atlanta campaign and until both of our regi- ments were mustered out I saw enough of young Lawton to make me sure he was a born fighter and bound sooner or later to make his mark in some way as a man of great courage, readiness for any emergency and of excellent judg- ment.
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CAPT. AMASA JOHNSON
said he was glad to be called upon, as he feared some things Gen. Suman had said might create a misconception as to the character of the Colonel who commanded the Ninth In- diana for more than the last half of its service. Col. Su- man tells you he was glad he had a place in the rear of the regiment. Now I want to tell you Col. Suman was never in the rear of the Ninth Indiana when the battle was on he was right up, in line or ahead of them and the boys will bear me out in this. The fact that he stayed right at his post with the regiment after he had been se- verely wounded until he was again dangerously wounded there at Stone River completely refutes the idea that he stayed in the rear. The men of the Ninth Indiana know their Colonel was a brave man and being brave he made his regiment brave. We know much depended on having a cool and brave man to lead and plan for us in battle and I want you young people not to entertain for a moment the idea that Gen. Suman lacked any of the bravery which he so freely credits his men with having. I saw him and so did many of my comrades carried off the field at Stone River when brave men were falling all around us and a good many more brave men were dying out in front of us, so I saw Capt. Madden after he was shot through the body carried down Allegheny Mountain and likewise you and I comrades saw our brave but modest Major Braden carried off the field at Stone River, when there seemed mighty little likelihood of his ever living to attend a re-union of his regiment and dodging us when we call on him to make us a little speech. I tell you that the men were brave and so were their officers and honors were even in that respect, the Ninth Indiana done its full duty on every occasion and impartial history has so recorded and as brave brigade divi- sion corps and army commanders as we ever had have men- tioned the regiment honorably in their official reports and you, good people of Hobart, in your splendid reception to this fragment of a regiment from your state are justified in showing your high respect for them.
COMRADE A. H. GLOVER,
of Cleveland, Ohio, late of Company H, spoke upon the conduct of the Ninth at Shiloh detailing at some length his recollection of the movements of the regiment during
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the day and particularly of the extreme hard fighting done by it at the Peach orchard and felt sure that if the Ninth had weakened or broken at this point it would have been bad for our army, as the Confederates seemed to concentrate their attack at that point. He recalled the words of com- mendation from General Nelson to the Ninth on the fields at Shiloh.
The Quartette sang in conclusion "Marching Thro' Geor- gia," with the audience joining in the chorus. After which the campfire was declared closed.
The Quartette did themselves proud and are certainly a credit to Hobart, as they are splendid singers, well in ac- cord and are capable of bringing out all the music there is in a composition.
We cannot forbear saying a few words in praise of the Hobart-or as it is usually called Canada-Drum Corps. The inspiring strains of the fife and drum somehow always seem to straighten out the rheumatic kinks in an old vet- erans legs and with head erect he steps off with the old time cadenced stride to the war tunes of the ever favorite "Old Sheepskin Band." Each new arrival was greeted with the old familiar 'airs and marched to the Post Headquarters in Odd Fellows' Hall. In the evening the Hobart Cornet Band, discoursed some fine music and altogether in the mat- ter of excellent music the entertainment was a most pro- nounced success and as to the dinner and supper spread by the tireless women and girls the best evidence that it was fully appreciated was shown by the hearty manner in which the guests partook of the bountiful spread.
All in all the reunion at Hobart though only for a day will be treasured as one of the green spots in the memory of those whose fortune it was to enjoy the pleasant occasion.
PRESENT AT REGIMENTAL REUNION.
(The State is Indiana where P. O. only is given.)
Field and Staff -- Col. I. C. B. Suman, Valparaiso. Major-James D. Braden, Elkhart.
Quartermaster-W. Kelley, Plymouth.
Band-Dr. O. S. Wood, Valparaiso, and John W. Jackson, Delphi.
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Company A-Capt. Thomas Madden, Indianapolis, Capt. George R Marshall, Logansport, A. S. McCormick, La Fay- ette.
Company B-Chas. Ketcham, Lowell; Silas Stephenson, Montour, Iowa.
Company C-Samuel J. Morris, Hutchinson, Kas., Byron A. Dunn, Waukegan, Ill .; Samuel Swinchart, Huntsville, Ala .; Elias Werts, Des Moines, Iowa; A. E. Salisbury, Con- stantine, Mich .; Wm. Speese and daughter, Mottville, Mich .; A. J. Dills, P. Able, A. G. Manning, H. L. Shupert, all of Elkhart; Geo. P. Bellows Bristol and H. D. Nichols, wife and son, Lynn.
Company D-Capt. Amasa Johnson, Plymouth; Lieut. Alfred Allen, Girard, Kas .; Geo. Curtis, South Chicago, Ill .; Everett Cawood, Idaville; Moses E. Richards, Argos; Frank M. Dunbar, Elkhart; C. L. Andrews, Plymouth, and Jones Grant and wife, Bourbon.
Company E-George M. Kingsbury, Norton, Kas .; Zeph Walker, Chestnut, Ill .; Wm. IT. Rifenburg, wife and daught- er, A. R. Castle and wife and Swan A. Charleston of Ho- bart, J. P. Baldwin and James McKnight, Leroy, Henry Burgess and Thomas J. Robinson of Hebron, and John Stewart, Palmer.
Company F-Lieut. Samuel Dustan, wife and son, Roy, Wheeling, W. Va .; Alex. L. Whitehall, Chicago, Ill .; John W. McLean, Arcola, Ill .; George Van Auken, Columbus Junction, Iowa: Joseph W. Fields. Bethany, Mo ;. John H. Nafus, Erie, Kas .; Jackson Barnes, wife and daughter, Spring Grove, Mich., and Louis Laddauer, Valparaiso.
Company G-Lorenzo Dow, Loudonville, Ohio.
Company II-James K. Powers, Des Moines, Ia .; Alex. H. Glover and wife, Cleveland, Ohio; Henry Peterson, La Belle, Mo .; John Matthews and wife and D. M. Van Loon, Hobart; Dan Lynch, Lowell; Jesse Leggett and wife, Heh- ron ;; W. R. Harris, McCool; Ezra Ferguson and wife, Deep River; Joseph W. Zea and John Ritz, Valparaiso.
Company I --- Melville J. Mosher, Pillsbury, Minn .: H. O. Kremer, John N. Holliday. W. F. Avery and William Bon- nev, all of Mishawaka.
Company K-Lieut. John Banta, wife and Grace, Lo- gansport; Samuel L. Swinney and daughter, Florence, Kan- kakee, Ill .; Jacob Miller, Braidwood, Ill .: Samuel Landis, Carroll, William Banta and wife and Alpheus Porter, Lo- gansport.
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