Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 22

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086

USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 22

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ONE HUNDRED AND TENTH OHIO INFANTRY.

battles and campaigns. The regiment was in the battles at Winchester, and in New York City to put down riots and to enforce the draft, and in the battle of Orange Grove, Virginia (1863) ; and it was in the Wilderness campaign under Meade and Grant; in the battle of Monocacy, and under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley (1864), and it was en- gaged in the sieges of Richmond and Petersburg; in the last assaults at the latter place, and it fought and partici- pated in the last general field battle (Sailor's Creek) and campaign of the war, resulting in the surrender of Lee at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. Captain William A. Hathaway, of this county, was killed and buried at Monocacy. Captain Thomas J. Weakley (now of Dayton) was of Company I.

This (a six-months regiment) was com- manded by Colonel Howard D. John, of this county. Its Company C was com- manded by Captain Richard Montjoy. William J. Irwin and Charles Anthony were Lieutenants in that company ; Charles H. Pierce was its orderly ser- geant. These and others of that company are well known as of our best citizens. This regiment performed valuable and hard service, and did fighting, chiefly (1863) at and about Cumberland Gap, Kentucky.

This regiment (Colonel J. Warren Keifer) had two companies (I and C) un- ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SIXTH OHIO IN- der Captains Luther Brown and Nathan S.' FANTRY. Smith enlisted from Clark County. They saw much service in the Virginias and Two companies (D and I) of this one hundred day regiment were enlisted and in Maryland, and participated in many

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officered from Clark County about May 2, 1864, and Thomas W. Bown was its Ma- jor. Captain Alfred Miller, First Lieu- tenant Thomas E. Stewart and Second Lieutenant Harvey H. Tuttle were the officers of Company D, and Captain Al- fred Bown, First Lieutenant Valentine Newman and Second Lieutenant Elijah G. Coffin were the officers of Company I. The officers and men of these companies were mostly from South Charleston and vicinity, and their service was mainly at Fayetteville, West Virginia.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SECOND OHIO IN- FANTRY.

In this regiment were a part of the one hundred days men from Clark County, who patriotically responded (May, 1864) to an emergency call for troops. Many of our citizens went to the field under this call. This regiment saw hard service and did good campaigning in Virginia and West Virginia. It was in the memorable Hunter raid, up the Shenandoah Valley in June, 1864. Captains Asa S. Bushnell and Charles A. Welch each commanded companies (E and K) from Clark County in this regiment. Benjamin H. Warder was a first lieutenant in K Company. In E Company were A. P. Linn Cochran, John C. Miller, Clifton M. Nichols and George C. Rawlins, together with others of our most distinguished citizens.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-THIRD OHIO IN- FANTRY.

Colonel Israel Stough (once Captain Forty-Fourth Ohio), from Clark County, commanded this (a hundred day) regi- ment, which was organized in May, 1864,

on the same call with the One Hundred and Fifty-Second, and, like it, contained many of the county's best citizens. Cap- tains James I. Mckinney and Harrison C. Cross commanded companies (E and F) made up of men of this county. The regiment did duty along the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. A detachment of it en- gaged the enemy at Hammack's Mills, North River, West Virginia, and was cap- tured; some were held as prisoners, and a few died in Andersonville, Georgia, and Florence, Alabama, prisons.

SIXTEENTH OHIO INDEPENDENT BATTERY.

This battery was enlisted and mustered in (1861) from Clark County. It was commanded by Captain . James A. Mitchell, of Springfield, who descended from the Revolutionary and War of 1812 soldier stock, already mentioned. This battery served principally along the Mis- sissippi. Captain Mitchell lost his life in the Vicksburg campaign (Champion Hill) while serving under Grant.

In this company served Lieutenant Ed- ward H. Funston (since a Representative for several terms in Congress from Kan- sas), of New Carlisle, the father of now Brigadier-General Frederick Funston, U. S. A., famed for, among other things, the recent capture of Aguinaldo in the Phil- ippine Islands. General Funston was born in New Carlisle, this county, his mother being a Mitchell.

SEVENTEENTH OHIO INDEPENDENT BAT- TERY.

This battery was composed, principally, of Clark County men. Besides its Captain, Ambrose A. Blount, Lieutenants William

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

Hunt, Jr., Absalom H. Mattox and Jeremiah Yeazell, of the county, were its officers. This battery campaigned and fought chiefly down the Mississippi, at Arkansas Post, on the Vicksburg cam- paign, and at Mobile, Alabama.

SQUIRREL HUNTERS, 1862.

When Cincinnati was threatened (Sep- tember, 1862) by the Kirby Smith raid, Clark County furnished her full share of those patriotic citizens who, without mili- tary training and poorly armed, rushed to camp and were thence taken to Cincin- nati to aid in the defense of that then im- periled city. Among those who thus went to war were the most estimable and promi- nent of our citizens.

FIRST KENTUCKY INFANTRY.

Captain Ralph Hunt, early in 1861, en- listed in Clark County what became Com- pany C of the First Kentucky Infantry, in which it performed heroic and valuable service in many battles and campaigns in West Virginia and in the Southwest.

Others, as officers, soldiers and sailors, of Clark County's sons served with great credit in volunteer organizations not men- tioned, and in the regular army and navy. Of those from Clark County who were distinguished as surgeons, may be men- tioned Majors Henry H. Seys, of the Third and Fifteenth, and John H. Rod- gers, of the Forty-fourth and One Hun- dred and Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiments, still living.

At one time (1864) during the Civil War, three-fourths of the men of the re- quired age, fit for duty, and above fifty per centum of the voting population of Clark County were in the military and naval service of the United States.

There were many who enlisted in the Union Army from other places, even other states, who, after serving valiantly in the Civil War, came to live among us. These we love to adopt, honor and claim as our own. Colonels R. L. Kilpatrick, Aaron Spangler (One Hundred and Tenth Ohio), James E. Stewart (each now de- ceased), and Captains Edward L. Buch- walter and R. A. Starkey and Rev. George H. Fullerton, D. D. (Chaplain First Ohio Infantry) are among this number.

UNITED STATES NAVY.

There have been at least two sons of Springfield who have, through education and distinguished services, reached high rank in the United States Navy.

Reed Werden and Joseph N. Miller each graduated at the Naval Academy, each served with distinction on many seas and in the Civil War, and each was rewarded with the rank of Rear-Admiral.

Admiral Werden also did good service in the Mexican War (1846-1848) and Ad- miral Miller in the Spanish War (1898) ; the former died in 1886, and the latter is still living.

Others of Springfield who were grad- uated at the Naval Academy hold good rank and deserve mention for their high attainments and successful career. Lieu- tenant Clarence Williams, now in the United States Navy, is of this number.

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UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY.

A number from the county have been graduated at West Point, but none, how- ever, have reached high rank in the army. One, John (Jack) Williamson, was grad- uated in the same class with U. S. Grant, and he shortly after enjoyed at his home here a personal visit from Lieutenant U. S. Grant, since the most distinguished soldier of any age. Williamson resigned from the army and died comparatively young.

We do not pretend to exhaust the list of men from Clark County, who fairly won lasting fame in the military and naval service. Among the rank and file were some of the best and bravest; and the Ohio rule of claiming great men ap- plies to Clark County. All persons born or who have ever lived in the county, however short the time, and regardless of where they lived, when, or the circum- stances under which they reached distinc- tion, are, under this rule, Clark County men.

From Big Bethel to Appomattox, wherever bloody sacrifices were to be made, on river, sea or land, men of Clark County were found ready to make them.

They fought and fell under McClellan, Rosecrans, McDowell, Thomas, Sheridan, Sherman, Meade and Grant, and under the many other equally brave comman- ders of the Union Army. These volun- teer citizen-soldiers shed their blood at Bull Run (1861-1862), at Antietam, at Winchester (1862-1863), at Gettysburg, Orange Grove (1863), and in the many other large and small engagements in Virginia and on the eastern theatre of war prior to 1864; and they fought and

died at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, New Or- leans, Iuka, Corinth, Perrysville, Stone's River (1862), Vicksburg, Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain (above the clouds), Chickamauga, Knoxville (1863), Resaca, Kenesaw, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro, and in the battles around At- lanta and on the march from Atlanta to the sea; at Franklin and Nashville, and on other sanguinary and bloody fields in the West and Southwest (1864); again, in the East, in the battles of the Wilder- ness, at Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and around Richmond and Petersburg, Vir- ginia; at Monocacy, Maryland; Opequon, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek, in the Shenandoah Valley (1864), and at Five Forks and in the assaults on the fortifica- tions and over the ramparts around Rich- mond and Petersburg; at Bentonville, N. C .; at Sailor's Creek (the last general field engagement of the Civil War); at Appomattox and Mobile (1865), and on the hundreds of other fields of carnage, all to preserve the integrity of the Union of Washington and his patriot compeers of the Revolution of 1776, and the Con- stitution, resulting, under the providence of God, in destroying slavery (the curse of the ages) in our Republic, where it had existed for two hundred and fifty years.

The number of soldiers and sailors of the Civil War from the county, killed or who died of wounds and disease contract- ed in the service, cannot be ascertained. For the most part they were buried where they fell, and many were subse- quently transferred to National Ceme- teries. In each of these cemeteries will be found the names of soldiers or sailors from this county, marked by a grateful

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

country on headstones, and recorded in contracted in war service; some, there registers.

Any attempt at a list of soldier dead, buried in private cemeteries and grave- yards, must be a failure, and will prove unsatisfactory.

I have seen a fairly complete list of such dead, showing the names of about one hundred and seventy buried in Bethel Township; about one hundred and sixty in Madison Township, and I have seen only an imperfect list from Mad River Township. From other townships no lists have been accessible to me.

A still incomplete list of fifty soldiers buried in Greenmount Cemetery, Spring- field, shows many once familiar names of worthy men, among whom I can here men- tion only Lieutenant Jerry Klinefelter, Major James C. Vananda, Captains Will- iam R. Monroe and David Sparks; a like incomplete list of about two hundred sol- diers and sailors buried in Ferncliff Cemetery shows still other familiar, hero- ic names, among which are: Lieutenant- Colonel E. M. Doty, Colonel Howard D. John, Colonel J. P. Sanderson, Major Luther Brown, Major Andrew J. Will- iams (U. S. A.), Captains Hezekiah Win- ger, Levi M. Rinehart, W. P. Cummings (U. S. A.), W. A. Stewart, Thomas P. Clarke and William H. Drum, U. S. A. (killed at City of Mexico), and General Edwin C. Mason, U. S. A.

buried, died of starvation in Southern prisons. They signify the full measure of self-sacrificing loyalty, heroism, su- preme effort, suffering and death, entail- ing upon family and friends an untold measure of sacrifice, suffering and sor- row.

Have not the good people of Springfield and Clark County patriotically performed their highest duty to establish, preserve, perpetuate and advance the cause of polit- ical and civil liberty in our whole coun- try?

Without the bloody sacrifices and hero- ic achievements of the Civil War, by which human slavery was overthrown and the rights of man were up-built, and the spirit of Christian love was more uni- versally spread throughout the civilized nations of the earth, a war for humanity (Spanish War) would not have been pos- sible.

SPANISH WAR, 1898.

On the call (1898) of President William Mckinley for volunteers for the war to compel Spain to surrender her sovereign- ty over Cuba, because of her long-con- tinued inhumanity to its inhabitants (Spanish subjects), Springfield and Clark County contributed their full share of sol- diers and sailors, and many more of their young men were impatient because they were not accepted. Colonel Charles An- thony commanded the Third Ohio Volun- teen Infantry in the Spanish War.

The soldiers buried in Clark County belonged to many of the volunteer regi- ments of the Union Army; to many in- dependent companies or batteries, and to Captain William H. Bradbury's com- pany (Ohio National Guard) became Com- pany B, of the Third, and Captain Horace the regular army or navy, and to all arms of the service; generally they died where they fell or in military hospitals of E. Smith's became Company E, of the wounds received in battle, or of disease Tenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry; Captain

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R. R. Rudd's became Company A, Ninth Battalion (colored) of Infantry, and a sec- tion of Company -, Second United States Volunteer Engineers (Lieutenant Arthur Balentine) also went from this county. Large numbers of others went to the Spanish War from this county, as officers and soldiers or sailors in the army or navy, joining other organizations or the volunteer staff departments. Carl K. Mower became a Captain and Commis- sary of Subsistence and served with credit in Porto Rico and elsewhere; later he be- came Captain in the Forty-First United States Volunteers and served with distinc- tion in the Philippine Island, and he now holds an appointment in the United States Army.

Horace C. Keifer was appointed (June, 1898) by the President a Captain in the Third United States Volunteer Engi- neers, and he performed, by assignment of the War Department, the duties of an aide (often other staff duties) on the staff of Major-General J. Warren Kei- fer, in Florida, Georgia and Cuba, for about one year. Many of the Spanish War soldiers, and others of the county, enlisted in volunteer organizations in 1899 for service in the Philippines, and they have there performed excellent and hard service; some went into the regular army and others into the United States Navy.

In the above eleven years of war (ex- cluding all Indian wars) of the nineteenth century, Clark County has valiantly borne her full part in bearing the flag of our country to victory on land and sea. No sacrifice has been too great for her citizens to willingly make. We may be justly proud and boastful of Clark

County's war history, and we can feel sure that if exigencies arise which again bring war, that, inspired by high and worthy example, her sons will valorously do their duty in a just cause, in uphold- ing our blood-baptized stars and stripes, long so sacredly emblematic of organized liberty to mankind.

With all the significant things accom- plished at the cost of blood and treasure in the nineteenth century, future genera- tions will not be contented to "mark time" over the grave of the past, but, in- spired by the great deeds and discov- eries and progress made manifest to them, will "quick step" forward and at- tain to yet other, higher, more useful and better things.

Would to God we could foretell the events and the progress of the twentieth century, and write with the pen of proph- ecy Springfield's history as it will be on her second centennial.

Thus, briefly and imperfectly, we have presented you Clark County's military history, believing it equal, all things con- sidered, to that of any other county in this State or Nation.

[In the address delivered by General Keifer he has modestly refrained from speaking of himself, save in a brief foot note, yet he is the most conspicuous figure in the military history of our county, and should, therefore. have some notice in this volume. At the out- break of the war, in 1861. General Keifer was a law- yer in Springfield, having been admitted to the bar in 1858. He volunteered at the beginning of the war and was appointed Major of the Third Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. In the first year of the war he was in a number of battles in West Virginia. In Febru- ary. 1862. he was made Lieutenant-Colonel and was on active duty in Kentucky and other states. In Sep- tember. 1862, he was appointed Colonel of the One Hundred and Tenth Ohio. His regiment was trans- ferred to Virginia, where he fought in many battles, suffering severe wounds and many hardships in the service. He was brevetted a Brigadier-General in 1864, and in 1865 Major-General for "gallant and dis- tinguished services." He served altogether four years and two months. After his return to Springfield he entered upon his profession, in which he was emi-

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nently successful. He became a member of the State Senate for two years; was sent to the National House of Representatives for four terms, and during the third term served as Speaker. At the outbreak of the Spanish War he was appointed a Major-General, and faithfully discharged the duties assigned him. General Keifer is a conspicuous figure in all that pertains to the welfare of our city .- Editor Springfield Centen- nial. ]

Since the above was written, Capt. Carl K. Mower received a commission in the regular army and served but a short time in that capacity dying suddenly in .

the spring of 1904. The prospects of a brilliant military career were thus cut off in the early decease of this well-known young man of our county. His death was a severe blow to his father, then Com- mon Pleas Judge, who survived him but a few months.

Arthur Ballentine received a commis- sion of Lieutenancy in the regular army and is still serving in that capacity.

CHAPTER XV.

TOWNSHIPS.

Bethel - German - Green - Harmony -- Madison - Mad River -- Moorefield- Pike-Pleasant-Springfield.

BETHEL TOWNSHIP.

BOUNDARIES AND CREEKS.

Honey Creek enters the township to the northeast of New Carlisle, circulating around that village to the south and west, and flowing thence into Miami County. Along this stream is some exceedingly fertile land.

Bethel Township occupies the south- western part of the county west of Mad River. It is bounded on the west by its southern extremity for a distance of two CROPS. miles by Montgomery County, and thence for a distance of seven miles by Miami Along the Mad River Valley down towards Medway and in some other parts of the township a considerable quantity of tobacco is grown. Up along the Na- tional Road and the old Carlisle Pike the growing of berries of various kinds forms quite an industry. Elsewhere the staple crops are grown. The township has three villages of considerable impor- tance-New Carlisle in the western part, Donnelsville toward the central eastern portion along the National Road, and Medway in the southern part. (See Vil- lages.) County. On the north are Pike and Ger- man Townships; on the east a neck of Springfield Township, and diagonally in a southwestern direction it is bounded by Mad River. It might not be an unjust comparison with the other townships to say that it has a higher per cent of ex- ceedingly fertile land than any other township in the county and has more of what might be termed bottom land. As before said, along its entire southeastern side it has the valley of Mad River of varying width, then Donnels Creek, which goes through the township north and ROADS. south near Donnelsville. About one mile and a half west is Jackson Creek, like- The National Pike extends through the Along the valley of Mad River is the Mad wise extending through the township. In center of the township from east to west. the southwestern part is Mud Creek.

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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

River Valley Pike, built in 1847, and ex- creased very rapidly in the last half cen- tending east and west and north of the tury. central part of the township, is what is POPULATION. known as the old Carlisle Pike. These roads are the principal thoroughfares to In 1850 its population was 2,898; in 1870, 3,086; in 1880, 2,131; in 1890, 3,407; 1900, 3,295. the City of Springfield. There are about forty miles of public roads in the town- ship. The township is provided with other roads of good quality. The In- ACRES AND ASSESSED VALUE. dianapolis branch of the Big Four ex- tends through the township, having its principal stopping place at New Carlisle, The following table shows the number of acres, and the assessed valuation of the real estate and personal property of the township as divided into school dis- tricts : and the Springfield & Dayton Traction Company have a branch from their head lines at Medway, extending to New Car- lisle, the main branch following the Val- ley pike to Medway, thence across the Acres. Real Estate. Personal. river to Osborn. These are all the rail- Bethel Township 20,851 $926,490 $528,480 $1,454,970 Bethel & Springfield roads in the township. The Dayton School Dist. .. 319 N. Carlisle Sch. 12,760 4,790 branch of the Big Four and of the N. Y. Dist. 2,315 N. Carlisle Town 162 215,600 128,610 95,320 36,420 P. & O. R. R. are just across the river in Donnelsville Town 39 29,230 14,750 Mad River Township. There are no man- ufacturing industries of any particular importance in the township at this time. POLITICS. Formerly the mills along Mad River formed an industry of their own kind, to wit, distilling whiskey and making flour, the plentiful growth of timber also furnishing material for various saw- mills and cooper shops. (See Mills.)

This township claims the distinction of having had the earliest settlers, as the former Indian village of Piqua and the later one of Boston were in its territory.

VOTING PRECINCTS.

It is laid out into three voting pre- cincts designated by the name of the three prominent villages of the township. Not- withstanding the fact that it has these three villages, its population has not in-

Total.

17,550

131,740

344,210

43,980

23,676 $1,279,400 $713.056 $1,992,450

Bethel Township has at all times been either Whig or Republican in politics, except that in 1848 Cass had a majority. Lincoln carried the township by two hun- dred, and it has continued substantially Republican to about that extent. The Donnelsville precinct, however, is more Democratic than the others.

OLD SETTLERS.

The date of the first settlement of Bethel Township is somewhat obscure, but from indubitable evidence we are able to say that John Paul was living at the forks of Honey Creek in 1790, and that some evidence points just as clearly to

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an earlier period. Relatives still remem- ber hearing Mr. Paul speak of crossing the Ohio River at the point where Cincin- nati now stands, before any settlement was made there; that his father was killed by the Indians soon after crossing the river. The remainder of the family es- caped. The same night Mr. Paul went back, found the body of his father (which had been scalped), and buried it. Mr. Paul wandered on with the rest of the family, himself the eldest, a brother and sister, they making their final stop on what is now part of Section 29. Mr. Paul died in 1853, aged ninety years. The older citizens well remember that the habits of caution and care necessarily acquired in the dangerous times, remained with him as long as he lived.

David Lowry was the next settler in the township. He was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1767, and in 1795 he settled in Section 3, Bethel Township. He after- wards bought the whole of Section 14, which he sold and then entered land in Section 9, where J. E. Lowry now lives. He was married in 1801 to Sarah Ham- mer, of Miami County, Ohio, who died in 1810, leaving four children, viz., Sarah, Nancy, Susan and Elizabeth. All are now dead but Susan, who is the wife of John Leffel: In 1811, he married Mrs. Jane Hodge, whose maiden name was Wright, by whom he had four children-Martha S., David W., Robert M. and Sarah R., all are now living. He died September 9, 1859, and his widow followed him to the grave August 15, 1867. He was a robust, enterprizing Christian pioneer, and did much toward the growth and civilization of his adopted county.

Jonathan Donnels, a native of Lycom-

ing County, Penn., was the companion of David Lowry, and was a surveyor. He settled on Section 33, where Leander Baker now lives, in 1795. In 1797 he re- turned to Pennsylvania, brought out his brother James, who was then but eight years old, but was a great help to him in his cabin. Jonathan married and was the father of five children, of whom John moved to Oregon, where he died; Jona- than is living in Iowa; Elizabeth married George Layton; and Lucinda, who also married and moved to Michigan. Mr. Donnels' last years were embittered by family troubles, and, in a fit of temporary insanity he hung himself on the Holcomb limekiln (now Moores) farm in Spring- field Township, whither he had moved after selling his old home. He was a man of sterling traits of character, generous and whole-souled, and was very well read for those early days, and was indeed one of the noblest of Clark County's pioneers. His brother, James Donnels, who came in 1797, grew up under his care and married Mary Hopkins, settling where John Leffel formerly lived. He had eight children, among whom we may mention as the latest survivors-Susan, the wife of Jesse Boyd; Eliza, the wife of Lewis Huffman; and Jonathan. Mr. Donnels moved to the northeast corner of Springfield Township; thence to the Jesse Boyd farm in Har- mony Township; and finally to the farm where his son Jonathan formerly resid- ed, and which is now owned by E. O. Bow- man, where he and his wife died.

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Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th, Part 22

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086