USA > Ohio > Union County > Jerome > History of Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio > Part 15
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on this occasion is still in possession of W. L. Curry, son of Stephenson Curry.
Sugar Run Falls, on the land of Colonel Curry, now owned by his great-grandson, Thomas H. Curry, was in the early days a beautiful and attractive place. The stream wound its way through a little valley, shaded by burr oaks and black wal- nut timber, and, surrounded as it was by good hunting and fishing grounds, it was a favorite place for the Indians in the early years of the present century. The old Indian trace, lead- ing from the Wyandot nation south, ran past the Falls, and the Indians continued to travel this route after there was quite a settlement along Sugar Run.
The last Indians who visited this vicinity came about the year 1816-17. In the early spring, four Indians came from the north, and encamped at the falls for a few days. They visited Colonel Curry's house, and, as usual, were supplied from his table, as he was well known to the Indians passing along this route, and he was one in whom they had great con- fidence. When they left the falls they separated, two following the old trail and two traveling in a southwesterly direction. In a few weeks two of them again reached the falls, and had with them an Indian pony. They remained a day or two, and their two companions not arriving (it is supposed this was to be their place of meeting), they then stripped the bark from a burr oak tree, and taking yellow keel, which was in great abun- dance along the stream, traced on the trunk of the tree in rude characters an Indian leading a pony, while another In- dian was in the rear with a gun on his shoulder and the ram- rod in his hand, as if in the act of driving the pony, traveling northward. This done, they covered their camp fire and took the old Indian trail north. A few evenings after their de- parture, their two comrades arrived from the south, and learn- ing by the drawings on the tree that their companions had preceded them, they remained over night and the next morning took the trace and moved rapidly north. And thus the last Indians ever seen on the southern border of Union County took their departure from their once happy hunting grounds.
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WAR OF THE REVOLUTION-1776.
At the close of the war of the Revolution, the soldiers were given lands in payment for their services. The territory comprising Union County is all "Virginia Military Lands," being a part of that between the Scioto and the Miami Rivers, all of which was set apart for the Revolutionary soldiers by the United States Government.
Many of these old patriots took up these lands and in this way quite a number found homes in Union County. From this grand old Revolutionary stock sprang Union County's brave and patriotic sons who fought in the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the War of the Rebellion.
Of these old heroes of '76, several are buried in the ceme- teries of this county. But little can be learned, even tradi- tionally, of their services, although many of their descendants reside in the county. Some of them are known to have fought at Yorktown, Monmouth, White Plains, Germantown and other historic battlefields of the war of the Revolution.
Colonel James Curry and Henry Shover both served in Virginia regiments during the war of the Revolution. Mr. Shover enlisted in Louden County and emigrated to the terri- tory in which Jerome County is situated, before the breaking out of the War of 1812, and two of his sons, Adam and Simon, served in that war. No information can be secured of the service of Henry Shover in the War of the Revolution. Colonel Curry resided near Staunton, Augusta County, Vir- ginia, and as shown by the records in the War Department, he served as an officer in the Fourth and Eighth Virginia In- fantry, Continental Line.
He was a private in the Staunton, Virginia, Company, un- der General Lewis, in Dunmore's war with the Indians on the Ohio River was severely wounded at Point Pleasant, Va., Oc- tober 10th, 1774, in battle with Indians under Cornstalk. He was a private in the 4th Virginia Infantry, Continental Line, at beginning of the Revolution; Second Lieutenant, Eighth Virginia, December, 1776; First Lieutenant, June 24th, 1777; transferred to Fourth Virginia September 14th, 1778; Captain,
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September 23rd, 1119 ; was in battles of Brandywine, German- town, etc. ; at Valley Forge, 1777-78 ; taken prisoner with Lin- coln's army at Charleston, May 12th, 1780; exchanged June, 1781; on staff of General Nathaniel Gist ; severely wounded at siege of Yorktown; acted as second in two duels between officers while in service; with Washington at triumphal entry into New York, November 25th, 1783; served nearly eight years ; subsequent to war, was Brigade Inspector of Virginia militia, Clerk of Court of Augusta County, Virginia, Colonel of Ohio militia, County Judge, and member of Ohio Legislature.
The battle of Point Pleasant, Virginia, is called "A First Battle of the Revolution" by Chambers' Encyclopedia, from which the following account of the battle is copied. As it was fought before war was declared and at least one citizen of the township was a participant, it will be of interest to all citizens of the township.
"An important battle, fought October 10th, 1724, between Colonial troops of Virginia, under General Andrew Lewis, and the Shawnees, Delawares and other Indians composing the Northern Confederacy, led by Cornstalk as king and sachem of the Shawnee tribe, on the east bank of the Ohio River, and just above the great Kanawha. The village of Point Pleasant has since grown up on the spot where this battle was fought, which was and is to this day spoken of as the first battle of the Revolution. The 'Boston Tea Party' had already been held in the spring of the same year, and the 'Boston Port Bill' was received in May-the signal of actual conflict between the colonies and the Mother Country. Lord Dumore, Governor of Virginia, had been busy in the interests of England by way of stirring up a hostile feeling between the hardy white settlers and the various tribes of Indians, the object of which had be- come apparent. At last a crisis was reached. The legislature took action, under which General Andrew Lewis gathered to- gether 1,200 men at Lewis Springs, now Lewisburg, W. Va., and from thence proceeded to Point Pleasant, acting as was understood, in concert with the Colonial governors, who in person led about 1,000 men through the wilderness, striking
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the Ohio at Wheeling, from which point he was to meet Gen- eral Lewis. All this time, unbeknown to General Lewis, the agents of Lord Dunmore had been busy concentrating the Indians in the neighborhood of Point Pleasant, and subsequent events show that he never intended to join his forces with the troops under Lewis. Our space will not admit of our giving the various facts substantiating this statement made so em- phatic in the history of the 'Border Wars' by Withers and others.
"In this bloody battle, about one-fifth of the entire army of General Lewis were either killed or wounded, and of the In- dians, the number must have been even greater. It was the most severely contested battle of the kind of which we have any account, and was fought on both sides from behind trees in a dense forest of primeval growth, on one of the richest bottoms of the Ohio. It was wholly unexpected, the object being on the part of General Lewis, in fulfillment of the pur- poses on the part of the legislature, to proceed with an over- powering force in conjunction with Governor Dunmore, from Point Pleasant to the Indian settlement on the Scioto, beyond the Ohio. In vain did the brave Lewis look for troops from Wheeling. During the night of the 9th and 10th, a body of Indians was reported by a scouting party as having encamped near the site of an old Shawnee village, about six miles above.
"At the same time advices were received that Lord Dun- more would cross the country directly to the Scioto. Before ' sunrise on the morning of the 10th, a hunting party returned and brought the startling report of 'four acres of Indians,' about a mile above the camp of General Lewis. The party had been fired upon. At once, on receipt of this news, the main body of the troops, under Colonel Charles Lewis and Colonel Fleming, were mustered into line. The battle soon began, and raged with varied fortune through nearly the entire day. The brave Colonel Lewis fell mortally wounded. Colonel Fleming was soon after disabled, when Colonel Field, who had come up with a re-enforcement, took command. This of- ficer had learned a lesson from the unfortunate Braddock ;
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but he, too, soon fell. At times the battle raged like a tempest. The roar of the musketry was continuous. The clarion voice of Cornstalk was, nevertheless, everywhere heard bidding his warriors, 'Be strong!' Be strong!' Seeing a warrior shrink, he sunk his tomahawk into his skull. The most unyielding and desperate courage was on both sides displayed until late in the afternoon, when three companies that had been retained in camp, perhaps on account of the Indians in large numbers on the opposite shore of the Ohio, under Captains John Stewart, Isaac Shelby and George Matthews-distinguished names- reached the rear of Cornstalk by a well-planned movement, and decided the fortunes of the day.
"A treaty was entered into at Camp Charlotte, in Ohio, at which Lord Dunmore was present, who seemed to have a per- fect understanding with the Indians ; though the colonists were indebted mainly to Cornstalk for the treaty of peace which Dunmore seemed determined to postpone, as we might show. It was in view of the surprising valor displayed by the troops under General Lewis in this decisive battle that Washington, in the darkest days of the Revolution, was led to exclaim : 'Leave me but a banner to plant upon the mountains of Au- gusta, and I will rally around me the men who will lift our bleeding country from the dust and set her free."
OUR BOYS OF OTHER STATES.
A number of Jerome Township boys left the parental home and the old farm soon after the close of the Civil War, in 1865, and took up the duties of citizenship in other States. Robert A. Liggett went to Detroit, Mich., and was for many years a prominent official in the Michigan Mutual Life Insur- ance Company. William M. Liggett, after serving two terms as Treasurer of Union County, moved with his family to Min- nesota, where he was very prominent. First serving as Com- missioner of Railroads, for eighteen years he was Dean of the Agricultural Experiment Station in connection with the Uni- versity of Minnesota.
David G. Robinson, after graduation at college, was also
DAVID CURRY 12ist O. V. I.
4
CORPORAAL IMMER ROBINSON 174th O. V. 1.
ADDISON CURRY S6th O. V. I.
FORESTER HEARD SSth 0. V. ..
CAPTAIN OTWAY CURRY 121s( 0. 1. ..
CORPORAL JAMES CURRY 1570h 0. V. ..
CAPTAIN WILLIAM L. CURRY Isco. V. C.
ANDREW GILL S6th O. V. I.
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graduated as a theological student of the Presbyterian Church and was an ordained minister of that church. William Mc- Crory went to Minneapolis, Minn., where he was a prominent business man. He projected and built the first interurban railroad line from Minneapolis to Lake Minetonka. James D. Bain was graduated as a physician, went to Great Bend, Kan- sas, where he practiced a number of years and was elected a member of the Legislature in that State.
All of the above named are deceased.
Of those who survive, Henry A. Brinkerhoff, who first served as a Lieutenant in the 30th O. V. I., was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the U. S. Army before the close of the Civil War. He remained in the Army and was retired a few years ago with the rank of Colonel, and resides in Oak Park, Illinois.
James Curry was graduated from the University of Woos- ter, Ohio, in 1872. He then went immediately to San Fran- cisco, California, where, after two years' study, he was gradu- ated from the Presbyterian Theological Seminary in that city. He was immediately ordained as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of San Pablo and Berkeley, and has been in the minis- try continuously for 40 years in the vicinity of San Francisco. He is a Doctor of Divinity, and in service is the oldest Presby- terian minister on the coast. He has written a history of Presbyterianism on the Pacific Coast, of which a large edition was published, and he has for a number of years been the Secretary of the Board of the Theological Seminary of San Francisco. He is now pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Newark, California.
James Cone, Stephenson B. Cone, Daniel R. Cone, with their families, emigrated to Oregon many years ago. They live in the vicinity of McMinnville, excepting Stephenson and family, who live in Portland, and they have all prospered in a business way.
Alexander D. Gowans resides at Centerview, Mo., and is now Mayor of that city. Thompson O. Cole is a successful business man of Great Bend, Kansas. James L. McCampbell
13
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resides at Orange, California. David Curry, for many years a fruit grower in California, has recently changed his residence to Seattle, Washington. William B. Brinkerhoff, piano manu- facturer, Brazil, Indiana. Immer Robinson, produce mer- chant, Champaign, Il1.
Robert McCrory served two years as Clerk of the Courts of Union County and afterward practiced law quite success- fully a number of years, is now a resident of Spokane, Wash. James F. Chapman, Pomona, Cal .; Heber Woodburn, Minne- apolis, Minn .; Jacob Ruehlen, Hiawatha, Kan .; George Butler, Rush Center, Kan .; Festus Edwards, Chase, Mich .; Samuel Nonnemaker, Topeka, Kan .; Dunallen M. Woodburn, Hessing- ton, Kan., druggist ; A. M. Garner, railroad engineer for forty years, Mattoon, Ill .; Edgar G. Magill, a prominent physician of Peoria, Il1.
They were all schoolboys of Jerome Township, and it is a pleasure to note that some of them have been prominent in public life and all are respected citizens of other States. There may be others whose names are not recalled, but every effort has been made to ascertain the present address of all who reside in other States.
OUR HEROINES.
Soon after the first war meeting was held in the Seceder Church, April 24th, 1861, the company was organized and commenced drilling under Dr. James Cutler, afterward a Cap- tain in the First Ohio Cavalry, the mothers, wives and sisters said : "We can and will help." Busy hands were plying the needles, and in a few days uniforms consisting of red flannel blouses and black caps were ready to don. Flags were not so plentiful in those early days of the war, and the sisters and sweethearts were not content to purchase an ordinary bunting flag, but one stitched by their own hands should be carried by the boys as they marched to the wild music of the war-drums. A messenger was dispatched to Columbus, silk was purchased, and a beautiful flag was manufactured by these patriotic girls.
Then came the call for 500,000 three-year volunteers, and
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as a number of companies were organized in the county, they were all called to assemble at Milford Center July 4th for regiment drill. A wagon was equipped with a great platform decorated with bunting and was drawn by four white horses driven by Moderwell Robinson. In this wagon were seated thirty-one girls, dressed in white with red, white and blue sashes, representing all the States in the Union. The wagon was driven to the square in New California, and with appro- priate ceremonies and great enthusiasm the flag was presented to the company. Preceded by this wagon with the bevy of girls singing patriotic songs a procession was formed, some in wagons, buggies or carriages, and many on horseback, pro- ceeded to Milford, where the regimental drill was held, viewed by thousands of patriotic citizens.
The flag was not taken to the field during the war, but the enthusiasm of that flag presentation by the loyal young ladies of this community - our own sisters and sweethearts - was an inspiration that followed the soldiers to the front and cheered them on battle lines.
During our Civil War the loyal women of our country did not have the inspiration of the war-drums - no hope of fame for heroic deeds amid the clash of arms - no hope of reward but that of a nation saved. But her courage was equal to that of the soldier who carried the sword or the musket - when she sent father, husband, brother or sweetheart with prayers and blessings.
The names of many of these girls are recalled and here- with published as our heroines - many of whom have passed to the other shore :
LIZZIE GOWANS
ABI SHAFFER
JEANNETTE GOWANS
MAGGIE NUNEMAKER
AMANDA MCCAMPBELL
MARTHA JANE FLECK
LOVINA LIGGETT
SUSIE RUEHLEN
MARY MCCAMPBELL
SARAH MARY LIGGETT
SUSANNAH ROBINSON
ELVIRA ROBINSON
LOU ROBINSON
BELLE BUCK
OLLIE CURRY
LIZZIE LAUGHEAD
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MARY CURRY
EMMA ROBINSON
PHEBE CURRY
SARAH WOODBURN
MARTHA J. ROBINSON
ELIZA HILL
GEORGIANA ROBINSON
FIDELIA ROBINSON
JENNIE TAYLOR
BELINDA KETCH
SALLIE BAIN
NAN BAIN
ESTELLE MCCAMPBELL
HESTER MITCHELL
NAN BEARD
LOU CONE
SARAH GILL
HANNAH BEARD
FLORENCE WOODBURN
MARY ANN DODGE
LOVISA KETCH
SALLIE RUEHLEN
I recall vividly a scene on the battlefield of Shiloh which can never be effaced from my memory. The next day after the battle, fought April 6th and 7th, 1862, along the banks of the Tennessee River, I saw upon that terrible field of carnage a woman of my own kin. Her maiden name was Nancy Snod- grass, and when a girl she resided in Jerome Township. Her father, William Snodgrass, a cousin of my mother, one of the early pioneers of Union County, Ohio, had emigrated to Iowa in the early fifties when the daughter was a girl in her teens.
Just at the beginning of the war she was married to a young man by the name of Vastine, who enlisted in an Iowa regiment. He was stricken with fever, and she came from her prairie home in Iowa to nurse him in the hospital at Fort Donelson. When he was restored to health he was detailed as a nurse and his young wife remained as a nurse in the hospital.
She was on the field during the two days' battle, fought amid the forests and along the ravines, without breastworks or protection of any kind, where the loss in the two armies was upward of 24,000. The only woman on the field for many days after the battle, there she moved about among the dead and wounded, an angel of mercy, ministering to the wants of the suffering soldiers of both the blue and the gray ; the brave- hearted, sympathetic country girl, as true as the soldier who fell upon the field with sword or musket in hand. Any picture I could draw would give but the faintest idea of the reality.
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The rain had been pouring in torrents, the little streams and ravines flowing toward the Tennessee were at high flood, while ambulances with sick and wounded, supply and ammu- nition wagons, were plunging through the mud and miring everywhere, as they wound their slow way back and forth from the field to the landing, where the hospital boats were floating in the river waiting to receive their loads of mangled bodies. Then there were the details burying the dead in shallow graves, or long narrow trenches, with not even a blanket to cover their faces or bodies. There had been a victory, and cheers went up from the camps of the living, and night was coming on. It was a weird scene, as plain to me as if but a few months ago. Yet more than half a century has passed since that bloody war tragedy on the battlefield of Shiloh.
The groans of the suffering and dying carried in on the litters or in the ambulances ; the broken neigh of some war- horse in ravine or tangled brush, shot through body or limb, vainly trying to struggle to his feet, and with a look of despair almost human as he raises his head in the throes of death; a few camp-fires glimmering here and there, with a white tent which had not been disturbed by shot or shell in the terrible struggle just ended. A dim light of candle or lantern in some headquarters of the commander gleams through the mist. The splash of a horse's hoofs in the mud is heard as a weary staff officer or courier dashes off on the gallop to some distant part of the line with orders for the movements and pursuit of the defeated foe at early dawn on the morrow. Many a sol- dier, with the dead piled thick around him, in his agonizing pains was thinking of the loved ones at home in the far-off Northland as he gazed at the starless sky - of mother, sister, or wife - when the flutter of a woman's garments was seen and he spoke softly, "A sister of mercy." Yes, a sister of mercy caring for the wounded that dark night. It was Nancy Vastine, the brave country girl, the only woman on that awful field of carnage, April îth, 1862. A drop of cordial, a cool bandage, a cup of hot broth, are trifles for a man-of-arms to
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long for, but the getting of them from a woman thrills the faltering heart with warrior blood, and many a life was saved on the field because a woman was around.
ROSTER. ABBREVIATIONS.
Adjt.
Adjutant
inf. infantry
art.
artillery
Lieut.
Lieutenant
Bat.
Battalion
Maj.
Major
Col.
Colonel
Regt. Regiment
Capt.
Captain
re-e. re-enlisted
Corp.
Corporal
res. resigned
com. commissioned
Sergt. Sergeant
cav.
cavalry
trans. transferred
disc.
discharged
vet.
veteran
e.
enlisted
wd. wounded
Gen.
General
died in army
Roster of Soldiers who enlisted from Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio, during the War of the Rebellion.
COMPANY K, 1ST O. V. C.
Capt. James Cutler, e. Sept. 1, 1861; disc. April 20, 1863. Capt. William L. Curry, e. Sept. 1, 1861; disc. Dec. 30, 1864.
Sergt. Patterson Bradley, e. Sept. 23, 1861; disc. Aug. 7, 1862.
Sergt. A. L. Sesler, e. Oct. 26, 1861; disc. Sept. 13, 1865. Corp. William B. Herriott, e. Feb. 26, 1864; disc. Sept. 14, 1865.
Clark, Sanford P., e. Dec. 5, 1861; disc. Feb. 11, 1863.
*Ewing, James S., e. Feb., 1864; March 19, 1864, died.
*Goff, Presley E., e. Oct. 15, 1861; July 10, 1864, died Anderson- ville Prison.
Garner, Alonzo M., e. Feb. 26, 1864; disc. Sept. 13, 1865.
*Lucas, Benjamin F., e. Oct. 15, 1861; July 23, 1862, killed. Ruehlen, Samuel H., e. Nov. 28, 1861; disc. Dec. 4, 1864. Ruehlen, William, e. Sept. 28, 1861; disc. Oct. 6, 1864.
COMPANY C, 12TH O. V. C.
*Corp. William S. Channell, e. Sept. 7, 1863; Aug. 10, 1864, died.
COMPANY D, 12TH O. V. C. Adams, Nelson C., e. Sept. 1, 1864; disc. June 15, 1865.
Cary, Isaac, e. Sept. 5, 1864; disc. June 15, 1865.
Hawn, Philip, e. Sept. 3, 1863; disc. Nov. 14, 1865. *Heath, Daniel, e. Sept. 12, 1863; March 30, 1864, drowned. COMPANY F, 13TH O. V. I. (Three Months) .
Bain, James D., e. April 25, 1861; disc. Aug. 25, 1861. Wood, Harvey S., e. April 25, 1861; disc. Aug. 25, 1861. Collumber, Joseph, e. April 25, 1861.
COMPANY F, 13TH O. V. I. (Three Years) . Bain, David, e. June 5, 1861.
*Taylor, David O., e. June 5, 1861; May 27, 1864, killed. COMPANY G, 17TH O. V. I. (Three Months) . Lieut. Daniel Taylor, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Black, James, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861.
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Beach, Joseph, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Durboraugh, Washington, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Bancroft, William, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. *Fleming, Robert F., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Hill, Andrew, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Hobert, Leander, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Hobert, Lorenzo, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Kent, David, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Kile, William N., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Kilbury, James M., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Langstaff, James G., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Langstaff, Justin O., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Lucas, Benjamin F., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. McClung, John, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. McCune, David, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. McDowell, John P., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Norris, George, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Patch, Esley, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Perry, John F., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Perry, Luther, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Ruehlen, Samuel, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Ruehlen, William, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Stevens, Marion, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Surface, Reuben W., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Taylor, William, e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Wells, Lewis W., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. Williams, John P., e. April 22, 1861; disc. Aug. 15, 1861. COMPANY E, 30TH O. V. I.
The only full company recruited in the Township. One hundred and two (102) men served in this company and thirty-two (32) were killed or died of wounds and disease. Maj. Elijah Warner, e. Aug. 19, 1861; disc. Nov. 9, 1864. Capt. James D. Bain, e. Aug. 28, 1861; disc. Aug. 13, 1865. Asst. Surgeon Philander F. Beverly, e. Aug 5, 1862; disc. April 6, 1863.
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