Boone County, Indiana - Chapter 8: Military History of County, 1914

Causes Leading To The Civil War

God sifted three nations and obtained seed to plant a new nation. It was brought across the sea and planted on Plymouth Rock. It was a cold, bleak rock in New England, barren and uninviting. The men and women that planted this seed in the new world were brave and abounded in virtue and integrity of character. The live principle and soul of the seed was civil and religious liberty. This was to be the spirit of the new nation that was to spring from this seed and make the basis of a new and higher civilization.

At Jamestown, another seed was planted entirely different in spirit and purpose. It had in it the spirit of slavery. It believed that some men were made to serve. Out of this came the "First Families of Virginia." The kidglove aristocracy that set up a distinction in men as to rights, drew the color line and established the institution of slavery. It was antagonistic to the spirit of Plymouth Rock and an antithesis to their idea of liberty and their conception of the rights of man. It submitted to the declaration, "that all men are equal and ought to be free and independent as far as King George was concerned,"' and at the same time held the mental reservation that the doctrine did not apply to the sons of Africa. The two ideas grew and spread westward; that of Jamestown bearing a little toward the north and that of Plymouth bearing toward the south. In the federation of states and in the Union, every state held to the teaching and practice of Jamestown, except Georgia, and she leaned that way and finally fell into line and became a slave state. The battle for liberty must be fought over again.

There was a declaration for liberty, but in spite of this, there was the spirit and practice of the worst form of slavery. As these two ideas moved westward, coming closer and closer together, the discussion grew hotter and hot blood ran, and when the sentiment crossed the Mississippi river, Clay had to come to the front and effect a compromise between the two factions. Mason and Dixon line was drawn and there was apparent peace effected for awhile, until new provocations arose. When the two lines met in Kansas, the fight was on in earnest. The Mason and Dixon's line would not keep them apart. The Missouri Compromise was no longer effective. The spirit of Jamestown saw that the spirit of Plymouth Rock was triumphing.

Fremont stood on a platform that said, "No more slave states." There was such a mustering of votes that the south division became alarmed for their pet institution of slavery. The sentiment of the north was prevailing. Kansas became the testing field, both parties contending as for life itself. Stephen A. Douglas became the leader of those who said, "we will leave the vexed question to the people." Lincoln stood head and shoulders above Douglas for no more slave states. The die was cast. The battle of debate was on. The slave element rushed into Kansas with hopes of settling the issue of that soil by the will of the people. The people of the north rushed into the territory, and two constitutions were formed, one for freedom and one for slavery; so it was a drawn battle.

John Brown was one of the most erratic for freedom. He fought for it with all his might and his soul. He conceived the idea of moving the battlefield to the Old Dominion where the seed was first planted. He chose to start the fight at Harper's Ferry. He felt confident that the people would rally to the cause and he would be triumphant. He opened the battle ; there was no rally around his standard and it failed. Governor Wise, of Virginia, arrested the crazy, or at least erratic leader, and hung him until he was dead, thinking that would end the contest forever. John Brown's body was laid dishonored in the tomb, but his spirit for freedom marched on.

The election of Lincoln, in i860, broke the Dynasty. It had reigned for sixty years. He was the first president that opposed the demands of the slave power.

He was not an abolitionist of the school of Garrison and Phillips, but he stood opposed to slavery going into the territories. This meant no more slave states; restriction of the institution; the overthrow of its political power. In a word, it meant that freedom and the North would rule. This was enough. It classed Lincoln as the rankest of Abolitionists. The cam-

I70 Boone County, Indiana

Its success was more than the South could endure. Rank rebellion rose. The nullifying egg of 1832 hatched out a brood of secession. South Carolina led the van, quickly followed by other states. The war cloud arose in the South. Preparations for battle were made. The government was impotent.

Buchanan wrung his hands in agony as he beheld it falling to pieces, and said he could do nothing to avert the ruin. He lacked the nerve of Jackson. Under this cloud the president elect made his way to the capitol clandestinely. He was quietly inaugurated and assumed the responsibility over a government dismembered, armyless; fleet scattered to all parts of the globe and our forts and arsenals falling into the hands of the enemy; with traitors in all departments and armed foes gathering in mad fury and marching towards Washington. Worse than all this, there were divisions, bickerings and back-bitings all around him and throughout the North. This is a dark picture, replete with imminent peril and full of fearful forebodings. It was enough to crush the hope out of any ordinary spirit.

Lincoln rose to the emergency. The cloud burst upon Fort Sumter. At break of day April 12, 1861, the first gun was fired. Its reverberation sweeps the North, dissipates the clouds of uncertain action, sets in tune the patriotic chord, obliterates party divisions and armies rise as if by magic, to resent the insult to the flag and maintain the union.

The battle is on. The giants Freedom and Slavery have grappled in a struggle to death. The tragedy of the centuries is on the stage, with two million men in the field. The storm has been gathering from the beginning of our government. Our declaration must be made good. Our fathers meant what they said. They built the best they could, but there was one bad stone put in the foundation that must come out. The man at the helm said the government could not stand half free and half slave. This meant volumes.

In the midst of the struggle, when all was dark, when no opening was visible, the voice of public nerve said, Go forward ! There the Red sea stretched its waves, as to the Israelites fleeing from the bondage of Egypt. The modern Moses stood the test. On the 21st of September, 1862, he issued his manifesto, with one hundred days' grace. It passed. Pharaoh remained virulent and defiant. On the ist day of January, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed that set at liberty four million slaves. This great document was afterward sealed by the blood of the signer, mingled with the blood of almost every household and freedom, blessed freedom, real freedom, triumphed all over Christendom. The stain on our Declaration, the rotten stone in the building, are both removed, all men are free, as far as the law of the land is concerned.

This wonderful act marks the climax in our political history to this date. It is the great submerged vital, moral question that has pressed to the front for settlement. All other questions and issues have been mere make beliefs and sidetracks to delude the people and lead the party into power. It has reared its head oft before, but was smoothed down by compromises.

In the work over two generations have lived and died. Political party after party has risen and fallen, afraid to grapple the issue. It was left for the Republican party, alias Free Soil party, alias Liberty party - born in 1840, whose life and soul was the cause of the oppressed - to assume and consummate this great work. The giant and his furious minions go down. All humane thumbs point downward. The great moral principle, the magnetic center of our institutions, is focalized in this one grand, glorious battle - freedom to all men. The principle must be crystalized into law true and certain. Victory came: the price was paid, blood for blood and dollar for dollar, to equipoise what has been drawn from the veins of the slave and the earnings of his toil for over two centuries.

Such had been the potency of the slave power thus far. that it not only dictated to political parties, but it subjugated the press, silenced the pulpit and split the church. In the slave states it was preached as a divine institution; while in the free states, it was of the devil. Theologians from the same school, teaching the same Bible and praying to the same God, yet, how distorted and twisted its application was to slavery in different latitudes and environments ! The cravings for bread, or the love of gold, or public sentiment, or the wholesome fear of the rail or tar, or whip or rope, had a wonderful effect upon doctrine and application of gospel truth in the minds of the ministry upon this branch of sociology.

There were different schools of thinkers in the Xorth against the institution. Some thought it could be removed by education and moral suasion; others thought it could be done by insurrection among the slaves, and still others by political action through the ballot. The first idea developed sentiment in the east, and became incendiary in the south. The second idea collapsed at Harper's Ferry, while the spirit of its fallen hero nerved the armies in the battle. The third idea elected Lincoln, brought on the war, freed the slave and wiped the institution of slavery from the face of the earth.

The War Cloud

As soon as Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, the South began to prepare for war in earnest. The war was inevitable. The first shot was fired on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, and the first call for volunteers was issued April 15th, for seventy-five thousand men for three months. It was not long until the government began to realize the magnitude of the struggle, and issued another call for three hundred thousand men for three years or during the war. Thus call after call was issued. As the war progressed it grew in magnitude until its fury surpassed the wildest expectations of all men. In 1864 calls were issued for over one million men. To all these calls of over two and a half million men, Boone county responded most royally. She stood to the colors in response to the calls, in bravery on the field of battle and in endurance in the march. She was in her place during the entire struggle for the preservation of the nation. She had representative sons on every battlefield and her honor and her loyalty were maintained on throughout the struggle. There were men in the county whose sympathy and loyalty were on the other side of the issue. We can not give a true history of the county without mentioning the fact, that there was enough of this southern sentiment in the county to form an organization. The Knights of the Golden Circle had its adherents in Boone county. They organized ; how many there were enlisted, there was no record came to light. They met and drilled in Harrison township to a considerable extent. There was also some drilling in Jackson township north of Jamestown. There, fortunes went down with the lost cause and no record is in existence and all will be glad to forget and forgive the grave error.

Notwithstanding this cloud in our war history there is an abundant record to prove the loyalty of our fathers, and the scars that they bear and the hardships that they bore, prove beyond doubt their loyalty and bravery.

The long list of braves that we here record prove the record. Doubtless there are other sons of Boone county that enlisted from other sections of the country. There are many veterans among us to this day whose names may not be seen in the record, because they enlisted from some other section of the country. Our records may be very imperfect, but there is a record in which there are no errors and each will receive his merited reward at the great reckoning. We can not become personal in this record or mention the personal bravery of any, but we take pride in the record made for the county, and treasure it up as the true wealth of the history of the county.

Our men and women have been true and brave in the wilderness, in their toil and sacrifice in developing this county and giving to her loyalty and honor. They were true in all the civil duties of life and they were also true and brave in time of war and danger and stood royally to their guns. It is an evidence of our stalwartness for it takes the truest of men to stand in their place in all the walks of life. We would like to mention here that our men are still true to the best interests of the county and the happiness of her people. In the late critical trial of manhood they have stood the test and banished the greatest foe of the human family. It takes as much bravery to fire a civil ballot for the good of mankind as it takes to fire a bullet. All honor to the men of Boone that banished the legal right of King Alcohol to kill and blotch our citizens. We can say now that no man in this county has the legal right to make drunkards of our sons. We are proud of the record of our forefathers in the wilderness ; of our fathers in the civil struggle for the preservation of our liberties ; and of the bravery and consistency of our brothers in their successful fight against the legalized evil of our day. Through these battles there has come to our county a rich heritage that money can not buy. It will be handed down to our posterity to bless future generations, and they will rise up and bless their ancestry for their good deeds.

Memorial Day The Ever Living Dead

Every year, in the full tide of spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and life, there comes a solemn pause, and through the silence the nation hears the lonely pipe of death.

Year after year lovers wandering under the apple boughs and through the clover are surprised with sudden tears as they see black-veiled figures stealing through the morning to a soldier's grave.

Year after year the comrades of the dead follow, with public honor, procession and commemorative flags and funeral march - tribute from us who have inherited a nation's glory to the heroes who gave it.

As surely as this day comes round we are in the presence of the dead. But not all the associations of this day are sad; some of them are triumphant, even joyful.

We seem to hear the funeral march become a pean. Our heroic dead still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death - of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and glory of the spring.

Memorial day may and ought to have a meaning beyond mere honor to the dead. It celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiasm and faith is the condition of acting greatly. To fight out a war men must believe something and want something with all their might. So must they do to carry out anything else to an end worth reaching.

Race calls for its patriotic devotion, no less than war. And, stripped of the direct associations which gave rise to it, this is a day when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national honor and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done and is doing for us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return.

The great French soldier, de Latour d'Auvergne, was the hero of many battles, but remained by his own choice in the ranks. Napoleon gave him a sword and the official title "The First Grenadier of France." When he was killed, the emperor ordered that his heart should be entrusted to his regiment - that his name should be called at every roll call and that his next comrade should answer, "Dead upon the field of honor!" In the keeping of this nation are the hearts of many heroes ; we treasure them in consecrated ground, and when their names are called we answer in flowers, "Dead upon the field of honor."

The National Cemeteries

The nation's dead soldiers are buried in seventy-three cemeteries, as well as in local cemeteries with their kindred. Only twelve of the national cemeteries are in the northern states, the principal of which are Cypress Hill, Finn's Point, New Jersey; Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Mound City, Illinois; Woodlawn, Elmira, New York, which contain the larger numbers. It is impossible to give the number in each cemetery, as the old soldiers are and have been falling away rapidly, and a very great many of them are being added to the graves of their comrades.

The largest resting places of the known and unknown dead soldiers are Arlington, Virginia; Chalmette, Louisiana; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Fredricksburg, Virginia; Jefferson Barracks, Missouri; Little Rock, Arkansas; City Point, Virginia ; Marietta, Georgia ; Memphis, Tennessee ; Nashville, Tennessee; Poplar Grove and Richmond, Virginia; Salisbury, North Carolina; Stone River, Tennessee; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Antietam, Maryland; Winchester, Virginia. Two cemeteries are devoted to the thousands of bodies of the heroes who passed away in the prison pens of Andersonville, Georgia, and Salisbury, North Carolina. A great many bodies buried in the various national cemeteries are those of the unknown dead. Scattered about the country are cemeteries largely filled by soldiers who passed away after years of citizenship; but nearly every local cemetery contains the body of some one or more of the men who took part in the Civil war, and who preferred to lie among their kindred in local cemeteries.

In 1 86 1, when there was a call for troops, Boone county responded promptly with as brave a set of soldiers as ever shouldered muskets. The first company organized in the county was Company I, Tenth Regiment, for three months' service. The commissioned officers were : Captain William C. Kise; first lieutenant, J. W. Perkins; second lieutenant, R. C. Kise.

Company F, Fortieth Regiment was organized October 7, 1861, and mustered out at Texana, Texas, January 23, 1866, after enduring many hardships and engaging in many well fought battles. Their record was a brilliant one and the survivors look back upon it with pride. The officers were : Captain, Elias Neff ; first lieutenant, John H. Dooley ; second lieutenant, James Bragg.

Company A, Tenth Regiment marched under the leadership of Captain Chris Miller, First Lieutenant John E. Naylor, Second Lieutenant Alvin Gray.

Company I, Tenth Indiana Regiment was afterward mustered in August 31, 1 86 1, and during its entire service, the following men served as its commissioned officers: Captains, Isaac C. Elston, Jr., J. W. Ross and James B. Simpson ; first lieutenants, Thomas C. Russell, Randolph Kellogg, James B. Simpson, and A. S. Riskine: second lieutenants, Randolph Kellogg, Henry Groenendyke, E. C. Hornaday and Thomas P. Alexander.

The demand for the surrender of Fort Sumter was made by General Beauregard at 2 o'clock p. m., April 11, 1861, and being promptly declined by Major Anderson, at 4:30 o'clock p. m., April 12th, the bombardment began and continued until April 14, when Major Anderson was permitted to evacuate the fort, which he did by saluting his flag with fifty guns, and marching out with colors flying and drums beating, carrying away all company property.

April 15. President Lincoln made the first call for militia to the number of 75,000, for three months, "to repossess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union." Under the call, 91,816 responded. May 3, another call was made, this time for 500,000. Under the call, there were enlisted 2,175 men for six months, 9,147 for one year, 30,950 for two years, 657,868 for three years.

Under the call of March 14, 1864, for 200,000 men for three years, there were credited to states and territories, including drafted men, 292,193.

The aggregate of all calls for men, reduced to a three year standard, was 3,320,272. During the draft period 86,724 men paid commutation amounting to $300 each for release. This amount was used for bounty money.

The Fire Zouaves raised by Col. E. E. Ellsworth, in New York, were the only regiment enlisting for "the war" with no more definite term of service stated.

The first action between the Union and Confederate troops in the field occurred at Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, June 1, 1861, with the following losses: Union killed, 1 ; wounded, 4; Confederate killed, 1 ; wounded, 14.

The last action between Union forces and Confederates occurred at Columbus, Georgia, April 16, 1865. Union killed, 13; wounded, 53; Confederate loss not recorded.

It will be noticed that nine of the above great battles were fought before the Emancipation Proclamation took effect and in each of them the Union losses in killed exceeded the Confederates except the seven days' battle.

We append here the names of the defenders of the nation that enlisted from Boone county as far as we were able to obtain them. We may have omitted some. A margin will be left at the close of this list so that any name that has been omitted can be inserted.

xcth Infantry - SOth Infantry - Siltli Infantry - 86th Infantry - Slitli Infantry-- 86th Infantry - S6th Infantry - 86th Infantry - 86th Infantry _ with regimen id Lieutenant as First Serg with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen to Co. D. with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen with regimen

Mustered out Died as Seco Mustered ou Mustered out Mustered ou Mustered ou Mustered ou Mustered out Mustered ou Mustered ou Mustered out Transferred Mustered ou Mustered ou Mustered ou Mustered out Mustered ou Mustered out

11th Infantry - 11th Infantry - 11th Infantry-- llthlnfantry - llthlnfantry - 11th Infantry - 11th Infantry - 11th Infantry - 11th Infantry - llthlnfantry - 11th Infantrynth Infantry - i:;:,tli Infantry-. 1 {'.."iih Infantry - 135th Infantry- 135th Infantry- 135th Infantry- 135th Infantry. 135th Infantry- 150th Infantry- 150th Infantry. 150th Infantry. 150th Infantry. 150th Infantry. 150th Infantry- 150th Infantry- 150th Infantry. 86th Infantry - 86th Infantry - 86th Infantry - 86th Infantry--

The Spanisii-Amkkican War

In March, 1898, Commodore Dewey was ordered to assemble the Asiatic squadron at Hong Kong. The order was promptly executed. He soon sailed for Manila. At early dawn, May 1, he entered the bay with his fleet, where Admiral Monte jo lay with a much larger fleet, supported by shore batteries, torpedoes arid mines sufficient to destroy our squadron in a few moments ; yet Dewey sailed in and destroyed every vessel of the Spanish fleet without the loss of a man or injury to a ship. A higher power than Uncle Sam fought the battle of Manila Bay in 1898, was the statement recently made by Admiral George Dewey. He also said :

"And so it was a remarkable battle, for the Spaniards fired twice the number of shots that we did, and we killed and wounded hundreds of the enemy's men, but they did us no damage, except on the cruiser Baltimore, where six men were injured by the explosion of one of that ship's shells. And even at that, all six of those men were right back on duty almost immediately."

'We have only to hark back to the spring of 1898 to recall the masterful influence of the Press in arousing a peaceful nation to war against Spain. Without the sanction, or more correctly speaking, without the active partisan efforts of the newspapers of that period, the war against Spain would never have been declared. There was probably no issue at stake, no demand America might have made upon Spain, even unto indemnity for the loss of the Maine, that could not have been settled by arbitration. Granted that the destruction of the Maine and the consequent loss of human life were directly traceable to the machinations of the Spanish government, in the light of common sense and human reason, what kind of vengeance or satisfaction was there in entering upon a war, which in all of its ramifications has cost more than $1,000,000,000 and the loss of 20,000 lives? And yet we call ourselves a highly civilized, sagacious and Christian people.

At the Nineteenth Universal Peace Congress, Dr. Edoardo Giretti gave utterance to the statement that the Turko-Italian war was first and foremost the fatal result of the system of journalism which prevailed throughout the world, a system whose only object was the excitement of the passions of the crowd. "Our particular duty," he said "is more and more to make war

An agency, a world-wide instrumentality as the press is, which is able to provoke an unnecessary war certainly is potent enough to prevent one. Acting in unison, with high and patriotic purpose, the newspapers and magazines, by systematic and persistent effort, can place the United States in the vanguard of nations ready, anxious and willing to discard the barbarisms of war. They can create a sentiment within twelve months which will force Congress to invite every civilized nation on the globe to become an irrevocable party to an international court that will settle every difference which can possibly arise between nations, including all questions of honor, thereby reduce the armaments of the world to a mere police footing.

Edgar Richeyf, private, Battery G, 3rd Heavy Artillery U. S. A. Alonzo Laughlinf, private, Battery K, 3rd Heavy Artillery U. S. A. George Schulemire, private. Battery K, 3rd Heavy Artillery U. S. A. O. Wynnf, private, Battery L, 160th Indiana Volunteer Infantry U. S. A.

H. E. Newman*, corporal, Company B, 22nd Infantry U. S. A. "Newr man," recognized by the government and papers given to him by government as hauling down first Spanish flag in Cuba.

A Roll Of Honor

Notwithstanding this county did not have an opportunity to send either of the two companies organized for the purpose of fighting Spaniards, our boys rallied to the front in numbers, that, under the circumstances, where no home company was called, was most commendable. Two excellent companies were formed here, one under the captaincy of Arthur R. Brown and one commanded by Captain Loughrun. Much disappointment was expressed when they were not called.

The following are the names and ages of the survivors of the Civil and Spanish-American wars living in Thorntown as determined by a recent enumeration.

All of them were in the Civil war of fifty years ago excepting Homer Patterson and William Terhune, who were soldiers in the Spanish-American war when the Philippines were occupied.

J. P. Henry, George E. Miller and Philip Mella enlisted from Ohio, W. R. Marks from Pennsylvania, W. A. Pearson from Illinois, Calvin Houk from Kentucky and William Hinton from Colorado.

The oldest survivor of the Civil war in the list is C. W. Daugherty in his 90th year; next comes Logan in his 85th; I. S. McLaughlin, H. W. Henderson, John P. Henry and Peter Coffman in their 84th years; then comes Enos W. Gill, 82; J. S. Miller, 81 ; and David Essex, 80. John Templeton, aged 65, is the youngest survivor and next him is Josiah Ranee, 66; then C. W. Johnson and J. A. Ball, 68 ; and David Miller, George E. Miller, W. R. Marks, John Rogers and L. C. Riley, 69. Seventeen are in the 70 list.

The combined years of the list to last birthday totals 2,702. Eliminating the ages of the Spanish-American soldiers, the average of the remaining thirty-five is slightly in excess of 75 years.