Henry County, Indiana - Chapter 2: Governor Morton, Indiana and Henry County in the Ci\il War, 1906

Chapter 2: Governor Morton, Indiana and Henry County in the Ci\il War

An Estimate of Governor Morton - His Birth, Education and Early Career - His Part in the Civil War - Artillery, Cavalry and Infantry Furnished by Indiana in the Civil War - Henry County's Representation in Different Arms of the Service - Henry County's Expenditures FOR War Purposes - Henry County and the Morgan Raid - The Sanitary and Christian Commissions in Henry County - Supporters OF Governor Morton in Henry County - Sherman's March to THE Sea - Period of the Civil War - Historical Sketch of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home, Knightstown.

Indiana's part in the Civil War, taking into consideration its size and population, was second to that of no other State of the Union. This can be accounted for on several grounds, other than the inherent patriotism of its people, but the chief and determining cause was the individuality of Governor Oliver Perry Morton. He seemed to grasp intuitively the gravity of the situation, and that he did not hesitate to act is a matter of history. He was and is the greatest man Indiana has produced. At the breaking out of the war, Morton, the eminent citizen and highest exponent of National patriotism, was pre-eminently the man for the times, and as Indiana's Great War Governor, met and overcame all obstacles. His principles could not be purchased, his energies could not be suppressed and his enthusiasm inspired all ^yho came in contact with him. Intensely loyal, he never ceased his efforts to uphold the Government until peace was again restored and the flag of our country once more the acknowledged emblem of liberty and authority throughout the land. Indefatigable, resourceful, uncompromising, alert, watchful, looking to the care and safety of the soldier in the field and seeking the advice and support of the State's best citizens, keeping watch and ward over affairs at home and strengthening those battling at the front, he was the wise statesman who had ever in view the one purpose, the preservation of the Union. He was quick to respond to every call of the Government and it is because of his wonderful efforts that Indiana's name and fame are today so firmly fixed in the minds of all people. Who can say what might have been the place and condition of Indiana, had any other than Oliver P. Morton been Governor of the State during the Civil War?

On the I2th day of April. 1861, forty five Acars ago, the United States of America was aroused to- a sense of its peril, as the news flashed to the world that Fort Sumter had been fired upon and forced, after a brief conflict, to surrender to the frenzied people of the South who had determined to sever their connection with the rnion and establish for themselves a government whose cornerstone should be slavery. They did not stop to consider the enormity of the step before carrying out their unfortunate intention. They would listen to no compromise and all that they vouchsafed to ask was, "Let us alone."

The election of Abraham Lincoln as President was the signal for onslaught upon the Government by the Confederate forces, at Charleston, South Carolina. They failed to take into consideration the strength of loyal sentiment at the North and to properly estimate the character and latent strength of President Lincoln. The peal of the first gun fired at Fort Sumter penetrated every city, town, village and hamlet throughout the country, evoking such a storm of protest and such a display of patriotism by the people of the North and some portions of the South, as to make it clear that they were united in the sentiment expressed by Andrew Jackson many years before that, "The Union must and shall be preserved."

Following the firing upon Fort Sumter and almost before the sound of the cannon had ceased. Governor Alorton sent to President Lincoln the following message :

This was a grand message from a grand man and the first 01 its kind to reach the head of the nation. In the space of a few hours, almost before the ink was dry on the proclamation of President Lincoln, calling for seventy five thousand volimteers, Indiana's promised ten thousand were in camp at Indiana])olis and ready for the impending conflict.

In this connection, it is important to give something of the early history and character of Oliver P. Morton. He was born August 4, 1823, at Salisbury, Wayne County, Indiana. That little village was then the capital of the county but is now unknown and except for the land whereon it stood is as if it had never existed. The grandfather of Governor Morton at or near the beginning of the Revolutionary War was a resident of New Jersey. The original stock of this family had emigrated from Eng-land to Rhode Island in Colonial days and the family name was originally Throckmorton. The descendants of the Rhode Island settlers moved to New Jersey and the name of Throckmorton is there a wellknown name to this day. The father of Oliver P. ^lorton was born in 1782. Early in life he moved to Ohio and thence to A\'ayne County, Indiana, and was the first to call himself Morton, commonly signing his name James T. Morton. At the age of fourteen years, Oliver P. Morton, destined by Providence to enact a conspicuous part in the history of our country, became a scholar at the Wayne County Seminary, but was not long permitted to pursue his studies. He was apprenticed to his half brother to learn the trade of a hatter at Centreville, which had now become the county seat. He spent four years at this trade. He then took up the study of the law in the office of John S. Newman at Centreville.

In 1845 h^ ^^^s united in marriage with Miss Lucinda Burbank, of Centreville. In 1847 h^ ^v^s admitted to the bar and five years thereafter was appointed Circuit Judge to fill an existing vacancy, Henry County being one of the counties in the circuit over which he presided, but as the term expired very soon thereafter, under the new constitution. Morton left his judicial position and soon thereafter took a course at the Cincinnati Law School. For the next four or five years after leaving the law school, he gave close attention to the practice of the law, meeting with marked success. He was originally a Democrat in politics but on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1854. he left the Democratic party. In 1856 he became the candidate for Governor of the State on the Republican ticket. Though defeated in the contest, he showed such marked strength of character and undoubted ability in his canvass for the office, that he became from this time the acknowledged leader of the Republican party in Indiana. In i860 Henry S. Lane was nominated for Governor and Oliver P. Morton for Lieutenant Governor. Lane and ^lorton had both been candidates before the State convention for the nomination for Governor. Upon the nomination of Lane for that office. ]\Iorton was proposed for Lieutenant Governor but positively declined the nomination and only consented to take it after General Solomon Meredith, afterwards commander of the famous "Iron Brigade." had pointed out to him the probable course of events, the election of Lane to the United States Senate and the consequent promotion of Morton to the Governorship, with an opportunity to make a great record in that office during the war which Meredith was confident was inevitable. Lacking such a friend as Meredith. Morton might have missed this, the opportunity of his life, and without his clear head, undaunted courage and strong hand, the war record of Indiana might have been vastly dififerent. The Legislature met, Henry S. Lane was elected to the Senate, thus serving less than one month as Governor, and Morton became the ""Great War Governor." From this time to the close of the war. all is incessant activity. Governor ^lorton's proclamation, calling for six regiments of the ""loyal and patriotic men of Indiana to assemble and organize themselves into military companies and forthwith report to the Adjutant General in order that they might be speedily mustered into the service of the United States," was answered in a manner to cheer the loyal citizens of the State and arouse intense enthusiasm. Twenty four hours after the appearance of the proclamation, more than five hundred men were in camp at Indianapolis and in less than a week, over twelve thousand volunteers, three times the number required under the quota allotted to Indiana, had tendered their services to the State and Nation.

Officials at Washington, who afterwards went with their seceding States, had managed to place the bulk of war material belonging to the L^nited States, south of "Mason and Dixon's line." For this reason the Government was unable to supply the volunteers with arms. Governor ^Morton met this difficulty by sending an authorized agent East to purchase the necessary arms and supplies. In consequence of the Governor's energy, six regiments of Indiana soldiers were forwarded to \\'est \'irginia. the then seat of war, before the State of Ohio had placed a single volunteer regiment in the field. This is but an instance of the work performed throughout the war by Morton. He was in deadly earnest touching the magnitude of the conflict and with untiring energy bent his whole

Governor Morton and the Indiana soldier went hand in hand. What is said of one applies equally to the other. Admiral Foote wrote : "Governor Morton furnished me the powder with which my fleet took Fort Henr}'. He is our mainstay in the West." Secretary Stanton said : "No Governor rendered such services or displayed such courage or more ability in administration." He was the guardian angel of Kentucky. Just after the battle of Richmond in that State, which resulted in the defeat of the Federal forces but checked the advance of the Confederates, General Jeremiah T. Boyle, a Kentuckian, in an official dispatch to President Lincoln, stated : "Our troops, especially the Indianians, foug-ht with the courage and gallantry of veterans. If Ohio and Illinois had supported Indiana and sent their troops on, the issue of the battle would have been different. Indiana has sent to this State since I have been in command here, over twenty thousand men."

When General Braxton Bragg invaded Kentucky and General E. Kirby Smith moved against Cincinnati, appeals for troops were sent to Governor Morton and met with prompt response. He went to Cincinnati in person with two regiments of infantry, twenty four pieces of artillery, thirty one thousand rounds of artillery ammunition and three million three hundred and sixty five thousand musket cartridges, the whole output of the arsenal at Indianapolis. George D. Prentiss, then editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, referring to this, wrote : "He (Morton) has been emphatically Kentucky's guardian spirit from the very commencement of the dangers that threatened her existence. Kentucky and the whole country owe to him and to the Indiana soldiers a large debt of gratitude. O, that all public functionaries of the country were as vigilant, as clear-sighted, as energetic, as fearless, as chivalrous as he."

In all that has been thus far said the reader will note that very much of it is devoted to the life and history of Governor ]Morton. This cannot well be avoided. What he did is so closely interwoven with the acts of Indiana's soldiers that it is impossible to speak or write of the one without including the other. Moreover, in a manner, Morton was for a period of his life, a part of Henry County history. He was recognized as one of the ablest lawyers of Eastern Indiana. His home was at Centreville, Wayne County, but he was often seen as a practitioner before the Henry County Courts and was well known personally throughout the county.

The State of Indiana, under the several calls for volunteers, furnished the Government 208,367 officers and m.en, which number reduced to a three years' basis was equal to 153.576 men for three years. These volunteers were divided into twenty six batteries of light artillery, thirteen regiments of cavalry, one hundred and twenty six regiments of infantry and sixteen companies of infantry not assigned to regiments. The Twenty First Infantry, after serving three years, was re-organized in the field as the First Heavy Artillery. The batteries were numbered from one to twenty six inclusive. The cavalry regiments were numbered twice, first as cavalry regiments from one to thirteen inclusive, and again in numerical sequence with the infantry regiments. Thus the Second Cavalry would also be the Forty First regiment. The infantr\- regiments were numbered from the Sixth to the One Hundred and Fifty Sixth inckisive. They were so numbered for the reason that Indiana had five regiments of Infantry in the Mexican War, and Governor Morton determined to perpetuate the history of each of them as a separate and distinct organization. Henry County was represented by volunteers, who went direct from the county in thirteen batteries, nine cavalry regiments and sixty six infantry regiments. Taking into consideration the number of soldiers from other counties who have moved into Henry County since the Civil War, the county was represented in sixteen batteries, eleven cavalry regiments and eighty five infantry regiments. The Twenty First Infantry or First Heavy Artillery is classified as infantry only in this computation.

It is a fact well understood that, in proportion to population and wealth, no county in the State did more towards the suppression of the war than Henry County. The instant the first gun was fired, steps were taken to enlist and organize companies that the county might be ready to respond to the first call for troops. Thus it was that New Castle and Middletown, Knightstown and Greensboro, and points along the National Road, organized companies for the three months' service, one company becoming "F" of the Sixth Indiana Infantry and another becoming "B" of the Eighth Indiana Infantry. These two companies were among the first to reach Indianapolis. They arrived at the Capitol City so quickly, in fact, that no provision had been made to receive them, and for several days the Henry County volunteers were entertained at the hotels and other places in the city, until camping grounds could be made ready. In all the subsequent years of the war from 1861 to 1865, at every call for troops, as is shown in these pages, Henry County responded grandly. There was little division of sentiment in the county as to the policy of subduing the Confederacy. The people of all denominations, all professions and all walks of life w^ere apparently as one band of patriots, determined to preserve the Union. There was no hesitation. Men of middle age, young men, boys, all responded to the call of their country with unparalleled enthusiasm.

The Civil War was probably the greatest civic disturbance that ever occurred. It was in a measure to determine whether popular government could be maintained. It was a trial of the privileges of a free country, a free people, a free press and free speech. It was a great war brought to a successful conclusion. It is worth something to have lived and to have been a part of that great struggle.

When it is considered that the population as stated included men, women and children of all ages and that from this number, the county sent to the front on the various calls of the government, the large number of soldiers serving different

Ilie expenditures of the county as a whole and of the several townships of the county for local bounties, for the relief of soldiers' families and for miscellaneous purposes of a military character, raised by taxation during the Civil War, should be of great and abiding interest to the people of the county, and a table of such expenditures has been compiled and is here set forth.

Among the most interesting and exciting events of the war was the invasion of Indiana by the Confederates under General John H. Morgan, with a force of Cavalry, estimated at from five to six thousand men, in July, 1863. It was a wild dash by a daring cavalry leader, but served no purpose except to alarm the ])eople of Southern Indiana. It however called for instant action on the part of Governor Morton, who at once issued a proclamation, calling for volunteers to repel the bold invaders. In response to the call, many men enlisted and were speedily organized into regiments, numbered from the One Hundred and Second to the One Hundred and Fourteenth inclusive. These were known as "Minute Men" and as soon as the object for which their services were needed, had been accomplished, the regiments were mustered out. Of these forces, the two Companies, A and K, of the 105th Regiment; Company C of the 109th and Companies A and B of the iioth Regiment were from Henry County, and mustered a total of four hundred and forty nine officers and men. These regiments were never mustered into the service of the United States but were in the State service for about a week in the first half of July, 1863.

Next to the war itself, the Sanitary Commissions of the different States were of the greatest interest and importance. These Sanitary Commissions originated in Indiana and the Indiana Commission was to a large extent a part of her service in the war. Nothing which had for its object the care and relief of tiie soldier in sickness or in health, was overlooked by the noble men and women who belonged to the sanitary organization. Representatives of the Commission were on everv battlefield to attend to the wants of the Indiana soldier. Thev were everywhere, in tent, and field, and hospital, wherever an Indiana soldier was to be found. The excellence of the Indiana Commission and the esteem in which it was held among the soldiers of other States is shown by this testimony of a correspondent of the New York Tribune, writing December i8, 1862, following the battle of Fredericksburg, who says. "The peculiar and constant attention of the Indiana Sanitary Commission to the troops of that State is a prominent feature. In all our armies, from Kansas to the Potomac, wherever I have met Indiana troops. I have encountered some officer of Indiana going about among them inquiring especially as to their needs, both in camp and hospital, and performing those thousand offices the soldier so often requires. Would that the same tender care could be extended to every man from whatever State, who is fighting the battles of the Republic." What is true of the Army of the Potomac in this respect is also true of the Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Department of the Gulf, in fact wherever there were Indiana soldiers. The labors of the Sanitary Commission were immense in scope and character. ^lore than $600,000 were collected for the work by voluntary contributions in Indiana, and of this amount Henry County contributed her full share. A branch of the Sanitary Commission, known as the "Giristian Commission," was also maintained which distributed among the soldiers. Bibles, tracts and other religious publications and as far as possible ministered to the spiritual welfare of the soldiers. Auxiliary societies of the Sanitary Commission and the Giristian Commission, from the inception of those organizations, were maintained in Henry County until the close of the war. The work of these commissions in Henry County may be taken as typical of the work in other counties of this State and in other States. In this county public meetings were held from time to time in every township and ofiferings, in cash and supplies, solicited for the use of the commissions. Fairs were also held in all the towns and villages of the county to which various articles were contributed to be sold and the proceeds turned over for the use of the commissions. Contributed articles were often sold and then re-donated by the purchaser and sold again to the highest bidder. Instances were not rare of the same article being in this way solcf three or four times. Concerts were held and the proceeds turned over to the commissions. In the Fall and Winter of each year, the ladies, young and old, formed societies to knit socks and mittens for the soldiers, to make bandages for the wounded out of unbleached muslin and to furnish underclothing, blankets and the many other necessities and comforts of the soldier in field and hospital. It became a fad during the war for young ladies to knit a pair of socks or mittens and enclose their names written on a card. In this wav correspondence was invited from which no doubt many marriages resulted.

The Christian Commission invited the bringing in of Bibles and other reading material and at stated times all of the things collected were turned over to the central authority at Indianapolis and distributed through the agents which it maintained in all the camps and hospitals where Indiana soldiers were to be found.

In all great undertakings there must be advisers, men who from their age and experience are capable of giving sound judgment according to the occasion. Not all could go to the war. Governor Morton at the beginning of the crisis called around him such men from various parts of the State, men whom he knew he could rely upon for advice and aid in conducting the affairs of the State.

His greatest confidence was probably given to his associates from Eastern Indiana, men whom he had known all his life and from whom he could expect such help as would be for the public good. Among these were necessarily found the names of well known citizens of Henry County, but where all were so patriotic and contributed so much to the cause of the Union, it might appear invidious to mention some to the apparent exclusion of the others. It would be well nigh impossible to burden the pages of this History with the multitude of names of men and women in every township in Henry County, who are deserving of special mention during the Civil War. Henry County was exceptionally fortunate in the character and capacity of her citizens, who directed the county government during the Civil War. These men were constant in their support of Governor ^Morton and of all measures necessary for recruiting, arming and equipping the soldiers, and the care of their families while at the front. Jehu T. Elliott was on the Circuit bench at the beginning of the war and later in the war became a judge of the Supreme Court. At the general election in i860, Joshua H. Mellett was elected to the State Senate for a term of four years, thus sitting in the regular session convened in January, 1861, the special session convened in April of the same year and the regular session convened in January, 1863. Martin L. Bundy was elected to the lower branch of the Legislature and sat in the first two sessions mentioned. At the general election in 1862 Charles D. Morgan was elected as ]\Iartin L. Bundy's successor, Bundy having entered the army, as appears elsewhere in this History. At the general election in 1864 Milton Peden, who had served three years in the army, was elected as Mellett's successor in the Senate and David W. Chambers, who had served more than three years in the army, was elected as Charles D. Morgan's successor. They both sat in the last war session of the Indiana Legislature which convened in January, 1865. About the close of the session, Milton Peden resigned to re-enter the army as Colonel of the One Hundred and Forty Seventh Indiana. All of the above named, during their legislative service, were active and indefatigable in their support of Governor Morton and the measures calculated to bring renown to the State and success to the L'nion cause.

William Grose was elected Judge of the Common Pleas Court in i860 but upon the breaking out of the war resigned to enter the army as is elsewhere shown. His successor was Elijah B. Martindale, then a citizen of New Castle but subsequently, from 1863, so well known as a citizen of Indianapolis. James S. Ferris and later Thomas Rogers were Auditors; Benjamin Shirk, Clerk; Butler Hubbard, Recorder ; John W. Vance, Sheriff ; Caleb Johnson and later Emsle}' Julian, Treasurer. On the board of county commissioners was ]\Iorris F. Edwards of Wayne, John Minesinger of Prairie, and Elias Phelps of Harrison township. James M. Clements was Surveyor and William ^McDowell, Coroner. Surely, if the above list of well known names is a true index (and it is) of Henry County's citizens, during the dark and troublous days from the surrender of Fort Sumter, April 14, 1 86 1, to the capitulation at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. then the escutcheon of Henry County for that period is. indeed, very bright.

The war is long over. There remains but a small guard of a once powerful army. The line has been broken again and again, until few remain. The ''City of the Silent Dead" claims most of them. Two or three more decades and none will be left to tell the story. The graves of many dot the sward of every Henry

County cemetery. They have crossed over the borderland and are subjects of the Great Commander in whose reahns there is no contention, where all is peace and happiness and where their weary souls are forever at rest.

Sherman's march to the sea was so momentous an achievement that it, in connection with the victories at Franklin and Nashville, precipitated the quick collapse of the Southern Confederacy. In a strictly military sense the march was pregnant with these results :

2. The fall of Vicksburg and the opening of the Mississippi River to the Gulf, causing the father of waters, in the language of Abraham Lincoln, to again flow unvexed to the sea, had detached the Trans-Mississippi Department from the Confederacy during the balance of the war. Sherman's march to the sea again cut the Confederacy in two, separating the States south and west of Georgia from those north, and taking away the most important source of supplies to the Southern armies.

4. It had prodigious moral effect in demonstrating the overwhelming power of the Government, by showing that its armies could march whither they would throughout the country.

Much as has been said about the destruction of Southern property, on Sherman's march, it was, after all, small and inconsequential. The army devoured the crops which had been gathered in a relatively small strip through the State, drove off the cattle, and consumed the pigs and chickens. Outside of this swath the country was left untouched, and inside of it there was very little destruction of real propert}^ Some cotton mills were burned, but not many, and some magazines of Confederate stores. There were few towns on the route, and these were absolutely uninjured, as was the City of Savannah, the largest in the State, which made more in a few months after Sherman's arrival than it had in many years before.

Counting from the surrender of Fort Sumter, April 14, 1861, to the shooting of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, at Ford's Theatre, Washington, District of Columbia, on the night of April 14, 1865, the war lasted four years to a day. Fort Sumter, however, was fired upon April 12, 1861, and Abraham Lincoln did not die until the morning of April 15, 1865. Officially the Government considers the war to have begun January 9, 1861, when the Star of the West, an tmarmed vessel carrying provisions to the relief of Fort Sumter, was fired upon and not allowed to enter Qiarleston Harbor, and to have ended August 12, 1866, when President Andrew Johnson issued his proclamation that all hostilities had ceased. This covers a period of five years, seven months and three davs. So far as actual hostilities are concerned, they began with the firing on

Fort Sumter, as above mentioned, and terminated with the surrender of General Lee's army at Appomattox Court House. Virginia, April 9, 1865. When the news came of this surrender and of the flight of Jefiferson Davis and his cabinet from the Confederate Capital, Richmond, Virginia, it was conceded, by all informed and conservative people, that the war was at an end. There was, however, some desultorv fighting in North Carolina and in the Trans-Mississippi Department after this but it was all preliminary to a complete and final surrender.

Near Knightstown

The site of this institution was known for many years before the war as the "Knightstown Springs," and was visited as a health resort by many. The spot now known as Spring Valley was dotted with tents during the Summer months, and the occupants made a business of drinking the water, bathing in it, and believing themselves greatly benefited. Bath-houses were finally erected, and so well were these patronized that a Mr. Aaron Aldrich built a hotel on the west side of the road and directly above the large spring. This afforded new and substantial conveniences for health seekers, and the place began to enjoy a general reputation.

Rut greater and grander history than all this could make was destined to be written of the "Knightstown Springs." The fame the place then boasted only served to attract the public attention when its healthful location and its springs of pure water were wanted for a higher and nobler purpose.

Early in the Summer of 1865, a meeting was called in the office of Governor Oliver P. Morton to devise ways and means to establish a State Soldiers' Home. About fifty gentlemen responded to the call. At the suggestion of the Governor, a Board of Directors was appointed and incorporated with this end in view. At first the City Hospital Building at Indianapolis was used, but early in 1866 the "Knightstown Springs," with fifty four acres of ground, including the aforesaid hotel and several other buildings, was purchased as a Soldiers' Home. The money to eftect this purchase ($8,500) was raised by private gifts, and many patriotic hearts went in all parts of the State asking for donations. Among these persons may be mentioned Reverend Morrow P. Armstrong and Captain John Hogarth Lozier.

The Directors soon found they could not rely upon voluntary contributions to meet all the necessary expenses, and the property passed into the hands of the State, and was placed under officers appointed by the Legislature.

On the first day of March, 1867, the Home for Disabled Soldiers became one of the institutions of the State, for the maintenance not only of sick and disabled soldiers and seamen, but also of their widows and orphans. It was formally opened June 15, 1867.

Now to return to the meeting in the Governor's office in 1865. One of the patriots attending that meeting was George Merritt, now of Indianapolis. He stood as the first advocate of a home for soldiers' orphans. Before any decision was reached, he addressed the meeting in behalf of the orphans of the soldiers who had given their lives for their country. He related to the meeting some of his experiences during the war, in hospitals and on the battlefields, where it was his privilege and duty to care for the wounded and dying. He pictured to them the one unsatisfied and overmastering anxiety of the dying soldier for his children when he was gone. He declared to the meeting that he had always given assurance in such cases that the country would provide for the children, and to make good that pledge he offered, if the meeting would include the soldiers' orphans in their scheme, to give five thousand dollars ($5,000) for their benefit.

After a long discussion it was thought that to combine the two would be so great an undertaking as to endanger the success of the enterprise, and that it was best to undertake first the Soldiers' Home.

This decision left Mr. IMerritt free to fulfill at least his share of the country's obligation and promises. His wish was that the orphans might be divided into families of ten, each to be given to the care of one woman, to whom a fixed monthly allowance should be given in money, to be expended as, in her judgment, would best promote the welfare of the children. He expected to find these foster mothers among the soldiers' widows and maiden ladies whom the war had left alone, and thus he thought to provide, in a measure, for both classes.

In Miss Susan Fussell he found a woman well qualified and willing to undertake the care of ten orphans in the manner indicated. On the 24th day of November, 1865, she commenced her work in two rooms in the Military Hospital at Indianapolis, with four soldiers' orphans, taken from the Orphans' Asylum of that city.

In a short time she had the full number (ten) from different parts of the State, all without friends to care for them. In April, 1866, ^liss Fussell moved to the "Knightstown Springs," and, with her little family, occupied a little cottage on the hill on the east side of the road (near the present Lincoln Hall), and here we find the first Soldiers' Orphans' Home at this place, while the Soldiers' Home had just been located, by private enterprise, in the hotel on the opposite side of the road.

When the State assumed control of the Home in March, 1867, the Legislature ap])ointed Henry B. Hill, Charles S. Hubbard and William Hannaman, Trustees, and the following classes were admitted to the Home :

The Trustees appointed Dr. M. M. Wishard, long identified with this Home, the first Superintendent. Here, however. Miss Fussell lived for ten years with her charge of ten orphans, independent of the State Home, except that they attended the schools established by the State. They maintained a separate family life wherein they so nearly forgot that they were orphans that they often spoke of the others as "the orphans." Miss Fussell has passed over the river to her rest and reward, but she lived long enough to see most of her children happily married and in homes of their own, all blessing her for the care and helpful influence she had exerted on their young lives.

Mr. Merritt, who is reliable authority for these statements, bears witness "to the faithfulness and unselfishness of that noble band of men and women who, during the time he was an observer of the work, had charge of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home."

In a short time the number of admissions was so great that more room was required, and five acres of ground east of the road and directly opposite the Hotel Home were purchased and a new building erected thereon at a cost of fifty six thousand dollars ($56,000). To this new building the old soldiers were transferred, and the children were left in the hotel.

In 1870, however, the children so far outnumbered the- old soldiers that they exchanged quarters, the children taking the new Home and the soldiers returning to the hotel.

Early on Christmas morning, 1871, the old hotel was burned, and soon thereafter the soldiers were removed to the National 2^Iilitary Home at Dayton, Ohio. This left the orphans in full possession of the Home, until, in 1879, an asylum for feeble-minded children was attached to the institution. This continued until the Legislature of 1887 separated them, sending the feeble-minded (May 17th) to Richmond, leaving the orphans sole possessors of the ground again, which arrangement still continues.

The Home has been twice burned. First, on the 8th of September, 1877, at about eleven o'clock p. m., the building was discovered to be on fire. Although nearly all were sleeping soundly when the alarm was given, those in charge gave themselves so energetically to the work of saving the children that no one was lost. With commendable zeal the Trustees began to build at once, and in Septemb.er, 1878, the new building was again occupied. The second fire occurred on July 21, 1886, at two o'clock p. m. There was no loss of life but the building and most of its contents were consumed. Temporary shelter was immediately provided for the children, making them as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. In September the Trustees rented the Valley House, in Knightstown, and the soldiers' orphans were removed there, while the feeble-minded children were assigned temporarily to the frame building upon the Home grounds.

The cornerstone was laid on the 17th day of November. 1886. and June 28, 1887, the south wing was completed and occupied. The remaining part of the Administration Building was occupied as rapidly as the halls and rooms were finished.

The new school building was completed in January, and on the 6th day of February, 1888, the children took possession. The present Industrial Building was erected in the year 1888. The three cottages on the east side of Cottage Park were built in the year 1889. and the three on the south side were added in the year 1891.

The foregoing sketch of the Home is gathered from different persons yet living, from articles which have appeared from time to time in different parts of the State, and from the annual reports of the Trustees and Superintendents. The purpose has been to present briefly the steps that have been taken in the growth of this institution from the first to the present time - nothing more. Of the loyalty and liberality of our noble State, of the faithful men and women who devoted their best days to service in the Home, history may make little note ; but their praise shall be sung by those who, as soldiers' orphans, inherited the State's special protection and were helped and guided in orphaned childhood by teachers and governesses of the Home.

The author of this history acknowledges himself indebted to Andrew H. Graham. A. M., present Superintendent of the Home, for the information embodied in the foregoing sketch.