Perry County, Indiana - Chapter 25: Progress of War, 1916

As a part of that plan of defense for the entire Indiana-Kentucky border during the winter of 1862-63, which distributed the Fifth Indiana Regiment at various points along the river from Lawrenceburg to Mount Vernon, a detachment of two cavalry companies, numbering two hundred men, commanded by Captain Banta and Captain Soper, landed on December 21 at Cannelton from the steamer Atlantic, pitching their tents temporarily on the parade-ground below town, going later into winter quarters on the Leopold Road northwest of the corporation line.

Appreciating the security from possible attack which their coming afforded, the generous and hospitable women of Cannelton arranged a celebration of New Year's Day, in which a bountiful home-cooked dinner was served at Mozart Hall as the principal feature. Representing the hostesses, a few cordial words of welcome were gracefully spoken by Miss Nancy Vaughan (Mrs. Wright-Abbot) for whom three rousing cheers were given by the boys in blue, before the Rev. William Louis Githens, of St. Luke's Church, asked the Divine blessing on the board of plenty. The weather was particularly fine, and after the ample meal had been discussed, the troops turned out for an exhibition drill and dress parade in compliment to their fair entertainers.

Acknowledgment of further and continued courtesies shown the soldiers was made through the public press more than once, thanking the ladies of Cannelton and vicinity for almost daily visits, baskets of good things, fine wines and other delicacies for the sick un- der care of Surgeons L. J. Bruner and C. C. Hiatt. The discipline maintained in camp was excellent throughout, and the orderly conduct of the force reflected high credit upon privates as well as oflEicers.

The same patriotic women continued their relief society, also Mrs. Ebenezer Wilber (Margaret Jackson) being president at this time, extending aid to any and all destitute families of soldiers absent from Perry County in their country's service, so that privation, wherever found, was humanely ministered unto. Liberal contributions were made all over the county, and a special donation of over fifty dollars was subscribed in small amounts by the employes of the sandstone quarries at Hamburg, near Rock Island, through their manager, James Napier, through whom it was transmitted to Mrs. John C. Wade (Jemima Edwards) of the charity committee.

There was little interest otherwise in military matters during the winter, save temporary excitement over news, often contradictory, of successes or reverses at the front, and the occasional visits of soldiers home on furlough. The Fifth Cavalry broke camp March 1, leaving Cannelton for Louisville on board the steamer Big Grey Eagle, one of the best-known mail-packets of the time, whose name distinguished her from a smaller vessel known as the Star Grey Eagle, having a star painted on her wheelhouse, both being side-wheelers in the Louisville and Henderson trade. Not long afterward the Government bought the Big Grey Eagle at a purchase price of $50,000, having already taken over a sister boat of the same line, the Tarascon, for use in southern waters.

The Tarascon attained no little notoriety through several times making the trip between New Orleans and Mobile, a somewhat perilous passage not ordinarily attempted by craft of her build, and her seagoing quality of durability was given ten years' further endurance after the war, when she re-entered her old trade. Besides the historic interest of her military service which made her the favourite packet between Louisville and Henderson, a whistle exceptionally musical in tone peculiarly identified and endeared her to every one along the coast, so that from the youngest to the oldest none failed to recognize the Tarascon's whistle at any hour of day or night. It had originally belonged to a small sidewheel packet of an opposing line, and the circumstances attending its change of ownership after the sinking of the rival steamer Eugene were regarded among river men as open to criticism. Whether or not the title in fee-simple was ever clearly defined, possession remained nine points of the law, and the whistle was for a short while on the Hettie Gilmore before transferred to the Tarascon.

When the gallant old Tarascon went to the bank for dismantling in the summer of 1877, the familiar sweet whistle was placed on her successor, the James Guthrie, whose maiden trip in the same trade was made on Christmas Day of that year. After a dozen years of use, the whistle was transferred to a new sternwheel boat, the Tell City, and in 1915 was once more placed upon a second, though smaller, Tarascon perpetuating a name honoured in the story of Ohio River navigation.

Among the homecoming soldiers, all, whether officer or private, received a heartfelt and royal welcome, and when their furloughs had expired were warmly bidden God-speed on their return to the field. Some of the fallen - Corporal Adam Schmuck, from Pittsburg Landing; Sergeant Samuel Wilde, from Murfreesboro; and Captain Joseph Rudd Key, from Perryville - had already been brought home amid silence broken only by "the muffled drums' sad roll" and laid down to their last, long rest -

An event, however, wherein the pride of patriotism dominated the pathos of pain, took place May 13, 1863, at Cannelton, a formal sword presentation, on behalf of the ladies of Perry County, to Adjutant Thomas James de la Hunt, of the Twenty-sixth, who had been wounded four times in the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, December 7, 1862.

After being shot from his horse. Adjutant de la Hunt fought on foot with heroic gallantry, only when too weak from loss of blood to stand creeping aside for shelter from the evening damp and the chill of death, under a haystack whence he watched what he believed to be his life's last sunset; in his heart the prayer of Daniel Webster, that he might "not see * * * the broken and dishououred fragments of a once-glorious Union." Two Confederates passing by in retreat took his sword, leaving him to die after his sole remark, "Gentlemen, you have the advantage of me," and it was past midnight when flickering lantern light revealed him, half-conscious, to those who had come in search of their beloved officer's body. Following a hundred days in hospital at Springfield, Missouri, he was able to return with shattered right arm to Cannelton, and the admiring women of his adopted county at once determined to make up to him the loss of that sword sacrificed at such cost upon their country's altar.

Mozart Hall, already the scene of so many memorable events in Cannelton's social no less than political history, was decorated with flags and flowers by the ladies, and after an overture from the fine band conducted by Nicholas Vollman, Samuel K. Connor as chairman introduced to the large assembly the eloquent Jacob B. Maynard, who fairly surpassed himself in the felicitous brilliancy of his tribute to "The Ladies":

"We have heard much said of woman's rights, her right to vote, her right to hold office ; these and kindred rights have elicited warm discussions, but woman's right to be an angel has never been disputed. In the shining sphere of charity and tenderness she has no rival and must continue to sway her charmed sceptre so long as the world is capable of appreciating the noblest sacrifices, the tenderest sympathy and the purest benevolence that the human heart is capable of exhibiting.

"In the march of events, it may not be woman's prerogative to occupy the central position upon the canvas where History is painting its heroes, but without the delicate shading of her tenderness, the brilliancy of her genius, the sublimity of her fortitude, the devotion of her love, and the mellowing influence of her saintly presence, history would be shorn of its mightiest hold upon the minds of men. And at no time in the world's history has woman's influence been more prominently displayed than during the struggle through which our country is now passing. The patriotism of the mothers, wives and sisters of America in giving their sons, husbands and brothers, without a murmur, is a theme for the most gifted intellect, the most gorgeous fancy, the most fervid imagination, and to do it justice would exhaust the English language to its last letter. They liave not only given these, but when the lightning has flashed the tidings of carnage and of death, they have stood ready by hundreds and thousands to make every sacrifice and endure every privation to alleviate the suffering, to comfort and console the dying patriot soldier.

the sons of Indiana have been for distinguished heroism. Indiana! The name of our gallant State sends a thrill of patriotic pride through every loyal heart in the land. Indiana ! No star in the beaming constellation is more luminous. Indiana! Every footprint made by her noble army is a waymark on the road to victory. And the ladies of Indiana are treasuring up these noble deeds of her heroes, and will, as opportunity offers, make appropriate acknowledgment and pay a fitting tribute.

"It has been said that Republics are ungrateful, permitting benefactors of the State to linger in forgetfulness and sink into oblivion. I shall not discuss that point now, but one thing I am sure of, the Ladies of Cannelton and of Perry County are neither ungrateful nor forgetful. They remember and appreciate the bravery of those who entered the army from Perry County. Their prayers follow them to the battle-field. That they are honoured when they return, this bright array tonight would satisfy all, but that it may now be more fully demonstrated, allow me to introduce the Reverend Mr. Githens."

Some further music preceded the remarks made by the Rev. William Louis Githens, of St. Luke's Church, in delivering to Adjutant de la Hunt the elaborately wrought sword, with jeweled hilt, upon its scabbard a silver shield bearing the inscription :

One side of the blade showed the engraved date of the battle, "December 7, 1862"; the reverse, its scene, "Prairie Grove, Arkansas." The same affectionate spirit which characterized the reverend speaker's pul- pit utterances displayed itself in a touching reference to the Adjutant's wounded right arm, and "the hand, now so helpless, which often seized the pen and wrote for our entertainment here at home such interesting descriptive letters, scenes of the battle-field and camp, of marches and soldiers' duties." "May you live," he said in conclusion, "to see the banner under which you fought, unfurled to the breeze, floating over our common country - united, happy, prosperous, peaceful - 'the land of the free and the home of the brave.' "

Adjutant de la Hunt's modest words in accepting the token, sought to share its honour with all his gallant comrades of the Twenty-sixth, many of whom slept in glorious but nameless graves all the way from the banks of the turbulent Missouri to the ensanguined slopes of Prairie Grove ; and expressed the difficulty of separating an individual's personal courage from that caught through the grandeur of a supreme moment, or the sublime enthusiasm of companionship.

"But whether in the field or by the fireside, this gift I shall ever hold as my dearest treasure, "spoke the Adjutant, "bequeathing it when I die, as my richest inheritance, to my truest, warmest patriot friend, with the solemn injunction that in the hour of his country's need this sword must leap from its scabbard, to flash in the sunshine and strike - for the unity, the glory and the honour of the United States of America." At the glowing climax of these words the band struck up "The Star Spangled Banner," amid great applause, and an hour of social conversation, diversified by popular songs, brought to its close an evening like no other witnessed in Cannelton.

Adjutant (later Major) de la Hunt was one of those Indiana Democrats who were true as steel to the national government, standing side by side with Republicans in the front of battle wherever the fight was deadliest, vying with each other in valourous charge of every forlorn hope. Looking backward, it can today be seen that patriotism was of the people, irre- spective of party lines; and since the country rested then, as now, upon the people, not upon any party, so by the people was it saved in its hour of greatest peril.

"Indiana knows no North no South, nothing but the Union" - that matchless sentiment chiseled into the limestone block which was her state contribution to the Washington Monument, and marvellously forecasting the course of development which has kept for a generation the national centre of population within her borders, was never more true than during the War Between the States, although local politics had been urged to the bitterest extreme before Fort Sumter fell, and in the senseless heat of partisan argument many things were said which could be, and which were, construed to mean much more than was intended.

Thus, the famous Sixth Resolution, adopted at Cannelton on New Year's Day, 1861, led to the resignation, by request, of Major John James Key, a lofty patriot, commissioned by President Lincoln but forced out under pressure, because - forsooth - he had been present at the convention and had moved that a committee (of which he was never a member) be appointed to frame resolutions of whose tenor he, like everyone else, was necessarily in complete ignorance until they were offered by such committee before the meeting for consideration.

Whatever the actual facts, there was sure to be unlimited exaggeration of their extent and nature, for in a political campaign is invariably a season of misrepresentation ; so, with excitement at its height, stump speakers wrangling in every county, acrimonious debates raging in the national Congress and state Legislatures, the lust for office spurring on candidates to use any means to secure votes, there is no cause for surprise in a widespread belief that popular support of the war was a proposition of extreme doubt in Indiana especially in the Southern counties. It has been practically settled that an organization existed, first known as "Knights of the Golden Circle" and afterwards as

"Sons of Liberty," whose object was some sort of opposition toward prosecuting the war for the preservation of the Union, and Perry County had more than one citizen at whose door was laid the charge of membership in such a society.

The divided sentiment among her own people had made Kentucky, during the earlier period of the struggle a scene of fierce and bloody local strife, so that she could not be reckoned upon by either of the great contending parties. With this fight to the death going on just across the Ohio, with the battle front between the Union and the Confederacy extending from Virginia to Missouri, with a sense of uncertainty harassing every one, with political schemers using their breath to fan the spark of discontent over the conscription into an open flame of rebellion, the strain of highest tension was undeniably reached at this period, yet the "silver cord" was not "loosed" and the "golden bowl" was not "broken."

"Copperhead" and "Butternut" were names first applied to persons regarded as directly or indirectly favourable to the South's cause, but later stood for all who opposed the Republican administration upon any ground. With all the personal faults attributed to Indiana's great "War Governor," Oliver Perry Morton was a patriot true, an executive of inflexible firmness, and made himself magically the master of circumstances. Realizing the necessity for exciting the war spirit to its highest pitch, and thinking he saw at the same time an opportunity for crushing the Democratic party, he did not hesitate to accuse his political opponents of treason outright, so that by his standard of measurement whoever differed from him in political understanding was a Butternut, a Copperhead, a traitor to the country.

This Draconian attitude was merely assumed in the vital exigency which the situation then presented. Governor Morton's earliest message, April 25, 1861, voiced the noblest of sentiment toward Kentucky as a sister state, appealing to her "by the ties of common kindred and history, and by community of interests." Nor can it be denied, notwithstanding the violence of individual antagonism and the hostile demonstrations coming from both sides, that the relations of the best element in the two states existed upon a basis of mutual esteem. No other two of the border States had been bound together by links of such peculiar intimacy for more than two generations. With fraternal devotion, born as joint-heirs of a Virginian heritage, Kentuckians had poured across the Ohio into Indiana forests to protect her scattered trading-posts and punish the devastating Indians tormenting her pioneers, through all the years from Fort Sackville to Tippecanoe. And since so, with the passing years, business connections became closer, constant trade more valuable, and intermarriages strengthened all with happier ties of family kinship.

Upon the invitation of Governor Joseph A. Wright, Governor Thomas L. Crittenden, of Kentucky, became Indiana's guest at Indianapolis in 1854 for the interchange of hospitality of the purest friendly character, crowning with official recognition the entente cordiale of the two commonwealths. A striking historic event, this visit was shortly followed by a return, in which Kentucky generosity and liberality gracefully completed what the gratitude and respect of Indiana had so happily begun.

So, in every conflict and military movement of the War Between the States throughout Kentucky, Indiana troops were foremost. Their patriotic blood was cheerfully shed among the first to stain anew the soil of the erst "Dark and Bloody Ground" which had sent so many gallant defenders to protect the infancy of the Hoosier State. And for more than a year Indiana in no small degree maintained toward her elder sister state that guardianship which had so long and affectionately cherished her own feeble childhood. Whether or not the indebtedness was fully discharged, nothing was omitted that traditional regard and earnest sense of duty could perform in appreciative acknowledgment of an admitted obligation.