Vigo County, Indiana - Chapter 20: Terre Haute in Three Wars, and Soldiers, Sailors, 1908

Among the early settlers, the farmers, traders and professional men, were some bold and daring spirits who had fought in the field or sailed on the sea. brave soldiers and sailor men. A few survivors of the Revolution and some soldiers and officers of the war of 1812 appear among the first settlers - General Allen, Major Markle, Captain Stringham, Colonel Eleazer Paddock, etc.

The pioneers of 1820 were about as far from the Revolutionary war as we are from the Civil war. Consequently, it was too late for such patriots to leave their home for the new west, unless they accompanied sons and daughters. For this reason largely, there are few Revolutionary soldiers who became residents of Vigo county.

William Thomas, who has descendants still in this county, was a resident of Vigo county in 1820, and applied for a pension on the ground that he had fought in the Revolution at the battles of Trenton, Germantcwn and Brandywine. He received a discharge from county and state taxes as a Revolutionary soldier in 1826, the exemption being signed by Henry Allen.

A large silver medal struck off for the heroes of Perry's victory in 1813 on Lake Erie, in the possession of Mrs. Perry S. Westfall, is the memento of her father, Landon Cochran, one of the early settlers of Terre Haute. He was a gunsmith, and at one time associated with Henry Fairbanks. He was rewarded for bravery in the battle after which Perry sent the famous dispatch, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," and also served in the Mexican war as captain of the Fort Harrison Guards, receiving his commission from Governor James Whitcomb (which is now in the possession of George Hebb) in 1847, 'irif^ receiving after the war a warrant for 160 acres of land in Iowa, signed by Millard

Fillmore. His son George, also a gunsmith of Terre Haute (shop on Fourth, near the Cincinnati House), likewise served in the Mexican war. This record of a Fort Harrison Guard serving in the Mexican war is interesting. It was the forerunner of the other Fort Harrison Guard which was first to volunteer from this county in 1861. Another son of Landon Cochran was a soldier. He was in Texas when the war broke out, and was ordered to leave as an offensive northerner. He lined a buckskin belt with $1,000 in gold, strapped it around him, and started for New Orleans on horseback in company with another man. As they rode along something impelled him to look liehind, and he saw his companion had a gun leveled at him. After that he rode behind. He entered New Orleans through Butler's lines, and raising a company went to the field. (The belt, without the gold lining, is in the possession of George Hebb.)

Another soldier of the war of 181 2 was Stephen Grover Burnett, of Nevins township, who made a good citizen of this county. He was born in Essex county. New Jersey, and made the journev to Vigo countv in 1821, most of the way by pirogue.

Captain Philip Kearny raised over thirty dragoons in and about Terre Haute. They were mounted on beautiful gray horses, bought in this vicinity. The rest of the company was raised at Rockville, Covington, and some in Illinois. Kearny lost his left arm in battle, which gave him the chance when a major general-in the Civil war to say to GeneraJ Howard, who also had lost an arm, the right, "General, we should buy otir gloves together."

The building occupied by the recruits for the Mexican war as a barracks was a two-story frame building on the southeast corner of Main and Fourth, their quarters being upstairs, which was reached by a stairway on Fourth street. Several of the boys of the town, among whom was George A. Bettcher (now a resident of St. Joseph county), used to stand on the old Spinning Wheel corner (northeast Main and Fourth) and wait for the lieutenant (Kearny) to march them down on the street for drill. The lieutenant would take them down Main street to the open ground just back of the Congregational churcli. and the boys would follow on after them to see the drilling.

The Fort Harrison Guards left Terre Haute for Fort Clark, on the Ohio river, to join the Fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, June 5, 1847. They were given a free dinner at the hotels of the city, and departed for the place of rendezvous in wagons voluntarily offered for their use by the farmers of the neighboring country. The roll of the company, which comprised a fine class of young men of good families of this and neighboring counties, was as follows :

New Mexico. In marching from Santa Fe to Chihuahua, during which the expedition suffered much for water, some of the halting places being forty-five and sixty-five miles apart, there were three battles, Brazito, Sacramento and El Paso, the first occurring on Christmas day, 1846. The Mexicans had 1,250 men and one gun. The Americans were 450 and without artillery, but they routed the Mexicans and captured their gun. El Paso was a mere skirmish with Comanche Indians. The battle of Sacramento, lasting about three hours, was very severe, 900 Americans being pitted against 4,000 Mexicans, the latter eventually suffering defeat with loss of many men and supplies. It was not strange (as Carter wrote) that a Mexican officer at Sacramento cried : "Lost ! Lost ! These are lions and tigers, not men !" Whether Carter and other Indiana men joined Doniphan at Santa Fe is not certain.

After the political campaign of. i860 had resulted in the beginning of the secession movement, and defiance and practical challenge to war marked the attitude of the south, one of the first places in the north to realize the national crisis and begin active preparation for the inevitable conflict was Terre Haute. Two companies of her militia, the Fort Harrison and the Vigo County Guards, stopped their fancy drills and sham battles, and fixed their gaze on the revolting south, till their boy-features grew serious and resolute with courage of brave men. The Fort Harrison Guard was commanded by Captain Ogden C. Wood. Forming his company in two ranks, he stated to them the object of their meeting and commanded : "All in favor of offering Governor Lane our services should the president call for troops step two paces to the front." Every man in the company but one promptly stepped to the front, and immediately the tender of their services was sent to the governor. Only a few hours later the A^igo County Guard, commanded by Captain Jabez Smith, had, to a man, in like manner tendered their services.

This was in January, between the lOth and 15th, 1861, and it is believed their tender of service was the first made of volunteers to save the Union. They were enlisted in the Eleventh Regiment, Indiana Infantry, under General Lew Wallace.

The following are lists of the members of those guards who enlisted in the Eleventh Indiana (living at the time of the national reunion in 1907):

W. Davis, Colonel William H. Fairbanks, Samuel C. Lockman, Colonel Isaac L. Mahan, past department commander. Wisconsin Grand Army of the Republic.

Company D, Eleventh Indiana \'olunteer Infantry; commanded by Captain Jabez Smith, deceased. Now living: Joseph McChesney, Lawrence Burget,. Levi G. Benson, Frank M. Blything, Jacob H. Huber, Joseph McKinney and Daniel B. Reed, of Terre Haute ; John A. Wilkins, Prairieton. and John W. Robinson, Danville Soldiers" Home.

On the departure of Lew Wallace's Eleventh Indiana for the front, the Express said : "The scene at our depot on the arrival and departure of the Zouave regiment on Thursday evening was exciting and impressive in the extreme. As the passenger trains bearing the brave soldiers ran up to the station, they were welcomed by the booming of cannon and shouts of the assembled multitude. The two companies from our city were permitted to leave the cars and spend an hour with their relatives and friends. * * * Many affecting scenes occurred, and yet every one seemed to feel proud of an interest in the gallant regiment."

The news of the assault upon Fort Sumter fell like a bomb upon Terre Haute, causing intense agitation and excitement. One of the first demonstrations to express the Union sentiment was the action of twenty young men representing both Republican and Democratic politics, who published a letter inviting Colonel Thompson to make a speech at the old city school at Fourth and Mulberry. The colonel accepted, the hall was crowded, and the orator spoke for four hours, - another example of the fascination exercised by this speaker, who never spoke too often nor too long to draw a large audience, and hold it until the end of his usually long speeches. This was a war speech, and added to the enthusiasm which impelled so many Vigo county men to volunteer their services for the country. Lyman Abbott, from his pulpit the first Sunday after the fall of Sumter, proclaimed the necessity of instant, earnest and vigorous war.

Isaac M. Brown claimed the honor of being the first three years' volunteer from Vigo county. The call was issued before the time of the three months" men was finished. A public meeting was held in the old court house to consider raising of recruits for the three-year service, at which Mr. Brown was chairman. Colonel Thomas H. Nelson made a fine speech and Captain Potter, James Hook and others followed with talks intended to rouse the enthusiasm of the audience. Then a call was made for volunteers. While all were waiting for some one to begin Brown slipped from the chairman's place and signed the paper, the first of a large number of gallant men who left \'igo county to go through the war.

The Fourteenth Regiment was organized June 7. 1861. 1,134 strong, and was dispatched to West \'irginia July 4, 1861, and was in several fights on or around Cheat Mountain, where it passed a terrible winter. It lost seventeen men at Greenbrier, and moved on to Winchester and engaged in battle with Stonewall Jackson's force. The regiment's colonel, Nathaniel Kimball, commanded the Union forces in that engagement. General Shield having been wounded, and achieved the unusual honor of defeating Stonewall Jackson. The Fourteenth was in all the engagements and skirmishes up and down the Shenandoah valley, being known as "Shield's Grangers." It was ordered to Fredericksburg, but immediately returned to assist in repulsing Stonewall Jackson, who had driven General Banks out of the valley. It joined the Army of the Potomac, after the "Seven Days' battle," fought at Turkey Point and was at Antietam, going into the fight with 320 men and twenty-four ofificers, to lose seventeen officers and igo men, killed and wounded. The Fourteenth was next a sufferer at Fredericksburg in the "forlorn hope," where the dead of the Fourteenth lay nearest the confederate works. The regiment, in a brigade rightly called the "stonewall brigade," was at Chancellorsville, and at Gettysburg, where it lost 123 officers and men, killed and wounded ; went to New York to suppress the threatening draft riots and later rejoined the Army of the Potomac, to fight at P.ristoe Station and Mine Run, and to take part in the battles of the Wilderness, Todd's Tavern, Po River. Spottsylvania. Tolopotomy and Cold Harbor, and there the remaining veterans and recruits of this grand old regiment were transferred to the fighting Twentieth Indiana. In the famous charge of the Second Corps at Spottsylvania, the regiment's commander. Colonel John Coons, was killed, and it came under the colonel of the Twentieth.

A splendid silk flag was made for the Fourteenth Regiment, of very rich silk, costing a considerable sum that was donated by citizens. After the war it was exhibited at the storeroom of Marshall & Paddock, torn and tattered in the storms of fourteen hard-contested battles. Three of its bearers had been killed and two others badly wounded.

The F'ourteenth was mustered into service by Colonel Wood of the regular army. An incident which occurred during that ceremony may be interesting to at least a few readers or friends of the principal actors. The companies were drawn up, presenting one of the most magnificent arrays of manhood which ever assembled at the call to arms, the great majority being stalwart and intelligent young men. As the colonel passed along the front of Company I his eye fell upon the almost snowwhite hair of one private in the ranks." "How old are vou ?" "I am forty-

This man was James Oakey, who had at different times been elected county surveyor of Vigo county and city engineer of Terre Haute. An Englishman bv birth and a Democrat in politics he was intensely patriotic and always opposed to slavery, and he had enlisted with all the ardor of a boyish recruit. Fond of hunting he was a crack shot ; fond of horses he was a bold horseman and he was a civil engineer of great ability, so that he was capable of useful service in the army. At Colonel Wood's brusque command he withdrew from the ranks, declaring that he would go with the Fourteenth, if he had to go as a horseboy. He wrote to Colonel Wood, stating his qualifications and the fact that he had in earlier years undergone hardships as a government surveyor, making one tramp of four hundred miles in twelve days. He did not dwell upon the military record of his family, which began with a colonel in Cromwell's army, who died as a regicide, on the accession of Charles H, and was continued by one of his uncles, who was a sailor under Lord Nelson, at Trafalgar, and by another uncle who fought under Wellington at Waterloo. With or without Colonel Wood's consent Mr. Oakey finally was enrolled as a musician, though he did not know one note of music from another, nor could whistle a tune. He was put on the roll of Company I to be near his old friend. Lieutenant John Lindsey, but while Colonel Kimball was colonel, he acted as his clerk and during the arduous campaign at Cheat Mountain,' in West Virginia, he shared the colonel's- tent. He admired Colonel Nathan Kimball intensely for his soldierly qualities, and still more for his personal qualities and humanity. During a great part of the winter and spring months passed on Cheat Mountain the soldiers were either frozen or drenched with rain, and supplies were short. In the colonel's tent was only one pair of extra trousers to be shared by the commander and his clerk, and the rule was that the one who went out and got wet should have the dry trousers. One day during a bitterly cold time, the clerk came into the tent and found Colonel Kimball in tears. In reply to the question what was troubling him, he said: "I am thinking ,of my poor soldiers."

Mr. Oakey, who had become a very earnest member of the Asbury M. E. Chapel before enlistment, during his short service arranged for religious meetings for the soldiers, and Lieutenant Lindsey, who was a very big diamond in the rough, would use his influence at various stations to secure rooms where the meetings of "Uncle Jimmy" could he held. He was at Winchester and Dr. George W. Clippenger, the regimental surgeon, said though he did not see his old friend Oakey he was sure he was on the firing: line with a cun. He went with the Fourteenth to Harrison's landing to reinforce McClellan after tli; Seven Days' Battles, was taken sick and died the day before he was to have received his discharge, to return to the west and take a position on an Iowa railroad as an engineer.

The Thirty-tirst was organized by the late General Charles Cruft, who was its first colonel, and was mustered into the service on September 5, 1861, at Camp ^'igo. which was located on the site of the old fair grounds, on north Seventh street, immediately across from what is now known as Collett park. The Thirty-first had a fighting record unsurpassed by any other Indiana regiment, having participated in such notable engagements as the capture of Fort Donelson. and the battles of Shiloh, Stone River. Perrysville, Kentucky. Chickamauga. Resaca. Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Franklin, Tennessee. The latter battle is claimed by many military authorities to have been the most severe of the entire war. numljer of troops engaged being taken into consideration.

P)Ut one regiment from Indiana lost a greater percentage of men in action than the Thirty-first, the Thirtieth, the difference being but a fraction. Company A of the Thirty-first, commanded by Captain A. C. Ford, had the distinction of losing a greater percentage of men in action than any other company sent from Indiana during the entire rebellion.

General Cruft went out as the colonel of the regiment, but after two battles, Fort Donelson and Shiloh, was promoted to the command of a brigade, and from that arose to the rank of a major general. The Thirty-first was in his brigade during all the time he held the rank of brigade commander, and was under him also as a division commander. The late President Harrison was at one time a brigade commander under General Cruft. and a warm friendship between the men lasted until the latter's death.

Although organized in the immediate vicinity it is said that not many of the 285 survivors are now located here. Among those wdiose names could be recalled at the time of the last reunion (1907) by a former member of the regiment were Colonel W. H. Fairbanks, who went out as a lieutenant, arose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, resigned, and was later commissioned as colonel of the One Hundred Forty-ninth Indiana ; Colonel. C. M. Smith, of the local railway mail service, who was also a lieutenant colonel and resigned to take the command of the One Hundred Fifty-sixth Indiana ; Captain A. C. Ford, of Ford & Hutton ; Captain S. C. Scott, of the local revenue force : George W. Miller, of the postoffice force : William M. Mason, the brick mason : C. E. Alelvin. William Nichols, Sam J. \\'illie, John Clark. John Compton, George Stalnaker,

General Charles Crnft, first colonel of the Thirty-first Regiment Indiana Volunteers, was the only officer from Vigo county to attain the rank of major general during the war of the rebellion, that rank being his by brevet. It was conferred personally upon him by President Lincoln, on the occasion of his visit to Washington in March. 1865, after his delivery to General W. T. Sherman, at Goldsboro. N. C, of the troops composing his provisional division of the Army of the Cumberland.

General Cruft was assigned to command the Twentieth Brigade of the Army of the Ohio after the battle of Shiloh. He subsequently had command of the First Brigade, First Division, Twenty-first Army Corps, of the Army of the Cumberland. His division commander was General John M. Palmer, and the corps commander General Thomas L. Crittendon. Later he commanded the first brigade of the second division of the Fourth Army Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, and was in command of the division during the famous battle above the clouds on Lookout Mountain, under "Fighting Joe" Hooker. He organized and commanded the provisional division which was transferred to Sherman's command, and later assumed control of the District of Etowah, and still later had command of the department of East Tennessee, with headquarters at Greenville.

General Cruft was mustered out at the close of the war with the brevet rank of major general, and returned to this city and resumed the practice of law. again taking up partnership with Colonel John P. Baird. a partnership that was dissolved at the outbreak of the war, wdien both men went to the front in defense of their country. General Cruft continued the practice of his profession here imtil his death, which occurred about Easter, 1883.

The Seventv-first Indiana left Terre Haute August 17, 1862, and went into camp at Richmond, Kentucky, on the 26th. The men at this time had little training, and only a few could go through the manual of arms. But on the 30th thev were fighting valiantly against the attack on Richmond bv General Kirby Smith's forces. The best tribute to the raw but brave soldiers of the Seventy-first came from the enemy. When Isaac M. Brown, sergeant, went to draw rations for his fellow prisoners, he found General Kirby Smith sitting at a desk in a large wholesale grocery house, which the Confederates had taken possession of and were distributing rations from the stock. When General Smith saw Brown's name and regiment on the order, he asked, "How long have you been out?" "About three weeks." "You are correct." affirmed the general, "I know the very day you left Terre Haute. Well. I can say this much for the Seventy-first, they fight like veterans. You had me whipped twice, and I took courage from your pluck, for I knew you were whipped, but you did not realize the fact." After the battle of Richmond, the Seventy-first was returned to Indiana and recruited.

While at Camp IMorton during the fall of 1862 the members of the regiment suffered greatly from measles, and the old St. Charles Hotel was converted into a hospital for the men. The regiment was later quartered at Camp Dick Thompson, where it remained until Christmas day. .A Christmas dinner had been prepared by the women to be served in the camp, but the orders for departure made this impossible, and the dinner was taken to the depot and distributed there, part of this good home cheer being eaten on the spot and part of it stowed away in knapsacks. On Christmas day, 1862, the regiment broke camp and on the 27th was captured by Morgan in Kentucky. ^lorgan directed his forces to destroy a large trestle-work near Aluldraugh's hill. It was found to be guarded by 500 men of the Seventy -first Indiana, protected by earthworks on the hill and stockades at the foot, and two small pieces of artillery that were useless without ammunition. Morgan picked up an entire company on picket duty, but remainder of the regiment retiring to the earthworks and refusing the demand to surrender, kept up a long range fight nearly all day, when they surrendered to superior numbers. The prisoners were allowed to depart for Louisville.

The Forty -third Regiment has a peculiar interest for A igo county since its colonel, W. E. McLean, was so long and prominently a citizen of this county. Mr. McLean published a history of this regiment in 1903. Company D of the regiment was raised in \ igo county, with Wesley W. Morris as captain. The regiment first saw service in Kentucky in 1862, took part in the campaign up and down the Mississippi and in Arkansas. McLean was made colonel of the regiment, on the resignation of Colonel Steele, and was in command of the regiment until it was mustered out in June, 1865. (See sketch of W. E. McLean).

The Eighty-fifth Regiment was organized at Terre Haute in September, 1862. Four companies of Vigo county soldiers were in the regiment, and its history is especially a part of Vigo county history because of the fascinating careers of two of its leaders.

in Kentucky, of Irish descent, he commenced his career as clerk in some of the county offices, and studied law and began practice as partner with W. D. Griswold. In 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the Eightyfifth Indiana Infantry, and was assigned to the brigade that was captured bv General Forrest. .\s prisoner he was confined and suffered many hardships in Libby prison. Ele returned to active service, and while at Franklin, Tennessee, in command of his brigade, occurred the trial and execution of the Confederate spies, Williams and Peter. This was one of the remarkable episodes of the war. Soon after the battle of Stone River, Colonel Williams and Lieutenant Peter, of General Bragg's army, entered the Union lines and presented forged papers from the war department at Washington, authorizing them to inspect the entire department of Ohio and Cumberland, also a forged letter from General Garfield. They reported to Colonel Baird. claiming that they had been surprised by the rebels, and lost all their supplies and being without money asked for a loan. Baird succeeded in raising fifty dollars, and gave that amount to the officers, who then left camp. .-\s they were leaving, however, a Union officer recognized Williams, and overtaking them, on a pretext that Baird had a message for them, led them back to the commanding officer's headquarters. A close inspection of the prisoners revealed the letters C. S. A. on several articles about their person, and though they had at first blustered and threatened when subjected to search, when Baird said, "Gentlemen, this is a very bold game you have been playing," Colonel Williams replied, "Yes, and it came near being a perfect success," after which the spies did not deny their guilt. Williams was a relative of General Lee. The trial was short. Colonel Baird, who would have liked to escape the painful duty before him, wrote to Garfield, "Must I hang them? If you can direct me to send them to be hanged somewhere else, I would like it, but if not, or if I do not hear from you, they will be executed." Garfield replied that if the two spies had been found guilty they should be hanged at once. All pleas and efforts at delay were fruitless, Williams not succeeding in taking all the blame for the affair on his own head, and the plans for execution were carried out. The prisoners were hanged instead of being shot as they had requested. While the troops were drawn up in a square around the tree where the execution was to take place, Peter was overcome at the horror of the scene, but recovered his courage when Williams, in a voice of command, said, "Dry those tears and die like a man," and then clasping Peter in his arms, "Good bye, Peter, let us die like brave men." The scene ended, Baird announced it in the following despatch dated at Franklin, June 9, 1863, to General Garfield, Chief of Staff": "The men have been tried, found guilty, and executed in com- pliance with your order. L am ever yours. - J. P. Baird, Colonel Commanding." On account of ill health Colonel Baird resigned in 1864 and returned to practice in Terre Haute, where, though broken physically and mentally by his war record, he held a high place in the county bar until his death.

Frank Crawford was in Europe at the breaking out of the Civil war. Just out of college, he had gone to visit the home of his forefathers in the north of Ireland and other points in Ireland. He returned to fight in the battles of his country during the second year of the war. entering as lientenant in the Eighty-fifth Indiana, commanded by Colonel John P. Baird, of which he was appointed adjutant. \\'hile the regiment was at Franklin. Tennessee, in the brigade of Gen. John Coburn. the brigade was ordered on a reconnaisance toward Thompson's Station and there came in touch with the Confedarate cavalry commanded by the noted leaders. Forrest, Wheeler and \'an Dorn. It was the cream of the southern cavalry under crack generals. As Major Crawford says, "It would have been better if we had run away, but we had no more sense than to fight. It was our first battle, and we thought it would be shameful to retreat without a fight." The brigade fought all day. but while part of the enemy held it in front the remainder succeeded in surrounding Coburn's brigade and compelled it to surrender. The prisoners were started for Libby, marching for three days through storms and awful roads to Tullohoma, where General Bragg was in command. Here the Union soldiers were relieved of their overcoats before being sent on to Richmond, where a few days later they were driven into the old tobacco warehouse which became famous and infamous as Libby prison. Major Crawford was placed in the third story, in which were confined 275 officers. The prison was then in command of Captain Wirz. who did not here display those qualities which he showed later at Andersonville and which lead to his death on the scaflfold. The prison was foul and swarming with vermin, and in it Major Crawford spent si.x weeks. Cots were provided for some of the officers and the rest slept on the dirty floor. Only quarter rations were served, consisting of bread and corn mush and an occasional scanty portion of meat which often was but bones and skin. The officers were allowed to send out to buy cofifee, for they had not been deprived of their money if they had any on arrival, but the coflfee was a peculiar article, quite innocent of any suspicion of being coffee.

Among Major Crawford's companions in prison were Major Shafter, afterwards commander of the army in Cuba. Colonel Bob Stewart, General Coburn and Colonel Baird. On account of his army and prison acquaintance with Shafter. Major Crawford visited the general while attending the Lawton ceremonial at Indianapolis and heard from the old campaigner the story of his trying and meritorious services at Santiago.

The longest six weeks of his life were those he passed in Libby prison. The men were as cheerful and jovial as possible. To pass the time they would form in fours and sixes and march round the prison hour after hour. They had one pack of cards, which from constant handling, were worn perfectly round. But Crawford caught the prison fever and was sent to the hospital, from which few ever came out alive. I\Ien looked at the cot of a friend in the morning to see if he had raised the blanket from his face : if not, he was dead.

The Fourth of July came to the men of the Eighty-fifth while in Libbv, and that day, all unknown to them, their freedom was being won by Colonel W. E. McLean's Forty-third Indiana away off in Arkansas. For at the battle of Helena. July 4, 1863, Colonel McLean's regiment captured an entire Confederate regiment, and these soldiers with others made a body for which the Confederate were willing to exchange all the prisoners in Libby some months later. The release came on a bright southern day, and Crawford was carried on a stretcher to the cars, but when he arrived at City Point the joy of being free had made him strong enough to walk from the train to the boat.

Alajor Crawford returned to his regiment and followed Sherman to the sea, being in all the great battles down to Atlanta, where he was given the rank of adjutant general on General Ward's staff. He went down the line to Macon, Columbia, Charleston and up into North Carolina. At Raleigh the troops were posted in the grounds of the state insane asylum, which was full of patients, but the nurses and doctors had fled. The waterworks of the asylum had broken down, and the condition of the inmates was frightful. Sherman called for mechanics to repair the water works, and detached nurses to the asylum and took care of the poor lunatics until the southern doctors and nurses returned to their posts. The army passed on, until one day cheering was heard from regiments eight miles away. The clamor spread from regiment to regiment until it reached Crawford and he heard "Lee has surrendered." He was in the line with Sherman's 90,000 soldiers, paraded in the grand review of the Union troops at Washington, and the universal desire of the assembled multitudes was to see Sherman's men who at that time certainly were the finest fighting and marching machine ever seen in this country.

Col. August Willich's German Regiment ( the Thirty-second Indiana) contained a company (Company E) raised in Vigo county. Philip H. Monninger was captain of the company, later succeeded by Edward John. The regiment was in the service from Shiloh through the Georgia campaign, and in the closing events of the war was with Sherman's command in Texas. When the news came to Terre Haute that the Thirtv-second

Regiment (W'illich's German Regiment) was returning from New Orleans, the report stated that the regiment had but nine officers and 133 men. (See sketch of Nicholas Filbeck. )

\'igo was well represented in the artillery arm of the service. All the recruits for the Eighth Indiana Battery were from \'igo county. In the last month of the war it was consolidated with the Seventh Battery, also largely from A igo count)'. Both batteries were organized in December, 1861, and were in service in the armies in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia throughout the war. Some twenty-five men from this county were in the Eighteenth Battery. William B. Rippetoe became first lieutenant and other members of that old Vigo family were represented in the battery.

.\n independent cavalry company was recruited early in 1861 and later became Company I, First Cavalry, Twenty-eighth Regiment. Robert R. Stewart was its first captain, who was afterward lieutenant colonel of the Second Cavalry, and then colonel of the Eleventh Cavalry, his brother, James \V., succeeding' as colonel of the Second. Company I was almost entirely in the Mrginia armies.

Colonel R. R. Stewart, son of the pioneer tavern keeper, Matthew Stewart, enlisted in Captain Philip Kearny's cavalry in the company raised in this city for the Mexican war, at the close of which he was congratulated for his services and bravery by an autograph letter from Polk. He went to California with the gold-seekers and returned about 1858. In the Civil war he was ijromoted from captain to colonel, and his dashing bravery and military exploits won admiration. "Bob" Stewart was a popular man both in camp and as a citizen.

During July and August. 1861, while the Irish Regiment {Thirtyfifth ) was being raised, many citizens of Mgo countv enlisted for that conuuand. .\ugust 21st a large mass meeting of Irishmen was held at the court house. Speeches were made by P. J. Ryan, Judge Claypool, Captain ( .)sborn, W. J. Masterson. Ryan"s speech was one of great power and eloquence. Company B of this regiment was from Vigo county. Its captain, John P. Dufficy, later promoted to major, was killed at Kenesaw Mountain. The regiment served from early in 1862 through the campaigns in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia, and later in Texas, and was not finally mustered out until September, 1865.

Two companies of the Fourth Cavalry, Seventy-second Regiment, were from Mgo county. Company M was officered by Captain Jonas Seeley, first lieutenant, Samuel Dickerson ; second lieutenant, W. H. H. Carpenter. Company H had George H. Purdy, captain, Robert Woodall, first lieutenant : Hardin C. Allen, second lieutenant.

Sir: You will take command ot the troops now on board the cars of the St. L., W. & T. H. R. "r. and proceed with them to Paris, Illinois. The citizens of that place report that they are in danger of an immediate attack from a large body of armed men, who threaten to make a raid upon the town. * * * You will not of course be guilty of any act of aggression, but will furnish to the citizens all proper protection against any acts of lawlessness. If they are attacked you will defend them to the extent of your power.

About noon on the day of the 3d, Captain Thompson received a telegram from Paris stating that citizens demanded troops for protection that night if possible, and it was in response to this that he had wired Governor Morton, who, being ill, referred the matter to Baker, with the result that the above telegraph order was received by Captain Scott at Camp Vigo. Scott took over a hundred men, and the next day telegraphed that from, five to seven hundred rebels were camped about ten miles from Paris and that the town would certainly have been attacked had the troops not arrived. »

One of the most interesting incidents of war times and finest displays of the war spirit which permeated the entire population was the organization in 1862 of the "Silver Grays," for home defense. When it is recalled how near Indiana came to 'being overrun by such rebels as Gen. John .A. Morgan, the organization of these old men was more than a joke or pleasant pastime. The majority of the "Silver Grays" were over sixty years old, and a few were over fifty. The muster roll of the company, which is worth preserving as a list of the fine old men. of Terre Haute and a reminiscence of the rebellion, was as follows: James Hite, captain; John Scott, first lieutenant ; G. G. Boord, second lieutenant ; John B. Ludowici, third lieutenant ; B. M. Harrison, Richard Foster and James Farrington, sergeants ; Jabez Heddon, Samuel Gale, Samuel Call and Michael Byers, corporals. Among the privates were Thomas Robbins, J. A. Pegg, Rev. Thomas P. Gordon, George M. Boyd, J. O. Jones, H. B. Smith, Henry and James Ross, Chauncey Warren, John C. Ross, D. S. Danaldson, R. W. Thompson, R. L. Thompson, Dr. James Bell, J. H. Bilbv, Samuel Paddock, M. W. Sedam, A. H. Lueken, Lucius Ryce and H. D. Milns.

Though drafting, when resorted to did not fall heavily on Vigo county, yet the measure caused great excitement, and it is true that a number went from this and other parts of the country to Canada to escape military service.

The general spirit of the county is better illustrated in an incident related bv the Express in July. 1862. A patriotic and generous citizen, overhearing a mechanic say that if he had Sioo with which to send his wife to New York and make her comfortable he would enlist, promptly gave the mechanic the money, and the next day shook hands with the r^ruit as he was marching out to camp in Captain Topping's company.

On September 8, 1862, Draft Commissioner Hook published the militarv enrollment of the city and county. There were in the county at that date 4.005 enrolled in the militia lists, of these 1.862 being in Harrison township. The volunteers from the county were 1.939. of which 821 were from Harrison township. Out of the total there were 905 exempt from service. 248 in Harrison. Hence there were at the time 2,914 subject to draft in the county, and 1.4S1 in Harrison township.

Talk of conscription became quite general after the call of Lincoln for 300.000 troops in the summer of 1862. notwithstanding that the countrv responded with "We are coming Father Abraham." Indiana's quota at this time was 11.000. The fife and drum were heard almost all day long at the recruiting offices in Terre Haute. One such office was on Main street opposite the square, where Thomas H. Wells and Ed. Hitchcock were recruiting 150 men for a battery. M. D. Topping and A. J. Welch opened a recruiting office in "Tuell's Old Store," J. C. Gifford and Michael Dodson recruited at the old amiory on North Third, and Captain Jabez Smith of the Eleventh Indiana hung out a banner near Fourth antl ^lain.

One of the military rendezvous of Terre Haute was Camp Dick Thompson, on Poplar street, near Thirtieth, on land owned bv Curtis Gilbert. The barracks on it were burned about 1863.

The Union Rifles opened a recruiting office in May, 1864. Ross was captain. Max Wood first lieutenant, and Herman Steele second lieutenant. This company was quickly followed by four others, whose captains were I. L. Mahan. C. \l. Smith. John Bryan and Reiman.

The executive committee of the organization formed in April, 1861, to provide for the relief of families of soldiers and supplying the necessities to the soldiers in the field consisted of H. D. Scott. James Farrington. W. B. Tuell. James Brown, L. G. Warren. ^^'. K. Edwards. E. B. Allen. H. Hulman, W . R. McKeen. They secured an appropriation of $5,000 from the county commissioners, and $1,000 from the city. At that time the city was free from debt with the exception of this amount raised for the war.

When the rehef committee (James Hook, S. H. Potter and B. JNIc- Keen ) made an appeal for assistance to the 1,500 men then enlisted and in the field from Mgo county, the response was very generous. The J. & H. Ross store room, west of the square, was quickly filled with supplies and provisions that would go a long way toward making the soldiers comfortable and furnishing the necessities to the needy families of those who had gone to the war.

In 1863 the officers of the sanitary committee for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers were L. G. Warren, president ; J. O. Jones, searetarv, and G. W. Bement, treasurer.

In April, 1862, Capt. S. H. Potter went south with two tons of supplies for the sick and wounded soldiers of \ igo, donated by the citizens of the county, consisting of luxuries and necessaries, both food and clothing.

After the capture of Fort Donelson a number of rebel prisoners were brought here and quartered at Farrington & Williams' pork house on South First street, a building that was afterward used by the distillery as a bonded warehouse. There were several hundred of these prisoners, principally Tennesseeans. After being paroled a number of them remained here, and it was said that some enlisted in the Union army. Two escaped from the guard, but were recaptured south of the city. A ninnber of them died and their bodies were interred in Woodlawn.

Some idea of prices of provisions during the early part of the war may be obtained from the bids that were offered for contracts to supply food and other necessities to the rebel prisoners, though the prices had not yet reached the full altitude of wartime prices. The contracts for these supplies were awarded March 6, 1862. Bement & Company were to supply : Hard bread at 3J/ cents a pound ; extra flour, $4.50 per hundred; beans, $1.50 bushel; Rio coffee, 21 cents a pound; black tea, 65 cents a pound ; rice, 8 cents a pound ; brown sugar, 10 cents a pound ; molasses, 40 cents a gallon. Farrington & Williams agreed to supply : Mess pork at $12 a barrel; bacon, 5^4 cents a pound; fresh beef, 53^2 cents a pound ; salt, 50 cents a bushel ; potatoes, 56 cents a bushel.

The contents of one shipment of supplies sent by the ladies of Terre Haute and Vigo to camp and hospital (in February, 1862) will show how necessary a co-operation the "folks at home" gave in promoting the cause of the Union. This particular shipment contained 62 pillow cases, 103 shirts, 67 sheets, 49 pairs of socks, 6 feather pillows,

At home the suspense between battles, the jubilation over victory and the gloom after defeat were alternating features of the long war. On Saturday night, August 30, 1862, news was received from the battlefield of the second Bull Run. The dispatches reported federal advantage, the actual issue of the battle not becoming known till later. The city was much e.xcited. The court house bell was rung, and when a great crowd assembled in the square the dispatches were read, the German brass band pla}ed patriotic airs, and after much discouraging news of the last few weeks the people rejoiced in the progress of their armies. But on the same day the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, was fought, resulting in the defeat and capture of the Seventy-first Regiment, containing a large number of Vigo county soldiers. The first news of this disaster was conveyed to Terre Haute in a dispatch to the Express from William H. Fairbanks, saying: "The battle near Richmond yesterday was hotly contested. The enemy was strong and well disciplined. Our men behaved well for new troops. General Cruft had his horse shot under him. and was slightly injured by the fall. Lieutenant Colonel Topping, of the Seventy-first, was killed." As people had been elated on the previous evening, they were now equally disheartened.

During the war each victory was usually celebrated by bonfires. The merchants had occasion to dread these displays, as not an empty box or barrel escaped the quest of the builders of these fires.

One of the incidents of war times in Terre Haute was the attack made by a mob on the office of the Journal, the leading Democratic newspaper. As a contemporary writer said, "No sane man ever doubted Colonel Cookerly's loyalty," but through his advocacy of a peace policy he had brought upon himself and his paper a share of the distrust and partisan hostility that were directed against all who did not uphold the "Union, right or wrong," in those troubled days of strife. The feeling against the Journal culminated on the evening of October 20, 1861, when the commanding officers of the Forty-third Regiment happened to be absent. Some of the boys had had a row at a house in the city the evening before, and on this night several hundred formed in line and marched from camp to attack the house where they had suffered the preceding night. On their way the Journal office attracted their attention, and, bent on indiscriminate violence, they turned aside, and, breaking into the building, threw evervthing that was movable out of the windows.

emptied the cases on the sidewalk, pied all the type, and the press being too heavv to move was broken. From here they continued their work of vengeance at several houses in town. The mob's work threw the town in an uproar, and nonpartisan meetings were held to express indignation at the event and a committee was appointed to investigate, composed of such well-known men as R. W. Thompson, C. Gilbert, Mark and W. H. Stewart, J. R. Cunningham, J. D. Early, L. C. Warren and others. Nothing came of the investigation further than a condemnation of the affair and the expression of sympathy for Cookerly. The citizens raised a purse and the Journal was soon started up again.

Though a Democrat, one of the most patriotic men during the war was Dr. Read, of Terre Haute. Four out of five brothers of the family were in the war. One. Col. S. R. Read, was killed at Murfreesboro, another was in command of a gunboat, and another in command of the Eighth United States Infantry. After eighteen months of service as surgeon of the Twenty-first Indiana Dr. Read returned to Terre Haute and at a public meeting made an elocjuent and impassioned appeal for the Union and deprecated a certain current of sentiment which he found among the citizens. He. said : "I have found since my return a state of public feeling for which I was entirely unprepared, and in my mind it has produced the most painful apprehensions, because I know whither it tends. * * * j f^^d, fellow citizens, the intemperate indulgence of language in regard to the prosecution of the war exceedingly common - I find expressions of praise and commendation toward the Confederates exceedingly common and constant expressions of the doubt of the success of our arms. Such expressions are hurtful and pernicious."

The Union League was an oath-bound organization composed of supporters of the war. organized to counteract the secret societies of southern sympathizers, and to provide for the defense of Union men from secret attacks. There was a secret grip, a system of hailing comrades and making signals of distress in case a member should be in danger while walking or riding about the city or country.

A few more able-bodied men wanted to fill up the Eighth Indiana Battery, now in the field, stationed at Murphreesboro, Tenn. Twenty-five dollars of your bounty and 'one month's pay in advance. Recruits have only one year and a half to serve (etc.) Lieut. J. Vobis.

$100 Bounty. Notice that soldiers discharged because of wounds received in battle should receive the government's bounty of $100 the same as if they had served through the war.

"Pray Uncle Samuel take this note Up to Indiana to Terre Haute; And Postmaster Jones will the favor do To hand it over to Shelby Ballew. I'll frank it on its long, long tramp, For I've nary red or postage stamp."

The last great event of war times in Indiana was the funeral honors paid to Lincoln. The special train which ran from Indianapolis to Richmond to meet the funeral train bore a large number of prominent men of the state. .A.mong those from Terre Haute were Col. R. N. Hudson and Colonel Thompson. Among the guard of honor at the state house were, from Terre Haute : Capt. J. B. Hazen, of the Fourteenth United States Infantry, and Col. W. E. McLean, of the Forty-third Indiana. Colonel Thompson was one of the pallbearers, and Colonel Mc- Lean and Colonel Hudson were marshals at the funeral procession in Indianapolis.

It was on Saturday morning, April 15, 1865, about seven o'clock that the death of Lincoln was announced, and gloom and consternation fell upon the city. Business houses were closed at once, and a public meeting was held during the afternoon on the square, addressed by Colonel Thompson, H. D. Scott and others. A tniion memorial meeting was held at the Congregational church on Si.xth street, and the audience crowded the auditorium. The church was heavily draped in black. Addresses were made by Dr. Abbott and other divines. Dr. Abbott's address was very felicitous, opening with the story of the death at Quebec of General Wolfe, who, when he heard the enemy was flying, said : "I die content" ; even as Lincoln might have spoken, as he died at the close of the great rebellion.

In the room where Frederick A. Ross spent the last few months of his life, looking death in the face so bravely and cheerfully, there hung upon the wall the large buck horns which once adorned his own store. On the antlers were a musket, a knife and a saber, associated with reminiscences of Captain Ross' army life. Though he had all the qualities of a brave and gallant soldier, his service was short, but the way in which he came to take up that short service was greatly to his credit. He had always felt that he owed a duty to his country, and early as i860 began to prepare for it. In i860 he and a dozen others engaged Capt. Mark Hough, who had been in the Mexican war, to drill them. Later, the Union Rifles were organized, in which Mr. Ross became lieutenant and then captain. At that time he was associated with his father and James

Ross in business, and was so situated that he was unable to go to the front, but in the last year of the war he served with the One Hundred and Thirty-third Indiana.

Frederick A. Ross was born in Maine August 5, 1834, son of John C. Ross, a custom house officer and merchant. In 1839 the family home was moved to Oxford, Ohio, where Fred grew up and prepared himself for college. He went east when nineteen to enter Harvard, but wdiile studying at Phillips E.xeter Academy, decided to begin his career as a merchant at once and joined his father at Terre Haute. His father permanently located in Terre Haute in 1847. In 1854 Fred entered the store as partner of his father under the firm name of John C. Ross & , Son. In 1847 the store was moved to Linton corner, the store facing Third street. In 1852 the elder Ross built the room where J. R. Fisher was later located and moved his store there. In i860 James Ross, a brother to Uncle Harry Ross, was taken into partnership and it remained this way until about 1864, when Mayor Ross bought out the other two interests and ran the store himself. He had the first cash desk in his store in Terre Haute and his store was the first one lighted by gas.

Mayor Ross sold out his store to Black & Ash and went to Philadelphia, being there a few years, returning here in 1866 and going into the leather and hardware business with L. A. Burnett. In 1869 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Ross built the building on Fifth street, in which he conducted a wholesale saddle and harness business till 1872, when he sold out to George Kerchoff. Mr. Ross went into the real estate business at this unfortunate time, and the panic of 1873 coming on he lost a handsome competence that he had accumulated.

His only public office was as mayor of Terre Haute, an office he filled for a longer period than any former mayor, and his service was distinguished by remarkable fidelity to his duties and a thorough public spirit.

The Prairie City Guards were organized in 1871, their principal object being to attend parades and funerals of soldiers. A roster of the guards, dated September i, 1871, follows: Captain, John A. Bryan; lieutenants, Oskar Rankin and James O'Mara ; sergeants, William Burnett, James Deagan, Samuel Baker. Andrew Smith and Peter J. Ryan ; corporals, Henry Frey, W. A. Watson. P. J. Bell, James Merriman. H. W. McLean, William Baker, E. W. Heizer and Henry Derickson ; privates, John G. Anderson, Alexander Armstrong, William A. Baker, John W. Bilby, R. H. Brown, W. U. Burns, John Bossom, Charles Beymer, R. Beymer, J. N. Blair, Orenzo Brown, Thomas Canty, J. C. Kolsem, Charles Duddleston, Henry W. Dinkel. H. S. Dinkel, Oscar Denehie, James Eichelberger, G. W. Ethington, John L. Fears, Frank Guinup,

A'igo county should not forget its volunteers for the Spanish-American war of 1898. Before war was declared Col. Ebel had been working to raise a company, and in April Company B's muster roll was complete. The company went to Indianapolis on the 26th. Their departure was the signal for much enthusiasm and display of flags and various patriotic demonstrations in the city. May 9th was Dewey day in Terre Haute. Company B was mustered into the United States service on May 12th. and a few days later was camped at Camp Alger. It remained in the east during the summer, but was not called to active service. It returned to Indianapolis in September, and in November finally returned home. Since then Company B has retained its organization as a military-social body.