Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900A regional history written by Timothy H. Ball . . . .

Source Citation:
Ball, Timothy H. 1900. Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900 or A View of Our Region Through the Nineteenth Century. Chicago, Illinois: Donohue and Henneberry. 570 p.

 

NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900

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CHAPTER XII.

THE WAR RECORD.

From the view given of the political aspects of these counties it is evident that the elements were here, as in all the non-slave-holding states, for energetic action when the first gun should be fired that was on both sides the call to arms. And where had been the larger number of Whigs and of Free Soil Democrats would naturally be the largest Republican majorities and the most complete uprising of the people.

April 12, 1861, that gun was fired that sent the blood flowing more rapidly through the hearts of millions. La Porte was then as now the most populous of our eight county seats, and having so many wealthy and prominent citizens rapid action was taken.

Says a La Porte writer:

"No one who lived in La Porte at the time will ever forget the magnificent uprising of the people on the thirteenth of April, 1861." It was Saturday. A large concourse of citizens gathered in Huntsman Hall to hear the telegraphic dispatches read. Sunday evening another meeting was held in the hall and further dispatches were read, those confirming the worst fears of the citizens in regard to the actual surrender of Fort Sumter." Thus closed with news of war and defeat the first Sabbath of the new American Revolution."

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On Monday the war spirit was rising rapidly. Huntsman Hall was crowded Monday evening. That night the first man volunteered his services for the coming war, "Dan J. Woodward," a prominent Democrat. Meetings continued to be held. Vigorous, patriotic resolutions were adopted, a relief fund for families that might be left destitute was raised, that soon amounted to over four thousand dollars, and soon two companies were ready for marching orders.

On Tuesday when the crowd assembled at the mayor's office and marched to Huntsman Hall, "By request, General Orr bore the Star Spangled Banner." At the hall Tuesday evening Mayor Whitehead presided and John Millikan was secretary. An incident of Wednesday may fittingly be recorded here. A young man ready to enlist, recognizing that his highest duty was to serve God and the next his country, went to the pastor of one of the churches and in the presence of a few friends professed his faith in Christ, was baptized, and immediately joined the company of volunteers enlisting for the war. He would place himself first, outwardly, in the Christian army and then in the Union army, to battle for the right. On Monday, April 15, President Lincoln had issued a call for seventy-five thousand men, and on the same day General Lewis Wallace had issued an order, as Adjutant General, for the organization of the Indiana militia.

Further details cannot here be given in regard to La Porte County, only the statement that a company was organized at Michigan City in time to gain a place in the Ninth Regiment.

At Valparaiso, the next largest county seat, scenes somewhat similar to those in La Porte were wit-

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nessed, the first public meeting having been held at the court house on Monday evening, April 15. Men enlisted, a company was raised that also went into the Ninth Regiment under Colonel Milroy, and was known as Company H. Among those active in promoting enlistments were J. N. Skinner, Dr. R. A. Cameron, who became captain of the first company, M. L. De Motte, J. C. B. Suman, G. A. Pierce, W. Bartholomew, T. G. Lytle, Rev. S. C. Logan, and Rev. Mr. Gurney. These were by no means all of the active and prominent citizens who gave good evidence of their patriotism.

It was supposed that there were, or might be, among those who had been strong Democrats in the former years, some, who were not in favor of the war that was opening, and the following, among other resolutions, was adopted at a public meeting April 18: "That if it is found that there are Secessionists in our midst, we will not encourage violence and bloodshed at home, but we will withdraw from them our social relations, and, if business men, we will not favor them with our patronage." A few such were found in these counties, as in other parts of Indiana, to whom was given, in those years of fearful conflict that followed, the not very complimentary name of Copperheads.

At Crown Point, the next county seat westward, then a small inland town, having no railroad connection with the outer world, depending on the little stage that came from Hobart or Ross for their news, but with a largely Republican and intensely loyal body of citizens, the Charleston gun, when its sound did reach them, aroused them also to speedy action. Enlistments were made with sufficient speed to secure

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about seventy men a place in that Ninth Regiment, which from its war record became known as the "Bloody Ninth." Lake County in 1860 had a population of 9,145, containing about eighteen hundred families. And as near as can be known, some three hundred enlisting in Illinois, one thousand men from Lake County went into the Union army.

South of the Kankakee River, at Rensselaer, men were found ready to respond to the call of the President, and as Newton County, as such, was not organized until April, 1860, those who went as soldiers from Newton would naturally enlist in companies formed in Jasper. No account has as yet been found of war meetings held at Rensselaer or at Monticello or at Winamac, but there were loyal-hearted men and women there, and although in 1860 the entire population of Jasper and Newton, of White, Pulaski, and Starke, did not equal the population of La Porte County alone, it is very certain, without access to the records, that the inhabitants did their part in maintaining the union of the States and upholding the Constitution and putting down secession.

Says Judge Thompson, to whom as good authority it is pleasant to refer: "In the Mexican War our volunteers were few and little ardor or enthusiasm prevailed."

"In 1861, however, under the leadership of Robert H. Milroy, Jasper stepped to the front and furnished three hundred and forty-five blue coat soldiers. The ladies were loyal, too, and donations to hospitals were in order whenever called for. From our volunteers were made generals, colonels, and numerous line officers. In the 9th, 12th, 17th, 48th, and 87th Infantry, and 12th Cavalry, and 4th Artillery our brave boys fought for national unity to a finish."

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Some one has ascertained that the number of men enlisting from Pulaski County was 1,166. The number just given of men enlisting in, Jasper is 345. No exact number has been found for any other county, but from La Porte County the number of men is placed at about 2,600; from Porter County, about 1,200; from Lake County, more than 1,000. Estimating the men from White, Starke, and Newton at 700, and the total amount will be seven thousand men that went as soldiers from North-Western Indiana into the Union army. Rev. Robert Beer, in giving the record of Porter County, says: "The names of Porter County soldiers are found upon the rolls of twenty-nine regiments of infantry, four regiments of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery, which went from this State."

How many from these counties enlisted in Illinois regiments is uncertain. Mr. Beer gives as the result of his study of enrollment reports, honorably discharged 156, died of sickness 106, mustered out 539, thus accounting for 801 from Porter County with no mention of those who were killed in battle.*

Some promotions were the following: Robert H. Milroy, of Rensselaer, at first Colonel of Ninth Regiment, promoted Brigadier General September 3, 1861; promoted Major General November 29, 1862. Gideon C. Moody, also of Rensselaer, promoted Colonel; Joshua Healey, of Rensselaer, promoted Major of the 128th Regiment; William Krimbill, of Crown Point, promoted Major; W. H. Blake, of
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*I am sorry that I have not been able to obtain, in regard to some of the counties, more full reports, but the work of searching through all the volumes of the Adjutant General's report seemed to be too great.

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Michigan City, promoted Colonel, also promoted Lieutenant Colonel; Ivin N. Walker, of Michigan City, promoted Lieutenant Colonel, also of La Porte County, S. C. Gregory, 29th Regiment, promoted Colonel; John C. Walker, 25th Regiment, Colonel; Gilbert Hathaway, 73d Regiment, Colonel, killed at Blount's Farm, Alabama, May 2, 1863; R. P. Dehart, promoted Lieutenant Colonel; Nevill Gleason, 87th Regiment, Brigadier General by brevet, and Jasper Packard, 128th Regiment, Brigadier General by brevet. Soldiers of Porter County promoted: Robert A. Cameron, Colonel, afterward Brigadier General, then Major General by brevet; J. C. B. Suman, Brigadier General by brevet.

Of Lake County, John Wheeler, of 20th Regiment, promoted Colonel. He was killed July 2, 1863, on the battlefield of Gettysburg. Had he lived through that terrific battle, he too might have been Brigadier General by brevet.

Rev. J. M. Whitehead, of La Porte County, was Chaplain of the 15th Regiment, and of Porter County, Rev. J. C. Brown was Chaplain of the 48th Regiment, and Rev. James C. Claypool, of the 12th Cavalry. Of this regiment, William H. Calkins, of Porter, was Major, and Charles Ball, of Lake, performed the duties of Sergeant Major, although properly Lieutenant of Company G. A sketch of his life can be found in "The Lake of the Red Cedars."

To go with the various regiments in which our seven thousand volunteer soldiers were enlisted, over their various battle fields, to see them fall before shot and shell, or die in hospitals, or languish, as many did in Southern war prisons, and to look upon those of them who were permitted to live through the dreadful

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carnage and see the valor which they displayed on so many noted battlefields, belongs to the general history of the State and of the country. And so far as our State is concerned, that history, to some extent, has been already written.


It was not long after the first blood was shed in battle before it was ascertained that there was work for the hands of women as well as suffering and anguish to reach many a woman's heart. And very soon women commenced work. Societies were organized and busy fingers prepared the various articles that became needful in camps and hospitals.

The record for La Porte County is brief, but full of meaning. Thus it reads: "The women were aroused, and all over the county relief societies were organized, and from that time forward during all the months and years of the war, their solemn vigils were kept, and they refused to know relaxation or weariness in their noble work of supplying comforts to diseased and wounded, and suffering men."

No record has been found of the work done by the women of Porter County, but they surely would not be far behind their sisters in other counties.

In Lake County the women became active helpers. A Soldiers' Aid Society was organized in Crown Point in 1861, and still later another was formed with Mrs. J. H. Luther as President, Mrs. B. B. Cheshire and Mrs. J. E. Young Vice Presidents, Mrs. A. M. Martin, Secretary, Mrs. T. H. Ball, Treasurer. At Plum Grove also an Aid Society was organized, Mrs. M. J. Pearce, President, Miss A. J. Albert, Secretary, and Miss M. J. Wheeler, Treasurer. Other societies were organized in different parts of the county, but of these no special record is at hand. These societies

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raised considerable sums of money and sent many articles of convenience and comfort to the soldiers.

And two of the noble-hearted women of Crown Point, Miss Elizabeth Hodson and Mrs. Sarah Robinson, gave their services in these dark years of suffering, to the care of the sick and wounded and dying. Connected with the Christian Commission work they found large employment in the hospitals at Memphis. They both returned to Crown Point, and Miss Hodson afterward was governess at the Soldiers' Orphan Home at Knightstown, Indiana. They both were very noble Christian women, and at home were active in Sunday-school and church work. One was a Baptist, the other a Presbyterian.

The records of the work performed by the noble and patriotic women of Rennselaer, Monticello, and Winamac are not at hand.

REMINISCENCES. NOTES.

This chapter has awakened some personal reminiscences which are placed here in notes:

Note 1. In the years, probably, 1845 and 1846, Colonel Gilbert Hathaway, then a lawyer in La Porte, used to have business in my father's court, the Probate Court of Lake County, and was sometimes a guest at my father's home. One morning I took him down to the south part of the west side of the Red Cedar Lake, where was then a large marsh, to initiate him into the art of shooting sand-hill cranes with my little, unerring Springfield rifle. In those days I was an expert marksman and good hunter. Game was not abundant that morning, but we had the exercise and the hunt.

In 1851 I was a young teacher, in the spring and

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summer, at a fashionable watering place known as Franklin Springs, south of Tuscumbia, near Russellville, in North Alabama. Among these hills and mountains I had the training of some Alabama boys, three of whom were brothers, connected with the family of General Coffee, noted in the Creek War of 1813 and 1814. April 28, 1863, twelve years later, the 73rd Indiana Regiment, the lawyer, Gilbert Hathaway, Colonel, left Tuscumbia as a part of Colonel Straight's Provisional Brigade, "on its hazardous expedition," then "only 1,500 strong," and April 30th, repulsed an attack of 4,000 cavalry under Forrest and Roddy, but a few days later, after that fierce encounter "in the passes of Sand Mountain," pursued by the forces of General Forrest, the brigade having reached what was known as Blount's Farm, on the second day of May, Colonel Hathaway was shot from his horse, an animal upon which that day he ought not to have been seen.

How fifteen hundred men could have been sent through that region with any hope of success seems strange to one who had spent a summer there in 1851, and I imagine that some of those mountain children whom it was then my lot to teach, were active among those who regarded the Northern soldiers as men who must be driven from their valley and mountain homes. Perhaps some of those very boys were present, but boys no longer, when Colonel Hathaway fell. He was warned about appearing on that captured horse, but he liked a fine horse too well. A man stepped out from the Confederate ranks, took a sure aim at the officer on the Southern horse, and fired. He himself never stepped back.

The Southern account of these days of fighting and

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marching is interesting. Says Brewer: "The mountain wall on her northern boundary gave a feeling of security to the people of Blount during the progress of the late war. But the closing day of April, 1863, was signalized by 'the shock of resounding arms' in the direction of Moulton. At dusk on that day, Forrest overtook Straight in the passes of Sand Mountain, and the fight lasted for three hours. The enemy were at length driven back and came hurriedly down the valley into Blount. 'The scene of this prolonged and desperate conflict on the barren mountain heights of North Alabama is remembered by participants who have mingled in the great battles of the war, as one of peculiar, weird grandeur, impossible to paint with words.'"*

The scene is now in Etowa County. "The scenery of this county is as wild as that 'on the bold cliffs of Benevue.' * * * The fall of Black Creek is a romantic spot. The water is precipitated abruptly over a precipice ninety feet in height. * * * One clear May morning, 1863, about noon, the peaceful inhabitants of the vicinity were startled by the galloping of horses, the rattling of sabers, and the hurried glances and excited shouts of armed men. * * * Amazed but curious, the good people flocked to the roadside where passed the dusty and confused columns of the dreadful Yankees. They stopped only long enough to seize the horses of the citizens, and the hindmost passed hurriedly over the bridge. This they fired, and held the wooded heighths beyond to guard the pass while the timbers blazed. A second cavalcade followed the first, but the deep and rapid stream, with
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*Brewer's Alabama, pages 139 and 140.

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sheer and high banks, stopped them. Their leader, stalwart and begrimmed with dust, asked a group of females if there was not a ford near that could be crossed." Let us stop a moment in this account to see who these were, this little group of women. Emma Sansom had that morning just returned from Gadsden to her home. The horse she rode had hardly been stripped of the saddle when the advance of Straight's command came up and seized him. Her mother, however, assisted by Miss Emma, was holding on to the beast, amid a torrent of threats, when a federal officer ordered his men to release him. "The war-worn pageant passed her home, Forrest reached the spot," and now we return to the time when we left him inquiring for a ford. He was told that there was a ford. "He then asked if there was a man about who could guide him to it. 'There is not, but I can,' said the young maiden. So not waiting for her own horse to be re-saddled, she mounted behind him and guided them to the ford, about a mile above the bridge. This also they found guarded." "A volley of musketry whistled over them." They dismounted and Forrest descended a ravine "to reconnoiter the ford, crawling on his hands and knees." He left the girl hidden at the roots of a fallen tree, but she followed into the ravine. Soon they returned. "A storm of bullets greeted their re-appearance on the level. 'They have only wounded my dress' she said, as she met his anxious glance. Then, facing the enemy, she waved her sun bonnet defiantly round her head. Cheer after cheer came from the foe, who ceased firing at once."*
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*Brewer's Alabama.

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Emma Sansom returned to her home to be numbered in Alabama among their heroines. Forrest with his troop crossed the ford. On May 2nd, Colonel Hathaway fell, Straight's command, his "provisional brigade" surrendered.

After so many years the Northern and the Southern accounts blend well together. He who writes these lines can appreciate the feelings of the actors on both sides then.

Note 2. From a list of members of 9th Regiment, Company B:

On page 319 of General Packard's valuable history of La Porte County the first line on the page reads:

"Tozier, Reuben, September 5, '61; Transferred V. R. C, Feb. 19, '63." (The above letters seem to denote Vol. Reserve Corps.)

As early as 1844 I became acquainted with this Reuben Tozier. He was living on a farm one-half mile from my father's home. He went to the Mexican War in Captain Joseph P. Smith's company. When he returned I was away. He went into the Union Army, as the line above indicates. A few years ago I was in the La Porte Poor House, or County Asylum. I found him there. I knew him well. He must have made a good soldier. He deserved a better home in his old age. In his youth he had enjoyed cultivation somewhere. I was a member with him, before the Mexican War, of a Cedar Lake Literary Society. He was an interesting member. He could give one recitation, I might say, to perfection. He had been trained somewhere. Why he should have had only a pauper's fare I know not. But if he has no other monument, I set this page apart as the memorial of an old friend of my youth.

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Sacred to the Memory
...of...

REUBEN TOZIER.
 

Note 3. Before this chapter was all written the tidings came of the death of General Jasper Packard. A teacher at one time in La Porte, an editor afterward in La Porte, a soldier and a statesman, he was the true historian of La Porte County. His work, of which mention has been made, from which extracts have been taken, was published four years after the publication of the first history of Lake County; and it is the foundation, the source in fact, for the La Porte County history contained in that large work called "The History of La Porte County," published by Charles C. Chapman & Company in 1880.

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Three hundred and twenty-eight pages of that work contain a history of Indiana gathered from various sources, but the true La Porte history, when one reaches it, is largely from General Packard. To him, therefore, the citizens of La Porte are indebted for the collection and preservation of their earlier history.

I am glad to have been a co-ordinate worker with such a man as he was in collecting and preserving pioneer county history. And I am glad to have the aid of his La Porte History in this larger work in which I am now engaged, in gathering into one compact volume, small enough as to size to be conveniently readable, the history of our eight counties for one hundred years.

His death recalls to mind the last time that I met with him. It was one Sunday, in the city of La Porte, several years ago. He was on his way to Sunday school with his Bible under his arm as I passed him, and we exchanged greetings on the street. He was, while a public man, our representative in Congress for a time, also a church-goer and a Sunday-school man, a soldier for a time in the great Union Army, he was also a soldier in that grander army called many times the Church Militant in distinction from that grandest of all armies, in which surely he will have a place, known on earth as the Church Triumphant.
T. H. B.

Record. 1899. "General Jasper Packard, Commander of the Indiana State Soldiers' Home, died at his residence in Lafayette, December 13. General Packard was a man well known throughout the State as a politician and journalist, and was one of the leading men of Indiana." 

NAVIGATION OF
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900

FRONT MATTER AND DEDICATION
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL OUTLINES
CHAPTER 2 - THE INDIANS
CHAPTER 3 - THE EARLY SETTLERS
CHAPTER 4 - WHAT THE EARLY SETTLERS FOUND
CHAPTER 5 - PIONEER LIFE
CHAPTER 6 - COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 7 - OUR LAKES AND STREAMS
CHAPTER 8 - LAKE MICHIGAN WATER SHED
CHAPTER 9 - TOWNSHIP AND STATISTICS
CHAPTER 10 - RAILROAD LIFE
CHAPTER 11 - POLITICAL HISTORY
CHAPTER 12 - THE WAR RECORD
CHAPTER 13 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 14 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 15 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 16 - SUNDAY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 17 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEWTON AND JASPER
CHAPTER 18 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WHITE, PULASKI AND STARKE
CHAPTER 19 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LAKE
CHAPTER 20 - VILLAGES AND TOWNS OF PORTER
CHAPTER 21 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LA PORTE
CHAPTER 22 - EARLY TRAVELS
CHAPTER 23 - PUBLIC SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 24 - PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 25 - LIBRARIES
CHAPTER 26 - OTHER INDUSTRIES
CHAPTER 27 - SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 28 - THE KANKAKEE REGION
CHAPTER 29 - DRAINING MARSHES
CHAPTER 30 - ANIMALS AND PLANTS
CHAPTER 31 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER 32 - COURT HOUSES
CHAPTER 33 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
CHAPTER 34 - BIRTH PLACES OF PIONEERS
CHAPTER 35 - McCARTY
CHAPTER 36 - ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE
CHAPTER 37 - ALTITUDES
CHAPTER 38 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER 39 - SOME STATISTICS
CHAPTER 40 - WEATHER RECORD
CONCLUSION

Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, April 2012

 

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