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
164
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."
165
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-
166
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
167
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."
168
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
__________
*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.
169
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
170
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
171
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
172
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
__________
*Brewer's Alabama, pages 139 and 140.
174
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."*
_________
*Brewer's Alabama.
175
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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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.
177
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