HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY                                                391

 

LXXII. MARSHALL COUNTY'S MILITARY RECORD.

 

Marshall County has always been patriotic and has always furnished its quota of soldiers in, the different wars in which the country has been engaged since the organization of the county. The Mexican war infused a military spirit into the patriotically inclined, and a few veterans who took part in the Mexican campaign were instrumental in setting the military fires ablaze.

 

In 1854 the Bourbon Light Infantry was organized through the efforts of Capt. John C. Hedrick, a Mexican war veteran, who voted for Andrew Jackson for president. The articles of association are in the well-known handwriting of Capt. Hedrick, on the thirteenth of May 1854. Those who "enlisted,” pledged themselves to continue in the "service" for a period of six years unless sooner discharged. Each member was required to uniform himself with a pair of fine boots with red top fronts, white drilling pantaloons, a red sash at least six feet in length, a black or deep blue frock coat, a black stock, a black glazed cap, plait and plume. The company was required to meet at Bou1-bon for drill on the last Saturday of April, May, June, August and September in each year, and on the Fourth of July of every year.

 

It was provided that each officer who should behave in an "unofficer" like manner while on parade should be fined $1, and each noncommissioned officer and private who should behave in an unsoldier like manner while on duty should be fined 50 cents. Any member who should get drunk while on duty, if a commissioned officer, should be fined $5, and all others $2, and be liable to be discharged by the captain. Fines collected were to be applied to the payment of the musicians and other necessary expenses of the company.

 

On application of Rufus Brown, colonel of the Fifth regiment of the Indiana militia, the board of commissioners ordered the necessary arms and accoutrements to be forwarded to the company by the governor. The following were elected officers of the company: John C. Hedrick, captain:

John E. Mooner, first lieutenant; William Bennett, second lieutenant; William Mc Whorter, sergeant; Ralph Curry, second sergeant; William Brown, third sergeant; E. G, Mulser, fourth sergeant: Oliver Morris, treasurer; John McWhorter, John Sharley and John Nidig, drummers; Isaac Noel, first corporal; Ben Johnson, second corporal; Zachariah Senior, third corporal; William Gillespie, fourth corporal. Whether the company lived out the allotted time specified in the articles of association is not stated, and the information at hand is confined to the above narrative.

 


392                                          HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.

 

The Plymouth Greys.

 

This was a company organized under the state militia law, in June 1854. William Rudd-"Dick" Rudd, as he was familiarly called-was the captain. Col. Rufus Brown procured seventy-five rifles and the side arms for the officers. The company was partially uniformed, armed and equipped for the fray, but was never called into active service. No data of its organization remain of record, and hence its history must forever remain hidden from all prying eyes.

 

Another company was attempted to be formed about that time, but military ardor having somewhat subsided, it died in course of incubation. It was a cavalry company and was called the "Marshall County Rangers." At the meeting called for its organization David Vinnedge was chosen chairman and Rufus Brown secretary. On motion of Dr. Brown, the uniform was made to consist of the following gorgeous outfit: Kossuth hat, with ostrich plume, citizen's frock coat (black), sky-blue pants with stripes (satinet), red sash, and spurs.

 

Marshall County was favored with commissions from the governor for regimental officers, under the law organizing the state into regiments by congressional districts. H. B. Dickson was commissioned colonel of the Fifth regiment, Ninth brigade, but, not being of a military turn of mind, declined the appointment. Nevertheless, the prefix to his name followed him, and during life he was hailed by the high-sounding title of Col. Dickson. Rufus Brown was then appointed, and entered upon the discharge of the duties of the position with the enthusiasm that characterized his efforts in everything he undertook. Thomas J. Patterson was appointed major, but the efforts to organize the regiment were: unsuccessful, and the great state military movement died without a hero. This ended Marshall County’s part in the military affairs of the country until the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion in 1861.

 

The part Marshall County took in the war of the Rebellion would fill a large volume, and in a work of this kind it is impossible, for reasons that will readily suggest themselves, to do the subject justice. The information to make the record complete is not at hand, and cannot be obtained. The hundreds who enlisted at their country's call, some of whom were on almost every battlefield, demeaned themselves in such a manner as to reflect credit on themselves and honor on their patriotic constituents.

 

The soldiers from Marshall county who enlisted in the various companies were mostly assigned to the following Indiana regiments: Ninth, Twentieth, Twenty-ninth, Forty-eighth, Fifty-fourth, Seventy-third, Twelfth cavalry, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh regiment, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth, One Hundred and Fifty-first, One Hundred and Fifty-fifth, Twenty-first Battery Light Infantry, and a large number of individual soldiers were assigned to various Indiana regiments.

A list of all those who enlisted from Marshall county so far as their names and service could be obtained may be found in full in the History of Marshall County by the writer of this history, published in 1881, to which the reader is referred for further particulars.

 

The following incident will show what some of the soldiers had to endure: M. C. Moore, captain Company D, Twenty-ninth Indiana; captured

 


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.                                     393

 

at battle of Chickamauga September 20, 1862, and confined in Libby prison ; escaped through a tunnel made by himself and others, and arrived within two miles of the Union lines when he was recaptured by the rebels and marched back to prison. He was soon afterwards exchanged and started home and died from disease contracted while in prison.

 

Local Reminiscences of the War.

 

During the first half of the war the army was kept up by voluntary enlistments. A great many of the leaders thought it would not last but a short time, and so those who enlisted thought it would not be much more than a play spell-a pleasurable little outing. Even President Lincoln was so confident that the rebels could be crushed out in ninety days that he issued a call for 300,000 volunteer soldiers to put down the rebellion. They were quickly raised and marched to the front with bands playing and banners flying. It soon developed, however, that the putting down of the rebellion was no child's play, and was liable to be prolonged for an indefinite period. Enlistments gradually decreased until it became necessary to resort to conscription to fill up the depleted ranks. Three drafts were made in Marshall county. The last one was for 300, most of whom were drawn from Center Township. This draft, it was generally thought, was unnecessary, as it was known that the backbone of the rebellion was broken and that there would be few more battles fought. The names of those subject to draft were enrolled by Deputy United States Marshal William Babington, who, whether justly or not, made himself somewhat unpopular by the exacting manner in which he performed his unpleasant duties. A little anecdote here is worth telling: "Cam" Harris, as he was familiarly called, whom everybody then knew, in giving his name to the marshal told him his name was Alexander C., supposing the marshal knew his surname. The marshal in an arrogant manner told him he wanted him to give him his full name. Cam then told him his full name was Alexander Campbell. When the draft came off Alexander Campbell was drafted, 1ut when the marshal began to hunt up those who had not responded h~ could nowhere find Alexander Campbell, and so Alexander Campbell Harris escaped the draft.

 

Babington lived in a house on what was then known as the "brewery road" in West Plymouth. After he vacated it, for several years it had been regarded by superstitious persons as the headquarters for ghosts and hobgoblins, and many persons refused to occupy it as a residence on that account. He was a tall, stoutly built man, and being clothed with a little brief authority as marshal, used it, as many thought, arbitrarily. He made many bitter enemies, some of whom charged him with crimes which, if true, would have sent him to the bad without the benefit of clergy. Whether any of these stones were true or not is unknown, as no judicial investigation was ever had; but certain it is his enemies believed them, and when he died many years ago, the house in which he had lived and finally died at once became the rendezvous for all sorts of ghosts and nocturnal apparitions. The building was allowed to go to rack for the reason that no one could be found to occupy it when any other dwelling house could be secured. Things moved on in this way until the early part of 1880, when a circumstance occurred; that proved conclusively to the minds of some that the stories of the haunted house" were partially true at least. The building was occupied

 


394                                          HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.

 

by John W. Richey and family, who had moved in a few days prior to the circumstance about to be related. About 10 o'clock one dark and dreary night Mr. Richey was aroused from his slumbers by unknown persons who requested admission. On arising Mr. Richey was confronted by five men, all strangers to him, three of whom had large carpet sacks, and the fourth a large bundle resembling a mailbag. The oldest man among them seemed to be the commander, and he informed Mr. Richey that they had no designs against him or his property; but one of the number had resided in the house some eight years before, and that they desired the privilege of digging in the cellar. Having received permission which they would have taken whether they received it or not three of the men went down m the cellar, one remained with the family, and the man who did the talking left. The parties’ worked away in the cellar, the noise of the pick and shovel being heard unceasingly until about 1 o'clock a. m., when it stopped. Mr. Richey looked into the cellar, where he saw the men closing up their sacks and found that they had taken up the stone in the floor of the cellar and dug a hole, three by six feet and about four feet deep under the cellar floor. This done the men came up from below and informed Mr. Richey that they failed to find what they expected, but an examination the following morning gave indications of a box having been under the cellar, as the impression of it in the dirt was very plainly to be seen. Having completed their work the men hastily got into a wagon in waiting near by and rapidly drove away. The next morning search al1d inquiry were made for them, but nothing as to who they were, whence they came, or whither they went was ever ascertained. The house was burned Christmas day, 1880, the cellar later filled up, a new house erected thereon, and not a vestige of the "haunted house" now remains, or of the original proprietor who gave it its notoriety.

 

During the summer of 1863 there was probably more trouble and dissatisfaction among the people of this locality than at any other period during the war. It was confined, of course, to those who remained at home, and the soldiers had no part in it. They were on the battlefields attending to business. The trouble was to a great extent political, and grew out of the conscription act, the emancipation of the Negroes, and the formation of secret societies by both parties. All over the state the war and anti-war sentiment grew to fever heat, and the state was put practically under martial law. In April, 1863, Gen. Milo S. Hascall, of Goshen, was placed in charge of the district of Indiana, and being clothed with a little brief authority, "cut such fantastic tricks before high heaven as made the angels weep," by issuing an order-No, 9'---practically suppressing the freedom of speech and of the press. The order was deemed unnecessary and was very severely criticized by loyal men of all parties. Ed Van Valkenburgh was then editor of the Plymouth Democrat and he was so indignant over it that he wrote and published a scathing criticism of the famous order. Among other things he said: "Brig. Gen. Hascall is a donkey, an unmitigated, unqualified donkey, and his bray is long, loud and harmless merely offensive to the ear merely tends to create a temporary irritation." And he further added-: " And who is he? A country politician, a brigadier general who has no more rightful authority over the people of Indiana than our town marshal. He has made the order. What will he do with it? We shall see what we shall see."

 


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.                                    395

 

And he did see. Ed was sleeping in the back room of Wheeler's bank. It was not long after this article appeared until the opposition sent a marked copy of the Democrat containing it to Gen. Hascall, and a week or so after- wards one morning the news rapidly spread around town that a squad of soldiers had come up from Indianapolis during the night, broke open the door, took Ed out and carried him off a "prisoner of war" to Indianapolis. There was much excitement about town and much indignation against Gen. Hascall for the arbitrary manner in which he had so precipitately acted. He had sent a squad of twelve soldiers who arrested and took him before Gen. Hascall, at Indianapolis, who sent him to Gen. Burnside, at Cincinnati. Gen. Burnside wanted to know of Ed what he was there for. He told him he did not know unless it was because he had called Gen. Hascall a donkey. Gen. Burnside told him he ought to have had more consideration for so distinguished a general as Hascall than to have called him a donkey, and advised him to go home and be more careful in the future as to the manner in which he criticized those in authority. Ed returned home two days later. In the meantime Gen. Hascall had ordered the editors of the Columbia City News, The Warsaw Union, the South Bend Forum, and the Winamac Democrat to retract their criticism of his order or he would suppress their papers. The general's action was entirely too radical for the most radical, and a month after his appointment Gov. Morton removed him, and there- after peace reigned within the borders of Indiana. All the parties connected with this little episode are long since dead. Peace to their ashes.

 

Reception to Paroled Soldiers.

 

In June 1863, about 100 of Capt. Matt Boyd's and Capt. William M. Kendall's companies, captured in a raid made by CoI. Streight, having been paroled, returned home, and were accorded two grand receptions and banquets. The first was held at Corbin's hall on a Saturday night following their return. The hall was crowded, there being fully 500 present, and the audience was addressed by C. H. Reeve, Horace Corbin and John G. Osborn, while a crowd fully as large in the street in front of Becker's store was addressed by M. A. 0. Packard. The banquet was one of the finest ever spread in town prior to that time. A glee club furnished excellent vocal music, one of the pieces having been written especially for the occasion by Mr. Reeve. The war and political excitement ran high at that time, and the reception and banquet at the hall was called by the republicans a "Copperhead" arrangement, and many refused to attend on that account. In consequence of this feeling, a reception and banquet under the direction of the republicans exclusively was given at the seminary grove, on the Monday following, at which John L. Westervelt presided as chairman. A large con- course of people was in attendance, and the reception was considered a grand success by those who superintended the arrangements. The Warsaw Glee Club, assisted by some local talent, furnished the music, and Rev. A. Fuller, Rev. J. E. Chapin, Rev. Johnson, of Valparaiso, Rev. Webb and Rev. Brook: were the orators of the day. Of course, the democrats called this reception a woolly-headed, black republican abolition arrangement, and both parties having exhausted the vocabulary of naughty names, the boys, in whose honor this reception had been given, after a few days' rest and

 


396                        HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.

 

recreation, returned to their respective regiments and resumed aggressive operations.

In the beginning of the war the excitement ran high in Marshall county as elsewhere, and much bitterness of feeling was manifested by those in favor of the war and those who opposed it, and as the preparations increased, and company after company was enlisted and marched to the front, to the scene of the conflict, the excitement increased. Society began to be divided; the churches felt the effects of it; the Masons and Odd Fellows, and other benevolent and fraternal organizations were permeated with the virus that came near causing their overthrow. Neighbor was arrayed against neighbor, brother against brother, father against son, and one political party against the other. For five long years this state of affairs held full sway in our midst. But the rebellion was crushed, peace was declared, and it is gratifying, after the lapse of forty-two years since the close of the war, to be able to record that the wide differences of opinion, and the belligerent attitude between the contending parties then existing have entirely disappeared.

It hardly seems possible that since the close of the war more than half of all those who took part in that dreadful struggle have fallen by the way- side, and that according to the natural course of events most of those still living must soon be called upon to "join the innumerable throng that moves to that mysterious realm from whence no traveler returns." In the language of the genial Old Rip Van Winkle, may those who still survive continue to "live long and prosper," and when the last taps come, may they take their places in the silent halls of death like those who wrap the drapery of their couch about them and lie down to pleasant dreams.

 

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.

 

The Spanish-American war, as it was and is called, which took place between the United States and Spain, with Havana and the island of Cuba as the objective point in dispute, in the summer of 1898, was the last war in which Marshall county soldiers have taken part, and owing to manner in which those high in places manipulated the movements of the troops they did not have the opportunity of distinguishing themselves on the field of battle as did Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, who marched up San Juan Hill and then marched down again.

Those boys from Marshall county who served those six hot summer months on the fair plains of Florida without being allowed to embark for the scene of war are entitled to as much honor and praise as if they had been permitted to participate in the sanguinary conflict, as will be seen by the trials and tribulations through which they were forced to pass until the close of the war, and they were permitted to return home, fully discharged with all the honors of war.

 

Company M, One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

 

In the spring of 1898, when the pity and the wrath of the entire American nation was aroused by the dying thousands of Cuba, and when the spectacle of Spanish troops crushing the life from the bodies of the poor and the defenseless was becoming unendurable to a free people, the question went out over the wires of the great Hoosier state "What are we going to do about it?"

 


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.                                     397

 

Plymouth, long the seat of military activity, there having been companies commanded by Rollo B. Oglesbee, and later by Adam E. Wise was at this time sounded as to her old allegiance to the colors, and an invitation was extended for her to again take her old place in the line of Indiana's Third Regiment of Infantry.

 

One hundred and fifty men responded to the call, and during the night of April 25th telegraphic orders were handed to the captain from the governor of the state for the assembling at Indianapolis. A week later, and after many disappointments caused by the wholesale rejection of many valuable men on account of physical disabilities, the old county of Marshall had again placed on the uniform of war and sworn to support the hand of the president of the nation.

On the fourteenth day of May the quiet of the Sabbath was broken by the steady tramp of Studebaker's "Tigers," the newly christened One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Indiana, marching through the crowded streets of Indianapolis, while the chimes of a hundred churches rang out the fare- well and the Godspeed. At 10 o'clock the next day the regiment was landed at Chattanooga, spending the day looking over famous surroundings. Another day, and it was in the heart of the great Chickamauga Park, at the first great camp of the north, and where at night 160,000 men gathered around the campfires, beginning to learn the life of the soldier.

First out of the state, the Tigers were the first out of Chickamauga, and on their way south to meet the real work of the campaign.

 

The 1,350 men of the regiment were astonished to find awaiting them two long trains of the most luxurious Pullman sleepers, which drew out of Ringgold at nightfall, and became the home of the boys for the next two days, carrying them through Alabama, Georgia, over the Suwanee river, down the length of tropic Florida to the edge of the sea at Tampa landing the morning of June 4th, two days ahead of any of the now famous regiments of Rough Riders, Ninth Cavalry, or Seventy-second New York. Truly in the very van of the column.

 

Out on the waters of the bay, and but a short distance from shore, rode a great concourse of large sized ocean going steamers, numbered in great white figures from one to forty, and with two carrying the red crosses of the hospital, ship, Ten days of miserable waiting followed-a succession of orders and counter orders-of sudden activity and irritating delays, while the men were held in instant readiness to embark; with the sun blazing down with a fury no northern man can understand; with the tropic storms drenching through the long nights; with the colonel, although worked up to a great tension of Impatience, yet refusing to relax one inch of the strict discipline and the steady drill, work, drill, that was fast whipping the men and officers alike Into a huge, cohesive, automatic, obedient fighting machine.

And then, at the last moment, not to be chosen!

 

With what must have been criminal stupidity on the part of those who directed the movements of the campaign this huge concourse of ships, great as it was, was not equal to the carrying of one-half of the force assembled on the shores, not one-half of the force intended and needed to

 


HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.                                     398

 

successfully carry out even the first move organized against the enemy then guarding. the Spanish positions. On the nineteenth, with ships loaded to suffocation with men, mules, provisions and army, with parts of regiments on board, with half of the Roosevelt Rough Riders being taken without any of their horses, and the other half of the regiment left helplessly behind because somebody's orders had become mixed, with heavy siege guns forming a very heavy part of the freight, yet forgetting to send their wheels with them so that they might be handled when they were unloaded, the invasion began, and in four hours only a wreath of smoke away off south on the horizon was left to tell of the passing of our high hopes that we should be with that first fighting column.

 

Then came pestilence, and disease, and homesickness 25,000 men waiting for an order waiting for action. Brigaded with the First Illinois the First Ohio from Cincinnati, the Third Pennsylvania of Philadelphia, the regiment was then throw~ over on the Atlantic coast to make part of an immense host then gathering to attack the very heart of the Spanish resistance at Havana, and, .on the first day of August, after an all night's tide of 260 miles, the regiment looked out upon the blue waters of the ocean, at Fernandina, and took up their quarters in the most God- forsaken of mosquito wildernesses-brush so thick that the mosquitoes could not find their way out-with orders to - clear it up!

 

Our information was afterwards (its correctness never being verified ) that the land was the property of Secretary Alger's son-in-law, and the 25,000 men were kept busy working over that devoted piece of landscape until it was as clean as a billiard table, and ready for the hand of the planter and the fruit raiser.

 

Then on the first of September came the cry of home, and again the same magnificent trains of Pullmans carried the "Tigers" through the valleys and over the mountains of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentuckian~ on the morning of September2d the screeching of whistles and the ringing of bells for 100 miles welcomed the regiment back to the old state. At Indianapolis clouds of white canvas stood ready for the dangerously sick numbering nearly 300 multitudes of ladles gave of their time and their means to administer badly needed care and attention.

 

Another week, and all of the state north of the Wabash was given up to a welcome of its returning boys.

 

Mustered out the first day of November, Company M presented the record of no losses, no dead." final and honorable discharges for every man in the company.

 

Company M. One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Indiana Infantry – Plymouth Company.

John C. Capron, captain, Plymouth.

Claude D, Fish, first lieutenant, Plymouth.

William D, Lankenau, second lieutenant, Plymouth.

Edward Lenfesty first sergeant, Plymouth.

Harcourt C. Corbin, sergeant, Plymouth.

Edward J. Giller, sergeant, Plymouth.

Edward R. Neil, sergeant, Plymouth.

 


HISTORY OF NIARSHALL COUNTY.                                                 399

 

Charles Protsman, sergeant, Plymouth.

Lee M. Kendall, sergeant, Plymouth.

Charles Crawford, corporal, Plymouth.

Noyes E. Tyrrell, corporal, Bourbon.

Arthur B. White, corporal, Plymouth.

Emory Ocker, corporal, Plymouth.

Berthold, Alleman, corporal, Plymouth.

Percy E. Bailey, corporal, Plymouth.

George Bollinger, artificer, Plymouth.

Everett Miller, wagoner, Bourbon.

Alexander, James M., private, Argos.

Baker, George, private, Donaldson.

Ball, Charles L., private, Plymouth.

Bayman, Claude, private, Plymouth.

Bayman, May Rue, private, Plymouth.

Cannon, Elias, private, Argos.

Conboy, James, private, Plymouth.

Cross, George, private, Plymouth.

Drake, Urban S., private, Plymouth.

Doppler, Fred L., private, Plymouth.

Haines, Ora, private, Argos.

Hayes, Edward E., private, Plymouth.

Hoham, George, private, Plymouth.

Irwin, Charles M., private, Argos.

Johnson, Melvin D., private, Plymouth.

Jacobson, Samuel, private, Plymouth.

Kanarr, Seymour, private, Plymouth.

Kanouse, Francis, private, Argos.

Kepler, Edward, private, Plymouth.

Knisely, Norman, private, Bourbon.

Linkenhelt, Floyd, private, Plymouth.

LaBrash, Charles, private, Plymouth.

Miller, Clarence, private, Plymouth.

Miller, Charles, private, Bourbon.

Miller, Solomon, private, Plymouth.

Mowrer, Newton B., private, Bourbon.

Marshall, John, private, Plymouth.

McKaglle, Robert G., private, Plymouth.

Neff, Charles D., private, Argos.

Ohler, James M., private, Argos.

Pontills, Wilber, private, Plymouth.

Powell, William, private, Plymouth.

Primley, Seneca, Jr., private, Plymouth.

Radel, Frank, private, Plymouth.

Riggens, Lawson E., private, Bourbon.

Riggens, William, private, Bourbon.

Reed, David, private, Argos.

Rowell, Charles, private, Donaldson.

Rowell, John, private, Donaldson.

Ralston, William, private, Argos.

 


400                                           HISTORY OF MARSHALL COUNTY.

 

Sausser, William, private, Argos.

Shearer, William, private, Plymouth.

Shepherd, William, private, Donaldson.

Schroeder, William, private, Plymouth.

Schroeder, Willard, private, Plymouth.

Shiveley, Jesse, private, Bourbon.

Soice, Claude, private, Plymouth.

Snyder, Vernon, private, Bourbon.

Stahl, Henry S., private, Culver.

Stangler, Quincy V., private, Bourbon.

Stout, Frank H., private, Plymouth.

Stroup, Norman, private, Plymouth.

Stuller, Burl, private, Plymouth.

Wilson, William W ., private, Plymouth.

White, William E., private, Plymouth.

Wickizer, Elmer 0., private, Argos.

Willford, Dallas, private, Bourbon.

Williams, Lora B., private, Plymouth.

Wiseman, Charles M., private, Plymouth.

Wolf, Charles, private, Donaldson.

Wolf, George, private, Donaldson.