Chapter 9

PATRIOTISM AND LOYALTY
OF FRENCH LICK TOWNSHIP

The opinion prevails extensively that French Lick Township was not loyal during the War of the Rebellion. I now wish to devote one brief chapter in vindication of the township. True, there was some disloyalty, and what there was was magnified by the reports sent out. I would speak gently of the erring ones and excuse them on account of the influence that led them astray. I speak of things that I know to be true, for I was at that time a citizen of the townshop, and bear witness to the loyalty and devotion they displayed n behalf of the Union cause.

I will cite the names of a few of the most prominent citizens who were active and zealous for their country. In this brief space I can only mention a few who deserve special credit. I recall their words and their actions although most of them have long since passed beyond the vale of time. Old Azor Charles, the stalwart farmer, never faltered in the hour of danger. He was always openly and boldly on the Union side. He was too old to go to the war, but gave four sturdy sons to the Union army, one of whom shed his life's blood for his country. Bailey Leonard, another heroic old man on whose lands we met to muster, talk and resolve for the Union. He gave two sons, who served through the war. One of whom bears honorable scars received in defense of the flag. I hardly need say the battle-scarred veteran is Jerule Leonard, of Orleans. Old Bennet Grigsby, so full of vim and patriotism that he could not stay out of the army. He was past the prime of life, and sacrificed the well-deserved quietude of home that he might give three or four yers to the hardships of the soldier's life, all for his country.

This man remained in the service till the last rebel died or surrendered. Old Neddy Moore and Rueben Moore were two of the pioneers of the township. These men seemed in their devotion to the Union to have turned back the dial plate of time. They turned out like boys to the war meetings where the fife and the drum and the unfurled stars and stripes made our hearts beat faster and resolutions to do and dare for the country was the burning fire that cauhgt us and bound us to deeper and deeper devotion to the country's cause. Then let me speak of the men enrolled at or near French Lick and West Baden. I have been given somewhat to speech making since I was fourteen years old, but caught my highest inspriation making was speeches in 1861 and 1862.

I spoke to hundreds at our meetings to secure volunteers. I saw men enlist and bid adieu to wofe and babe the same day. On one of these occasions below French Lock I was at my best. We carried martial music and the star and stripes, and it seemed like the whole assemblage was ready to go to war. Some ten or fifteen enlisted and the wives and mothers embraced their husbands and son and all cried, and some screamed with wild grief at giving their husbands and sons. These men were to go with Captain Ritter in the Forth-Ninth Indiana. The captain, to quit the commotion and lighten the premonitions of danger told an anecdote during his speech. "Don't borrow trouble," said the Captain, "by thinking these men will be lost to you forever. The war will close soon, and these brave men will come back to you." The he put in his anecdote as follows: "There was once upon a time an old maid whose teeth had all fallen out and her long nose almost touched he chin. She began to borrow trouble as she walked to the village. On the road side was an old well, the curbing was broken down. At this place she stopped and began to cry and lament aloud. A man passing said to her, 'Why, Rachel, what in the world is the matter?' She managed to answer, between sobs, 'I came along and seen this open well and I commenced to thinkin' and a thinkin' that if I was married and had a child about eighteen months old it might come along and fall in this well.'"

Now, let me speak of the men enlisted at or near the springs. It is now forty-two or forty-three years since these thrilling scenes transpired, but they come up in my menory with all the reality as distinctly as if only it had been yesterday. I plead with all the earnestness of my being for men, men to fight and die if need be, for liberty and Union. I shall never forget the parting scenes as husband kissed wife and fell into the ranks. I saw mothers bid adieu to their brave sons and wives give up their husbands. I can see them still, although more than forty years have passed. The sound of matial music resounded on the air, and a brand new flag displayed the stars and stripes. The men marched away and many of them never to return. The war meetings were attended by hundreds. The farmers were never too busy to attend war meetings or muster and drill with the home guard in their new uniforms. We who saw these demonstrations never doubted the final success. French Lick had just enough opposition to the spice the occasion and stimulate the cause of the government.

The disloyal element grew less and less, and when the Rebellion collapsed in 1865, our township had made a record of which we are still proud. Disloylty has entirely disappeared, not a rebel inhabits these grand old hills. The best G.A.R. Post in Orange County is Decker Post. The generosity of Lee W. Sinclair (himself a soldier), inspired by his own love of country, has been one of the factors in keeping alive the grand sentiment that saved the Union. This man had donated for the use of the Post a beautiful hall that opens on the magnificent amphitheater in the grand hotel in West Baden. This hall will be headquarters for the soldiers until one by one they pass to the eternal camping grounds. Many an old veteran with tottering steps comes regularly to the meeting of the Post, and once a year to a soldiers' reunion at this place. From the depths of their hearts they my well say, "God bless Comrade Sinclair, the soldiers' friend."