A SOLDIER OF 1814-15-- THE MEXICAN WAR TRIO— MESSRS. FORD, STEELE AND MCCORMICK— PROMPT RESPONSES TO UPHOLD THE UNION— THE THREE-MONTHS' RECRUITS-- FIRST WAR SACRIFICE— WHITE COUNTY'S LARGER CONTINGENTS— THE MONTICELLO RIFLES— COMPANY E, FORTY-SIXTH REGIMENT— CAPT. R. W. SILL'S COMPANY— REPRESENTATIONS IN THE SIXTY-THIRD REGIMENT— CAPT. GEORGE BOWMAN'S COMPANY— COMPANY F, NINETY-NINTH REGIMENT— THE THREATENED DRAFT OF 1862— ESCAPE FROM THE 1863 DRAFT— THE SIX MONTHS' COMPANY— CAPT. JAMES G. STALEY-- THE HEAVY CALLS OF 1864— THE DRAFTS OF 1864 AND 1865-- SUMMARY OF NUMBER OF TROOPS RAISED— BOUNTY AND RELIEF VOTED— THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
The broad participation of White County in military matters did not commence until the opening of the Civil war, although both the War of 1812 and the Mexican war appear to have drawn into their meshes several of the citizens of that section.
The only direct interest which the local historian can take in the former war lies in the fact that Ira Bacon, a member of the first board of county commissioners, came in at the tag end of hostilities, as is proven by his honorable discharge to the following effect: "Ira Bacon, a private in Captain Van Meter's company of Ohio Militia in the service of the United States, has faithfully performed a six months' tour of duty, and is hereby honorably discharged from the service at Fort Meigs, this 22d day of February, 1815." The paper is signed by John Russell, major commanding Fort Meigs, and Jacob Linn, sergeant.
White County's connection with the Mexican war is more intimate. Two of her boys lost their lives in that conflict, and one of the three to enlist returned to his Jackson Township home without his right foot and carrying with him several severe wounds. The trio who thus first brought war home to the people of the county were William F. Ford, U. H. Steele and Beveridge McCormick, and they all were residents of that township. At that time there were about 3,000 people in the entire county.
The contingent from Jackson Township, White County, joined Captain Tipton's Company E, of the United States Mounted Rifles, which rendezvoused at Logansport. The boys had enlisted on the 6th of June, 1846, for a term of five years. The regiment was mounted and fully equipped at St. Louis and in the winter of 1846 embarked from New Orleans for Vera Cruz. It is not necessary to write a history of the Mexican war as an excuse for the presence of these three brave soldiers from White County. It is enough to know that they met the hardships of the war with American grit, and that two of them were shattered at Cerro Gordo.
In the first day's fight Ford received a bad saber cut on the left thigh just above the knee, but he came back pluckily for the second day's engagement. At this trial with fate he was not so fortunate, as a shell shot away his right foot just above the ankle, one wrist was pierced by a lance and another by a bullet, and a bayonet made a jagged wound through the lower jaw. While lying helpless on the battlefield he was sufficiently conscious to tear an epaulette from the uniform of the wooden-legged Santa Anna, the Mexican commander, who had left it behind with other personal effects. When he became convalescent he retained this memento as a priceless relic of his war experience, and, on the whole, considered it of more value than the monthly pension which he drew from the Government.
Ford's two comrades were not so tenacious of life. McCormick also was badly wounded at Cerro Gordo by a ball which ranged across his breast and shattered the left arm near the shoulder. The attending surgeon found it necessary to remove the humerus from the socket, but the operation proved too great a shock to McCormick, who soon died. Steel [sic] gave up his life near Chapultepec as the result of some bowel disorder.
White County was one with every other section of Indiana in its prompt response to the presidential call for troops to suppress the rebellion. Its population was about 9,000 at the outbreak of the Civil war and at times during the height of the conflict fully a fourth of its citizens of military age were absent at the front. Seven full companies were raised and many more soldiers formed part of other commands. The financial resources of the county were also strained to the limit, more than $101,000 being raised officially in bounties and measures of relief, to say nothing of the thousands of dollars represented by the private donations in clothing, provisions and hospital and field supplies for the sick, wounded and dead.
Fort Sumter surrendered to General Beauregard, the Confederate commander, on Saturday, the 13th of April, 1861, the following day President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 troops, and within an hour from its publication, Robert H. Milroy, a Mexican war veteran, of Jasper County, began to recruit a company at Rensselaer. By the 16th the governor and adjutant-general, as well as citizens generally, were issuing proclamations and calls for public meetings to give expression to Union sentiment and raise recruits. Colonel Milroy, in his bills, announced that "the volunteer wants two shirts and two days' provisions in his sack" and that he would be on hand at the points specified in his call to "receive all who may wish to join his two hundred men from Jasper."
The call for a Union meeting issued on the 16th, inviting the citizens of Monticello and vicinity to gather at the courthouse "to give expression of sentiment in support of the Government in its present peril and of the Law here and elsewhere," was to be addressed by Judge Turpic and others, and was signed by Isaac Reynolds, A. R. Orton, J. C. Reynolds, R. Brearley, 0. McConahay, M. Henderson, Hugh B. Logan, Daniel D. Dale, Thomas Bushnell, Thomas D. Crow, W. S. Haymond, James B. Belford, Joseph Rothrock, Richard Brown, William Rees, P. R. Faling, C. W. Kendall, D. Turpie, Major Levi Reynolds, A. Hanawalt, R. Hughes, T. P. Iden, Thomas Bunnell, Thompson Crose, E. J. C. Hilderbrand, J. Harbolt, James Wallace, James W. McEwen, H. H. P. Anderson and John Ream.
Not only at Monticello, but in every township in the county, were held enthusiastic Union meetings, attended by both sexes, and by the 19th the Monticello Spectator announced the following: "About one hundred men, residents of the county, have enlisted in their country's defense, some of whom joined Colonel R. H. Milroy's company from Rensselaer. Of these J. J. Staley, Watson Brown, Martin Cochell, Francis Sweet, Lewis Murray, Edward Neff, James Stevenson and brother, went from this place. Twenty-five were from Bradford and twenty from Reynolds." These men all joined Colonel Milroy's Ninth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers, and a number of other men from White County went direct to Indianapolis and were received into Company K, of the Tenth. This first contribution of men, it will be remembered, were three-months' recruits.
One of the first to enlist was a young man named John Brown, a grandson of Gen. Simon Kenton, the famous Kentucky frontiersman. While the regiment was en route to Indianapolis, somewhat more than a week after the fall of Sumter, young Brown was killed by the cars at Clark's Hill—the first war sacrifice by the people of White County. The corpse was brought hack and buried near Miller Kenton's residence, three miles southwest of Monticello.
About the middle of August, the White County boys who had left for the three months' service returned to their homes, several of them wounded. The most serious engagement in which the Ninth and Tenth Indiana regiments had participated was that at Rich Mountain, where Colonel Milroy acquitted himself so gallantly. The reception accorded the home-comers was enthusiastic and affectionate, neither of which manifestations were to wane through the coming years of trial and bitter experience. A month before, Capt. Alfred Reed's company of three-years' men had marched to the front and the returning short-term soldiers were received at his residence by his good wife and the other ladies of the town. Other houses at Monticello were thrown open to them; but they did not long linger in the smiles of peace, but commenced at once to recruit and enlist for the companies which were being so rapidly organized for "three years or the war."
White County furnished the following companies for the Union service in the Civil war: Company K, Twentieth Regiment, Capts. Alfred Reed and J. C. Brown; Company E, Forty-sixth Regiment, Capts. William Spencer, Henry Snyder and Charles F. Fisher; Company G, same regiment, Capts. Robert W. Sill, Joseph D. Cowdin, Woodson S. Marshall, James Hess and Joseph L. Chamberlain; Company G, Sixty-third Regiment, Capts. John Hollodyke and T. S. Jones; Company D, Twelfth Regiment, Capts. George Bowman and B. F. Price; Company F, Ninety-ninth Regiment, Capts. George H. Gwinn and Andrew Cochran; Company K, One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment (six months), Capt. Elijah C. Davis; Company F, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth, Capts. James G. Staley and Henry G. Bliss; Company G, One Hundred and Fifty-first Regiment (White and Pulaski counties), Capt. Carter L. Vigus.
Some time in April the Monticello Rifles was formed, offered its services to the state and entered into a vigorous course of drilling so as to be in readiness for whatever might come. On the 9th of May the enthusiastic young soldiers learned from Governor Morton that their services would not be required, with an order to immediately forward the guns in their possession. The Rifles were considerably chagrined, but metaphorically stood by their guns though they actually sent them to Indianapolis, with the following protesting resolutions:
"Resolved, That White county feels that her interest in the preservation of the Union and the honor of the Stars and Stripes is equal to that of any other county in the state or the United States and she should have the opportunity of manifesting it on the field of battle.
"Resolved, That we shall maintain our organization and keep alive the tender of our services to the State at any time they may be required."
Whatever the cause, the chief executive of the state notified the Monticello Rifles about the middle of May that their services had been accepted and that they should proceed to Camp Tippecanoe, Lafayette, on the 5th of July. This information created not only much enthusiam but profound satisfaction, the public sentiment being well expressed by the Spectator of July 12th in the following paragraph:
"DEPARTURE OF CAPTAIN REED'S COMPANY! WHITE COUNTY REDEEMED!--The most interesting scene since the opening of the war, so far as relates to our town and county, occurred in this place on the first of the present week. On Tuesday the glad news came that Captain Reed's company, which was being organized in our midst, had been accepted and would march next day to Camp Tippecanoe, taking position in Colonel Brown's regiment. It was immediately announced that there would be a farewell meeting at the court house in the evening. The parents and friends Of the volunteers flocked out until the house was crowded. Proceedings were opened with prayer and music. After the company had formed in line and everybody had shaken hands with the brave boys and bid them good-bye, the meeting adjourned to assemble next morning at the railroad, where a nice flag was presented the company, Rev. Mr. Smith making the speech, and more farewells were said."
The Monticello Rifles, under Captain Reed, journeyed to Indianapolis to join the other units of the Twentieth Regiment, which was there organized on July 22d. The Monticello boys elected Alfred Reed as captain; John T. Richardson, first lieutenant; Daniel D. Dale, second lieutenant; and John C. Brown, first sergeant. The company was mustered into the service as K, of the Twentieth Indiana, and, as an organization, passed through four years of trying warfare. It became first actively engaged with the enemy at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina; participated in the engagement between the Merrimac, Cumberland and Congress, the capture of Norfolk, Virginia; in the Peninsula campaign of the Army of the Potomac, and the battles of Fair Oaks. Manassas Plains and Fredericksburg, in 1862; the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, in 1863, and the Campaign of the Wilderness, the sieges of Petersburg and Riclunond and the final operations against the Confederate Army of Virginia, which, with minor events, covered the last two years of its service. The regiment, with Company K, was mustered out at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 12, 1865.
The second complete organization to enter the service from White County was Company E, Forty-sixth Regiment, with Dr. William Spencer, captain; Eli R. Herman, first lieutenant; and Henry Snyder, second lieutenant. These men had pushed the enlistment during the latter part of September and the earlier portion of October, and on the 15th of the latter month the company departed for Logansport to be organized and incorporated into the Forty-sixth Regiment under Graham N. Fitch. Before starting the boys listened to a farewell address from the court house steps delivered by T. D. Crow, to which Captain Spencer replied.
The regiment saw its first active service in Missouri as a part of General Pope's army, afterward campaigning in Arkansas, in operations against Arkansas Post, Duvall's Bluff, etc. It also participated in the Yazoo River Expedition, the Siege of Vicksburg and the Battle of Champion Hills, before it was incorporated into the Army of the Department of the Gulf under Banks. It suffered in the misfortunes of the Red River Expedition, and was finally mustered out of the service in September, 1865.
Company G, which was composed entirely of White County men, also faithfully followed the fortunes of the Forty-sixth Regiment. Much of the company was enlisted while Spencer's was being organized, the most active figure in the work being R. W. Sill, and that he was to be captain of it was a foregone conclusion. There was evidently some rivalry between the two organizations, although perhaps not bitter enough to call forth the following from the Spectator, after the departure of Captain Spencer's command for the camp at Logansport: "Now for Captain R. W. Sill's company. Let it be filled up immediately, and cursed be the craven-hearted cur that offers opposition to it. It is a double duty we owe to Mr. Sill and our bleeding country to help the matter on. Let's do it like men."
Joseph D. Cowdin and John M. Berkey, who were Mr. Sills' most active assistants, were elected first and second lieutenants, respectively, when the company formally organized at Logansport.
Company G finally departed from Monticello on the 21st of November, the event being celebrated by a dinner given by the ladies of the town at the house of J. C. Reynolds and ceremonies at the courthouse, which included speeches by Colonel Fitch of the Forty-sixth, Judge Turpie and others; a sword presentation to Captain Sill and a flag presentation to the company. On the 11th of December the company, fully organized and equipped, was sworn into the service of the United States with other units of the regiment.
A few men from White County also entered Companies A, C, H and I of the Forty-sixth.
The Sixty-third Regiment had a large representation from White County. During the early months of 1862, Capt. M. F. Johnson, Lieut. Joseph D. Davis and others enlisted about two-thirds of a company which afterward became D, of the Sixty-third. In August Capt. John Hollaway of Norway, Lieut. George W. Jewett of Reynolds, Lieut. Aden Nordyke of Seafleld, and others, enlisted a full company, G, of that regiment. From January to August of 1862 more than 200 men left the county, about 150 joining the Sixty-third. Company G was organized with John Holloway as captain.
Company D formed part of a battalion which participated in Second Bull Run, but G, which was one of six companies raised under the call of July, 1862, remained at Indianapolis until December, engaged in guard duty, and until April, 1864, was chiefly employed in guarding the Kentucky and Tennessee railroads. At that time as part of the Twenty-third Army Corps it became a part of Sherman's army, then about to enter the Atlanta campaign. The Sixty-third gave a good account of itself at Resaca, Lost Mountain and the engagements around Atlanta, the Battle of Franklin and the pursuit of Hood. The portion of the regiment comprising Company G was mustered out in June, 1865; that containing Company D, in the month previous. As a regiment it had a public reception in the capitol grounds, Indianapolis, before its final discharge from the service.
The enlistments in White County during the summer and fall of 1862 were especially active. Even by June of that year more than one-fourth of the voting population of the county was in the field. Two full companies were raised under the presidential call of July. George Bowman's company (D, of the Twelfth Regiment) was the first to get in marching order—the fifth full organization to enter the service from White County for three years or during the war.
During July war meetings were held throughout the county as an impetus to enlistment. An especially enthusiastic meeting was held at Idaville, on the 26th of July, upon which occasion Belford, Callahan and Wallace, loyal democrats all, vigorously delivered patriotic addresses, and urged all men, without regard to party, to stand by the Union. A rousing meeting was also held at Monticello.
On the same day of the meeting at Idaville, two meetings were held in Liberty Township, where eight volunteers joined Captain Bowman's company. Early in August the company received marching orders. On the 5th of August the boys were given a picnic dinner at Norway, on which occasion C. J. L. Foster and others spoke to the large crowd that had assembled to bid the boys good-bye. Essays were read by Miss Arnold and others; and patriotic toasts were responded to amid the enthusiastic cheers of the populace and the shrill rattle of fife and drum.
The following officers had been chosen on the 1st of August: George Bowman, captain; J. A. Blackwell, first lieutenant; Benjamin F. Price, second lieutenant. On the same day a large meeting was held. Rev. J. W. T. McMullen delivering the oration. One hundred dollars was raised in a few minutes for the families of the boys who were on the eve of departure for the uncertainties of the field of war. On the 5th, at the conclusion of the picnic at Norway, the company started for Indianapolis, followed by the sorrowing farewells of friends. In less than two weeks the company, with its regiment, the Twelfth, marched out in battle array on the field of Richmond, Kentucky, fought gallantly, was captured, paroled and scattered. Several of its boys were killed, among them Benjamin McCormick and Samuel McIntire, and Joseph H. Rooks died of his wounds. Col. William H. Link, who commanded the regiment, also died of his wounds. Captain Bowman received a slight wound. After the exchange of prisoners the regiment joined General Grant's army and participated in the Vicksburg campaign. It was with Sherman from Memphis to Chattanooga and at Mission Ridge, in November, 1863, again suffered serious losses. At that engagement Captain Bowman was so badly wounded that he was sent home and was never able afterward to join the service. It afterward engaged in the pursuit of Bragg, the relief of Burnside at Knoxville, all the engagements of the Atlanta campaign and the movements through the Carolinas northward. The company and regiment were mustered out at Washington, D. C., on the 8th of June, 1865.
By August, 1862, a full company had been raised at Brookston and vicinity, which was incorporated into the Ninety-ninth Regiment, with George W. Gwinn [sic] as captain, Andrew Cochran, first lieutenant, and G. S. Walker, second lieutenant. About the same time Capt. Sidney W. Sea and others enlisted one-half of Company K, Nineteenth Regiment (Fifth Cavalry), the recruits coming mostly from the western part of the county.
Captain Gwin's [sic] Company F, of the Ninety-ninth Regiment, was ordered to South Bend and was mustered into the service in October, 1862. It did not get into action until the following May, during the Vicksburg campaign. At Jackson, Mission Ridge, Chattanooga, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Savannah and Fort McAllister, it became thoroughly fireproof during two years of battling and campaigning.
After the departure of Captain Bowman's company, it was found that the county was not wholly free from the approaching draft of September 15th, and measures were immediately instituted to fill the required quota. Lieut. J. W. Berkey opened a recruiting office, as did also others. One of the largest war meetings held during the rebellion, assembled at the courthouse on the 11th of August to raise volunteers. It was advertised that Colfax and Colonel Hathaway would be present, and this brought out a vast crowd; but these distinguished men were unable to attend, and home talent was called upon. The following statement of county affairs was made out about the lst of September:
| Volunteers | Number | |||||
| Townships | Militia | Volunteers | Exempts | Conscientious | in Service | Subject to Draft |
| Prairie | 275 | 137 | 42 | ... | 136 | 233 |
| Big Creek | 106 | 41 | 22 | ... | 39 | 84 |
| Union | 216 | 139 | 49 | 10 | 128 | 157 |
| Monon | 127 | 64 | 25 | ... | 55 | 102 |
| Liberty | 120 | 52 | 20 | ... | 44 | 100 |
| Jackson | 175 | 85 | 41 | 5 | 81 | 120 |
| Princeton | 95 | 95 | 18 | 2 | 91 | 75 |
| West Point | 60 | 42 | 10 | ... | 36 | 50 |
| Honey Creek | 74 | 55 | 17 | ... | 52 | 57 |
| Cass | 65 | 27 | 13 | 3 | 24 | 46 |
| Round Grove | 27 | 15 | 1 | ... | 14 | 26 |
| ______ | ______ | ______ | ______ | ______ | ______ | |
| Total | 1,337 | 751 | 258 | 20 | 700 | 1,059 |
It was to be nearly two years after Captain Gwin's command went to the front before another complete company was to go forth from White County pledged to stand by the colors for three years or longer—if the war should endure so long. The recruits in the meantime went into such commands as the Ninth, Twentieth, Forty-sixth, Seventy-second, Seventy-third and the Eighty-sixth and Eighty-seventh; and still Moloch called for more. Volunteers did not satisfy him, but military necessity in the shape of the draft threatened; bounties were also offered and paid by the county, above the regular wages pledged by Uncle Sam, and by pulling every string and straining every nerve, White County escaped what was considered a partial reflection on patriotism until the fall of 1864. But that was certainly a period of stress and trial.
As the shadow of the draft of 1863 approached, the press, the pulpit and public leaders everywhere in the county renewed their efforts to keep White County in the rapidly diminishing column of sections which had never been subject to the draft. The efforts of that year were also successful, although over 100 more men had to be raised in townships where there were not enough males to do the work of peace which normally fell to them. But war was war even in those days.
In November, 1863, a committee was appointed at a Monticello war meeting, consisting of R. McConahay, James Wallace, M. Henderson, Lucius Pierce and Thomas Bushnell to push enlistments and forestall the draft. Their manifesto, published in the Monticello Herald of November 10th, was as follows: "The quota of this county under the draft about to be made is 106 men, and is apportioned among the several townships as follows: Union, 16; Honey Creek, 5; Liberty, 10; Cass, 4; Monon, 10; Princeton, 8; West Point, 6 Round Grove, 2; Big Creek, 8; Jackson, 14; Prairie, 23.
"If this number is raised by voluntary enlistment our county will not be subject to the draft, but if it is not raised the draft will certainly fall upon us. Hitherto, we, as a county, have occupied a proud position among the counties of a state of whose record in this war Indianians may well be proud. We have been among the few counties that waited not for the compulsions of a draft.
"Shall we maintain our position, or shall we falter in this, the last, we hope, and the trying hour of the war? We believe the people of White County with one voice will exclaim: No! we will not falter in our efforts, nor fail in our undertakings, but will ever stand true to the maintenance of the Union and the crushing out of this wicked rebellion.
"We, therefore, for the purpose of facilitating the work of enlistment in the several townships, would appoint the following township committees:
"Prairie—Thomas B. Davis, Dr. John Medaris and E. P. Mason.
"Big Creek—John R. Jefferson, Clinton Crose and George R. Spencer.
"Monon—J. L. Watson, Dr. John T. Richardson and William G. Porter.
"Liberty—Thomas Wickersham, H. G. Bliss and George Cullen.
"Jackson—Eli R. Herman, Andrew Hanna and D. McConahay.
"Princeton—John B. Bunnell, David Wright and R. C. Johnson.
"West Point—C. H. Test, O. P. Murphy and David Dellinger.
"Cass—Edward P. Potter, W. O. Hopkinson and Hannibal McCloud.
"Honey Creek—Frank Howard, I. S. Vinson and Nick Young.
"Round Grove—A. Ward, Stewart Rariden and Patrick Carroll.
"We recommend that each of said several committees should appoint a township meeting for as early a day as possible and advise this committee of the time and place of meeting, and speakers will be furnished."
The general and the township committeemen worked diligently and enthusiastically —at least, the draft did not fall upon White county in 1863.
In the meantime, under the call of June 15th for 100,000 six-months' men, Capt Elijah C. Davis and Lieuts. Joseph W. Davis and Isaac H. Jackson enlisted a full company, which was mustered in as K, of the One Hundred and Sixteenth Regiment, on the 17th of August, 1863. The camp of rendezvous was at Lafayette and the first two months of service was occupied in guarding the United States arsenal near Detroit, Michigan, and in routine duties in Kentucky. In October it participated in engagements at Blue Springs and Walker's Ford, but the remainder of its six-months' term was largely passed in guard and fatigue duty. It was mustered out, with other commands of the One Hundred and Sixteenth, at Lafayette.
Under the call of October 17, 1863, which asked for 300,000 soldiers for three years, the work of recruiting the 106 men demanded of White County progressed with vigor, as heretofore noted. Capt. D. M. Graves, of Newton County, appeared at various points in the county, and called for recruits for the Twelfth Cavalry. He had rousing meetings at Monticello, Brookston and elsewhere.
Lieutenant William C. Kent opened an enlistment office for the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment. The papers at that time published very flattering offers of bounty to both veterans and new recruits— to the former $410, and to the latter $380, per annum. The extensive and enthusiastic efforts soon freed the county. Many entered the old regiments. About half the company I of the One hundred and Twenty-sixth was from White County, as was also about one-third of Company F of the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh (Twelfth Cavalry), and one-half of Company K of the same. Among the recruiting officers during the months of November and December, 1863, and January, 1864, were D. M. Graves, Henry H. Gaves, B. O. Wilkinson and W. C. Marshall. In December, 1863, a large war meeting at Brookston was presided over by Benjamin Lucas, president, and W. B. Chapman, secretary. Judge Turpie delivered the oration.
Through the winter mouths and on into the spring of 1864, the enlistment for Company F of the One hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment continued. This company was enlisted mostly by Capt. James G. Staley, Lieuts. W. C. Kent and Henry G. Bliss. The regiment rendezvoused at Michigan City. Captain Staley's company was full about the middle of March, 1864. While yet at Camp Anderson, Michigan City, the members of this company purchased a fine sword which was formally presented to Captain Staley by the regimental chaplain, Rev. William P. Koutz, of Monticello.
Company F was the seventh and the last full company to be enlisted in White County for the three-years' service. Its regiment was mustered into the service March 18, 1864, and first took the field at Nashville, Tennessee. In the Atlanta campaign it fought at Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta and Jonesboro. As part of Thomas's army it joined in the pursuit of Hood, and at the hard-fought Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864, its brave captain, James G. Staley, was killed.
One of Captain Staley's comrades writes of his death and career as follows: "In the beginning of the war he responded to the call of our country and served faithfully as a member of the Ninth Indiana for more than two years. He was commissioned captain of Company F, 128th Indiana, in January, 1864, and in March left the place of rendezvous with his regiment to take part in the memorable campaign of Atlanta. During that toilsome service of marching, digging, guarding, watching and lighting, lasting four months, without the soldiers being beyond the sound of musketry or artillery, he nobly, patiently, heroically performed his part. On the 4th of October we left Decatur, Georgia, to begin the fall campaign, and after much skirmishing and marching several hundred miles in Georgia and Alabama, we reached Franklin, Tennessee, closely pressed by the enemy in superior force. It is not my purpose to give a description of the engagement, but I will state that the 128th Indiana occupied breastworks near the extreme left of our line; that the enemy charged right up to and planted their colors on our works, and that their dead and dying which filled the ditches, sufficiently proved how bloody and disastrous was their repulse.
"When the assault was made, Captain Staley was standing up watching the enemy and directing the fire and the use of the bayonets of his men. Just then Captain Bissell, of the same reginient, was shot through the head and fell against Lieutenant Bliss, who, with the assistance of Captain Staley, laid him upon the ground and placed a blanket under his head. This had scarcely been done when some one called out 'They are coming again,' and all prepared to receive the enemy. As Captain Staley turned to the works, a minie ball struck him in the forehead, and he, too, fell into the arms of Lieutenant Bliss and died almost instantly. There was no time then to listen to parting words. A desperate hand-to-hand conflict was straining every nerve for the possession of the works. The deadly musket shot, the clash of arms as bayonet came to bayonet and sword to sword, the hurried breathing of the men through their shut teeth, their words of encouragement and mutterings of vengeance, with the thunders of the two pieces of artillery that flanked the company, combined to bring into heroic exercise every muscle of the body and every power of the mind.
"Darkness came on and still the fighting continued. Every man was needed to repulse the desperate assaults of the enemy. The body of Captain Staley was carried to the rear by the stretcher corps and buried in the same grave with that of Captain Bissell, near the large brick dwelling house on the hill south of Franklin. This statement was made by Lieutenant Bliss. The grave where the heroes slept was left unmarked, but to have done otherwise was impossible. Though we had repulsed the rebel army, it was determined to withdraw under cover of darkness, and at midnight we retreated across Harpeth river and abandoned the battlefield and Franklin to the enemy."
Captain Staley's remains were recovered and brought home, through the efforts of the Christian Commission arriving at Monticello on February 7, 1865, and on the 12th were reinterred with appropriate ceremonies.
This last of the long-term companies to be raised, as a whole, in White County, saw service after Captain Staley's death at Nashville, in the later pursuit of Hood, at Newbern and Wise's Fork, North Carolina, and at other points marking the closing operations of the war. The regiment was not mustered out of the service until early in 1866.
The heavy calls of February and March, 1864, and finally the call of July 18th of 500,000 men for one, two and three years, somewhat staggered the county; but the citizens began to make earnest efforts to meet the demand. A most hopeful feeling prevailed at this time, as it was already apparent that the rebellion was wavering before the final fall. About one-half of Company B of the One Hundred and Forty-second went from Idaville during the month of September, 1864, Capt. James Thomas and Lieuts. R. H. Cary and R. W. Clary enlisting the men. About twenty-five men from the county entered Company H of the same regiment. About fifteen recruits entered Company C of the Forty-second in October. Some fifty recruits joined Company G of the Sixty-third during the summer months of 1864. Late in 1864 and early in 1865 about fifty recruits joined Company F of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth. Among the recruiting officers in the county during the latter part of 1864 was M. F. Smith.
Until the fall of 1864, the county had warded off the draft by her tenders of money, the appeals of her orators and the influence of her women, but the calls of February, March, April and July, of that year, placed a burden on her which could not be sustained through voluntary enlistment. The county quota of February, 1864, with some deficiency, was 210; of March, 84; and of July, 287; or a total of 531. The draft took place in October, at Michigan City, under Provost Marshal K. G. Shryock, but the required number did not report and a supplementary draft took place. One of the reasons why it was difficult at that time to fill the ranks at home was that higher bounties were offered in large cities south and east than those in White County, and many left accordingly. Such men were credited, of course, to the localities paying the bounty, and were thus lost to White County.
The call of December, 1864, stimulated anew the enlistment. During the winter months of 1864-65 war meetings were held everywhere to clear the county, but the work was slow. Another draft came off at Michigan City in the early part of April, 1865, by which 163 men were raised in White County, most of whom were one-year men.
The last report made by the military authorities on April 14, 1865, when all efforts to raise troops had been suspended, showed that White County had furnished thirty-five more men than were required by all the calls of the war.
A recapitulation of the number of soldiers raised in the county during the entire period of the Civil war would stand thus: From the outbreak of the war until September 1, 1862, 751 volunteers had joined the Union army. The calls of July and August, of that year, brought out 220 men; about 90 joined the six-months' service, under the call of October, 1863; 106 were furnished under the call of October, 1863; 170 under the February and March calls, in 1864; 237 under the call of July, same year; and 163 under the last call of the war in December, 1864. It is estimated that fully 100 men left the county to enlist; and to all these items must be added the 35 surplus above all calls. Thus the volunteers, recruits, conscripts and veterans from White County, some of whom enlisted more than once for short periods, numbered 1,872.
Albeit a labor of love, it would be an impossibility to give an adequate picture of the relief work performed by the men and women of White County to alleviate the sufferings both of those at the front and those left at home. The great bulk of it can never be measured by dollars and cents; so that we can only say that an important feature of that work was included in the various sums raised by the county, in its official capacity, which is divided into the bounty and relief funds.
The first action taken by the county commissioners in the direction of relief to soldiers' families was in August, 1862, when township trustees were authorized to provide for the reasonable wants of the families of soldiers in the field, keeping proper vouchers, upon the presentation of which they would be reimbursed from the county treasury. It was not until the 26th of November, 1863, that the commissioners authorized the payment of $100 bounty to volunteers under the call of October, but after that, and even long after the war had ended, large amounts were paid out. No proper record seems to have been kept of these important disbursements. The following imperfect exhibit, taken from the adjutant-general's report, is the best that can be given of the county bounty and relief funds:
| Bounty | Relief | |
| White County | $60,500 | $ 48.80 |
| Prairie | 25,000 | 1,776.86 |
| Big Creek | 450 | 34.92 |
| Union | 675 | 812.83 |
| Monon | 50 | 262.95 |
| Liberty | 100 | 68.89 |
| Jackson | 150 | 544.35 |
| Princeton | 3,300 | ........ |
| West Point | 1,228 | 48.30 |
| Cass | 333 | 1,370.37 |
| Honey Creek | ...... | 392.58 |
| Round Grove | 4,100 | 6.30 |
| ________ | ________________ | |
| Total | $95,886 | $5,364.15 |
| Grand total | $101,250.15 |
In the Spanish-American war, White County was ready for anything which came her way and furnished one company nearly complete, known as I, One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana Volunteers. William Guthrie went out as captain; Anthony A. Anheir, as first lieutenant; and John R. Ward, as second lieutenant. Dr. W. E. Biederwolf, of Monticello, chaplain of the regiment, was also the historian of Company I. From his account it is learned that the first meeting looking toward the raising of a company for White County was called by Tippecanoe Post No. 51, G. A. R., to be held at the courthouse, April 21, 1898. A company was organized then and there, and the governor was notified that it was ready to serve at a moment's warning. He replied that the company would be needed and that the boys should get into military shape. In fact, events moved so rapidly that on June 30th Captain Guthrie received gubernatorial orders to report with his company at Indianapolis on the following Monday. But the boys were allowed to spend the Fourth at home on the Monticello Fair Grounds.
The White County contingent was mustered into the service at Indianapolis on July 13, 1898, as Company I, and on August 7th was ordered to Jacksonville, Florida, to be incorporated into the Seventh Army Corps under Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee. It reached that city August 14th and during its two months' stay there lost six of its men by disease—Clarence D. Kuns, Wallace D. Stivers, George Kepperling, William G. Weaver, Joseph F. Turner and Jacob W. Dexter.
The regiment spent the period from October 24th to December 12th at Savannah, and arrived at Havana, Cuba, on the 14th of the latter month, going into camp near Quemados about ten mites southwest of the city. There the command remained in that vicinity during the remainder or the winter, drilling and doing guard duty at various points. On March 29th the home-coming commenced—the regiment landing at Savannah March 3lst and being mustered out on April 30th. It arrived at Indianapolis on the morning of May 3d, and reached Monticello at noon. The boys were welcomed at the state house by Governor Mount and, what was nearer to their hearts, by their mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, wives and sweethearts, at Monticello. The home welcome extended over a period which is unknown to the writer, the public receptions covering several days.
In addition to furnishing Company I to put down the war, White County sent sixteen men into the Eleventh United States Infantry, who participated in the Porto Rico expedition; furnished twelve to the 160th Indiana Volunteers; three to the Second U. S. Infantry, of whom Gustave B. Stahlman was killed in the Santiago expedition; three to the Twenty-third U. S. Infantry which took part in the fourth expedition to the Philippines; three to the Sixth Illinois Volunteers, who went to Porto Rico; three to the 157th Indiana Volunteers, and smaller numbers to Troop L, U. S. Cavalry, Third U. S. Artillery and 16th U. S. Infantry.