Weekly View » The Civil War 150th Anniversary

The Civil War 150th Anniversary: July 1865

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 05:09:05 +0000

Indianapolis observed THE FOURTH OF JULY with a “good deal of bunting lazily floating in the air.” The firing of the national salute and the vigorous ringing of bells “for an indefinite period of time” roused the people to celebration. A large crowd gathered in the morning on the grounds of the State House to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence, “an eloquent oration,” the melodies of the Maennerchor, and the “most excellent music” of various brass bands. At half-past four o’clock the “grand procession” made its way from Camp Sullivan “to slow music and solemnly paraded” through the center of the city. Along with horsemen “elaborately spangled and ornamented with the Maltese cross,” an “allegorical tableau vivant (floats)” featuring the capture of Jeff Davis and the Goddess of Liberty, ornately adorned in red, white, and blue, passed by to the delight of all observers. However, the appearance of the Armstrong gun — “an immense sheet-iron structure, mounted on gigantic wheels — excited apprehension and terror in the minds of all beholders.” Picnickers left the city for shaded woods and a group of young men played a “furiously contested” game of cricket at Camp Shanks. At night, Washington Street was ablaze from burning Bengal lights as Roman candles shot “their fiery globes” and bursting rockets showered “golden rain and hissing serpents” to the delight of throngs of uproarious men, women, and children who celebrated until a “very late hour.”
The Metropolitan Theatre was “densely crowded” for the musical and romantic drama, The Seven Daughters of Satan. Miss Lotta Crabtree was a “capital piece of acting,” as Tartarina, but “Mrs. Pluto would do well to exhibit a little more modesty in her dancing scene.” Holman’s English Opera Troup continued July’s theater entertainment with the comic opera The Love Spell, Cinderella, and other offerings, while at the Tabernacle on the Court House Square the Alhambra Palace Troupe opened the summer season with unique entertainments of vocal and instrumental music, acrobatic performances, and theatrical burlesque. At month’s end, Dan Rice’s Mammoth Menagerie entered the city with a parade of “trained animals, wild beasts, and beautiful singing birds.”
Several thousand spectators “of all sexes, ages and conditions” witnessed the successful launching of the Governor Morton, the “first steamboat ever built in these parts,” into the White River south of the Washington Street Bridge on Saturday afternoon July First. While built “exclusively for a pleasure boat,” the hope of the enterprise is “a profitable commerce” between Indianapolis and “the thriving town of Waverly.” Donations amounting to $16,000 (2014: $243,981.58) have been received towards construction of the Indianapolis, Crawfordsville & Danville (Illinois) Railroad. This is better than two-thirds of the funds needed to “secure this important road to Indianapolis.”
Day after day valiant Hoosier soldiers, “sun-burnt heroes” — the 16th, 20th, 22nd, 25th, 35th, 37th, 38th, 48th, 58th, 59th, 63rd, 65th, 69th, 73rd, 80th, 91st, and 101st, and 142nd Regiments; the 6th, 7th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 17th, and 20th, 24th, and 25th Batteries; and a detachment of the 1st Cavalry — arrived in the city and made their way to the Soldiers’ Home for a “sumptuous repast,” and then they marched with the city band to the State House grounds for a public reception attended by “citizens and ladies.” The air was filled with song and prayer; addresses in “plain, earnest and sensible” words from Gov. Morton, Gen. Hovey, and others. General William Tecumseh Sherman arrived in Indianapolis on Tuesday the Twenty-Fifth. Before visiting the Soldiers’ Home, “Old Bill” met veterans and citizens in the governor’s room at the State House. An afternoon reception on the State House yard saw 20,000 — “throngs of soldiers, citizens, ladies and children” — densely packing the grounds around the speakers stand. Many climbed trees for a better view. Boisterous cheers of “Hurrah for Cump,” and “Bully for Old Bill” greeted “the hero of the Georgia and Carolina campaigns” at his appearance. Following Gov. Morton’s introduction, Gen. Sherman “paid a handsome compliment to the State, the Governor, and the soldiers of the State….He exhorted the soldiers….to be good citizens as they had been good soldiers.” In the evening, a banquet was given at Military Hall in the General’s honor.
The City Bath House, 16 W. Pearl Street, opened to the public. Its ample bathing facilities with “commodious tubs, pure soft water, fresh brushes, and clean towels” will fill a long felt need in this city. The rain “still continues with slight interruptions….Streams swollen to torrents overflowing entire corn fields….cellars full of water…Fevers, fluxes, congestive chills, and other ailments may be looked for.”
The Western Baseball Club gave a “spirited game” on the club grounds, Vermont Street west of Blackford Street. Some New York baseball men joined with the best players of Indianapolis to give the “most interesting game of the season.”
Confederate arms are stacked; Confederate paroles have been given, and the Stars and Bars has fallen before the Old Flag. Our Union soldiers, the survivors of a thousand fields, their features marked with “honesty, heroism, and simplicity” have returned home to their families and friends.”

If you would like a collection of these “Civil War – 150th Anniversary” the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 E. University (Irvington) has the last 3 years in 3 booklets – $10 per set. They are open Wed. 1-3pm, Sat. & Sun.1-4pm. All proceeds benefit the Irvington Historical Society.

The Civil War 150th Anniversary: June 1865

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 05:09:32 +0000

–THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1865 — HUMILIATION DAY –— appointed by President Johnson “for humiliation and prayer, in view of our great national calamity — the death of Abraham Lincoln.” City business was suspended and services held in all of the churches. J. Perry Elliott’s City Gallery, 8-10 E. Washington St, has “fine, large photographs of our lamented President Lincoln.”
The first full week of the month began with the ladies of St. John’s Church giving a Strawberry Festival at the Masonic Hall and the Wesley Chapel ladies serving up strawberries and cream at the church, too. The next day, the ladies of the Universalist Church entertained at the College Hall with a Strawberry and Ice Cream Festival. The Marion County Agricultural and Horticultural Society held its annual exhibition at the Tabernacle with “specimens of fruits, cut flowers, vegetables, table comforts, paintings, fancy needlework, grain and seeds;” refreshments by the young ladies and gentlemen of the Indianapolis Mission Sabbath School — strawberries and cream; ice cream and cake.
While the Conspiracy Trials of those involved in President Lincoln’s assassination dominated national news, the trial of George Washington Hedrick and others of the Daviess County, Indiana conspiracy to murder Captain Eli McCarty, who was engaged in notifying drafted men, ended with the jury returning a guilty verdict. The death sentences of Lambdin P. Milligan and William A. Bowles, who were convicted of conspiring to release rebel prisoners and foment insurrection, were commuted by President Johnson to life in prison, and they were taken from the Soldiers’ Home to the Ohio Penitentiary to serve their sentences. The Journal noted “the public safety does not require their execution now that the war is ended and the national authority is firmly established.”
“Our Heroes Are Returning!” Indiana regiments — 12th-17th-20th-22nd-25th-43rd-48th-58th-59th-63rd-65th-66th-68th-70th-74th-75th-79th-80th-81st-82nd-83rd-84th-85th-86th-87th-88th-91st-97th-99th-100th-101st and men of batteries and cavalry — “dusty and travel worn, but full of life,” began arriving at Camp Carrington — “the work of mustering out the volunteer forces of the Republic goes on briskly.” At the firing of the signal cannon, crowds of citizens gathered almost daily in the afternoon on and about the State House grounds to welcome the regiments as they formed in front of an elaborate stand to receive the accolades of Gov. Morton and other dignitaries. The city band and regimental bands escorted the troops. A dinner was then provided at the Soldiers’ Home where the “soldier-guests” found the tables “covered with provisions that must strongly suggest to them the idea of home.” The saloons were ordered closed, but other businesses were open and the “mustered-out men were purchasing gifts and good things for the dear ones to whom they were coming back.” Many soldiers eager to get home, left before a public reception could be given. The office of paymaster Major Will Cumback’s was “besieged” by soldiers discharged from hospitals seeking their pay; $3,000,000,000 (2014: $45,746,545.52) has been sent to the office to cover payments. By mid-month the last “Reb shook the dust of Camp Morton from his feet and entered into life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Over a hundred destitute refugee families from Atlanta who are “anxious to get back to their homes” were told to file their requests with the secretary of the Indiana Union Relief Association “showing that they are entitled to transportation.”
Many returning soldiers have left mementoes gathered from the battlefields with Madame English at the Museum. Northeast of the city, a short walk from the terminus of the Massachusetts Avenue street railway, government horse auctions were held daily. “Razor-backed chargers” and “noble brutes of departed greatness” destined to the “drudgery of the farmyard.” Sales averaged about a hundred per day.
Commencement exercises were held at Northwestern Christian University (Butler University) and the Indianapolis Baptist Female Institute. At month’s end, Professor Isaiah Rider, author of Rider’s System of Writing, held the first lesson for ladies at the United States Normal Institute of Penmanship in College Hall, southwest corner of Washington and Pennsylvania Streets, and a meeting was held at the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce to organize a company to build the Indianapolis and Chicago Air Line Railroad.
The Journal observed, “We are glad that the days of anxiety, of blood-shed and sensations are over. It is a relief to let our high strung nerves relax, and a positive rest to turn to the wholesome topics of peace.”

The Civil War 150th Anniversary: March 1865

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 19 Mar 2015 05:09:22 +0000

On the sunny side of fences, grass begins to make “a feeble display of green,” and along with singing birds signs of spring are “deliciously suggestive.” The Journal noted, “Many of our streets are in horrible condition. The city is either very poor, or its officials very careless of its reputation.” Jacob Voegtle began manufacturing Japanned and stamped tinware at his House Furnishing Emporium on East Washington St opposite the Court House. Long monopolized by Eastern manufacturers, Voegtle will furnish these products at New York rates. A meeting of master mechanics to “consider matters of mutual interest” selected carpenter B. V. Enos, president, and brick mason T. J. Vater, secretary. A committee was appointed to formulate “a plan of action for the master builders.”
Mrs. Emma Waller, as Lady Teazle, performed before a crowded Metropolitan Hall in “that grand old comedy” The School for Scandal. A grand concert was performed at the Fourth Presbyterian Church on its new organ, the largest in Indiana. Several of the city’s organists exhibited “the variety and power of the instrument.” The Fenian Brotherhood celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in the city with a procession followed by a “grand supper, music, songs, and toasts at the Palmer House.”
The mailboat General Lytle from Louisville stopped briefly at Madison, Indiana with Andrew Johnson, Vice President elect, on board. Several hundred persons present on the wharf called for a speech, and Gov. Johnson responded with a short address in which he said he “owed a lasting debt of gratitude” to the Hoosier State for being the first to urge him for vice president. Beneath a clear and beautiful sky, before thousands gathered at the nation’s Capitol, on Saturday, March 4, President Lincoln entered upon his second term; “He has done well.”
Meetings of the drafted men were held every night at the Court House. To avoid having the city depleted of its industrial workers through the draft, Mayor John Caven offered a bounty of $440 (2014: $6,709.49) per volunteer to meet the city’s draft quota, and every drafted man was expected to pay $25 (2014: $381.22) towards the fund. By mid-month the city’s quota was filled and “the present draft has no terrors” for Indianapolis. Three more Indiana regiments – the 148th, 149th, and 153rd – left for the front in the early days of the month. Of the 920 men in the 153rd Regiment, over 400 were veterans. Governor Morton has been authorized by the Secretary of War to raise five more regiments.
Throughout the month the Journal columns listed the Indiana officers and men recently released from Southern prisons. The columns also listed those Indiana soldiers convalescing in hospitals and those who were wounded and died in distant places – Kingston, North Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Savannah, Georgia; New Orleans; and Tyler, Texas. The Indiana Sanitary Commission reported receiving $4,139.15 (2014: $63,117.27) in cash donations from Soldiers’ Aid Societies and citizens around the state during the month of February. Purchases sent to Hoosier soldiers included 518 pairs of socks, 180 pairs of drawers, 3,162 pounds of dried apples, 35 crutches, and 100 reams of writing paper and envelopes.
A number of candidate announcements for city offices were published in advance of the Union City Convention which was held the last Saturday of the month. The candidates “were all worthy men,” and those nominated make an excellent ticket. Mayor John Caven was re-nominated without opposition and “well deserves the compliment and reward of a second term.”
At Washington in front of the National Hotel, a large crowd cheered as the 140th Indiana Regiment presented a captured rebel flag to Gov. Morton. President Lincoln was in attendance and spoke briefly about “the recent attempt of our erring brethren…to employ the negro to fight for them.” To hearty cheers and applause, the President said, “They have drawn their last branch of resources and we can now see the bottom. I am glad to see the end so near at hand.” The band struck up “Yankee Doodle.”
Hoosiers read daily the reports of General Sherman’s relentless march through the Carolinas and of General Sheridan’s “relentlessly and ruinously” ride through the Shenandoah Valley. “All the signs of the times combine to show that the present is the final campaign against the great rebellion. The success of our armies and navies, the spirit of our soldiers, the opinions of our officers, the divisions, demoralization and financial difficulties of the enemy, assure us that the triumph of justice, liberty and peace is at hand.”

The Civil War: 150th Anniversary

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 06:09:11 +0000

January 1865

New Year’s Day open house was held in many Indianapolis homes; the ladies “dispensing hospitality” to their friendly callers. The second term of Northwestern Christian University (Butler University) began on Monday, January 2, 1865, and Indianapolis Protestant congregations joined Protestant churches across the nation during the first week of the year in sessions of special daily prayer. The anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation was celebrated January 3 by the African-American people of the city with a procession. The marchers bearing signs and flags were led by a band to the Masonic Hall where various speakers addressed the crowd.
President Lincoln suspended the pending execution of John Lennon, alias Thomas Doyle, who was sentenced by court martial to be shot. The President asked to see the man’s trial record. Andrew Humphreys, who had been sentenced to imprisonment at hard labor by the Military Commission at the Indianapolis treason trials, was ordered by Major General Alvin P. Hovey, commanding general of the Indiana Military District, to be discharged and paroled to the “limits of Wright and Stockton townships” in Greene County for the duration of the war.
About 450 “cadaverous-looking” rebel prisoners who had been captured at Vicksburg seventeen months ago were released from Camp Morton after they “had come to the conclusion to take the oath of allegiance.” The Journal published the Indiana Sanitary Commission’s list of paroled Indiana soldiers at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Maryland, along with names of those who died in rebel prisons. The Hoosier sick and wounded from General Thomas’ army hospitalized at Jeffersonville, Indiana were also listed. The United States Sanitary Commission reported the Hoosier casualties in General Sherman’s campaign.
Indianapolis attorney C. G. Werbe was found guilty in the United States District court for receiving $100 (2013: $1,500.87) from a soldier’s widow for helping her secure a pension when the law allowed no more than $10 (2013: $150.09). The U.S. district attorney “intends to prosecute every case of that kind with vigor, that the soldiers’ rights may be protected.” The Indianapolis city council, in an attempt to break up “the enormous evils of bounty agencies and the disgraceful prevalence of bounty jumping, alias desertion,” passed an ordinance prohibiting agents from procuring substitutes or recruits to fill quotas other than those in the city and Center Township. Throughout Marion County, bounties in various amounts were offered for “good acceptable men who will volunteer” to fill the draft quota. The city offered a bounty of $400 (2013: $6,003.48); Franklin Township offered $300 (2013: $4,502.61). City wards held draft meetings and appointed committees to canvass and solicit funds. There are 6,732 men on the corrected enrollment for Center Township eligible for the draft.
“Immense audiences” were entertained nightly at the Metropolitan Theatre with the “beautiful Irish drama” Colleen Bawn, while at Masonic Hall “world-renowned comedian” George Christy headlined the Christy Minstrels. For the benefit of soldiers’ families, the Amateur’s Charitable Association held its grand opening at the Tabernacle on the Court House Square featuring Still Waters Run Deep, The Three Crows, and Il Trovatore’s Anvil Chorus, “with full costumes,” presented “exclusively by amateurs and respectable citizens of Indianapolis.”
In southern Indiana “petroleum is all the rage now.” Companies in Louisville, Cincinnati, and New Albany have been or are being formed to lease large tracts in Perry, Crawford, and Martin Counties. An agent of the Tar Spring Petroleum Co of Cincinnati was in Indianapolis offering the sale of company stock.

The Civil War — 150th Anniversary

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 06:09:24 +0000

“GREATEST VICTORY OF THE WAR! OLD ABE RE-ELECTED!” announced the Indianapolis Journal on the morning of Wednesday, November 9. In the days prior to the election, crowds of “ladies and gentlemen, citizens and soldiers, young and old” gathered nightly at the Tabernacle on Circle Park to hear speeches and exhortations – “A Union man has no more right to absent himself from the polls on Election Day than a soldier has to absent himself from his company on the day of battle.” An immense crowd – one of the largest ever assembled in the city – met at the Tabernacle a week after the election in the “grand jubilee over the re-election of Mr. Lincoln.” The event witnessed speeches, songs, and cheers in “one grand, spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm.” The great assemblage later in the evening spilled out into the streets to see a “magnificent display of fireworks” – whole batteries of Roman candles erupting from rooftops, blazing rockets filling the air, and a great display of fiery letters – “Lincoln and Johnson” – “The Union Forever” – showering their “golden rain on all sides.”
The military commission sitting for the treason trials of William A. Bowles, Andrew Humphreys, and Lambdin P. Milligan, all district major generals of the Sons of Liberty and members of its military committee, and Stephen Horsey continued hearing testimony throughout the month. Deputy Grand Commander Horace Heffren had the charges against him dropped when he agreed to be a witness for the government.
Indianapolis is meeting the needs of its increasing population with the erection of 1,500 to 2,000 houses last year and a similar number this year. The immense quantities of grain and seed from the agricultural region around the city has warranted the building of extensive mills – flour, oil, and hominy – some drawing their power from Fall Creek. The Geisendorff woolen mills are being enlarged for additional machinery; Sinker & Co machine works is receiving orders from New York and California for its “celebrated” steam engines; and Kingan & Co has established a substantial structure “which is equal in capacity” to any similar pork and beef packing firm in the country. Great warehouses have been built for the seven railroads “diverging to every quarter” from the city enabling manufactured items and merchandise to be shipped to any part of the state within a day of being ordered; merchants from any part of the state can visit Indianapolis, “make purchases and return home the same day.” To meet increased demands for banking facilities, the Indianapolis National Bank has been recently organized with a capitalization of $1,000,000 (2013: $14,693,526.27) and is open for business in the Odd Fellow’s Hall, corner of Washington and Pennsylvania Streets. Work on the street railroad continues “gradually stretching itself along our principal highways” with the “rumbling cars and shrieking mules” making its way along Virginia Av to the southeastern city limits at Shelby Street. The eighteen member police force is “entirely inadequate to the duties required of them” and “should be at least doubled.” The Hoosier Capital “is destined to become an important city.”
The postal money order system went into operation at the beginning of the month. “Intended to promote public convenience and to insure safety in the transfer of money through the mails,” money in any amount from one dollar (2013: $14.69) to thirty dollars (2013: $440.81) may be deposited with the postmaster at any of the seven Money Order Offices established in Indiana – Indianapolis, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Madison, Vincennes, and Terre Haute.
Lists of killed and wounded Hoosier soldiers from battles in Virginia and Georgia continued to appear almost daily in the Journal. An officer in the 5th Cavalry sent a list of 149 Indiana soldiers imprisoned at Andersonville, Georgia; most dying from diarrhea. At mid-month about thirty rebel prisoners at Camp Morton rushed the guard and made their escape; a few shots were fired by the guard, but missed their mark. Captain Charles W. Brouse of the 100th Regiment arrived in Indianapolis with $50,000 (2013: $734,676.41) from his soldiers for their families.
The Indianapolis Benevolent Society “continues to advise against any aid to street beggers, but requests every applicant be directed to the nearest” district society in the city. In accordance with President Lincoln’s proclamation, Thanksgiving Day was observed in Indianapolis with “a general suspension of business, a good attendance at the various churches, and by the usual festivities.” The men in the barracks at Camp Carrington feasted on “sumptuous” dinners of turkeys, chickens, oysters, and “a profusion of the most wholesome provisions furnished by the government.”

The Civil War 150th Anniversary: October 1864

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:09:16 +0000

A new era in the city’s history began the evening of Monday, October 3 as the Citizens’ Street Railway Co. put the street car line in operation in time for the opening of the State Fair. A visitor arriving at the Union Depot could now be conveyed conveniently and cheaply the “eight squares northwest” of the depot to the fairgrounds (Military Park) for five cents (2013: $0.73) in one of the nine horse drawn cars. Before month’s end, ground was broken to extend the track north on Illinois Street to the city limits (10th Street). “A grand sight” was observed at the fairgrounds the afternoon prior to the fair’s opening at the military review of all the troops stationed in Indianapolis. Soldiers clad in “scrupulously neat and clean” uniforms carrying glistening muskets formed a battle line over a mile in length. At a command, the troops performed their “evolutions with such beautiful accuracy of movement – everyone confessed that there are no soldiers like the American soldiers.” Throughout the month large numbers of drafted men reported daily at Camp Carrington. A resolution was adopted at the Drafted Men’s Meeting to publish the names of drafted men “who are able, but refuse to pay anything” to the Drafted Men’s Fund.
The Treason Trial of Harrison H. Dodd, Indiana Grand Commander of the Sons of Liberty, charged with “Conspiracy Against the Government – Affording Aid and Comfort to the Rebels – Inciting Insurrection – Disloyal Practices, and Violation of the Laws of War,” continued before a military commission. Citizens followed the transcript of the proceedings published daily in the columns of the Journal with great interest. As the eleventh day of the trial was about to commence, Dodd escaped from his room on the third floor of the Post Office building; the Commission continued with its deliberations. Lambdin P. Milligan of Huntington, Horace Heffren of Salem, Stephen Horsey, Andrew Humphreys of Greene County, and William A. Bowles were arrested on charges similar to those under which Dodd was accused. Their trial before a military commission was covered in detail by the Journal during the last days of the month. Maj Gen Alvin P. Hovey, Commander of the District of Indiana, ordered the arrest of Joseph J. Bingham, editor of the Indiana State Sentinel, for “being a ‘Son of Liberty’ and inciting the people (through the paper) to acts of violence and resistance of the authority and laws of the Government.”
“Execrable mud and rain” kept people away from the twelfth Indiana State Agricultural Fair in the days following its opening, but attendance quickly improved with the return of autumn’s “full blaze of glory.” Immense crowds quickly filled the city as each train “puffing and panting into the depot disgorged a great mass of people” who then made their way to the fairgrounds. The large auditorium for the Great Sanitary Bazaar, “Trophy Hall,” provided entertainment every evening with the entire proceeds going “to the relief of the sick and wounded soldiers.” Pickpockets “industriously worked the crowd.” Sight seers in the city were also encouraged to spend 25 cents (2013: $3.67) and visit the Indiana State Museum in the Kinder Building, Washington Street between Pennsylvania and Delaware, to see the “almost endless specimens from all quarters of the globe…skillfully presented and beautifully arranged” under the direction of the proprietress Madam Mary A. English. At the Metropolitan Theatre, city visitors could take in the State Fair Week offering, Ingomar, The Barbarian, while at Masonic Hall “the Autocrat of Magic and greatest of all Prestidigitateurs” Prof. W. J. McAllister worked his spells. At the end of the month, the Metropolitan featured Laura Keene’s Combination Troupe in Our American Cousin.
Gov. Andrew Johnson, the nominee for Vice President of the United States, appeared at the Sanitary Fair and made a few remarks on Friday before Election Day. He then delivered a “very able and eloquent address” to an “immense assembly” at the Tabernacle on Circle Park that evening. Lincoln and Johnson medallions were on sale at Wholesale Jewelry Store, 8 N. Meridian St. On Tuesday, October 11 Hoosiers went to the polls and made a “grand Field Day for the Unionists;” Gov. Morton was elected with a majority of 20,000 along with the entire State ticket. The following Friday evening, 12,000 citizens gathered for a “Union Jollicication” in and around the spacious Tabernacle. Great bonfires blazed in the streets, fiery rockets rushed skyward bursting into colorful showers, thundering cannons, and rousing cheers from the crowd gave joyful recognition of victory. Speakers exhorted the gathering to “actively work to secure a still more splendid result in the Presidential election” in November.

The Civil War 150 Years Ago: September 1864

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 05:09:33 +0000

The month began with committees being established for next month’s Indiana Sanitary Bazaar to provide for the “welfare and comfort of our sick and wounded soldiers.” The Ladies’ Visiting Committee canvassed the city soliciting contributions for the bazaar. Two well attended political meetings met in the city the first Saturday evening. At Circle Park, a Union Meeting of “four or five thousand ladies and gentlemen” were treated with rousing speeches, music by the Veteran Reserve Corps band, and songs by the Union Glee Club; while at Masonic Hall, Democratic supporters of presidential nominee Gen. George B. McClellan and vice presidential nominee George H. Pendleton were entertained with band music, speeches, and fireworks. Later in the month the semi-circular Union Tabernacle, erected on Circle Park, was dedicated with speeches and music before a crowd of people crammed inside and out “with a grand profusion of red, white and blue” to “the cause of Liberty and the Union.”
Indianapolis was a crowded city. Although 1,800 tenements have been built this season, it is almost impossible for a man with a wife and children to “secure a roof to sleep under.” With visitors coming to the city for the State Sanitary Bazaar and State Agricultural Fair ample arrangements will be made to accommodate all, but the single gentleman will find the boarding houses full and may only have “a narrow bed with a liveryman.” The hotels are barely able to “accommodate the transient customer.” Because of the high price of stone and iron, many of the building improvements in the city are using terra cotta as a construction material for windows, door caps, water pipe, and chimney tops. The clay comes from Clay County and is fabricated by Stewart & Glover near the Terre Haute depot. John Stillwell’s terrier “Dick” has killed 213 Norway rats in the past month, most at one of the city’s hotels.
“GLORIOUS WAR NEWS. GEN. SHERMAN OCCUPIES ATLANTA.” At University Square a salute of one hundred guns roared “in glorification of the cheering aspect of military affairs,” and a detachment of Company G, 17th Regiment, Veteran Reserve Corps fired one hundred guns at the United States Arsenal in honor of the victories at Mobile Harbor. Veterans of the 10th Indiana arrived in the city direct from Atlanta and a “glorious reception” was given. One thousand seventy nine men were mustered in September 1861, and after three years of service 425 men formed up on the east side of the State House to hear Gov. Morton express his “gratification” at their safe return after “the perils and hardships” of the long campaign. The soldiers’ vote began to be reported —
8th Indiana, President: Lincoln 215; “Little Mac” 26.
Governor: Morton 239; McDonald 4.
11th Indiana, President: Lincoln 320; McClellan 16; Fremont 1.
Governor: Morton 333; McDonald 5.
17th Indiana, President: Lincoln 234; McClellan 23; Fremont 6.
Governor: Morton 234; McDonald 21.
In Marion County and throughout Indiana preparations were made for the draft. At the Provost Marshal’s office, the initial names of men in Marion County drawn from the “wheel of fortune” appeared in the Journal following the first day of the draft, Monday, September 19. Franklin Township’s quota of 93 men will come from the 186 men drafted. Draft meetings were held and committees were formed to solicit funds to provide bounties to fill the quota, before mustering, with “volunteers and avoid the disgrace of [conscription].” Those on the draft lists were called upon for donations as “the fates of war have called upon [them] to give liberally or shoulder a musket.” The Provost Guard raided a number of saloons, known to be selling liquor to soldiers, and destroyed their contents – smashing bottles and staving-in the heads of barrels and casks.
Gregory’s High School for Boys opened on the third floor of the Sentinel Building on South Meridian St, and Superintendent Abram C. Shortridge announced that the public high school would resume for the first time since 1857. Applicants for admission will be examined in “Spelling, Reading, Writing, Geography, Mental Arithmetic, Practical Arithmetic to Proportion, and in English Grammar to Syntax.” The Indianapolis Street Railway Co began laying track on Illinois St up to Washington St. The track will continue west on Washington St to West St and then north to the Fair Ground. Indianapolis is a “city of large squares and magnificent distances,” and the citizens will hail the first car “with delight.” A large audience braved the heavy rain to see Bulwer’s comedy Money at the Metropolitan Theater. Mr. Riley “fully sustained his reputation as a clever actor” in the role of Alfred Evelyn. Later in the month, “the celebrated Artistic and Shakespearian comedian” James Henry Hackett appeared as Sir John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
While the conspiracy trial, before a military commission, of Harrison H. Dodd, grand commander of the Order of American Knights, dominated local news during the last week of September, the month ended with the “Greatest Horseman in the World,” James Robinson, demonstrating his “brilliant acts of Bare-back Horsemanship” on the square north of the State House.

The 150th Anniversary of the Civil War: August 1864

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 05:09:00 +0000

“THE ARMY BEFORE PETERSBURG” was among the numerous headlines that drew readers of the Journal to riveting accounts of “the movement of Grant’s army” — horrific details of the terrific explosion that blew up “one of the enemy’s strongest forts” and the “simultaneous charge in which we lost heavily.” The paper’s columns held letters from Hoosier soldiers providing graphic narratives of the fierce fighting before Atlanta — “one of the severest battles — heavy losses on both sides” — and the list of casualties in Indiana regiments in Sherman’s Army; the sick and wounded in Nashville hospitals. Acknowledging that support of those whom a “volunteer has left behind is as solemn and just a debt as any” that the county will be called upon to pay, the county commissioners levied a tax for this month of $1,500 (2013: $22,040.29) for the relief of families of the soldiers.
Captain James Wilson, Quartermaster, bought mules on the open market for $152 (2013: $2,233.42) per head, and over 1,200 had been bought in the first five days of the month. This was the largest number of mules ever purchased here in that short of time for shipment to the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Cumberland. The returning soldiers of the 18th, 24th, and 32nd regiments received “one of the heartiest welcomes” ever given. After dinner at the Soldiers’ Home, a formal reception was held on the State House yard where a “large concourse of citizens had gathered.” Governor Morton issued general orders for the organization of eleven additional Indiana regiments authorized in response to the President’s call for 500,000 men.
“A day of National humiliation and prayer” proclaimed by President Lincoln for the first Thursday of August “to implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty that…the existing rebellion may be speedily suppressed,” saw services held by all of the city Presbyterian congregations at First Church and services held by all of the city Methodist congregations at Roberts Chapel and Wesley Chapel. All city churches held evening prayer meetings. The practice of “judiciously” scattering watermelon rinds along the sidewalks to provide “convenient aids to locomotion” continued through the month. “The sensation of sliding upon them for several feet is delicious” despite the occasional “broken legs and broken heads.”
The Union Party campaign in Indianapolis opened with meetings held on the Circle every Wednesday and Saturday. Attended by enthusiastic crowds of “loyal men” and “patriotic women,” there were “three cheers for the Government, the army and the navy” and speeches by candidates and invited orators interspersed with “spirited martial music, patriotic airs” furnished by the band of the 17th Reserve Veteran Corps. The massed audience sang “Stand by the Flag of the Nation,” and the Glee Club sang “Freedom Shall not Perish,” “Comrades, Awake to Glory,” and “When the Boys Come Home” to hearty applause. “The Union cause in Indianapolis burns brightly in the hearts of free men.” Arms and ammunition were seized in a raid on the premises of H H Dodd & Co, printers. 18 E. Washington St. Marked for the Sons of Liberty, the large cache consisted of 32 boxes of arms containing 400 navy revolvers and 135,000 rounds. Documents and letters, the official list of members (including J. J. Bingham, editor of the Sentinel; James S. Athon, Indiana secretary of state; Oscar H. Hord, Indiana attorney general) of the Indianapolis Lodge, and several hundred copies of the Ritual were also confiscated. Harrison H. Dodd, Grand Commander, and William H. Harrison, Secretary, were taken into custody.
Indianapolis citizens could choose from a variety of entertainment as the month began. The Ravel Troupe appeared at Metropolitan Hall and the Italian Opera Concert Troupe presented One Grand Operatic Concert at Masonic Hall, while children of all ages eagerly awaited G. F. Bailey & Co.’s “Quadruple Combination” — Grand Circus, Extensive Menagerie, Performing Elephants, and the Gigantic Hippopotamus scheduled for August 12 and 13. Crowds of Indianapolis residents and visitors also were drawn to the “stock of curiosities” at the State Museum in Kinder’s Block, 83-85 E. Washington St.
A raid conducted by Col. Lafayette C. Baker, chief of the U. S. Detectives and officers of the City Police Force, on a house 2½ miles south of the city netted a gang of counterfeiters. Dies and plates for $20 Greenbacks and fifty cent currency, and the press used in printing the bills, were seized. Some of the “well executed” counterfeit money has been found in Indianapolis; $30,000 (2013: $440,805.79) in fake bills has been circulated in Eastern cities. The offenders were taken to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington. The increase in “juvenile criminality” by Indianapolis boys was “getting very bad.” If lads stealing, robbing, and filching goes on “without restraint, some years hence we will reap a big crop of thieves and burglars.”
“INDIANAPOLIS IN HER HOLIDAY CLOTHES!” greeted the return of nearly 10,000 one-hundred-day volunteers of the City (132nd) Regiment and three other regiments as the month came to an end. Nearly every man, woman and child — family, friends, and citizens — in Indianapolis jammed the State House yard along with the soldiers to hear Gov. Morton proclaim “it is always a subject of thanksgiving when soldiers return.” Thunderous applause from the crowd and ringing huzzahs from the regiments greeted the remarks. Following speeches by other dignitaries, the regiments — City Regiment, the 133rd Regiment, the 134th Regiment, the 136th Regiment, the 60th Massachusetts, together with two regiments of the Veteran Reserve Corps — formed a column, headed by the Governor and his staff with Hahn’s City Band, the City Regimental Brass Band, and the different regimental field bands placed at intervals, and marched east on Washington St from the State House yard to Pennsylvania St. After dismissal, each regiment “wended its way to the respective camps.”

The Civil War 150th Anniversary: July 1864

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 05:09:06 +0000

The sound of improvement can be heard in every quarter of the city. The “splendid” additions taking place on South Meridian Street where the city’s main wholesale business will be carried on and the new buildings “springing up” along Massachusetts Avenue that “before long . . . will be another of the business thoroughfares,” are some of the improvements valued at over $4,000,000 (2013: $58,774,105.07) being erected during the present season. A “splendid new mill for the manufacture of linseed oil” has been built by Messrs. J. P. Evans & Co at 124 S. Delaware. The mill will be “very successful” in lessening our dependency on the oil from England. The male members of Wesley Chapel on the corner of Meridian and Circle Streets have resolved to sell the property to a company that proposes to build a first class hotel on the site. However, in the western part of the city, saloons “are springing up like fungus growths” and stricter patrols will be needed to keep that area respectable. The Indianapolis retail grocers are going to a cash only system because the wholesale grocers are refusing to sell to them on credit.
With the unprecedented wheat crop in the state, farmers are having a difficult time finding enough hands to garner it and are employing women at $3 (2013: $44.08) a day to go into the fields. Independence Day excursions were offered by the Indianapolis & Madison Railroad to any point along the railroad. Tickets sold at full fare leaving Indianapolis on July 4 were good for a free return later that day or the morning of July 5. The army camps about the Circle City fired an artillery national salute at noon on the Fourth, and an enjoyable grand matinee performance by Duprez & Green’s New Orleans Minstrels was featured at Masonic Hall in the afternoon.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church, on Georgia between Canal and Mississippi, was so badly damaged by fire that a new building will have to be put up. It is supposed the fire was the malicious work of an incendiary. Unfortunately, the insurance on the property expired a few days ago, but a subscription paper is being circulated to help with the rebuilding. Since many of the church men are in the army, some of the “best female members” of the congregation are soliciting agents and Pastor W. R. Revels hopes “a generous Christian public will pity and help us out of this fiery calamity.” The mattress factory of Mrs. A. L. Tilford on the square bounded by Ohio and Market streets and Mississippi Street and the canal was entirely consumed by “one of the largest and most destructive fires” the city has seen. The fire department could not render much assistance due to the scarcity of water in the canal. “We have very poor protection against fires” and more cisterns are needed in the absence of a water works.
A number of destitute Union refugee families in need of comforts arrived in the city from Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama and were quartered at the Fremont Barracks. The men wish work. Daily newspaper columns carried the LATEST WAR NEWS with the fate of Hoosier soldiers – LIST of KILLED – WOUNDED and MISSING of the 35TH REGIMENT INDIANA VETERAN VOLUNTEERS in the ENGAGEMENTS at BIG SHANTY STATION, GA; CASUALTIES in the 10TH INDIANA; SICK and WOUNDED INDIANA SOLDIERS from SHERMAN’S ARMY TRANSFERRED from CHATTANOOGA to NASHVILLE; WOUNDED in BATTLE before MARIETTE, GA; CASUALTIES IN THE 130TH INDIANA; INDIANA SOLDIERS KILLED and WOUNDED in GA – 40TH INDIANA; 57TH INDIANA; ADMISSIONS to FIELD HOSPITAL – 22ND INDIANA; 32ND INDIANA, 2ND DIVISION, 14TH ARMY CORPS; DEATHS OF INDIANA SOLDIERS AT DANVILLE, VA PRISON; CASUALTIES in the 53RD INDIANA – KENESAW MOUNTAIN, GA; CASUALTIES in INDIANA REGIMENTS before ATLANTA. At mid-month 325 rebel prisoners from the battlefields in Georgia entered Camp Morton. Two soldier suicides occurred a day apart; Private Knerl Kettleson, a native of Norway, Co. F, 5th Regiment Veterans Reserve Corps, “a victim of melancholy,” shot himself through the heart at Camp Burnside, and Lewis (Lorenz) Schmidt, a native of Germany, Co. D, 28th Ohio, now at Camp Morton, “in a fit of insanity” cut his throat. Indiana Adjutant General Noble issued general orders on July 28 in connection with the President’s call for 500,000 volunteers. Indiana’s quota has been fixed at 35,732 “subject to a credit of about 12,000 . . . excess of men furnished on former calls.”
The Democratic State Convention met at Metropolitan Hall on Tuesday, July 12. The name of Lambdin P. Milligan of Huntington County, “a pillar of the secret conclave of the followers of Jeff Davis,” was put in nomination for governor, but Joseph E. McDonald dealt him a “stunning defeat,” 1,097 to 196. David Turpie was nominated for lieutenant governor, and all of the present state officers and judges of the Supreme Court were re-nominated. Only two candidates of the “extreme peace men” were nominated – Ethelbert C. Hibben of Rush County for clerk of the Supreme Court and Dr. James S. Athon for secretary of state. A proposed resolution “sustaining that champion of liberty Clement L. Vallandingham” was “emasculated” to “simply a declaration in favor of preserving civil and personal liberty” and passed by acclamation.
A subscription campaign began to enclose University Park with a fence, lay sod, plant shade and ornamental trees, “and otherwise beautify it” for a city park. $2,100 (2013: $30,856.41) has been obtained so far. “Encourage the beautiful; the useful will encourage itself.” — Goethe.

The Civil War 150th Anniversary: May 1864

Steven R. Barnett — Thu, 29 May 2014 05:09:43 +0000

Zealous competition among Hoosier cities and towns in the raising of companies for the Hundred Days Service continued. Indianapolis residents and its young men were called upon to push harder and to not let Lafayette, with four full companies raised, or Delphi, which has “raised a full company, an effort which (the capital city) could only equal by raising about two regiments,” “best us.” Stirring speeches were given at well attended ward war meetings, and the committees were appointed to canvas for recruits and “to secure subscriptions to assist those volunteers who have families depending upon them.” For store clerks who volunteered, patriotic businessmen offered “full wages, bonuses, reserving a place until their return, or paying “$2 (2013: $29.39) per week” to their families. Three hundred and seventeen of “the best men in the city” volunteered. By mid-month nearly 6,000 volunteers for hundred day’s service from Terre Haute, Evansville, Lafayette, Richmond, and elsewhere around the state had arrived at Camp Carrington presenting a “scene more like that at Camp Morton after the first call of troops” three years ago. While these new volunteers began their training, a large number of citizens witnessed the departure for the front of five veteran regiments that had been camped in the city.
Over three hundred armed Copperheads from Clay and Putnam counties gathered near Brazil, Indiana at Hanway Cross Roads intent upon breaking up a recruiting meeting. Col. Abel Streight, who was to address the meeting, led the Brazil Home Guards in dispersing the traitorous gangs, and the “citizens of Brazil are greatly obliged to him.”
Ellinger & Foote’s Great Moral Exhibition featuring “the two smallest human beings in existence.” Commodore Foote, “a fine comedian and dancer,” is 26 inches tall, and his sister the Fairy Queen of the West, who “signs and speaks well,” is 21 inches high, along with the Old Continental Vocalists provided six days of entertainment at Masonic Hall for Indianapolis residents. At Metropolitan Hall, Miss Sallie St. Clair appeared in the romantic drama The Gypsy and in the comedy Our Country Cousin. The pews and galleries of the new First Baptist Church were occupied for “a very pleasing and successful” organ concert, that concluded with “the audience rising and joining in the chorus” of the Star Spangled Banner. Mrs. Frances Watkins Harper, a colored lady from Maryland and writer of poetry, gave a lecture, “Mission of the War,” at Dr. W. R. Revels’ African Methodist Church. Her “entertaining and instructive” talk was given before a full house and “a more cogent, forcible and eloquent lecture” seldom has been heard, “especially from a woman.” She ended her remarks “with an earnest appeal for a national recognition of the colored man as a freeman and citizen.”
News reached Indianapolis of a railroad accident near Gallatin, Tennessee killing three and injuring 81 soldiers of the 10th Indiana Cavalry. In correspondence to the Journal, J. P. Culbertson, assistant surgeon, wrote they “were run into by a wood train, smashing up seven cars. The impression is that the collision was a premeditated thing by the guerillas of the vicinity.” A list of the 46th Indiana killed, wounded, and missing in the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana filled half of a column on the front page of the Journal. The news of the great battles in Virginia as General Grant continued to press Lee back towards Richmond was accompanied by a “fearful list” of the killed and wounded of Indiana regiments” who “bore a conspicuous part in the conflict.” Chaplain Jewell of the 7th Indiana wrote of the “heavy, very heavy” loss sustained in “a great and terrible battle . . . raging in this wilderness region . . . almost incessantly day and night.” The Journal office remained open until 10 o’clock in the evening to post the latest telegraphic report from the Army of the Potomac as it marched on Richmond.
Indianapolis ladies met at Masonic Hall to consider joining a national movement to refuse to buy imported dress goods thereby “lessening of the shipments of gold to Europe” and to “lay aside during the war . . . expensive dresses.” A pledge enrollment book was opened. At Military Hall, the sewing women of the city met for the purpose of creating a Sewing Women’s League to protect and promote their interests. No class of laborers have “benefitted so little by the rise in prices” as the city’s 400 to 500 pants and vests makers. Wages are “so low as scarcely to afford a living.” A seamstress earns about $1 (2013: $14.69) per day for custom work and about 75¢ (2013: $11.02) per day for shop work.
The City Regiment – 132nd Indiana – departed for the seat of war over the Indianapolis & Cincinnati Railroad. The largest gathering of citizens, friends, and relatives of the soldiers ever to watch a regiment leave this city gathered at the depot for sad good-byes. Pride swept the whole city seeing it organized, but so many familiar faces will be missed. By the end of the month, rebel prisoners captured in General Sherman’s Georgia campaign began arriving at Camp Morton, and lists of casualties in the Indiana regiments with the Army of the Tennessee filled newspaper columns.