The artillery men at Noble Barracks announced the arrival of “Sixty-three.” Four salutes of eighteen guns each boomed out shattering the midnight silence — to Gov. Morton, “the soldiers’ friend,” to Gen. Noble, “the man worthy of his name,” to Maj. Frybarger, “the working Major,” and finally to “the New Year, and, in it the triumph of the Union and the Constitution.” The President’s Proclamation of Emancipation that he had announced in September appeared in its entirety in the telegraphic columns of the Journal together with a detailed explanation. “We cannot but feel that it is just that the traitors who leagued themselves to destroy the Constitution and laws should be deprived of that dominion over their fellow men which the Constitution and laws alone conferred,” noted the editor.
Accounts of the “terrific” battle at Murfreesboro began to appear and in response to the great need for help “to assist in nursing the wounded soldiers,” 26 Indianapolis women, including Mrs. Calvin Fletcher, Jr. and Mrs. Alexander Graydon, left with the sanitary commission for Nashville, Tennessee where they will be assigned to the various hospitals. The Journal columns listed the Hoosier dead and wounded, and by mid-month additional Indiana casualties at Vicksburg began to appear in the paper. Coffins containing the remains of deceased officers and soldiers passed daily through the Union Depot from Nashville to Indiana cities and towns for burial.
The Indiana General Assembly began its biennial meeting with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. Gov. Morton sent his message separately to both chambers, but since the Senate lacked a quorum and couldn’t have the message read, the House refused to receive the message. The message had also been sent to the newspapers around the state and it was published in its entirety. The governor’s message recounted Indiana’s response to the national crisis — 98 regiments of infantry and cavalry, along with 27 batteries of artillery, comprising 102,698 officers and men had been mobilized; agents were commissioned to look after the sick and wounded, and to “as far as possible, supply the wants of Indiana troops.” The first of weekly Great Union Meetings was held at Masonic Hall in response to talk among some anti-war legislators about forming a Northwestern Confederacy, and a resolution was unanimously adopted “…renewing our faith in the Federal Government, and pledging again our unalterable determination to render every possible assistance…in the prosecution of the war for the preservation of the Government, and the suppression of the rebellion….”
J. Wilkes Booth returned for six nights at Metropolitan Hall appearing in Hamlet, Othello, Taming of the Shrew, the Corsican Brothers, and as Phidias in The Marble Heart and as Alfred Evelyn in Money.
On Friday January 16, Indianapolis was covered with snow “of sufficient depth…to ensure two or three days of good sleighing.” Jones, Vinnedge & Co, 17 W. Washington St, advertised “Ladies’ and Gents’ Arctic snow shoes, Boston snow shoes, and all other winter overshoes,” while a supply of comfortable and elegant wool clothing was available at Jacob Kahn, 35 E. Washington St. St. John’s Church Fair at the Masonic Lodge drew many ladies of the city and the Fourth Presbyterian Church monthly sociable invited friends and strangers for oysters, coffee, and ice cream.
A gang of counterfeiters was broken up on Monday, January 19 after nearly a month of careful police surveillance with simultaneous arrests occurring around the city. Among those taken into custody were Peter and Eli Burke in whose house, in the West Indianapolis community of Stringtown, was found white metal, tools, and moulds for half dollars and quarters. Lewis Geiberson was arrested at The Store, a saloon at 67 S. Illinois St, where he had “shoved” counterfeit coins upon soldiers about to leave on trains. In all, a dozen gang members were arrested and bogus coins and postal currency sufficient to fill a peck measure was confiscated. Geiberson was tried and convicted in U.S. Circuit Court a few days later for passing and dealing in counterfeit money, and by month’s end all of the other counterfeiters had met the same fate.
During the last week of the month, Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a lecture, “Clubs or Conversation,” before the local Young Men’s Christian Association at Masonic Hall, while over at Metropolitan Hall large crowds enjoyed nightly performances of the fairy spectacle Aladdin. Amid the gorgeous scenery and dazzling costumes, Miss Mary McCarthy gave a “capable and faithful” representation of Aladdin, with songs. The month’s end also found 405 rebel prisoners arriving in the city from Nashville.
