Chapter I

Organization - Wabash - Indianapolis - Louisville - Two Drummer Boys. (July - August, 1862.) The Seventy-fifth Regiment of the Indiana Infantry Volunteers was organized during the latter part of July and the first part of August, 1862, from Companies raised in the Eleventh Congressional District of Indiana. Many of the members, from the Colonels down to the privates, had experienced previous service in the war for the Union. Joseph J. Reynolds had been a Lieutenant in the Fourth U. S. Artillery during the military occupation of Texas in 1846, Colonel of the Tenth Indiana Regiment in 1861, and a Brigadier-General of Volunteers before he became the first Colonel, by provisional appointment, of the Seventy-fifth Regiment. Milton S. Robinson had been the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-seventh Indiana Regiment, and William O'Brien and Cyrus J. McCole had been Captain and First Lieutenant respectively in the Twelfth Indiana Regiment before they filled the three highest field offices of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment. Among the line officers of the Regiment, who saw previous service, were Captains David H. Wall, who had been a First Lieutenant in the Twenty-fourth Indiana; Thomas A. Ellis, Mahlon H. Floyd, and Sanford R. Karnes, who served in the Twelfth Indiana; Lieutenants Harry H.Wheeler, who served in the Eighth Indiana; Cora C. Colburn, who served in the Sixth Indiana, and Henry R. Leonard, Joseph Gwinn, and James A. Starbuck, who served in the Twelfth Indiana; Uriah Todd, who served in an Ohio regiment; and John B. Collins and William L. Philpott, who served in the war with Mexico. Many of the enlisted men of the Regiment, who played an important part in the suppression of the great rebellion, whose names are too numerous to mention here, had also previously passed through a process of military training. The majority of the men, who comprised the Roster of the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment, left comfortable homes and profitable professions, trades, and lines of business to volunteer their services to the country and flag. Oliver P. Morton, the great "War Governor" of our State, at President Lincoln's call, July 2d, 1862, for 300,000 three-years' men, when the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment responded, commissioned men in may counties of the State, with the rank of Second Lieutenant, to organize Companies. Several men who became officers in our Regiment had been thus previously commissioned. As a rule, those who were largely instrumental in recruiting the respective Companies, became the original officers of the Regiment. The most active and prominent men, who raised the Seventy-fifth Indiana Regiment, were General Joseph J. Reynolds, of Lafayette; the Hon. John U. Pettit, of Wabash; and Captain William O'Brien, of Noblesville. As fully organized, the Regiment comprised the following field and line officers, with the non-commissioned officers of the Companies: Colonels, Joseph J. Reynolds (provisional) and John U. Pettit; Lieutenant-Colonel, William O'Brien; Major, Cyrus J. McCole; Adjutant, James C. Medsker; Quartermaster, Calvin Cowgill; Chaplain, Orville B. Boyden; Surgeon, Christopher S. Arthur; Assistant-Surgeons, James B. White and Robert H. Buck. The following are the organizations of the Companies: "A" Company was recruited from all parts of Wabash county by Samuel Steele and others. On the 12th of July, the organization was completed in the City of Wabash by the election of Samuel Steele to the captaincy; Harry H. Wheeler and William H. Wilson were elected First and Second Lieutenants; George F. Dutton was made Orderly Sergeant; Isaac N. McMillen, David Park, Eli Royer, and John W. Ply, became Sergeants; and Levi Rerrick, Henry James, Jesse W. Smith, Adolph Pairan, John W. Oliver, John Cassey, John Squires, and John Ohlmart, were the Corporals. As the City of Wabash was to be the camp of rendezvous for the Regiment, this Company at once went into camp here. "B" Company was raised in the counties of Tipton and Clinton. From the former, Isaac H. Montgomery, Noah W. Parker, Wesley King, and Wesley Gates, recruited a number of men in Cicero township, and George L. Shaw was instrumental in organizing a party of men who came from Madison township. Thomas A. Ellis, John N. and Stanley Cooper, James and William J. Barnett, recruited the men from Jefferson township in Tipton, and Honey Creek township in Clinton county. These different squads came together August 18th, at the town of Tipton, and organized into a Company by the election of Isaac H. Montgomery, as Captain; George L. Shaw, as First Lieutenant, and Noah W. Parker, as Second Lieutenant; Wesley Gates became Orderly Sergeant; Jefferson Montgomery, Wesley King, Thomas A. Ellis, Francis Coy, were the Sergeants; the Corporals were William A. Bouse, Duzan C. Evans, William Simmons, John P. Wagaman, James A. Frazier, Nelson J. Justice, Alpheus N. Rood, and Benj. J. Allen. "C" Company was composed of men from Howard county, whom Francis M. Bryant, James C. Medsker, Daniel D. Downs, and Irwin Polson organized into a Company. The organization was effected at Kokomo about the middle of July by the election of Francis M. Bryant, Captain; James C. Medsker, First Lieutenant; and Daniel D. Downs, Second Lieutenant. James C. Medsker became the Adjutant of the Regiment on the 21st of August, at Indianapolis, and Irwin Polson was elected Second Lieutenant, vice D. D. Downs, promoted to First Lieutenant. The non-commissioned officers were Orderly Sergeant, Samuel W. Payne; Sergeants Irwin Polson, Jacob Lair, Abraham Payton, Samuel R. McClure; and Corporals, Samuel O. Smith, James Oldham, Arland O. D. Kelley, Thomas P. Henderson, Harden H. Rayborn, Walter Scott Reeder, Edward Arnett, and Mark Cox. "D" Company was raised entirely by Cyrus J. McCole, who subsequently became the Major of the Regiment. This Company was from Hamilton county, principally from Noblesville township. The election of officers, at which time the organization of the Company was completed, was held on the29th day of July. Cyrus J. McCole, John H. Butler, and John Bauchert were elected Captain, First and Second Lieutenant, in the order named. The non-commissioned officers consisted of Cincinnatus B. Williams, Orderly Sergeant; William A. Wainwright, Anthony M. Conklin, Marion W. Essington, and John Lutz, Sergeants; William H. Wiliamson, Adam Wiesse, Elisha Mills, William E. Hardy, Richard J. Burns, Ananias Thompson, John R. Leonard, and Lewis E. Pickerell, Corporals. "E" Company was recruited from Huntington and Wells counties -- principally from the former. Governor Morton had previously made Jacob S. Goshorn, a Second Lieutenant for the purpose. The men were generally from the towns of Huntington and Warren, and the townships of Clear Creek, Rock Creek, Union, Salamonie and Jefferson, in Huntington county. J. S. Goshorn recruited the men from the town of Huntington and the northern part of the county; David H. Wall and George W. Goode raised the number coming from the town of Warren and the southeast part of the county, and from Wells county. The Company was organized August 1st, in the town of Warren. David H. Wall, George W. Goode, and Jacob S. Goshorn, in the order named, were elected Captain, First and Second Lieutenants. The non-commissioned officers consisted of David L. Elliott, Orderly Sergeant; Albert D. Frame, Henry Wolfe, Enos Allman and Robert B. Beatty, Sergeants; Kilbourne F. Way, George H. Hallman, James Hixon, David M. Pugh, John Braden, Willia M. Irwin, Vestal C. Shaw and Harry Nevius, Corporals. "F" Company was recruited from Jay county. Abraham C. Rush was commissioned a Second Lieutenant to raise the Company. The most of the men in the Company, however, were recruited by Christopher S. Arthur. John S. Stanton was also instrumental in securing men for the Company. The Company was organized on the 31st day of July by the election of Christopher S. Arthur as Captain, John S. Stanton and Abraham C. Rush as First and Second Lieutenants, respectively. Captain C. S. Arthur became the Surgeon of the Regiment. The non-commissioned officers were Orderly Sergeant, Jesse T. Underwood; Sergeants, Guisbert W. McGriff, Joseph Lewis, John Hardy, Jr. and Oliver H. P. Hammitt; Corporals, Henry V. Walling, Henry Getz, John P. Boyd, David Henry, Solomon Dehuff, James Stewart, William Arbrough and Charles E. Bennett. "F" was the first Company to arrive at Wabash for the organization of the Regiment. No preparations for the accommodation of the men had yet been made, and they were quartered in the old Fair grounds, until other arrangements were made, and the arrival of other Companies. "G" Company was raised in Madison county, principally from the townships of Pipe Creek, Boone and Lafayette. Joseph T. Smith was commissioned a Second Lieutenant by Governor Morton to raise the Company. He had associated with him in this work, John B. Frazer, William L. Philpott, John W. Chamness, Samuel H. Carr, George M. Overshiner and William J. Hilligoss. On the 28th of July, the Company was organized at Quincy (Elwood,) by the election of Joseph T. Smith, Captain, John B. Frazer, First Lieutenant, and William L. Philpott, Second Lieutenant. This Company had but one Captain during the entire service. The non-commissioned officers consisted of Orderly Sergeant, Samuel H. Carr; Sergeants, William J. Hilligoss, George M. Overshiner, Joel W. McMahan and John W. Chamness; Corporals, Stephen Metcalf, Ransome D. Boyden, George N. Hilligoss, Daniel H. Clymer, James Reeder, James E. Powell, Luther C. Harman and Abner W. Ross. "H" Company was recruited in Huntington county from the townships of Jackson, Union, Huntington and Dallas. William O. Jones, William McGinness and John B. Collins were instrumental in raising the Company. On August 6th, at Wabash, these men were made Captain, First and Second Lieutenants, in the order in which their names here appear. The non-commissioned officers of the Company were the following: Orderly Sergeant, William M. Wilkerson; Sergeants, William Riley, Edmund B. Hayes, Abner A. Kelsey, Atchison Smith; Corporals, Sylvester Strock, Peter Mulrine, John Kincade, George W. Her, John Bunnel, Jonathan L. Wilkerson, Hayman Klingel and Doctor F. Fultz. "I" Company was raised in Hamilton county, principally by ahlon H. Floyd, who had been commissioned by Governor Morton, as Second Lieutenant, for the purpose. "War meetings" were held in the northern, southern and eastern parts of the county. Thomas J. Peed and James W. Richardson recruited quite large squads of men in the vicinity of Strawtown and Clarksville. Nehemiah Brooks obtained some men for the Company at Walpole. The men came from the townships of Wayne, White River, Fall Creek and Jackson. On the 5th day of August the Company was organized at Noblesville, by the election of Mahlon H. Floyd, Thomas J. Peed and James W. Richardson, as Captain, First and Second Lieutenants in the order named. Though he received a commission as Major, Captain Floyd remained with the Company to the close of the war. The non-commissioned officers were Henry R. Leonard, Orderly Sergeant; Cora C. Colburn, William Lee Granger, Nehemiah Brook, and Thomas A. Rambo, Sergeants; Joseph Gwinn, John W. Richardson, David B. Floyd, Jacob Lennington, Edward Good, John Sperry, Edward Wood and William Reynolds, Corporals. "K" Company was recruited from Wells and Blackford counties, by Sanford R. Karnes, James A. Starbuck. Uriah Todd, William B. Miller and John Ryan. The Company was organized, August 8th, at Bluffton, by the election of Sanford R. Karnes, as Captain, and James A. Starbuck as First Lieutenant. The election of a Second Lieutenant was deferred until the Company arrived at Wabash. The vacancy was there filled on the 10th, by placing Uriah Todd in the position. This Company had only one Captain and one First Lieutenant during its term of service. The non-commissioned officers comprised the following: Benjamin F. Wiley, Orderly Sergeant; Joseph V. Kenagy, John Ryan, Samuel Buckmaster, John T. Cartwright, Sergeants; Levi R. Routh, William B. Miller, Levi Keagle, Charles Mority, Calvin W. Beardsley, James W. Spake, Francis N. Kellogg and Adam Haines, Corporals. As soon as the organization of the respective Companies was completed, they proceeded to Wabash, where they were organized into the Regiment. The camp of rendezvous embraced four or five acres of timbered ground on the side of a hill, which gradually descended to beautiful springs at the bottom. It was a half mile south of Wabash, on the south bank of the river, along the turnpike leading to Mount Vernon. It was owned at the time by Mr. Allen W. Smith. By August 10th, all the Companies had arrived. Marching orders came on the morning of the 18th. The Regiment was to proceed to Indianapolis for muster into the United States service. The bustle of preparation was mingled with the farewell of loved ones. Long before the hour of departure, the men sang patriotic songs of joyfulness. About seven o'clock the Regiment marched to the depot, where box-cars were waiting to convey us to the place of muster. An immense crowd gathered to see us off. When we were "all aboard," passing out of the depot, we were greeted with shouts of good cheer by the assembled citizens. Our route to the State Capital was via Peru and Indianapolis Railway, through Howard, Tipton and Hamilton counties, which furnished Companies B, C, D, and I, of the Regiment, and of course, many of the men of these Companies passed through their homes, which they had left only a few days before. The eagerness on the part of the citizens along the route "to greet and welcome the boys," who were on their way to the seat of war, was unprecedented. At every home -- however humble -- the windows and housetops were decorated with the flag of the Nation. Relatives, friends, and acquaintances laid aside the duties of the day, and resorted to the towns and depots along the way. They were determined to give the defenders of their homes and firesides, a good send-off. Men, women and children by the thousands congregated at Kokomo, Tipton, and Noblesville with baskets of provisions, with which they fed the soldiers. In some instances, mementos were presented to the men, who carried them to the Southern camps and battle-fields, and a few of these mementos found their way into Southern prisons. There was a peculiar vein of sadness running through all this joy. Aged parents, with tearful eyes, bending over their young sons, and bidding them, with a "God bless you," go into the tented field to expose their lives to their country, was a peculiarly sad expression of attachment for both the sons and the Nation. Many of these "boys in blue" for the last time looked cheerily into the eyes, grasped the hands, and impressed the kiss of affection upon the cheeks of parents, wives, sisters and sweethearts. The scene, however, was a cloud in the midst of sunshine, which soon disappeared. The Regiment arrived in Indianapolis on the evening of the same day. We encamped for the night in the great Union depot at the foot of Meridian street. In the morning, we marched to Camp Carrington, where on the same day -- August 19th, 1862 -- the Regiment, with a total strength of 1,000 officers and men, was mustered into the service of the United States for a period of three years. The Honorable John U. Pettit, of Wabash, was mustered as the Colonel of the Regiment on the 19th of August, and resigned October 24th -- two months later. Colonel Pettit did not go to the front with the Regiment. He was a cultured gentleman, a good lawyer, and a brilliant orator; but he had no taste for the military life. He came to the Regiment before we took our final departure from Louisville, but not to assume command. The command of the Regiment devolved upon Lieutenant Colonel William O'Brien. On the same evening of the muster, the Regiment was formed into line and marched to the State Arsenal. As each enlisted man presented himself at a small window of the Arsenal, there were delivered to him a Springfield rifle and a cartridge box. The Regiment was armed with this excellent gun throughout its term of service. Three years afterwards, the writer returned, through the little window, the same gun delivered to him on that August evening in 1862. During the few days of our encampment in Camp Carrington, the photographers of the city were driving a good trade by taking the pictures of the new-fledged soldiers of the Regiment dressed in their military accoutrements and arms. These relics -- the pictures -- of a long ago period, wherever they have been preserved, are curiosities, as well as heirlooms. During the summer of 1862, Major General D. C. Buell concentrated his army in and around Huntsville, Alabama, the a view of making an aggressive movement against Chattanooga, Tenn. He repaired the railroads in his rear. He built stockades and manned them with small detachments of troops. By these, in conjunction with his small cavalry force, he undertook to defend the lines of four hundred miles of railroads and numerous bridges in his rear. But he had to grapple with innumerable difficulties. Those two bold and daring Confederate raiders, John H. Morgan and Nathan B. Forrest, with their superior cavalry, repeatedly rode around his rear, and cut his line of communication. At this time Kentucky was in a deplorable condition. Bands of guerrillas and recruiting parties were overrunning the State and thereby rendering helpless the civil and military authorities. General Braxton Bragg was concentrating a Confederate army at Chattanooga and at Knoxville, in Tennessee. General E. Kirby Smith was threatening the Cumberland Gap with a large Confederate force. Early in July the latter was on the move towards Central Kentucky. Fears were entertained of a Confederate invasion, not only into Kentucky, but also into the Northern States bordering on the Ohio river. The cities of Covington, Louisville and Cincinnati were threatened. It was owing to these emergencies, over which he had no control, that General Buell's designs of a movement against Chattanooga and into East Tennessee proved abortive. He was compelled to make a retrograde movement. Matters indeed looked alarming for the interests of the Government in these quarters. The Governors of the Northwestern States were urged to send their quotas of new troops as fast as possible to Louisville for the purpose of checking this threatened invasion. Hence all the new Regiments raised in the Northwest were sent to Kentucky. During the few days of camp life at Indianapolis, by reason of the aforesaid facts, the eagerness of the men of the Seventy-fifth Regiment to leave their State for the place where the fire of war was burning, was increased to almost impatience before the Regiment could be gotten ready to start. The desire, however, was soon gratified. Orders were received to take the field. On Thursday evening, August 21st, about 5:30 o'clock the Regiment boarded the cars at Indianapolis for Louisville. The journey was uneventful, except the ovations received from the citizens of the towns and villages through which we passed during the early part of the night. As we journeyed, women and children, through gratitude for the services expected of us, fed us upon pies and cakes. We reached Louisville on the 23rd, crossing the Ohio river at Jeffersonville about six o'clock in the morning, and marched to Camp Oakland, just outside the southern limits of the city. After our knapsacks and haversacks were issued to us, the Regiment appeared on the evening of the day of arrival, upon dress-parade for the first time. Louisville is situated at the falls of the Ohio river, 130 miles below Cincinnati. Its streets are wide, well-paved and straight. The Seventy-fifth, which was among the first new troops to arrive on the Southern soil of Louisville, made a fine appearance, as it marched upon the thoroughfares of this commercial and manufacturing city. Major General William Nelson had been sent in advance to Louisville from General Buell's army to organize and take command of the new troops, as they arrived in the city. The Seventy-fifth Regiment had been in Camp Oakland only two days, when a new Department was formed (under the title of the "The Department of the Ohio,") embracing a geographical area of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Kentucky, east of the Tennessee river. Major General Horatio G. Wright was placed in command of this Department, with headquarters at Cincinnati, Ohio. After the arrival of Major General Don Carlos Buell's army at Louisville, the Seventy-fifth Regiment, with its Division, was assigned to the Army of the Ohio, under the general supervision of General Buell. While at Louisville, a little blue-eyed, brown-haired and beardless boy came to our Regiment. He was dressed in the uniform of a soldier. He gave a vivid account of two unsuccessful attempts to become a drummer boy of a Regiment. .... It was under these circumstances and at this time, that the boy applied for admission into our Regiment as a drummer. Captain Bryant's Company at that time had no musician. The Captain ordered a drum to be brought, and the boy was ordered to take it and try his skill with it. He demonstrated very satisfactorily to the Captain, that he knew how to beat a drum; and Albert B. Beneway---for that was his real name---was mustered into the service on September 1st, 1862, under the name of Albert Walton, as the musician of C Company of the Seventy-fifth Regiment. He assumed the name of "Al. Walton" to escape detection by his friends. At the time of muster his age was 15 years, 7 months and 7 days, and by actual measurement his height was four feet and seven inches. He was certainly the smallest member of the Regiment. The youngest member was Andrew H. Burke, the drummer of D Company. He was born May 15th, 1850, and, at the time of his enrollment, was a lad of 12 years old, with wavy auburn hair and grayish-blue eyes. On account of his age, he too had difficulty in obtaining muster into the service; but through Major McCole's assistance, the mustering officer, General Carrington, admitted him into the Regiment. "Andy" was the musician, who, on an eventful Sunday morning, before daylight, at Lebanon, Kentucky, beat the long roll upon his drum, which called the Regiment into its first line of battle. He was with us, carrying his drums at the head of the Regiment, through all the marches and raids in Kentucky and Tennessee, until we reached the town of Castalian Springs. Here, in December, he was taken sick with a scrofulous affection, on account of which, on January 5th, 1863, he was discharged. The whirligig of time brings great changes. This drummer-boy in 1862, is the Governor of North Dakota in 1892.        

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