Featured

Light Up Our Legacy!

To see photos of the Town’s renovations, through the installation of the lights, and to the centennial celebration, visit this page: Our Legacy!

To stay up to date (until the domain is no longer owned, December 2024), go to Our Legacy Continues! 

Note regarding the discrepancy in verbiage:

We began our project with a group decision to go with “Memorial Swinging Bridge” both as a domain name and a Facebook site name that were available. As we ended the project, many began to use the term “Veterans Memorial Swinging Bridge.” You will see it both ways here.

We also began our project with the tag line of “Light Up Our Legacy.” As we finished fundraising and moved into planning the day of celebration, the line became “Lighting Our Legacy.”

Please forgive us if you see the lines both ways on this website!

Day Is Done … Gone The Sun …

We have had our glorious day! The bridge is now illuminated, calling all veterans – both living and in honored death – to come home.

This webpage will live on until December 9, 2024, with probably little to no maintenance. Until then, the content is available for you to view and use!

Photos leading up to the illumination and photos from our day can be found on this page: Our Legacy!!

Press Release: Memorial Bridge Centennial, lighting celebration July 3, 2023

by Karen Fritz

‘Lighting Our Legacy”

WINAMAC – A “star-spangled, heart-tugging, patriotic” celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Memorial Swinging Bridge at the Winamac Park is planned for the eve of Independence Day, Monday, July 3.

The centennial rededication of the footbridge will mirror aspects of the original dedication ceremony from 100 years earlier. It will culminate at dusk with a patriotic grand finale – and the much anticipated illumination of the bridge with a newly-installed, professional LED system.

Perhaps Winamac’s most beloved and sentimental landmark, the Memorial Swinging Bridge has now spanned the historic Tippecanoe River at the town park for a century. One of the oldest suspension bridges in Indiana, it was erected and dedicated shortly after the Great War. Still feeling the pain of loss, community leaders named the bridge “Memorial” in honor of “soldiers and sailors” from Pulaski County from all wars.

The Centennial Celebration

The Centennial Celebration of the Memorial Bridge will run from 4 to 10 p.m., Monday, July 3, at the Winamac Town Park. A central theme of the evening will be to honor the county’s veterans and current service men and women. Military members attending, past and present, are encouraged to wear uniforms, memorabilia or shirts and caps that commemorate their service. Members of the public attending are invited to wear period costume from 100 years ago (the “Roaring 20s”), or other historical clothing, or patriotic wear.

The lighting of the bridge at dark (about 10 p.m.) will be the culmination of efforts to honor veterans and Gold Star Families by “lighting their way home.”

Winamac VFW Commander Stan Czech will serve as master of ceremonies. The following is a brief itinerary of events:

  • 4 p.m. – Food vendors will open for business and remain until the bridge is illuminated.
  • 4 p.m. – Local bands will begin playing sets.
  • 5:30 p.m. – The Culver Academies Naval Band will play the National Anthem, ushering in the youth baseball and softball games.
  • 7:30 – The Memorial Swinging Bridge Centennial & Rededication Ceremony will begin, featuring dignitary proclamations, the recognition of POW and Gold Star Families, a salute to veterans, and a patriotic Medley by Culver’s Military Band.
  • 8:30 – Live, local bands will resume playing. Socializing in the park.
  • 9:45 – Patriotic Grand Finale followed by the Illumination of 100-year-old Memorial Swinging Bridge.

NOTE: The public should note there will be reserved parking only at the Main Street (west side) entrance of the park on July 3. Pedestrian traffic on the bridge will be closed during the 7:30 and 9:45 ceremonies.

ALSO: Gold Star family members of Pulaski County soldiers who wish to participate in the Rededication Ceremony should call 574-595-5474.

The ‘Light Up Our Legacy’ Project

In anticipation of the Memorial Bridge’s centennial this summer, a citizen’s group was formed four years ago to facilitate efforts to spruce up the bridge and make plans for a grand celebration. Central to the group’s plans was an effort to illuminate the bridge with a professionally designed and installed, multi-color LED-lighting system.

Associated Controls + Design of Indianapolis is the designer and contractor for the lighting project – the same company that oversaw the South Bend River Lights and the MLK Bridge lights in Fort Wayne.

Known as “Light Up Our Legacy,” the lights are being installed on the bridge’s cables, towers and beneath the structure. Light color combinations can be changed for holidays and seasons. Funding has been secured from private and corporate donations through a variety of fundraising projects the past two years.

Heading up the Memorial Swinging Bridge Project are Greg and Brenda Henry of Winamac. Kathleen (Kathi) Thompson has served as chair of the fund development committee. The sponsoring organization is the Winamac VFW. Dozens of committee members and additional volunteers have been meeting and working since early 2019 brainstorming ideas and gathering histories and photos of the bridge. They organized fund-raising efforts, contacted local government entities for support and advice, and interviewed contractors for the illumination portion of the project. The committee also developed a website and social media platforms, published a monthly newsletter and produced brochures.

Todd Zeiger of Indiana Landmarks has worked with the committee as a consultant. The Winamac Town Council and its park committee provided scheduled refurbishing of the bridge. The Pulaski County Historical Society secured a grant to further help finance the town’s renovation of the span. The town council gave its approval for the centennial committee to proceed with the plan to illuminate the bridge.

Bridge history

The memorial footbridge to honor the county’s military service members was commissioned in April 1923 by the board of the then new Winamac Park Association. The town council pledged $1,000 toward the project, and the newly-formed Winamac Kiwanis Club helped to ready the park on the west side in preparation. A contract was awarded for $3,197 and the 200-foot span was completed three months later.

The day-long dedication festivities for the footbridge in July 1923 began with a parade featuring veterans of the Civil War, Spanish-American War and the Great War, along with Gold Star Mothers. Congressman S.E. Cook gave a speech. The celebration continued in the early afternoon with a band concert and baseball game. The dedication address was given by Major General Leigh Robinson Gignilliat, accompanied by cadets, from nearby Culver Military Academy. The celebration concluded with an elaborate evening display of fireworks.

###

Memorial Swinging Bridge July 3 Rededication/Centennial Celebration

Grand Finale “Lighting Our Legacy” – S O L D I E R S

    1. American Revolution: Patrick Schuttrow – (Reproduction uniform provided by Brenda Henry)
    2. War of 1812: Maddox Bucinski – (Vintage Citadel cadet uniform donated to/provided by WCHS Drama Dept., altered by Nancy Allman)
    3. Mexican War: Max Gearhart – (Reproduction uniform provided by WCHS Drama Dept.)
    4. Civil War: John Seno – (Reproduction uniform provided by WCHS Drama Dept.)
    5. Spanish-American War: Connor Jones – (Reproduction uniform provided by WCHS Drama Dept.)
    6. World War I: Ryan Huggler – (Vintage uniform provided by Pulaski Co. Historical Society)
    7. World War II: Andrew Fritz – (Grandfather’s vintage U.S. Navy officer bridge coat/hat)
    8. Korean War: Alan Huggler – (Reproduction uniform provided by WCHS Drama Dept.; plus vintage hat provided by Pulaski County Historical Society)
    9. Vietnam War: Jakob Penicaro – (Grandfather’s vintage uniform)
    10. Desert Storm/Desert Shield: Jimmy Terry – (Veteran, wearing own uniform)
    11. Afghanistan War: Brandie Bucinski – (Veteran, wearing own uniform)
    12. Iraq War: Mike Zahora – (Veteran, wearing own uniform)

Drummer: Chad Watts

Organized by: Patrick Schuttrow, drama director at Winamac Community High School, Karen Fritz and Brenda Henry, members Memorial Swinging Bridge Committee.

Day is Done

Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake, from the skies.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.

These are the most recognized words to the most recognized military bugle call, the one that will pull at your heartstrings at the sound of the first two notes. Taps is sounded at memorial services, wreath-laying ceremonies, and funerals, but it’s first use was for “Lights Out.”

Until the Civil War, another tune was used, a tune that originated in France. Union General Daniel Butterfield changed that with his Third Brigade (Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac).

According to several sources, General Butterfield did not like the call for Lights Out. He felt it was too formal. He worked with the brigade bugler, Oliver Wilcox Norton, to write something new. It was first used at the Seven Day’s battle at Harrison’s Landing, Virginia in July 1862. The song soon spread to other units of the Union Army and was also used by the Confederates. Taps was made an official bugle call after the war.

Century Magazine Account

The following information was obtained from https://www.ausa.org/history-taps, written by MSG Jari A. Villanueva, USAF.

According to MSG Villanueva, the August, 1898 issue of Century Magazine contained an article called The Trumpet in Camp and Battle, by Gustav Kobbe, a music historian and critic. In the article, he wrongly identified the origin of Taps. Oliver W. Norton sent a response.

Chicago, August 8, 1898

I was much interested in reading the article by Mr. Gustav Kobbe, on the Trumpet and Bugle Calls, in the August Century. Mr. Kobbe says that he has been unable to trace the origin of the call now used for Taps, or the Go to Sleep, as it is generally called by the soldiers. As I am unable to give the origin of this call, I think the following statement may be of interest to Mr. Kobbe and your readers….

During the early part of the Civil War I was bugler at the Headquarters of Butterfield’s Brigade, Meroll’s Division, Fitz-John Porter’s Corp, Army of the Potomac. Up to July, 1862, the Infantry call for Taps was that set down in Casey s Tactics, which Mr. Kobbe says was borrowed from the French. One day, soon after the seven days battles on the Peninsular, when the Army of the Potomac was lying in camp at Harrison’s Landing, General Daniel Butterfield, then commanding our Brigade, sent for me, and showing me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope, asked me to sound them on my bugle.

I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for Taps thereafter in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night and was heard far beyond the limits of our Brigade.

The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring Brigades, asking for copies of the music which I gladly furnished. I think no general order was issued from army headquarters authorizing the substitution of this for the regulation call, but as each brigade commander exercised his own discretion in such minor matters, the call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac.

I have been told that it was carried to the Western Armies by the 11th and 12th Corps when they went to Chattanooga in the fall of 1863 and rapidly made its way through those armies. I did not presume to question General Butterfield at the time, but from the manner in which the call was given to me, I have no doubt he composed it in his tent at Harrison’s Landing.

I think General Butterfield is living at Cold Spring, New York. If you think the matter of sufficient interest, and care to write him on the subject, I have no doubt he will confirm my statement. – Oliver W. Norton

Butterfield’s Response

The editor reached out to Butterfield and received this reply on August 31, 1898.

I recall, in my dim memory, the substantial truth of the statement made by Norton, of the 83rd Pa., about bugle calls. His letter gives the impression that I personally wrote the notes for the call. The facts are, that at the time I could sound calls on the bugle as a necessary part of military knowledge and instruction for an officer commanding a regiment or brigade. I had acquired this as a regimental commander.

I had composed a call for my brigade, to precede any calls, indicating that such were calls, or orders, for my brigade alone. This was of very great use and effect on the march and in battle. It enabled me to cause my whole command, at times, in march, covering over a mile on the road, all to halt instantly, and lie down, and all arise and start at the same moment; to forward in line of battle, simultaneously, in action and charge etc. It saves fatigue.

Some of the typical verses used with Taps; verse one is most often used.

The men rather liked their call, and began to sing my name to it. It was three notes and a catch. I can not write a note of music, but have gotten my wife to write it from my whistling it to her, and enclose it. The men would sing , “Dan, Dan, Dan, Butterfield, Butterfield” to the notes when a call came. Later, in battle, or in some trying circumstances or an advance of difficulties, they sometimes sang, “Damn, Damn, Damn, Butterfield, Butterfield”.

The call of Taps did not seem to be as smooth, melodious and musical as it should be, and I called in some one who could write music, and practiced a change in the call of Taps until I had it suit my ear, and then, as Norton writes, got it to my taste without being able to write music or knowing the technical name of any note, but, simply by ear, arranged it as Norton describes. I did not recall him in connection with it, but his story is substantially correct. Will you do me the favor to send Norton a copy of this letter by your typewriter? I have none. – Daniel Butterfield

Historical Accuracy

It appears General Butterfield did not compose Taps, but that he revised an earlier call into the one we know today.  Regardless of its true origin, this simple and profound tune has lived, with a variety of verses, for over 160 years.

Have a Blessed Memorial Day.

The Bridge

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

    • I stood on the bridge at midnight,
    • As the clocks were striking the hour,
    • And the moon rose o’er the city,
    • Behind the dark church-tower.
    • I saw her bright reflection
    • In the waters under me,
    • Like a golden goblet falling
    • And sinking into the sea.
    • And far in the hazy distance
    • Of that lovely night in June,
    • The blaze of the flaming furnace
    • Gleamed redder than the moon.
    • Among the long, black rafters
    • The wavering shadows lay,
    • And the current that came from the ocean
    • Seemed to lift and bear them away;
    • As, sweeping and eddying through them,
    • Rose the belated tide,
    • And, streaming into the moonlight,
    • The seaweed floated wide.
    • And like those waters rushing
    • Among the wooden piers,
    • A flood of thoughts came o’er me
    • That filled my eyes with tears.
    • How often, O, how often,
    • In the days that had gone by,
    • I had stood on that bridge at midnight
    • And gazed on that wave and sky!
    • How often, O, how often,
    • I had wished that the ebbing tide
    • Would bear me away on its bosom
    • O’er the ocean wild and wide!
    • For my heart was hot and restless,
    • And my life was full of care,
    • And the burden laid upon me
    • Seemed greater than I could bear.
    • But now it has fallen from me,
    • It is buried in the sea;
    • And only the sorrow of others
    • Throws its shadow over me.
    • Yet whenever I cross the river
    • On its bridge with wooden piers,
    • Like the odor of brine from the ocean
    • Comes the thought of other years.
    • And I think how many thousands
    • Of care-encumbered men,
    • Each bearing his burden of sorrow,
    • Have crossed the bridge since then.
    • I see the long procession
    • Still passing to and fro,
    • The young heart hot and restless,
    • And the old subdued and slow!
    • And forever and forever,
    • As long as the river flows,
    • As long as the heart has passions,
    • As long as life has woes;
    • The moon and its broken reflection
    • And its shadows shall appear,
    • As the symbol of love in heaven,
    • And its wavering image here.

D-Day remembered …

D-Day remembered …

By Karen Clem Fritz
Reprinted from the June 5, 1999 issue of ExPRESS

“As our boat touched sand and the ramp went down I became a visitor to hell.”
-Pvt. Charles Neighbor, 29th Division, Omaha Beach

The news the free world had been waiting for at the height of World War II was broadcast at 9:33 a.m. London time, June 6, 1944 while most Americans were sound asleep.

The brief press release said, “Under the command of General Eisenhower Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France.”

The event, which took place 55 years ago tomorrow, became known simply as D-Day.

The invasion of the Normandy coast of France by the Allied Forces which had banded together to defeat Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler remains the largest build-up and movement of soldiers in the history of mankind. It also marked the beginning of the end of Hitler’s brutal five-year grip on Europe.

The German military had long anticipated and prepared for the Allied invasion. Under the direction of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, a cruel collection of beach obstacles, mine fields and artillery lined the coast of France. “Never in the history of modern warfare had a more powerful or deadly array of defenses been prepared for an invading force,” wrote Cornelius Ryan in his 1959 book The Longest Day.

After many months of meticulous planning and excruciating efforts to keep the massive force, as well as the date and exact location of the planned invasion, a secret from the Germans, “Operation Overlord,” the code name for the invasion, was launched with more than 5,000 ships, 10,000 airplanes and 250,000 service men and women – many of them not yet 20 years old.

Among the troops was a 19-year-old rural Winamac farm boy, Gerald, Rife, who, over his father’s objections, had joined the army 11 months earlier before completing high school.

“Dad was 100 percent against me going to the war,” Rife said, “and he had put in for a farm deferment for me.”

Gerald and Mary Rife were married in January 1946, a month after his discharge from the army. They raised five children, Faye, Gerald “Rob” Jr., Linda, Kim and Karen.

But Rife’s older brother was already helping on the family’s 400-acre farm on a deferment, and Gerald believed that “anyone with any gumption went into the service. I still think so.”

So Rife enlisted in the army in July 1943 and was sent to Fort Bragg in North Carolina where he immediately began training for combat duty as a sniper and machine gunner. He says he knew from the beginning that he was being trained for what everyone in the world knew must eventually come – the invasion. The training was rigorous and often featured sleepless nights.

In February 1944, Rife was sent across the Atlantic Ocean to Wales, and then England for extensive training and practice landings on shore.

Rife recalled that the men in his unit did not know the extent and details of the “whole invasion picture.” They only knew their own assignments.

In the final months before the invasion the build-up of troops, weapons and equipment along the southern coast of England was enormous, and the invasion participants found themselves in a strange world in these restricted areas which were sealed off from the rest of the country under a tight curtain of security.

Congestion in these coastal areas was a major problem, Ryan wrote in his book. “Chow lines were sometimes a quarter of a mile long. There were so many troops that it took some 54,000 men, 4,500 of them newly trained cooks, just to service American installations.

By the end of May, Rife said the troops “knew the time for the invasion was getting close.”

Loading of troops and supplies onto the transports and landing ships began during the last week of May.

“There was much anticipation,” Rife remembered. “Chaplains were constantly visiting the troops. Then they fed us a meal and loaded the boats.”

The U.S. loaded 74,000 soldiers bound for Normandy to secure two code-named beaches, Utah and Omaha. They joined 83,000 men from other Allied forces (mostly British and Canadian) who were to establish themselves on three other beaches farther east along the coast – Gold, Juno and Sword.

Rife said he was a member of a unit of 200 snipers and machine gunners who had trained together, beginning at Fort Bragg. They belonged to the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division forces. Rife and 29 other members of his unit boarded a transport, LST 355, bound for the “Easy Red” sector of Omaha Beach. “H Hour” would be 6:30 a.m.

“We left just a couple of hours before dawn,” Rife recalled. The invasion had already been postponed a day due to stormy weather in the English Channel, but Rife cannot remember if the weather was still cloudy and rainy. “I’m not sure; I believe so.”

Rife said everyone was quiet during the trip across the Channel. “We had practiced the landing lots of times. We knew we had plenty to do and everything had to be fresh in our minds.”

The Germans had also practiced maneuvers to repel the anticipated invasion. Then during that historic night they were alerted to scattered reports of Allied paratroopers landing in the fields behind the Normandy beaches. Suspicions aroused, they manned their positions along the fortified coast, although most Nazi officers at this point believed that this initial Allied activity was most likely a diversion from the “real” invasion which was expected farther east along the coast at Calais.

Then in early dawn, just before the sea landings, Allied bombs began to fall along the Normandy coast in an attempt to knock out the bunkers housing the gun power above the beaches.

But at Omaha Beach everything went wrong. Scattered cloud cover prevented the 329 bombers assigned to destroy the menacing guns at Omaha from unloading their 13,000 bombs on target. Most fell up to three miles inland. Then special amphibious tanks that were supposed to support the landing troops at Omaha sank in the choppy waters as they were unloaded. Only two of the 29 launched made it to the beach.

So the Americans landing at Omaha faced, without support, the veterans of the Nazi 352nd Infantry Division and their deadly guns aimed at the beach.

Rife said his LST was among the first to approach the shore. “We were 100 yards away at most when the Germans opened fire.”

At this point the invaders’ training came down to “jump, swim, run and crawl to the cliffs,” explains literature from the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.

As were his fellow troopers, Rife was weighed down with weapons and gear. “Our guns were all cosmaline (water-sealed). I carried everything from my SAR (sniper army rifle) down to a .32 automatic and small carbine, plus ammunition and hand grenades.” He also carried his canteen and musette bag with rations. The soldiers’ equipment weighted a minimum of 30 pounds and sometimes one-and-a-half times more, according to Rife.

Fortunately, even with all his heavy equipment, Rife was “tall enough that I didn’t go clear under the water” when he unloaded under German fire from his LST. One of the next things he recalls was that there were “a lot of rocks” under the water to walk around.

Rife had entered a killing zone which would from that day forward be known as Bloody Omaha.

“I was ducking fire the whole time,” Rife continued. He managed to wade through the spray of bullets and find cover in the water behind a rock where he began to shoot back at the Nazis.

He estimated the beach was about 100 feet across, behind which rose a bluff about 25 feet high, lined with hedgerows.

The horror of what Rife saw and experienced through the rest of D-Day on Omaha Beach is a story he has never shared with anyone in the last 55 years – and never expects to.

In response to gentle questions of what happened next, he simply looks down and away, and acute pain visibly spreads across his face. (Rife only agreed to this interview at the request of his youngest daughter who is proud of her father and believes that as much of his story as he is willing to share should be told.)

Pinned down by German gunfire, Rife said he spent the next five or six hours trying to get out of the water. A state of confusion and shock prevailed. Officers were killed and soldiers found themselves alone and separated from their units. They sought refuge behind deadly beach obstacles and contemplated the deadly sprint across the beach to the base of the bluffs. Bodies lay on the beach or floated in the water. Destroyed landing craft and other vehicles littered the shore. At 8:30 a.m., all landing ceased at Omaha.

The cause was feared lost.

But slowly, through sheer courage and determination – and even anger – small groups managed to cross the beach and make their way up the bluffs. At the same time, navy destroyers moved into shallow water, scraping their hulks, and blasted away at the Nazi guns at point-blank range.

“By nightfall, the situation had swung in our favor,” Gen. Omar Bradley, commander of the U.S. first Army later said. “Personal heroism and the U.S. Navy had carried the day. We had by then landed close to 35,000 men and held a sliver of corpse-littered beach five miles long and about one-and-a-half miles deep. To wrest that sliver from the enemy had cost us possibly 25,000 casualties. There was now no thought of giving it back.”

Day blended into night for Rife. He soon realized the benefit of his sleepless basic training at Fort Bragg. Many such days and nights later he arrived in St. Lo, a small French town that he remembered had been “blown to pieces.” There soldiers were reorganized into new units and began their march toward Germany.

Rife’s unit was among the first to arrive in Paris for the liberation of that city. He participated in the Battle of the Bulge. The first Nazi concentration camp he came across was in Belgium. He eventually marched across Germany and met up with the Russian Allies in Czechoslovakia.

But none of these experiences and following battles compared with D-Day. “Nothing else after that even came close,” Rife insisted.

In the 55 years since that day, Rife never slept through a night. He wife, Mary confirmed this. She remembered one night early in their marriage when he awoke from a nightmare and dove under the bed.

To this day, Rife remains haunted by his D-Day memories. “It would be nice to take a pill and forget it all,” he said quietly.

The price the Allies paid at D-Day was brutal. Casualties numbered nearly 10,000. Ninety percent of American casualties were sustained at Omaha Beach. U.S. casualties on D-Day totaled 6,603, including 1,465 dead.

But had the invasion failed, experts believe it would have taken several more years to defeat Hitler and his Nazi armies.

Rife shunned most D-Day reminders, but in his last years he displayed this license plate.

At the end of World War II only 15 soldiers from Rife’s 200-member unit came home. At the time of this interview, he was one of only two still living. For over 50 years, only Rife’s closest family members knew he was a D-Day participant. He doesn’t want to see movies or read books about the invasion, or visit Normandy or meet with other war veterans. He really doesn’t care to be reminded of the invasion.

“The tales of loss and heroism of D-Day are countless as the grains of sand on the Normandy coast,” observes the National D-Day Memorial Foundation.

That’s why on the anniversary of D-Day, it is vital that the rest of the world remembers what Omaha Beach veteran Gerald Rife cannot forget.

 Note: Gerald L. Rife passed away Sept. 13, 2000.

Tippecanoe River: Flowing With A Purpose

Reprinted from the Independent, Pulaski County A-Z “Tt” – 20 in a series of 26, by Jim Carr and Alan McPherson, Monday, July 20, 2002.

(Photos have been changed.)

Scenic Tippecanoe

Tippecanoe. This humble stream has helped elect a national president and named a small species of fish unique to its waters. Meandering through eight of Indiana’s northern counties, the Tippy, as it is fondly called, becomes a “liquid necklace,” stringing together its pearls along the way. Its name is attached to villages, towns, cities, townships, counties, lakes, battlefields and parks along its path. Early treaties use it as a reference point on the face of a poorly mapped, infant state. Famous as a battlefield, just a few years later, it was ignored as America attempted to connect the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico by a system of waterways. Now, it is globally recognized as one of the nation’s most important rivers. Here in Pulaski County, it is certainly our most storied, and important body of water.

Rising as a thin ribbon of water out of Little Crooked Lake along the border of Noble and Whitley counties, it begins its 166-mile trek to its confluence with another of Indiana’s rivers, the Wabash. In its infancy, the Tippy connects several spring-fed lakes – Crooked Lake, Big Lake, Smally Lake, Baugher Lake, Wilmot Mill Pond, Webster Lake, and Lake James – before leaving Tippecanoe Lake and actually taking form as a true river. From southwest through the Maxinkuckee Moraine and the counties of Elkhart and Kosciusko until it reaches Pulaski County, which contains more than 40 meandering miles of the Tippy, including a brief brush with Starke County. Then it’s on through White County and Tippecanoe County, forming the western boundary of Carroll County along the way. It is along that route that the first settlers of this area made their homes – and left their mark – long before history was written down.

Evidence of earlier occupation remained when white men came to build homes in the wilderness along the Tippecanoe. Early local accounts speak of possible burial mounds built by what may well have been Pulaski County’s first inhabitants. In his Century of Achievement, written for the centennial year of 1938, the late Judge John Reidelbach mentions “nine or 10 earthen mounds” along the Tippy’s shore. Two Indian skeletons, he writes, were unearthed from one of these, located on a 10-acre farm about a mile east of Winamac. The origin of these mound builders is only speculation, and no one has any idea what they called the stream they settled on and later left. Later Native American inhabitants, the Miami and the Potawatomi, also left their mark, as Judge Reidelbach notes. Early white settlers encountered tribal remnants and found places where the natives met for council fires, danced and built dams for the purpose of easy fishing. It is these later tribes who give the Tippy the name it’s known by today.

Although rivers and streams were native American highways, the name Tippecanoe has nothing to do, as some might imagine, with an unstable Indian watercraft. The Miami Indians – at one time Indiana’s largest tribe – were first in the territory and named the river Ki-kap-kwan. Their later neighbors, the Potawatomi, called it Ki-tap-i-kon. In both native languages, the name means “buffalo fish.” This species of sucker, according to Webster, is named for the hump on its back, which evidently reminded the Indians of a buffalo’s shape. As white men struggled to pronounce these Indian versions, the best they could do was Tippecanoe, and the name remains. Although the Tippecanoe formed a sort of boundary between the Miami to the south and east and the Potawatomi to the north, it bore no particular significance in history until two members of another tribe brought it to national prominence by settling on its banks.

Tecumseh (not authentic), copied from a much-used print that erroneously placed him in a British officer’s uniform.

Tecumseh, Shooting Star, and his brother Tenskwatawa, Open Door, were sons of a Shawnee father and a Creek mother. Born in Ohio, they eventually settled, along with a hodgepodge of followers from various tribes, just north of the mouth of the Tippecanoe on the site of former Miami and Potawatomi villages, located near present day Battleground.

Tecumseh, sometimes also known as Panther, has been depicted historically as the archetypal noble savage. Well-built and handsome, he had been a warrior and hunter from an early age. But, he is most famous for his persuasive speeches and political skills among other tribes.

Tenskwatawa (ten SQUAT a way) painted in 1830 by George Catlin from Wikipedia

In appearance, Tenskwatawa was small and frail, known in his tribe as “The Loud Mouth.” During his childhood, an accident with an arrow blinded his left eye. Depth perception marred, he was a failure as a hunter and warrior. He has been depicted as cowardly, fighting in just one battle in his early life, preferring to stay at home in the safety of camp. Not a hunter or raider, and with no visible means of support, he was unable to find a wife or take any position of authority among his people. Eventually, he fell under the influence of the white traders and strong drink, becoming a drunken “hangabout,” begging for his keep around early settlements, trading posts and forts. Then, during a particularly desperate binge, Loud Mouth had a vision. He stopped drinking and, briefly, was converted to Christianity by Moravian missionaries. Returning to his tribe, he shared his vision with his brother. According to his vision, Indians could regain their lost lands and drive out the white man by returning to their native ways. His message, spread mostly by Tecumseh, attracted many followers. Now fully a respected Indian shaman, he changed his name to The Open Door, but the white settlers called him the Shawnee Prophet.

The Prophet’s vision that Indians should forsake all things that were provided by the whites, including dress, food, liquor and weaponry, inspired many disenfranchised Indians. If returning to native ways would get rid of new, white Americans from encroaching upon their lands, the Native Americans were ready. But the Prophet’s coup de gras, which made him a legend, came from knowledge gained from the whites. Using some celestial information gained while living among the Moravians, The Prophet accurately predicted an eclipse of the sun. He told anyone who would listen that he had the power to block out the sun, and a couple of days later, he went into a meditative state, chanting and praying until a full eclipse of the sun arrived right on schedule. With a bit of trickery, he became a celebrity, revered among the Indians and feared for his influence over them by the whites. More and more natives from several Midwestern tribes flocked to join the Shawnee brothers and get ready to rid themselves of white influence and regain their own waning power.

For a while in the later 1700s, an Indian confederacy led by the Miami war chief Little Turtle had turned back several American advances. Through military strength, the Miami Confederacy managed to retain much of their lands in western Ohio and most of Indiana. But near the close of the century, they were defeated decisively by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. The Confederacy scattered, but many of its members found solace with Tecumseh and The Prophet. Considered a threat to the peace of the frontier, the brothers were pressured out of their new home near Greenville, Ohio. Tecumseh, in his travels, had made friends with an influential Potawatomi chief. The chief offered them one of his villages, located on the Tippecanoe. By 1803, the Shawnee brothers had become part of Indiana’s history.

Boat ramp on the west side of the Winamac Park, photo November 2021

While the Shawnee brothers preached that no Indian could sell land, William Henry Harrison, the first Governor of the new Indiana Territory, was “buying” more from other Indian tribes who lived within the borders of the state. From his territorial capital in Vincennes he had, by the time the Shawnee brothers and their followers settled in at Prophetstown along the Tippecanoe River, negotiated two treaties which put most of southern Indiana under his control.

Prophetstown continued to swell in population as disgruntled young warriors from the Potawatomi, Miami, Wyandot, Chippewa, Winnebago, Moscoutan, Fox, Sauk, Ottawa, Shawnee and other Great Lakes tribes came to hear the back-to-basics message of The Prophet. Land hungry white settlers in the area complained loudly of the increase in Indian population and of roaming bands who were stealing horses and threatening warfare against frontier settlements. These complaints eventually caught the ear of General Harrison.

[From the editor of this piece in 2022: In 1811, the land was still several years away from a treaty with either the Indiana Territory or the US Government. The white settlers were trespassing on Native ground.]

A couple of attempts at peaceful agreements with Tecumseh and his followers in Vincennes went nowhere. Finally, Harrison prepared to march on Prophetstown and destroy it. His amalgamated army was a mixture of regulars, known as “Yellow Jackets” [a mounted militia company from Harrison County], Indiana militia and Kentucky volunteers. The force finally arrived at Prophetstown in early November of 1811. With Tecumseh away on a recruiting trip to add to the membership, The Prophet was forced to deal with Harrison and his troops on his own. Told by his brother not to get into any altercations while he was away, The Prophet rallied his followers to battle after an all-night prayer session. Neither a sneak attack or The Prophet’s incantations worked. The Indians were soundly defeated in a bloody battle, and their dreams of former glory were crushed. Prophetstown was burned to the ground. The Prophet, blamed by everyone present for the defeat, fled the scene. Harrison’s troops gave their leader the nickname of Ol’ Tippecanoe after this success at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The Tippecanoe Battlefield monument, located in Battleground, is now a public park dedicated to this battle.

Harrison served as territorial governor of Indiana but resigned in December 1812 to take part in the Northwestern Army in the War of 1812. He was elected president of the United States in 1841. While campaigning with his vice-presidential candidate, John Tyler, they used the motto, Tippecanoe and Tyler, too. Tecumseh, The Prophet and Harrison had made the Tippecanoe nationally famous.

The now-famous Tippecanoe was scouted as a possible canal route from Fort Wayne to Lafayette, but surveyors determined the volume of water to be inadequate to support any type of barge travel most of the year. But it was big enough to support some dams and races to power mills, and small settlements had already begun to grow up along its banks. More and more settlers required more and more land. The defeated Indians had little choice but to give it up.

Treaties were signed with the remaining tribes in 1818 and again in 1826. Each of these treaties mark the initial reference point as the Tippy. The Treaty of 1818 opens with “Beginning at the mouth of the Tippecanoe River…” while the Treaty of 1826 starts, “Beginning on the Tippecanoe River, where the northern boundary of the tract intersects… … Thence, up the (Wabash River) to the mouth of the Tippecanoe River.” In 1832, a third treaty, this time requiring removal of all remaining Indians, was signed. The treaty talks were held north of Rochester on an island in the Tippecanoe. So, in three of the final treaties with the Indians, the Tippecanoe plays a vital role. Indians were dispersed and the northern part of the state was thrown open to settlement.

The governmental office for selling and recording those newly opened tracts of land was located along the Tippecanoe River in the new town of Winamac. Cheap land brought more settlers into north central Indiana.

Tippecanoe Watershed

By the 1920s there was a need for electrical power in these rural, agricultural communities. Dams were built north of Monticello along the Tippecanoe to provide that power. Indiana was given carte blanche to begin producing electrical power as soon as possible. A by-product of this electrical expansion is Indiana’s premier amusement area. Two lakes, Freeman and Shafer, were created, and recreational cottage communities began to appear along the shores of these lakes and grew north along the river. Today, Indiana Beach is one of the largest recreational facilities in Indiana.

Recreation is, perhaps, the primary allure of the Tippy. It is home to a variety of fish and wildlife. Due to several factors, it is considered one of the cleanest rivers in the United States. Fed by so many natural springs at its source, it always has been considered too small a body of water to support large industry or be used for transportation. These contributing factors have allowed it to maintain relatively high water quality. This high water quality makes it home to two unique species of water wildlife – the clubshell mussel and the Tippecanoe darter. The clubshell’s presence, and its designation as an endangered species, brought the river to the attention of the Nature Conservancy, a global not-for-profit organization dedicated to “Saving the Last Great Places.” The Nature Conservancy has named the Tippecanoe as the eighth most important river in the United States because of the varied and unique species of aquatic wildlife it supports. The Nature Conservancy oversees the entire Tippecanoe watershed and is working on projects, such as reforestation of the river, to keep the water quality – and the Tippecanoe’s reputation as a river – high. Those who live and play along its banks make the river’s influence known by providing a name for many places along the way.

Tippecanoe River State Park near Winamac is one of northern Indiana’s premier state parks. Seven of Pulaski County’s 40 miles of shoreline is contained in the 2,761-acre park. Of that, 180 acres that border the Tippy are dedicated as a nature preserve.

Tippecanoe Township, which contains Monterey in the northeast corner of Pulaski County, also takes its name from the river. Tippecanoe Township was named due to the fact that it has the most miles of river frontage of any of the four townships through which the Tippy flows. Monterey also has a three-acre park, Kleckner Park, which features a boat ramp to the water.

South of Pulaski County, Tippecanoe County is home to Lafayette and Purdue University. There is also the village of Tippecanoe in Marshall County, and the settlement of Tippecanoe Shores near DeLong in Fulton County.

The Tippecanoe may be small by some standards, but in the history of Indiana and Pulaski County, it is a name to be reckoned with.

Gateway to Town Park: Part 4: The Gateway

Gateway photo supplied by Karen Fritz. This appears to be 1934, the year it was completed.

Finally, we reach the entryway to the park, the reason this series was begun four months ago. We hope you have enjoyed the little romp through the histories of the park, artesian well, pavilion, Winamac Conservation Club, and a major donor, Richard Rogers.

Now, finally, the entryway.

Photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson

This gateway is beautiful. There are no other words for it. Well … graceful, majestic, historic … those words apply as well.

For those of us who live here, we tend to ignore it. We drive through it several times a year, on our way to the 4-H fair, the Power from the Past, reunions, picnics, walks, special trips to the Memorial Swinging Bridge, the playground, dog park … we drive through it to “do stuff,” but we don’t see it.

Photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson

We don’t notice its graceful curves. We don’t look up to see the masterfully carved busts. I know an artist who painted the gateway and neglected to put the busts in the painting. Why? I’m not sure. Perhaps because he didn’t – as perhaps 90% of us don’t – look up? We don’t look up to take in the glory of this piece of art.

Photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson

Very little has changed on the gateway since its erection in 1934, 88 years ago. It has been repaired, the ground around it landscaped, the electricity updated. It is certainly “shinier,” because in 2000 it was tuckpointed and sealed. Nothing else has changed. Oh … one thing changed, but it is something that was supposed to have been done in 1934. You’ll hear about that later in this piece.

Imagine the cost of reproducing this gateway today, including the multi-ton busts that adorn the top. Imagine finding an artist to donate his or her time and talents to the degree the gateway’s designer did. Imagine driving into this beautiful park without the benefit of the gateway.

If you remember the history as told to you in parts 1, 2 and 3 (February, March and April e-newsletters), you’ll remember that the peninsula was once a camping place for the Potawatomi, and that it has been a public space to one degree or another since white settlers moved in.

Access to the peninsula is limited. It can be reached by foot from the west by crossing the beautiful Memorial Swinging Bridge. The only other way in is through this gateway, which has both vehicular and pedestrian pathways.

Historic Information

On February 15, 1934, the Pulaski County Democrat announced an artistic entrance that had been designed by a local man. It would be next to the State highway. Having an artistic entrance on a major thoroughfare would have been a feather in the caps of all persons living in the Winamac vicinity.

Rendering of the design, reported by the Pulaski County Democrat on February 15, 1934.

Signage still exists that points out “Old State Road 14,” but even so, it is hard to remember that for decades, a major highway passed through town and went past the entrance to the peninsula, an area that has been, since 1908, a private or public park. The highway curved around, following the river to a certain degree, but now, being a road that leaves town and enters the county, it seems more a meandering drive than a state-owned thoroughfare. It’s hard to imagine that the entryway to the park was visible to travelers from many states, driving east or west, from points in Ohio to points in Illinois.

The article announcing the gateway described the use of large round rocks in its construction and “huge figures” to be carved from Indiana limestone. A local man, Russell Rearick, designed the gate and was to assist in the construction. He was to be the creator of the sculptures to adorn each side of the gate. The article described Rearick as a sculptor “of recognized ability, with a number of art prizes to his credit.”

The work was to be carried out as a Civil Works Administration (CWA) project.

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Because we’re taking a trek through history, we’ll share a little about this program. The information contained here was taken from a piece written by Fred Zahrt in 1998, relying heavily upon Lynda Irving from the Pulaski County Public Library. She located a book that explained the program. Mr. Zahrt, in his document, explained the program in general.

We’ll leave out the politics.

Two months after FDR took office, he initiated a massive relief program to be administered through state and local agencies. It was called the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). The program spent millions of dollars, but in the end, it was not successful. Relief recipients were too proud to accept surplus commodities or wages for no work. The administration tried a different approach, resulting in the Civil Works Administration. This agency was strictly federal. It paid a wage rather than a relief stipend. In the two months in which it operated (February – March, 1934), jobs were created for four million men and women.

In that brief span, the CWA built or improved 255,000 miles of roads, 30,000 schools, more than 3,700 playgrounds and athletic fields, and a thousand airports. The program was terminated on March 31, 1934, for a number of reasons. The agency was closed down and the country reverted to direct relief.

It closed down before the gateway could be completed.

Frontage Information

West side of the gateway.

Per the Pulaski County Democrat, the gateway had frontage of approximately 100 feet on the state highway – another document said 80 feet – I didn’t measure it – with two angles that set the main pillars back from the traffic lane. On either side of the main vehicle entrance was a narrow passage for pedestrians.

A new gravel drive was constructed the winter before, from the park entrance to a point north of the pavilion, which was still in its original location. It led along the riverbank on the east side of the peninsula, entirely removing the old drive through the middle of the park with “all its accompanying dangers.”

Other work was done by CWA employees included the construction of a driveway that would enable motorists to circle the entire tract while driving close to the riverbank. And aren’t we happy, now, that this driveway was done? How many times have you driven through the park, taking in the sights of the river on one side and the park on the other? Or walked along the drive? Someone had a good idea back then.

Back at the gateway, and noted in an article written by Fred Zahrt in 1998, if you stand inside the park and look south at the towers of the gateway, you will notice they are slanted. If you move west, they become parallel, marking the direction of the original road into the park. A drawing that he made to illustrate the slant appears here. It would be interesting to know how that worked. The CWA built the driveway that goes straight and then around the park, but apparently the “main” road still turned slightly to the left at the entrance.

Work Stops

The work stopped when the CWA program ended on March 31, 1934, about a month after the cornerstone was laid. Cold weather had delayed the work, and no one had counted on the CWA program ending as precipitously as it did. In the meantime, the Kiwanis club undertook the responsibility of assembling the material to be placed inside the cornerstone for posterity.

A Description of the Stone Gateway & Indian Statues

The Warrior, on the west side. Photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson

At some point, work resumed. Park funds were used, and the town was able to tap into township relief funds. Mr. Rearick, according to the Pulaski County Democrat, donated his time and talents in designing the gateway and sculpting the statues.

The Indiana limestone used for the busts, lintels and cornerstone was obtained through the courtesy of the Matthews Bros. Stone Co. of Bloomington, Indiana. This contribution was arranged by the chairman of the park board, James Dilts.

The Brave, to the east. Photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson

The blocks from which the statues were cut weighed about three and one-half tons before the carving began. (Another source said four and one-half tons.) Each bust is three feet and four inches high. They were delivered from Bloomington to the Dilts building on Pearl Street. Mr. Rearick completed the rough carving there, then moved them to the Rearick family home on West Street to complete.

The stone pedestals upon which they stand are 14 feet in height. The stones used to construct the gateway were from Pulaski County fields.

The busts were described in the September 6, 1934 edition of the Pulaski County Democrat:

The Indians depicted in the two statues are of separate and distinct types.

The one to the west is an old chief with full head dress, in representation of the Potawatomie leaders who, bowing to the white man’s invasions, finally led their tribes away from the hunting grounds along the Tippecanoe. Tradition has it that the peninsula now forming the park was once a favorite Indian camping ground.

The one to the east … is a young brave wearing a single tattered feather. He represents the “common people” among the Indians, defiant and unbroken in spirit.

Imogene “Gene” Huddleston Gast, at some point before her death, in her 20s. When she was in high school, she was the model for the bust of the “Brave.”

John Kocher, a local attorney, notes that that the model for the young brave was his aunt, Imogene “Gene” Huddleston Gast. At the time the carving was done, Gene would have been in high school. Gene died at a young age – not yet 29 – and a picture from her obituary is included here. The relationship is apparent.

Cornerstone

This photo of Mr. Rearick giving the final touches to the Warrior was made by R. J. Gifford of Winamac and reprinted courtesy of the South Bend News-Times.

The Kiwanis Club gathered documents of interest to deposit at the laying of the cornerstone. They went inside a tin box made to fit the cavity in the stone. The documents were chosen to highlight the significance of the park to the community. The ceremony, which was supposed to be held on February 22, 1934, was delayed due to weather. This list was given of the items gathered.

      • The original agreement under which thirty-five citizens set out their intention of forming a joint stock association to purchase the peninsula formed by the Tippecanoe River and convert it into a public park.
      • The deed by which Benjamin and Dora Herrick transferred the property to trustees of the new association, dated April 10, 1908.
      • The subscription list of the reorganized Park Association, which was formed in 1922 after the original association had expired. The list contained names of substantially all the original purchasers and several new ones.
      • Another list of the names of all the stockholders in the association at the time the property was transferred to the Town of Winamac, executed on May 29, 1933.
      • Original letters or copies of correspondence regarding the Rogers gift, which made the transfer possible.
      • A copy of the trust agreement between Mr. Rogers and the First Union Bank & Trust Co. This agreement set out the payment by Mr. Rogers of the $1,135 debt against the park property and the establishment of a trust fund to be paid upon Mr. Rogers’ death. Proceeds of the trust fund were to be used for park beautification.
      • Copies of the restrictions set up by Mr. Rogers. He stipulated that no person is ever to be denied admittance to the park on account of race, color, religion or politics. He also stipulated that no beer, wine, whiskey or other intoxicating liquor would ever be bartered, sold or given away on park property. There was also a provision that the town council was to cooperate with the Winamac Women’s Club and the Kiwanis Club in any beautification activities.
      • A Resolution of Thanks adopted by the Kiwanis club on behalf of the citizens of the community in June of 1933, which was mailed to Mr. Rogers.
      • Newspapers from the year 1908 detailing the formation of the original park association.
      • Newspaper accounts of the dedication of the Memorial footbridge in 1923.
      • Newspaper accounts from 1933 and 1934 detailing the Rogers offer, the final transfer of the property to the town, and the description of the gateway.
      • Stationery printed in the 1880s from the Winamac Shooting Club and news of the club.
      • A folder printed in 1907 showing pictures taken in the park, along the river and in the town.
      • A photo taken of members of the Kiwanis club, with a list of its officers and members.
      • Photographs of Mr. and Mrs. Rogers.

Fun fact: According to John Kocher, when the cornerstone documents were uncovered, he did not remember the year, all of the documents had been ruined.

Kiwanians Praise Rogers

At the Tuesday noon Kiwanis luncheon, former President Ralph E. Horner read and the club unanimously adopted the following resolution, which we believe expresses the sentiment of our entire community.

A Resolution: Sometimes we hear of a man who, in his later life, harks back in memory to the place of his nativity and to those with whom he formerly lived and prospered. We of Winamac have a concrete example of such a man in Richard S. (more familiarly and affectionately known as “Dick”) Rogers.

Compelled by ill health to seek another climate, after having spent almost the full allotted span of life in this community, an honored and respected citizen, he has been impelled to leave with us some memorial of his affection and regard. With the co-operation of the stockholders of the Winamac Park Association, he has made it possible for the beautiful peninsula of the Tippecanoe River to be retained and dedicated as a perpetual public park.

We, the Winamac Kiwanis Club, desire in this manner to extend to Richard S. Rogers our happy felicitations and the grateful appreciation of all our people for his splendid generosity.

Done this sixth day of June, A.D., 1933.

Winamac Republican, June 8, 1933

A Grant to Restore the Gateway

In 1998, the Kiwanis Club took the lead in writing a grant application to manage several upgrades to the gateway. The grant applications were successful, and several upgrades were made in 2000. The electricity was rewired and masonry work done to replace missing stones, tuckpoint and seal the work. A landscape architect was secured.

East side, photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson

In Fred Zahrt’s presentation to the Club in favor of writing the grant (in 1998), he noted that now, 64 years later, the historic and dedicatory statements promised to Mr. Rogers were still missing from the gateway. The carving of those statements was included in an addition to the grant application.

A ceremony was held on September 9, 2000, on behalf of the Winamac Park Committee, the Town of Winamac, and the Winamac Kiwanis Club. Sixty-six years after the second of the Indian statues was lifted into place, the town could celebrate the renovation of the gateway and the completion of the original project.

West side, photo November 2021, Kathleen Thompson. The shadow is hers, too!

The statements promised in 1934 now read, on the east: Here on the Tippecanoe dwelt the Pottawatomie Indians, who ceded what is now Pulaski county to the United States in 1832. And on the west: The Winamac Park Association and Richard S. Rogers present this Park to the Town of Winamac and Dedicate it to the service of the community forever.

On a final note from Fred Zahrt, when the engraving was finally done, the wording was not correct. The Park Board made certain it was fixed.

Previously

February: Part 1: Park

March: Part 2: Artesian Well / West Side

April: Part 3: Pavilion, Winamac Conservation Club, Mr. Rogers Retires Park Debt

Sources for this series: Link

Pulaski County, Indiana Military History [Mexican-American War]

From Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana, published by Batty, 1883
Mexican-American War 1846 – 1848

So far as can be learned, no man then a resident of Pulaski County served his country in the war with Mexico.  A company was organized at Logansport. Another was organized at Crown Point. Doubtless, each of these companies contained men who, sometime before or after the war, made Pulaski County their abiding place.

The following is as perfect a list as could be procured by the writer of the men who served in the Mexican war, and who have since resided in the county. There may be some mistakes in this list.

    • John P. Liming and his son, Andrew Liming. Andrew Liming, after the War a resident of Van Buren Township, also served in the Civil War.
    • Zemariah Williamson, who died in the service, and whose father secured his land warrant of a quarter-section in Van Buren Township.
    • Peter Lane, who formerly lived near Winamac.
    • Mr. Updegraff.
    • O.H.P. Grover, an early resident of Winamac, who served in the Logansport company in the First Indiana Regiment.
    • Charles Humphrey.
    • J. B. Agnew, a resident of Winamac and one of its most prominent citizens, who lost his leg in a skirmish with Mexican guerrillas.
    • Mr. Phipps.
    • John Hodges.
    • E. P. Potter.
    • Charles Hathaway.
    • G. H. Barnett.
    • Francis H Snyder.

Doubtless, this is but an imperfect list.

It would be interesting to give a more extended account of the military services of each of the above men, but this is impossible, owing to their scattered location.

A Tale From The Battle of Buena Vista

Andrew Liming, yet living on the same farm obtained from the Government in virtue of his military warrant, was in the Third Indiana Regiment and participated in the battle of Buena Vista.

He was a young man then, in the prime of life, and recalls vividly the details of that decisive battle. He denies positively the alleged cowardice of Indiana troops – a stigma that was unwillingly borne by them until wiped out by scores of gallant achievements during the last stupendous war.

He insists that the Second Indiana, which was posted on a plateau about 200 feet high, and on the extreme left of General Taylor’s battle line, did not leave the field until ordered to retreat by the Colonel.

Even then, the momentary disorder into which the men were thrown was wholly due to the fact that they had not been drilled to retreat – an important and vital omission in the military education of a true soldier.

His own regiment, the Third Indiana, was posted to support Washington’s battery, which was so well served that, when Santa Anna endeavored to force the pass in solid column, the storm of shot and shell was so terrific that his swarming legions were sent flying back in full retreat.

Then it was that the Mexican commander flanked to the right and fell upon Taylor’s left, forcing the Second Indiana back across a deep ravine, and gaining the rear of the Government troops.

Another important point insisted upon by Mr. Liming, who was so situated that he could see all the movements of both armies, detracts somewhat from the credit usually accorded Jefferson Davis (ex-President of the Confederacy).

He states that Davis had nothing to do with repelling the charge of the Mexican Lancers after the Government troops had been flanked, except, perhaps, the moral effect which the presence of his men afforded.

The command of Davis was back some four hundred yards from the front, and simply served to support the regiments which forced the Mexicans back across the plateau.

Do Not Forget

The boys who went to Mexico must not be forgotten under the shadow of the last great war [the Civil War]. It was no holiday undertaking to go from the comparatively cold climate of the Northern States to the hot and peculiar climate of Mexico.

The appalling sacrifice of life from disease abundantly attests the peril which the men assumed for the country’s good. Many were left there in lonely, deserted and forgotten graves, and the rugged cactus comes and kisses with its crimson blossoms the silent mounds where they sleep.

The rich flowers of the stately magnolia shed their fragrant perfume around. The long festoons of silvery moss hang pendant above the quiet graves. The rustling wind and the dancing rain pay their passing tribute to the glory of the departed. Over all the strange, bright birds of that sunny clime chant the sad requiem of death.

The boys are gone, but their names are living jewels in the bright casket of memory.

Entryway to Town Park: Part 3: Pavilion, Conservation Club, Mr. Rogers

The Pavilion

Pavilion before it was moved and renovated.

In 1891, John C. Nye had plans for a park that would attract large crowds of people willing to pay admission to attractions that would be scheduled. With this in mind, he commissioned his father, Cyrus Nye, to build a pavilion for public use. It was intended to seat more than Vurpillat’s meeting place.

J.C. Nye has received plans and specifications for his new park building on the peninsula, and as soon as the weather permits work on it will begin. It will be octagonal in shape, forty-five feet in diameter, with a large stage at one side in addition. It will be sixteen feet high to the square, with an arched ceiling. It will have a self-supporting roof, without any posts except in the side walls, and exclusive of the stage will seat 1,012 persons. Oh, it’s a hummer. Pulaski County Democrat June 3 1892

The Pulaski County Teacher’s Institute was the first to meet there, and after them came band concerts, dances, Sunday schools and political conventions.

During the summer months it was the coolest place in town and in great demand.

Interior of the pavilion, the ceiling/roof construction.

When John Nye sold the park in 1908, the new owner intended to move the pavilion to his farm, but this disaster was averted by the Winamac Park Association, a group quickly formed to rescue the peninsula and all its attractions from destruction.

The pavilion continued to be a popular place and was in constant use for decades. Time and the river began to take its toll and in 1990, the nearly one hundred-year-old building was condemned and was to be torn down.

The M.E. Church has secured the use of the pavilion in Nye’s park during the heated term, and they will hold Sunday services there until further notice. Services are announced for the same hours as when they were held at the church. The object of the change is to find a cool place in which to conduct meetings, Sunday school and preaching. Pulaski County Democrat July 28 1893

Enough people remembered its glory days to want to save it. Nearly a foot of insect-infested and rotted wood was cut off the bottom and it was moved to the other side of the park. It has been listed as Pulaski County’s only round barn, even though it is not exactly round and was never used as a barn. It did, however, come very close to being a granary.

Winamac Conservation Club

Looking east across the city park pond as it was being built, from the August 1940 issue of Outdoor Indiana.

The Winamac Conservation Club was created in 1933. In 1940, the club financed a fish hatchery pond in the town-owned park. The pond was approximately 90 feet by 200 feet; a minimum of eighteen inches of water were to be maintained at all times.

By early December, 8,050 little rock bass had been hatched and released into the river. With winter approaching, it was decided to turn the pond into an ice skating rink. The fire department pumped the pond full of water and waited for freezing weather. They needed to keep the skaters warm, so it was decided to build an added convenience for public enjoyment.

The fireplace today.

A large open fireplace, located between the pond and the river’s edge, was completed during the first week of December 1940. Twelve tons of limestone were used in the building of the fireplace. Embodied in the mantle is a 600-pound granite plaque, a gift of J. Lon McKinley.

The Club built a bird sanctuary and observation hut in 1941. Located north of the 4-H barns, it provided a natural habitat for the study of bird life. The sanctuary included a 45’ x 90’ feeding area surrounded by a wire fence with a bench and feeders placed along the ground to attract wild birds.

In 2018, after 85 years, the club closed and established the Winamac Conservation Club Scholarship with the Community Foundation of Pulaski County. The fish pond / skating rink was never successful and is now buried under a ball diamond. The bird sanctuary is no longer standing. The fireplace is still in use, only now it is roasting hotdogs in the summer and not toasting ice skaters in the winter.

Park Debt Retired By Rogers

In 1931, Richard S. Rogers, living in Alhambra, California, began to announce gifts to be left in trust upon his death. Totaling $12,000, the fund was divided among the Winamac Town Park ($5,000), Winamac Cemetery ($3,000), Winamac Christian Church ($2,000), the Indiana Masonic Home ($1,000), the Winamac Public Library ($500), and the Indiana School for the Blind ($500).

Born in Logansport on October 15, 1853, he came early to Winamac. When quite young, he worked for the Democrat Journal. Later, he worked on the railroad in Illinois, where he contracted smallpox. He carried the scars for the rest of his life.

In the late 1870s, he worked with his stepfather, James R. Dukes, in a general store known as Phillips Store, selling dry goods and shoes. The store was on Pearl Street, near a store owned by J.D. Vurpillat.  When the brick block was built by Vurpillat, known to many as Vurpillat’s Hall or Vurpillat’s Opera House, Mr. Dukes and Mr. Rogers organized Citizens Bank. It was located on the premier corner storefront, facing both west and south.

The bank weathered the panic of 1893, but in 1886 or 1887, the bank was liquidated after paying all debts. Mr. Rogers then started a private loan agency.

Mr. Rogers and his wife moved to California in 1918. Mrs. Rogers died in 1931, perhaps prompting his interest in leaving funds in trust to their hometown. They left no surviving relatives. The funds were dispersed upon his death on July 5, 1945.

The Old Man at the Desk has a colorful story of Mr. Rogers and his further contribution to the park. (This column was copied and in a file at the Library but was not dated.)

Directors of this organization, known as the Winamac Park association, operated the park for several years. Various prominent citizens gave of their time and efforts as such officials. During boom times that followed the first World War, more stock in the association was sold to raise funds for construction of the permanent suspension foot bridge. Quite a number of the stock purchasers felt that the money would earn them some dividends.

But it didn’t work out that way. Some years, rentals and concessions enabled the board to break even or a little better. Other years the books showed red. Still more red ink was needed when the depression hit in the early 1930s. The banks held notes to the amount of $1,135.

Now let’s go back into the early 1880s, when Richard S. Rogers left his job on the railway and came to Winamac to make his home. Naturally of a cordial nature, “Dick” soon became a respected and successful resident of the community. After engaging in the mercantile business for a time, he became cashier of the old Citizens Bank. Later he carried on a money lending business. [Editor’s note: Apparently the Old Man at the Desk did not know that Mr. Rogers lived here as a child.]

In 1918 he sold his interests here … including his red Maxwell runabout … and he and Mrs. Rogers moved to Southern California. They had no children, and no other relatives except a few on Mrs. Rogers’ side. She died in 1931. Dick survived her by fourteen years.

Left alone in the far west, his thoughts must have turned often to the scenes of his young manhood. He bought an electric organ for the Christian church in Winamac, of which he and Mrs. Rogers had long been active members. He recalled also, no doubt, the hours he had spent on the “Barnett peninsula.”

Informed of the predicament in which the then-owners of the park had found themselves … the eighty-five persons who held stock in the association … he proposed that he would pay off the $1,135 debt if the stockholders would deed the property to the Town of Winamac, the town to levy a small tax for maintenance of the park thereafter.

Stockholders were interviewed by park directors, some in person and some by mail. Several had died and left heirs. In due time a majority of the owners agreed to the Rogers proposition, empowering the directors to proceed with the transfer.

Thus eighty-five citizens of Winamac (including some who had moved away) presented to the Town their 285 shares of stock. At $25 a share, this amounted to $7,125, or a little more than six times the sum which Mr. Rogers was contributing. The Town accepted the property, levied the tax and assumed management.

An additional feature of the Rogers proposition was that he would set up a trust fund of $5,000 to be paid to the park upon his death. He drew interest on the money during the remaining eleven years of his life, and left no direct heirs who would have been entitled to the money if he had not left it to the town. In other words, his gift during his lifetime amounted to the $1,135, and no more.

Mr. Rogers placed two other minor items in his gift specifications, to the effect that no intoxicating liquor shall ever be sold or given away in the park, and that no persons shall ever be refused admission because of their nationality, politics, color or religion. Contrary to statements that have sometimes been made, there was never any stipulation against charging admission to the park or any part thereof.

Looking Ahead

May: Part 4: Park Entryway

Previously

February: Part 1: Park

March: Part 2: Artesian Well / West Side

Sources for this series: Link

Pulaski County, Indiana Military History [Civil War]: Part 7

From Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana: Historical and biographical By Weston Arthur Goodspeed, F.A. Battey & Co., 1883. 

Pulaski County’s Role Of Honor

Ninth Infantry

Charles L. Guild, killed at Shiloh, April, 1862 ; John W. Burgett, wounded at Stone River, died of disease, December, 1863; John D. Breckinridge, died of disease, March, 1862; Henry C. Johns, died of disease, January, 1862; William Baldwin, died at Cheat Mountain, November, 1861; Hezekiah Davison, died at Louisville, November, 1862.

Twenty-sixth Infantry

John Carter, died at Donaldsonville, La., August, 1864.

Twenty-ninth Infantry

John C. Cline, died at home, January, 1864; William Coburn, died at Nashville, September, 1864 ; John E. Cox, killed at Stone River, December, 1862; John Daily, died at Chattanooga, July, 1864; James Nicholas, died at Chattanooga; Tristram Pike, died of wounds received at Stone River ; William Phillips, died at Chattanooga, August, 1864; Robert P. Williams, died May, 1865.

Thirty-fifth Infantry

Austin E. Saunders, killed at Stone River, December, 1863.

Forty sixth Infantry

Marshal H. Ager, killed at Champion Hills, May, 1863; John Brown, died at Helena, Ark., November, 1862 ; James H. Buntain, died October, 1862; John K. Benefiel, died at Lexington, Ky., April, 1865 ; W. H. Crist, died at Helena, Ark., November, 1862 ; Daniel Coble, killed at Magnolia Hills, May, 1863; John M. Clark, died at Memphis, August, 1862 ; William Davidson, died at Camp Wickliffe, Ky., January, 1862 ; Samuel Dunn, died at St. Louis, May, 1864 ; James H. Dupoy, drowned at Osceola, Ark., May, 1862; Samuel E. Fisher, killed at Magnolia Hills, May, 1863 ; William Faler, died at home, January, 1865; George Good, died at Memphis, 1862 ; Joseph Garbinson, died in 1862; Jesse Height, died at Helena, Ark., July, 1862; Joseph McFarland, died at New Madrid, Mo., March, 1862; Jacob Oliver, died in prison in Texas, November, 1864 ; George W. Passions, died at Tiptonville, Tenn., April, 1862; Jacob Ruff, Jr., died at Evansville, Ind., May, 1862; James Ryan, drowned at St. Charles, Ark., June, 1862 ; H. F. Soudere, died September, 1864; Allen W. Stephens, died at New Orleans, September, 1863; Martin Shank, died at Helena, Ark., February, 1863; George Updegraff, died at Helena, Ark., September, 1862 ; George Vanmeter died on the Mississippi, February, 1862.

Seventy-third Infantry

Wilbur Doud, died at Nashville, November, 1862.

Eighty-seventh Infantry

Capt. George W. Baker, killed at Chickamauga, September 20. 1863; John W. Aikens, died at Bowling Green, Ky., November, 1862 ; David A. Barnes, died at Lebanon, Ky., November, 1862; Isaac Boles, died at Gallatin, Tenn., January, 1863 ; William Bridgeman, died at Gallatin, February, 1863; Andrew Birch, died Murfreesboro, December, 1862 ; Noah P. Braden, died at Chattanooga, March, 1864; Rufus C. Brown, died at Newbern, N. C., May, 1865 ; John Brown, died at Gallatin, February, 1863; Samuel B. Chamberlain, died at Gallatin, January, 1863; Henry M. Cary, died of wounds at Chattanooga, October, 1863; Cornelius W. Doremus, died at Louisville, Ky., November, 1862; Jesse Elanore, died at Jeffersonville, Ind., July, 1864; Henry Emmensetter, died at Louisville, December, 1862 ; Jacob Evans, killed at Chickamauga, September, 1863 ; Andrew J. Evans, died at Gallatin, January, 1863; John Hodges, died in Danville Prison, Va., March, 1864; George Little, died at Bowling Green, Ky., November, 1862; Richard B. Lining, died at Chattanooga, October, 1863; Jacob Lemasters, died at Chattanooga, January, 1864; Frank T. Lane, died at Chattanooga, October, 1863; Thomas Lemasters, died at home, July 1864; Simeon Myers, died at Louisville, October, 1862 ; John McCarty, died at Louisville, November, 1862; Samuel B. Miller, died at Gallatin, Tenn., December, 1862; John J. Murphey, died at Gallatin, Tenn., January, 1863 ; Charles Emmensetter, died at Gallatin, February, 1863 ; Samuel Sell, died at Nashville, June, 1863; Benjamin F. Whissinger, died at Gallatin, December, 1862; Luther H. Williams, died at Gallatin, December, 1862; William H. Waterhouse, died at Triune, Tenn., March, 1863; Alexander C. Waters, killed at Chickamauga, September, 1863; Andrew P. Williams, died at Gallatin, January, 1863; M. Williamson, killed at Chickamauga, September, 1863; Garvin Ward, died at Gallatin, December, 1862 ; John F. Yagle, died at Chattanooga, October, 1863.

One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Infantry

Jacob Kimble, died at Knoxville, Tenn., August, 1864; Robert Murray, died at Knoxville, June, 1864 ; James W. Stump, died at Chattanooga, July, 1864 ; Nathan A. Swisher, killed at Wise Forks, N. C., March, 1865.

One Hundred and Thirtieth Infantry

Second Lieut. William H. Cone, died of wounds, July, 1864.

One Hundred and Forty-second Infantry

Anthony Seppy, died at Nashville, March, 1865.

One Hundred and Fifty-first Infantry

Jefferson H. Brown, died at Nashville, July, 1865; John W. Nicholas, died at Nashville, June, 1865; Francis M. Poisel, died at Nashville, June, 1865; William H. Smith, died at Nashville, July, 1865.

Twelfth Cavalry

Willis H. Buck, died at Nashville January, 1865; Peter Cooper, died at Grenada, Miss., October, 1865; Osraan Guss, died at Michigan City, January, 1864 ; John Hour, died of wounds at home, 1864; Isaiah Hines, died at Kendallville, Ind., January, 1864; John H. Hoover, died at Memphis, October, 1865; George Hunter, died of wounds at Tallahoma, Tenn., October, 1864; William Marlon, died at Memphis, September, 1865; Stephen Silms, died at Stark’s Landing, Ala., March, 1865.

Entryway to Town Park: Part 2: The Artesian Well

Plat Map from 1873 showing ownership of the peninsula, and much of the land around it, by W. C. Barnett. While not marked, you can see the town comes right to the river; there is no park on the west side.

The story of the artesian well begins on a cold February evening in 1887 when residents met at Vurpillat’s Hall. They shared dreams of future wealth in oil and natural gas, as Indiana was in the middle of a natural gas boom. Companies were drilling on the west side of the county, and discoveries of both oil and natural gas had been made.

Plat map from 1907 showing ownership of the peninsula by John C. Nye. More visible, you can see the private properties of Winamac residents owned up to the river. You can see Water Street, which runs from Pearl Street to Jefferson Street. Fun fact, the “S Pearson” property connected to the privately-owned plots is the son of John Pearson, the man credited with naming the town for “Chief Winamac.” The Historical Society is still on the search for which Chief Winamac that may have been….

The Winamac Gas & Oil Company was formed on that February night. In June, they sank a well on Water Street in search of oil. Oil was not found, but water was!

The well turned into a cottage industry. Young boys, instead of paper routes, would tote containers of artesian water to homes and businesses. An attempt was made to interest tourists in the “medicinal properties” of the water, and artesian baths were also considered.

This photo dates to 1905 and was submitted by Dee Galbreath for use in the book Images of America: Pulaski County

The artesian water love affair didn’t last long. By 1889, a short two years later, Winamac was turning its attention to the building of a water works and electric plant. People wanted water piped into their homes.

On the other side of the river, on the “peninsula,” another history was taking place. In 1908, Mr. Nye sold his property to Ben Herrick. Mr. Herrick planned to convert the land to private use. On the day he began cutting trees, citizens banded together to raise funds to purchase the property. They raised enough on the first day to retire the debt, and the Winamac Park Association was born. The park remained available to residents at no charge.

The Park Association raised funds in 1922 to improve the park on the peninsula. Late in 1921, the Winamac Kiwanis Club had been formed. The two groups together envisioned a premier tourist attraction using both sides of land at the bend of the river.

In this photograph, taken about 1922, young Reuben Olson sips artesian water from the well, while his father, Charles, looks on. By 1920, the well had been damaged through age and vandalism, and it was improved and repaired in that year. Photo submitted by Charlene Olson Fritz for use in the book Images of America: Pulaski County

It cannot be determined from Town minutes, but either the descendants of Mr. Nye approached the Kiwanis Club, or the Club approached the Nyes. They family still owned land on the west side of the river. The plots of land included the historic artesian well. The area by the well was also the site of two local fords from the town to the park, one at Pearl Street and one at Main Street. It was the place that both permanent bridges had been attempted and temporary bridges were still placed “in season.”

From RootsWeb, a photo submitted by Jerry A. Mosholder. “This is a photo of my great-uncle William Ewing driving the dray which was operated by his father, Milton Ewing. William said that he was beginning to develop customers in Chicago to whom he was delivering artesian water.” Circa 1900

1915 photo, taken from RootsWeb.com.

Postcard from CardCow.com.

A representative of the Kiwanis Club approached the Town Council with the idea of purchasing the land. Minutes were not specific, and it is unknown if the Town, at that time, envisioned another public park. While their intent was not clear in the minutes, they were amenable to the purchase. Water Street was vacated, and by 1923, this area was public property. The Town was happy to leave the details to the Kiwanis Club.

Either through invitation or self-driven in this regard, in 1923, R. E. Nutt spoke to the Park Association about a suspension bridge that he believed could be installed for $2,000. The Association approached the Town, asking them to share expenses on a 50/50 basis. The Town agreed, so long as they did not have to pay more than $1,000.

This postcard was swiped from the internet!

The bid, when submitted, of course came in higher than $2,000, The Town of Winamac refused to pay more than $1,000, so the item was tabled until the Park Association and the Kiwanis Club could make a plan to pay for it. The Park Association took to the streets and raised the necessary funds before a planned meeting could take place.

With the necessary funds coming in, the Town accepted Mr. Nutt’s bid in April. By May, Memorial was under construction, and the Park Association launched into additional improvements to their privately-owned “river park.” At the same time, the Kiwanis Club put their members to work.

This placard was placed by the Pulaski County Historical Society on the 100th anniversary of the artesian well’s drilling.

The new town park, which included the artesian well, was to become a campground. Club members provided a general clean-up and put the area in shape for use by auto tourists. “Combination dining tables and seats for the use of picnic parties” were constructed. Two camp stoves were erected and a cinder walk from the well to the footbridge was installed.

The plan was coming together. A first-rate campground on the west side and a first-rate park on the other, with a permanent bridge to bind the two.

Good Things Don’t Always Last

The well eventually ran dry, a victim of other water projects in town. Projects which created issues with the pressure of the artesian well. Eventually, the well was capped, and it exists today only as a point of history.

Looking Ahead

April: Part 3: Pavilion, Winamac Conservation Club, Mr. Rogers Retires Park Debt

May: Part 4: Park Entryway

Previously

February: Part 1: Park

Sources for this series: Link

Pulaski County, Indiana Military History [Civil War]: Part 6

From Counties of White and Pulaski, Indiana: Historical and biographical By Weston Arthur Goodspeed, F.A. Battey & Co., 1883. 

THIS IS CONTINUED FROM THE POST DATED FEBRUARY 15, 2022.

Calls For Troops During The Rebellion

    1. April 15, 1861, 75,000 men for three months.
    2. May 3, 1861, 42,034 men for three years (regular army). (During the summer or early autumn of 1861, six regiments of State troops were put into the field by the energy of Gov. Morton; but when their term of service had expired, they were mustered into the service of the United States. These regiments were from the Twelfth to the Seventeenth inclusive. It was also during the same time that the six months’ regiments, from the Sixth to the Eleventh inclusive, re-organized and entered the three years’ service. For this reason, no further calls were made until July, 1862.)
    3. July 2, 1862, 300,000 men for nine months.
    4. August 4, 1862, 300,000 men for nine months.
    5. June 15, 1863, 100,000 men for six months.
    6. October 17, 1863, 300,000 men for three years.
    7. February 1, 1864, 200,000 men for three years.
    8. March 14, 1864, 200,000 men for three years.
    9. April 23, 1864, 85,000 men (about) for 100 days.
    10. July 18, 1864, 500,000 men for one, two and three years.
    11. December 19, 1864, 300,000 men for three years.

The bounties paid by the Government during the rebellion were as follows: July 22,1761, $100 for three years men; June 25, 1863, $400 to all veterans re-enlisting for three years or the war, to be paid until April 1, 1864; October 24, 1863, $300 to new recruits in old regiments, to be paid until April 1, 1864; July 19, 1864, $100 for recruits for one year, $200 for recruits for two years, and $300 for recruits for three years; November 28, 1864, $300 out of the draft or substitute fund, in addition to the bounty of July 19, 1864, for men enlisting in the First Army Corps (Hancock’s); an act of July 4, 1864, rescinded the payment of the $100 under the act of July 22, 1861, to drafted men and substitutes. Other bounties were paid after the war ended.

An Incident

A short time before the news was received that Lincoln had been assassinated, a man named Myers living at Winamac, announced that through some spiritual manifestation he had learned that such a calamity was to occur, and told to his friends many of the scenes surrounding that lamented incident. No attention was paid to his story until the county was electrified with the news of the attack on the principal heads of the Executive department, and then the story was suddenly brought to public attention and publicity, and at last Myers was arrested.

It was thought at the time that the assassination was the result of the machinations of treasonable secret societies, and while arrests were being made in the East, it was thought probable at Winamac that Myers might have been connected with such societies. His deposition was taken, published and circulated, attracting no little attention from all parts of the Union.

Quite a disturbance occurred at the time of his arrest, but he was soon released.

Sketches Of Regiments

The following sketches of the principal regiments containing men from the county were compiled from the Adjutant General’s reports and are substantially correct:

The Ninth Infantry (three years’ service)

This regiment was re-organized for the three years’ service at La Porte, on the 27th of August, 1861, and was mustered in at the same place September 5, 1861. Soon after it took the field, spending the following winter at Cheat Mountain Summit, or until January 9, 1862.

Prior to this, it fought at Greenbrier, October 3, and at Alleghany December 13. In January, 1862, it moved to Fetterman, but in February was transferred to Gen. Buell’s army, Gen. Nelson’s division.

In March, it fought the second day at Shiloh, thence moved to Corinth, and later pursued the rebels to Booneville. It then moved to Nashville, thence to Bowling Green, thence back to Nashville, thence to Louisville, thence in pursuit of Bragg to the Wild Cat Mountains, thence back to Nashville.

During these movements, it fought at Perryville, Danville and the Wild Cat Mountains. It moved to Murfreesboro, and December 31, 1862, and January 1 and 2, 1863, participated in the battle of Stone River, and afterward moved to Chattanooga.

In September and November, it engaged in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge, and then moved to Whiteside, Tenn., where, on the 12th of December, 1863, it “veteranized.”

After its veteran furlough, it moved in February to Tennessee. It participated in the Atlanta campaign, fighting at Taylor’s Ridge, Buzzard’s Roost, Dalton, Resacca, Cassville, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy.

It returned in pursuit of Hood, and fought at Columbia, also on the route to Franklin and at Franklin, one of the hottest engagements of the war.

On the 1st of December, it entered Nashville, and on the 15th participated in the battle there, and afterward pursued Hood as far as Huntsville. Here it remained until the 13th of March, 1865, when it returned to Nashville.

Soon afterward it was transferred to near New Orleans and later to Texas, composing a part of Gen. Sheridan’s army of occupation, until September, 1865, when it was mustered out and returned to Indiana. It was one of Indiana’s best regiments.

The Twentieth Infantry

This regiment was organized at La Fayette in the month of July, 1861, then rendezvoused at Indianapolis, and was mustered in on the 22d of July. It was moved first to near Baltimore, Md., where it did guard duty. In September, it was transferred to Hatteras Inlet, N. C., and soon afterward to Hatteras Bank, where it was attacked by the rebels, October 4, and forced back.

In November, it moved to Fortress Monroe, where it remained until March, 1862, when it removed to Newport News, where it participated in the engagement with the rebel ram, the Merrimac.

In May, it moved to Norfolk, participating in the capture of that city, and then joined the Army of the Potomac. On the 8th of June, it was assigned to Jamison’s brigade, Kearney’s division, Heintzleman’s corps, and took position on the Fair Oaks battle ground. It was actively engaged at “Orchards,” losing 144 men in killed, wounded and missing.

It covered the retreat of the Third Corps in the seven days’ fight, participating in all the engagements, especially at Glendale and Frazier’s Farm, losing heavily.

It moved to Yorktown, thence to Alexandria, thence to the Rappahannock and Manassas Plains, fighting at the latter place and losing Col. Brown.

In September, it fought at Chantilly. Soon after this it enjoyed a rest. In October, it took the field again, and after various movements participated in the bloody battle of Fredericksburg, assisting in saving three Union batteries.

In April, 1863, it was actively engaged at Chancellorsville, capturing at one time the whole of the Twenty-third Georgia. It also established communications between the Third Corps and the remainder of the army, by a brilliant bayonet charge.

On the 2d of July, it fought at Gettysburg, on the extreme left in the Second Brigade of the First Division of Sickles’ corps. It was exposed to a very hot fire from rebels behind a stone wall, losing its Colonel, John Wheeler, and 152 officers and men killed and wounded. It fought on the 3d, and also on the 4th, and then joined the pursuit, fighting the .enemy’s rear at Manassas Gap.

It was sent to New York City to suppress draft riots, and afterward fought at Locust Grove and Mine Run. After “veteranizing,” it fought at Wilderness, Todd’s Tavern, Po River, Spottsylvania, Tollopotamie, Cold Harbor, Deep Bottom, Strawberry Plains and Petersburg, where it lost many men, among whom was Lieut. Col. Meikel.

After its work in the trenches before Petersburg and a few active movements, it fought at Preble’s House and Hatcher’s Run. After this and until the surrender of Gen. Lee, it participated in all the battles on the left, the last being at Clover Hill, April 9, 1865.

It was transferred to Louisville, Ky., where, on the 12th of July, 1865, it was mustered out, and sent north to Indianapolis, receiving a warm welcome all along the route homeward by crowds of grateful people.

The Forty-sixth Infantry

This regiment was organized at Logansport October 4, 1861, and mustered in December 11. It moved to Camp Wicklifle, Ky., remaining there until the 16th of February, 1862, when it marched to Salt River, thence to Paducah. It then went to Commerce, Mo., thence to New Madrid and Island No. 10, fighting at the former place. Near here it erected a battery at night, sustaining for over an hour a heavy fire from five rebel gunboats without being dislodged.

In April, it marched toward Fort Pillow, into which place it moved in, June. It moved to Memphis, thence to St. Charles, where it charged the enemy’s works, driving him out, and capturing a number of prisoners and guns. It drove the enemy back near Crockett’s Bluff.

After various expeditions and reconnaissance, it finally participated in the engagements at Fort Pemberton. It fought at Port Gibson, Champion Hills, losing in killed and wounded at the latter engagement one-fourth of the number engaged.

It was in the trenches before Vicksburg forty-four days. It moved with Gen. Sherman against Jackson, thence came back to Vicksburg, thence was transported first to Natchez, thence to New Orleans. Here it was transferred to the Department of the Gulf under Gen. Banks.

In September, 1863, it started on the Teche expedition toward the Sabine River, and did good service at Grand Coteau.

In December, it returned to New Orleans, and in January, 1864, “veteranized.” It moved on the Red River expedition, and marched 302 miles to Sabine Cross Roads, where, on the 8th of April, it fought at Mansfield, losing 10 killed, 12 wounded and 77 captured. This was the result of a cavalry blunder.

On the next day, the regiment was actively engaged at Pleasant Hill, and then retreated to the Mississippi, where it arrived May 22. It moved to New Orleans, then to Indiana on veteran furlough.

After this it marched to Lexington, Ky., then on an expedition to Saltville, thence to Prestonsburg and Catlettsburg, Ky. It then went into garrison at Lexington, remaining thus until September, 1865, when it marched to Louisville where on the 4th of September, 1865, it was mustered out and sent home. It was an excellent regiment.

The Eighty-seventh Infantry

This regiment was organized at South Bend August 28, 1862, and was mustered into the service at Indianapolis August 31. It moved to Louisville, Ky., and was assigned to Gen. Burbridge’s brigade.

In October, it was transferred to the Third Brigade, Third Division, Fourteenth Army Corps, and then campaigned with Gen. Buell through Kentucky. It was under fire at Springfield, and on the 8th engaged in the battle of Perryville. After various movements, during which the regiment lost six killed and wounded, camp was formed at Mitchellville, Tenn., in November. It also occupied Tunnel Hill, Pilot Knob, Gallatin, and, in January, 1863, encamped at Concord Church near Nashville.

In March, it fought at Chapel Hill. On the 23d of June, it moved with the army on the summer campaign against Tullahoma, being under fire at Hoover’s Gap. It marched to Winchester, thence to Battle Creek. The regiment participated in the fall campaign against Chattanooga. It was in the hottest of the fight at Chickamauga on the 19th and 20th of September, suffering severely, losing more than half the officers and men engaged. Forty were killed, 142 wounded, and eight missing.

Company B, from Pulaski County was cut in pieces. Of the thirty-three men of this company who went into battle, only three escaped without a scratch. Five were killed—Evans, Griffith, Waters, Williamson and Capt. G. W. Baker, leaving the command of the company to, W. W. Agnew, who was one of the three that escaped without a scratch.

The regiment remained in Chattanooga during the siege. In November, it was in the front line in the storming of Mission Ridge, losing in killed and wounded sixteen men. It pursued the enemy as far as Ringgold, Ga.

In February, 1864, it engaged in an expedition against Dalton, and skirmished with the enemy near Buzzard’s Roost, afterward going into camp at Ringgold where it remained until the 7th of May.

In the Atlanta campaign, the regiment fought at Rocky Face, Resaca, Cassville, near Dallas, Kenesaw, Peach Tree Creek and before Atlanta. In the charge at Utoy Creek on the 4th of August, the loss was seventeen killed and wounded.

It fought also at Jonesboro, in September, and then went into camp in Atlanta. In October, it joined in the pursuit of Hood, north. It moved with Sherman to the sea, skirmishing at divers places, and greatly enjoying the easy life at the expense of Southern luxuries.

It also participated in the Carolina campaign, skirmishing at Smithfield and other places. It moved to Raleigh, Richmond, Washington, D. C., where it participated in the grand review of Sherman’s army, and where on the 10th of June, 1865, it was mustered out and sent to Indianapolis.

Of this regiment during the war, 47 were killed, 198 wounded and 214 died of wounds and disease. No better soldiers were in the service.