Civil War soldier names in Lone Star Saltpeter cave, Kentucky

CIVIL WAR SOLDIER NAMES IN LON SLAR SALTPETER CAVE, KENIUCKY
Marion O. Smith

During late 1861-early 1862 the Union army in Kentucky was organizing and drilling to
become an efficient fighting force. Major General Don Carlos Buell was given command of the
Department of the Ohio and began grouping regiments into consecutively numbered brigades and
assigning them to five divisions, concentrated south of Louisville and in eastern Kentucky. By
December 2, 1861, orders, Brigadier General Ormsby M. Mitchel commanded the 8", 9", and 17"
brigades. The 8" brigade was composed of the 19" and 24" Illinois, 18 Ohio, and 37° Indiana,
while the 17" brigade contained the 3", 10", and 13" Ohio, and 15" Kentucky regiments. Between
late October and early December many regiments of Buell’s army were advanced to Elizabethtown
where they went into camp.’

December 16-18, 1861, all three of General Mitchel’s brigades moved further south and
established winter quarters near Bacon Creek, Hart County, where they remained until February 10,
1862. While there General Mitchel imposed “the most rigid drill” and “severest discipline” upon his
men. He “prescribed rules for camp, . .. witnessed drills and parades, . . . inspected men on post and
in camp, ... visited guards . . . and picket posts, at any and all times of day and night.” Men were
rousted out of bed at 5 am to answer roll call. Following that the daily schedule was “Breakfast at
six o’clock; Sick call at seven; Inspection of Company quarters at eight; Drill at nine; Dinner at
12:30 p.m.; Drill again at 1:30; Inspection of quarters by the Colonel or major; Dress parade at four;
and supper at five.” In addition, “details for camp guards, picket and fatigue duties, cleaning guns,
policing Company quarters, etc., kept all pretty busy.””

In spite of their stringent routine many men found time for recreation, including visits to a
nearby cave. Lieutenant Colonel John Beatty of the 3° Ohio recorded in his diary December 30,
1861:

This is a peculiar country; there are innumerable caverns, and every few rods places
are found where the crust of the earth appears to have broken and sunk down hundreds—of
feet. One mile from camp there is a large and interesting cave, which has been explored
probably by every soldier of the regiment.’

On March 14, 2003, J. Pat Stephens and Denny Hedden were gracious enough to lead me to
the Civil War soldier inscriptions at the back reaches of Louisville Grotto’s Lone Star Saltpeter
Cave. There, we collectively recorded the names of a number of General Mitchel’s men:

J. M. BODINE W BODINE US
Wm B Harvey Jan 27? John Hoffman
1862 Co. B 37 Ind Co, B. 37. Ind 1862

S. W. McColloch 1862. O? B? Deney? 13 OVI
eo RIVA,

R J SHODDY 1862? A J? Myers

SOFASS? 1862 Pr 1861

J Roop Henry Barnard

37 Reg Co H Ind Dec’ 1861

RR. S. Jany? 1862

CoA S G Enos
19 Regt Ivm Co H Ind
[Jan 24 1862 nearby]

PC. SHICKEL L W Ewing
LOeG VL 3d Ohio

Jan 1°? 1862

A preliminary effort to identify these men yielded varying amounts of data about ten soldiers.
Further information could be obtained by a more complete study of census data, service and pension
records, county histories, and a close examination of George H. Puntenney’s History of the Thirty-
seventh regiment of Indiana infantry volunteers: :

Jeremiah M. Bodine (c1836-/11870) of Rushville, Rush County, Indiana, was a
sergeant in Company I, 37" Indiana from his muster-in, October 26, 1861. He reenlisted as
a “veteran.” When most of the regiment was mustered out in October 1864, five small
veteran companies with recruits were consolidated into new companies A and B. He became
a member of Company A and served until July 25, 1865. 1870 Census, Ind., Rush, Rushville
Twp., 434; Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, (8 vols., Indianapolis,
1868-69), Vol. 5: 185, 189; August J. Reifel, History of Franklin County, Indiana
(indianapolis, 1915), 297.

William A. Bodine (c1836-/11885), a son of William A. And Matilda Bodine of
Rush County, Indiana, was also a sergeant in Company I, 37" Indiana. He was discharged
October 9, 1863, because of disability. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of
Indiana, Vol. 5: 185; 1850 Census, Ind., Rush, Jackson Twp., 119; Civil War Pension Index,
Ancestry.com.

William B. Harvey (c1828-c1900/01) of Adams, Decatur County, Indiana, began
service October 20, 1861, as first sergeant, Company E, 37" Indiana Infantry. On May 9,
1862, he was among forty plus men captured by Confederate cavalry near the Elk River
bridge on the Nashville and Decatur Railroad in northern Alabama. He was held prisoner
at Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, Alabama, and Macon and Madison, Georgia. Eventually
he was exchanged, and on November 22, 1862, commissioned 2™ lieutenant and mustered
in as such January 4, 1863. He returned to duty February 24, 1863, and three days later was
commissioned 1* lieutenant and mustered in the following March 22. He became the
regimental adjutant, and August 7, 1864, he was commissioned captain. But he was never
mustered and left the service with most of his regiment October 27, 1864, as a 1* lieutenant.
From about July 1889 until his death at the turn of the century he received a pension. In
1901 his wife Mary A. began drawing a widow’s pension. Report of the Adjutant General
of the State of Indiana, Vol. 2: 366; Vol. 5: 179; Norman Niccum, ed., “Diary of Lieutenant
Frank Hughes,” Indiana Magazine of History, 45 (September, 1949), 275-84; Janet B.
Hewett, ed., Supplement to the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (100
serials, Wilmington, N.C., 1994-2001), Part 2, Vol. 17, Serial No. 29: 92-93; 1870 Census,
Ind., Decatur, Washington Twp., 214; Civil War Pension Index, Ancestry.com.

John Hoffman (f11915) was a son of Daniel Hoffman, a tailor and farmer in Salt
Lick Township, Franklin County, Indiana. John and his twin brother George became
members of company B, 37" Indiana October 19, 1861. George died December 30, 1861,
and John was mustered out with the majority of the regiment October 27, 1864. Report of
the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, Vol. 5: 176; Reifel, History of Franklin
County, Indiana, 1310.

Samuel W. McCulloch (c1833/38-1864) entered the army November 4, 1861, and
became a sergeant in the 43" Ohio Infantry. On January 2, 1862, he was promoted 2"
lieutenant and transferred to Company A, 13" Ohio Infantry. He rose to 1* lieutenant July
13, 1862, and transferred to Company H. On May 6 the next year he became captain of that
company. On May 27, 1864, in the fight near Pickett’s Mill, three miles north of Dallas,
Georgia, he was mortally wounded and died the next day. Official Roster of the Soldiers of
the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1866 (11 vols., Akron, Ohio, 1886-93),
2: 386, 408; 4: 264; War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies (70 vols. In 128 books: Washington, D.C., 1880-1901), Ser. 1, Vol. 38, Pt. 1: 472.

John M. Roop, supposedly a Decatur County resident, became a corporal in
Company H, 37" Indiana October 18, 1861. He was reportedly a sergeant when he was
discharged February 9, 1863, because of wounds probably received at the battle of
Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, Vol. 5:
184.

Robert R. Sampson (f11890) of Chicago was mustered in Company A, 19" Illinois
Infantry July 12, 1861. At an unspecified date he was “turned over for transfer.” Report of
the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois (8 vols., Springfield, Ill., 1900-01), 2: 121; J.
Henry Haynie, ed., Zhe Nineteenth Illinois (Chicago, 1912), 82; Civil War Pension Index,
Ancestry.com.

Stephen G. Enos, a resident of Decatur County, Indiana, on October 18, 1861,
became a private in Company H, 37" Indiana Infantry. On November 15, 1863, he
transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps. He died by 1881, when his wife Ellenor obtained
a widow’ s pension. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, Vol. 5: 184; Civil
War Pension Index, Ancestry.com.

Peter C. Schickle (b. c1834), a musician, was a member of the 10" Ohio Infantry
band. This band was organized by N. J. Walter at Cincinnati and served with the regiment
September 7, 1861, until September 10, 1862, when it was mustered out at Nashville by
order of the War Department. Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, 2: 294; Supplement to the
Official Records, Pt. 2, Vol. 51, Serial No. 63, 127.

Levi W. Ewing (c1836/40-/11900), a private in Company E, 3" Ohio Infantry, served
from April 24, 1861, through June 21, 1864. He lived in Illinois when he got his pension
July 5, 1900. Official Roster of Ohio Soldiers, 1: 47; 2: 73; Civil War Pension Index,

Ancestry.com.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Lynn Roebuck of Normandy, Tennessee, a member of Nashville and Spencer Mountain
Grottos, helped compile data about several of the soldiers.

SOURCES FOR GENERAL TEXT

1. Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 7: 460-61, 467-68, 476.

2. Report of the Illinois Adjutant General, 2: 143; Whitelaw Reid, Ohio in the War (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1895),
2: 29, 78, 93; Official Records, Ser. 1, Vol. 7: 501; Haynie, Nineteenth Illinois, 160; John Beatty, The Citizen-Soldier,
or, Memoirs of a Volunteer (Cincinnati, 1879), 87, 103; A. T. Andreas, History of Chicago (3 vols., Chicago, 1884-86),
2: 182; S. S. Canfield, History of the 21" Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion (Toledo, 1893),

35-36.
3. Beatty, Memoirs of a Volunteer, 90.