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.