150 years ago today the first men from Porter County volunteered to fight to
preserve the Union.
They were the first of more than 1,200 from the county who went to war.
Local men served from the barrier islands of North Carolina to the trenches
of Vicksburg. They were at Shiloh, Stones River, Chickamauga, Lookout
Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Atlanta, Fredricksburg and Gettysburg.
Porter County men fired canister at point blank range, guarded the flag in a
desperate charge and built and defended breastworks. They campaigned on foot
and on horseback. They raided deep behind enemy lines. Two of them would
talk a doctor out of cutting off their legs and survive. One regiment would
be second in the race to put an American flag on Lookout Mountain. Another
local company wore the first divisional recognition patch in the history of
the U.S. Army and were eyewitnesses to the Monitor and the Merrimac. One man
got a hospital visit from Mary Todd Lincoln. Another came home on leave to
vote Republican to cancel out his father’s vote against the war.
Today, the Chesterton Tribune begins an occasional series marking the
150 year anniversaries of significant events in Porter County’s contribution
to preserving the Union with a look back at the reaction to the fall of Ft.
Sumter.
Further reading
Two early histories of Porter County which cover the Civil War:
•Hardesty, A. G. 1876. “Illustrated Historical Atlas of Porter County,
Indiana.” Valparaiso, Indiana: A. G. Hardesty.
•Goodspeed, Weston Arthur; Blanchard, Charles, editors, “Counties of Porter
and Lake, Indiana, 1882; Chicago, F. A. Battey, publisher; Chapter 3, By
Rev. Robert Beer.
Jan 11, 1917 Chesterton Tribune:
“A.B. Wade Post 208 of Chesterton has received fourteen headstones for the
following comrades of the Civil War. To all relatives or friends: These
stones are in the care of A.R. Gustafson and we desire you call for same and
place them at the graves of those to which they belong. The names are as
follows: Peter Cooley, Chas. G. Walgren, Wm. Page, James Newberry, John
Dille, Gideon Post, Addison Hineline, Philander Marnes, W.W. Curtis, Warren
Julce, Sylvester Coslet, Ambrose Road.
“Will be pleased if you will see they are properly placed before next
Memorial Day.”
--R.S. Greer, Cmdr.
(Tribune photos
by Margaret Willis taken in the Chesterton Cemetery)
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