One Township's Yesterdays Chapter L

THE GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC

"Lay down the axe; fling by the spade; Leave in its track the toiling plough; The rifle and the bayonet-blade For arms like yours were fitter now.... Our country calls; away! away!" ..William Cullen Bryant, 1861

THE VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR! How few of them remain today anywhere in the land! All throughout these thirty-four years of the Twentieth Century their ranks have, been thinning appreciably, until now, in 1935, there are scarcely any of them left, just a sparse few, 'here and there, awaiting their final bugle call. As these lines are written, there remains with us in Culver:

SETH HENDERSON, who used to live in the township, has gone to live elsewhere.

The rest . . . they have gone to their eternal peace.

Were it by any means possible to include the records of all those of Union Township who served in the War of the Rebellion, they would and should be incorporated in a history of the township. But volumes could be written about the war services, the valorous exploits, the brave and noble deeds, the thrilling experiences, the great sufferings and the glorious sacrifices of the veterans of that great . Such a task, however, does not seem possible of accomplishment at this late date. The great majority of those who served are gone, and never more will they proudly relate to younger generations the story of the war and their part in it.

Let us mention them by name.

Let us call the roll of honor of those veterans who have resided in Union Township or found eternal rest in the cemeteries of the township. Some of them lived here when they went off to war; others came here after the war. Incomplete as this roll may be, still it may serve a bit to bring back memories of those who were valiant in serving a cause, for which they would lay down their lives.

JAMES L. MOSHER
JOHN BUSWELL
WILLIAM ZECHIEL
EDWIN GRUBB
ALBERT COLLIER
JACOB KOONTZ
ANDREW H. KOMP
DR. O. A. REA
MICHAEL BAKER
PETER SPANGLER
JACOB E. MYERS
JOHN P. SHAMBAUGH
JOHN T. TASHER
DAVID SMITH
SAMUEL OSBORN
A. K. HOOTON

FRANKLIN OVERMYER
SETH HENDERSON
WILLIAM C. SMITH
JOHN F. CROMLEY
HENRY SPEYER (from whom the Post was named)
WILLIAM F. COOK
EZRA BLANCHARD
NATHANIEL GANDY
ADAM P. GANDY
GEORGE W. GROVE
NATHAN RECTOR
WILLIAM RECTOR
SILAS RECTOR
LEONARD WILSON
FRANCIS M. PARKER
WILLIAM SPANGLER AARON JONES
WILLIAM D. SCATES

REV. WILLIAM A. WALKER
ELIJAH WALTER GEISELMAN
DAVID HEMINGER
M. H. HEMINGER
JACOB SNYDER
GEORGE PEEPLES
WILLIAM PIKE
HENRY ("JAKE") CROMLEY
JAMES T. BARLETT
MICHAEL BAKER
MAT M. BINGER
A. PAYNE
WILLIAM WRIGHT
JAMES S. GRAY
DANIEL PEEPLES

A summary that is much too brief, is here given of the war records of veterans of the Civil War, in Union Township, who have passed into the eternal peace and rest of the Great Beyond.

JAMES L. MOSHER--	(For many years a member of Tibbets Post, Plymouth)	Enlisted in 21st Battery, Indiana Light Artillery, and was part of the Army of the Cumberland, under the general command of Gen. GEORGE H. Thomas, 14th Army Corps, 3d Brigade. The 21st Battery was in the hotly contested field of Chickamauga. Served in the battles of Hoover's Gap and Nashville. Comrade Mosher died on his farm near Hibbard May 16, 1926, aged 84 years, 2 months, 28 days, and was buried in Bucklew Cemetery.
PETER SPANGLER--	(Member of Speyer Post)	Enlisted in January, 1864, in Company C, 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 15th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland, and under the general commands of Generals LOGAN, THOMAS and GRANT; was in the siege of Atlanta, and with the victorious army of Sherman that cut a swath sixty miles through the Confederacy, "from Atlanta to the sea." He was also in the battle of Raleigh, N: C., and when "Johnny came marching home" was in the grand review at Washington. Comrade Spangler died at Rochester, Indiana, August 17, 1933, aged 90 years, 11 months, 15 days, and was buried in Poplar Grove Cemetery.
DR. O. A. REA--	(Member of Speyer Post	Surgeon, Culver Military Academy and Culver Naval School). Oliver A. Rea enlisted from Columbus, Ohio, August 6, 1862, in the 82d Regiment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private, then became corporal, and finally acting sergeant. This was one of the 300 fighting regiments of the war. Rea, with his regiment, was part of the Army of Northern Virginia, 1862, Army of the Potomac, 1863, 11th Army Corps, 1863, 20th Army Corps, 1863; the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of Georgia, 1863-5. He was taken prisoner on the first day of Gettysburg and escaped at Staunton, Virginia, across the mountains to Beverly, August 21st. He received a slight wound in the hip at Peach Tree Creek and was sick at times with pneumonia. and camp dysentery. He served Speyer Post as surgeon and post commander. Comrade Rea died in Rochester, Indiana, January 11, 1911, and was buried in the cemetery at, Rochester.
MICHAEL BAKER --	(Member of Speyer Post)	From Tiffin, Ohio, he enlisted August 16,1861, in Company F, 49th Ohio, Volunteer Infantry; in 1st Brigade, 2.d Division, 4th Army Corps, Gen. JOHN A. LOGAN, corps commander. He was in a long list of engagements, was a prisoner of war at Stone River for two months and received a slight wound at the siege of Atlanta, Comrade BAKER was in service for four years and over. He was mustered out, November 13,1865, and died in Culver, May 8, 1914, aged 72 years, 10 months, 3 days. Burial was in Burr Oak Cemetery.
FRANKLIN OVERMYER--		(War record given in Chapter XXIX). Comrade OVERMYER died at Burr Oak, March 18, 1922, aged 86 years, 5 months, 27 days, and was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery.
JOHN BUSWELL--	(Member of Speyer Post)	Comrade BUSWELL served in Company D, 178th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He died November 20, 1873, aged 41 years, 9 months, and was buried in Culver cemetery.
NATHANIEL GANDY--		(War record given in Chapter XXVII). NATHANIEL GANDY was born January 2, 1846, and died at Culver, December 8, 1914, aged 68 years, 11 months, 6 days. Burial was in Culver Cemetery.
ADAM P. GANDY--		Comrade GANDY served in Company H (or "K"), 46th Indiana Infantry. He died May 26, 1891, aged 50 years, 5 mouths, 10 days, and was buried in Culver Cemetery.
JACOB E. MYERS--	(Member of Speyer Post)	In February, 1864, Comrade MYERs enlisted in Company D, 48th Indiana Infantry. 15th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, General LOGAN, corps commander. He was with his regiment in the great campaign that led up to the siege of Atlanta, and after the fall of that Southern capital, participated in the grand, all-conquering march to the sea, which was followed by the sweep of victory up the Atlantic coast to Raleigh, N. C., where the final stroke was given to the death of the fast falling Confederacy. Comrade MYERS was, in the service eighteen months, participating nobly in the campaigns of Sherman's great army in its historic march to the sea and northward through the Carolinas, to join the massed forces of Grant pressing down from Virginia. Following the war, Comrade MYERS returned to Union Township, where he, died, August 21, 1931, aged 85, and was buried in Poplar Grove Cemetery.
JOHN P. SHAMBAUGH--	(Member of Speyer Post, and at one time junior vice commander)	Comrade SHAMBAUGH enlisted in Company E, 126th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 7th Army Corps, and saw most of his campaigning in the, Southwest, chiefly under the commands of Generals STEEL and GRANT. He was in service three years, and took part in many: skirmishes and battles, some of lesser note and some of the big. ones, the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Little Rock, Arkansas, included. He was wounded in the right knee.
EDWIN GRUBB--	(Member of Speyer Post)	Comrade GRUBB served in Company I, 116th Regiment, and Company G, 135th Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He died in South Culver, April 24, 1897, aged 49 years, 5 months, 8 days, and was buried in Culver Cemetery.
JOHN C. TASHER--		Comrade TASHER, a resident of Burr Oak, saw nearly four years of service in the 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He died in Burr Oak, January 8, 1916, aged 74, and was buried at Sumption Prairie, near South Bend.
ALBERT COLLIER--	(Member of the Post in Knox, Indiana) Comrade	COLLIER enlisted from Xenia, Ohio, May 2, 1864, in Company F', 144th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was honorably discharged, September 1, 1864. Comrade Collier is now deceased.
HENRY SPEYER --		(War record given in Chapter XXIX). It was from Captain SPEYER that the Post in Culver was named. He became captain in the 23d Volunteer Infantry. His death occurred at Culver in August, 1886, when lie was around the age of 55 years. Burial was in Oak Park Cemetery at Plymouth.
REV. WILLIAM A. WALKER --		Comrade Walker served in Company K, 34th Indiana (Merton Rides), enlisting from Shelbyville, Indiana. He died in Culver, January 13, 1917, aged 74 years, 2 months, 21 days, and was buried at Amboy, Indiana.
DAVID SMITH--		>Enlisting from Union Township, David Smith served in Company B, 23rd Indiana. He died in April, 1865, one of the heroes of the war, and was buried in Section C, Row 7, No. 3170 in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky.
LEONARD, WILSO [WILSON]--		War record given in Chapter XXIX). Comrade WILSON died in Culver, April 2, 1919, aged 77 years, 11 months, 23 days, and was buried in Poplar Grove Cemetery.
DAVID HEMINGER--		COMRADE HEMINGER enlisted in Company D, 23d Indiana Volunteer Infantry. His death occurred September 24, 1916. His age was 76 years, 5 months, 4 days. Burial was in North Union Cemetery.
GEORGE W. GROVE--		Comrade GROVE died in Culver, June 2, 1913, aged 85 years, 10 months, 24 days, and was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery.
ELIJAH WALTER GEISELMAN--		Comrade GEISELMAN died in Culver, April 4, 1903, aged 73 years, 9 months, and, was buried in North Union Cemetery.
WILLIAM F. COOK--		Comrade COOK died in Culver, December 24, 1932, aged 89 years and one day, and was buried at Richland Center, Fulton County.
WILLIAM ZECHIEL--	(Member of Speyer Post)	Comrade ZECHIEL died in Marion, Indiana, September 4, 1902, aged 80 years, 8 months, and was buried in Culver Cemetery.
ANDREW H. KORP--	(Member of Speyer Post)	Comrade KORP served in Company K, 29th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
EZRA BLANCHARD--		Comrade BLANCHARD served in Company E, 118th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Born in 1845, he died in Culver, December 22, 1926, aged 82 years, 7 months, 18 days, and was buried in Culver Cemetery.
AARON JONES--		Comrade JONES was a member of Company H, 155th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was born in 1844 and died in Culver, April 23, 1923, aged 79 years, 5. months, 22 days. Burial was in Culver Cemetery.
HENRY CROMLEY--		Comrade CROMLEY, who was called Jake, lived in the Kaley district. He enlisted from Union Township, and died at the age of 46. Burial was in the Cromley Cemetery.
GEORGE PEEPLE--		Comrade PEEPLES served in Company D, 9th Indiana Regiment. He died on the east side of Lake Maxinkuckee, January 16, 1918, aged 80 years, 2 months, 22 days, and was buried in Washington Cemetery.
JAMES T. BARTLETT--		Comrade BARTLETT died at Maxinkuckee, January 26, 1900, aged 57 years, 5 months, 10 days, and was buried in Washington Cemetery.
WILLIAM D. SCATES--		Comrade, SCATES died February 24, 1880, aged 42 years, 8 months, 11 days, and was buried in Culver Cemetery.
JACOB SNYDER--		Having served in Company G, 59th Indiana Infantry, JACOB SNYDER was buried in Culver Cemetery upon his death at an early date.
M. H. HEMINGER--		Comrade HEMINGER enlisted for the war and served in Company D, 54th Indiana Infantry. He died at an early date and was buried in Culver Cemetery.
DANIEL PEEPLES--		With his brother, DANIEL[SIC GEORGE] PEEPLES served in Company D, 9th Indiana Regiment.
FRANCIS L. PARKER--		War records of the State of Indiana give the name of Francis L. Parker as serving in the 20th Regiment, Company C, and the name of FRANCIS M. PARKER, 9th Indiana Regiment, Company D.
WILLIAM C. SMITH--		Comrade SMITH, who was a resident of the east side of Lake Maxinkuckee on enlistment, died in the service. He was a member of Company C, 48th Regiment.
NATHAN RECTOR--		(War record given in Chapter XXIX). Nathan Rector died in the service. He was one of five brothers who served in the war. They enlisted from the east side of Lake Maxinkuckee. These RECTOR boys were Nathan, Lewis C, William, Wesley and Silas. We are informed that the father and his five sons all served. The sons were uncles of NATE RECTOR, Culver druggist. NATHAN RECTOR was enlisted in Company D, 9th Indiana Regiment. Records also indicate that he was a corporal in the 21st Battery, Light Infantry.
WILLIAM RECTOR --		(See Chapter XXIX). William Rector served in Company D, 9th Indiana, Regiment.
LEWIS C. RECTOR--		(See Chapter XXIX). LEWIS C. RECTOR served three years and became a corporal in Company C, 48th Regiment. He died December 10, 1884, at Maxinkuckee, and was buried beside his brothers in Washington Cemetery.
SILAS RECTOR--		(See Chapter XXIX.) SILAS RECTOR served in Company C, 48th Regiment.
WESLEY RECTOR--		See Chapter XXIX). War record unavailable.
WILLIAM PIKE--		Comrade PIKE died at Donaldson, September 7, 1920, aged 78 years. 8 months, 7 days, and was buried in Burr Oak Cemetery.
A. K. HOOTON--		This veteran died in Union Township, toward Rutland, May 22, 1925, aged 82 years, 7 months, 5 days, and was buried in Plymouth Cemetery.
SAMUEL OSBORN--		Comrade OSBORN, one of the last of the veterans in. Union Township, was born in Ohio, January 1540, and died in Culver October 29, 1932, aged 92 years, 9 months, 11 days. He was buried. iii North Union Cemetery. During the war he was enlisted in Company H, 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
WILLIAM WRIGHT--		This veteran was born February 18, 1822, and died October 3, 1901, aged 79 years, 7 months, 19 days. Burial was in Zion Cemetery,
MAT M. BINGER--		Comrade BINGER died in Rutland, February 9, 1900, aged 51 years, 7 months, 9 days, and was buried at Burr Oak.
JAMES S. GRAY--		This veteran died April 20, 1880, aged 70 years, 2 months, 11 days, and was buried in Zion Cemetery.
ELI WELLS--		Comrade WELLS, father of "Dell" Wells of Culver, enlisted from New Jersey. He died in Culver and was buried at Leiters Ford.
A. PAYNE--		This veteran was enlisted in Company K, 108th Illinois Infantry, and was buried in Zion Cemetery.
WILLIAM SPANGLER--		Enlisted in Company C, 48th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
JACOB KOONTZ--	(Member of Speyer Post)	This veteran was enlisted in the 15th Indiana Battery, Light Artillery. Marker in Culver Cemetery states that JACOB KUNTZ died March 15, 1899, aged 74 years, 3 months, 5 days.

Veterans of the struggle of '61-'65 living at the time these lines are written (1935) and whom the township proudly claims as its own are Comrades cromley, QUINN, and HENDERSON.

Of these three, SETH HENDERSON, Levi's father, has gone outside the township to reside. He has been making his home with his daughter at 806 East 4th Street, Mishawaka. He was ninety-one on March 6th. At that time he was in poor health and quite infirm. Comrade HENDERSON enlisted from Iowa.

HENRY SPEYER Post, No. 459, sustains the prestige of the Union army of '61 and '65 in Union Township, though now but a mere shadow of its former self and no longer an active organization, simply an outfit living on in spirit. The Post bears the name of HENRY SPEYER, captain in the 23d Volunteer Infantry. The roll of honor for the territory of the Post is a long one. We, have done small justice to it in these pages, we regret to say. Back in 1905, there were 23 names on the roll. Today! Thirty years have wrought a tremendous change.

Back in '05, also, there was an active Woman's Relief Corps, an auxiliary of Speyer Post, organized in 1903. SARAH J. MOSHER was president. of the Corps in '05.

It is an immensely longer cry back to that day, April 9th, in 1865, that marked the surrender of LEE to GRANT at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia., that day of the termination of a long and bloody struggle and that day of extreme happiness for those who had waited for long and weary years for the war to cease and for their loved ones to return safe to their homes and firesides. Today there are but a "handful" living in Union Township who are able to recall the ninth of April, '65.

Early in the Twentieth Century, the veterans, of whom there were then a goodly number left, used to have many a good time at their various gatherings-together, their picnics and their celebrations. We, read of one such affair, taken as an example, it being a Grand Army picnic, held at GEORGE PEEPLE's grove on the east side of Lake Maxinkuckee, August 27, 1904. Among the features was concert music by a band, as well as splendid vocal music, with scarcely any noisy motor vehicles to disturb the peace of the occasion.

Now, they are gone, almost to the last man, those veterans of that war of so long ago. Now, they rest in the Cities of the Departed, where their graves are marked to tell of their brave service and where flags wave over the sod each Memorial Day. The cemeteries of Union Township hold a host of them, and there have been many burials outside the township of those men whom the township claims as its own.

A survey of Culver Cemetery disclosed the following graves of Civil War Veterans, but the list is not claimed to be complete:
In the old west end, on the north side - -

In the old west end, south side - -

In the new east end of the cemetery, no Civil War graves were found, but located there are a few World War graves and one of the Spanish-American War (Greiner).
In Zion Cemetery, it was found that there are buried there three Civil War veterans:

In the cemeteries they lie, the boys who wore the blue in the tempestuous early 'sixties.

Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue History & Genealogy Culver, Marshall, Indiana

One Township's Yesterdays Chapter L