372 



INDIANA. 



They were armed with State arms. More than 

 twice as many companies as were needed for 

 these six regiments were tendered the Gov- 

 ernor. 



The requisition for six regiments for three 

 years' service was filled in twenty-four hours 

 after the order came. Nearly the whole num- 

 ber were tendered the Governor in anticipation 

 of the call. 



Besides these eighteen regiments, raised^ by 

 official requisition, there were about thirty 

 regiments organized as " Home Guards," with 

 one name or another. They held themselves in 

 most cases subject to the call of the Govern- 

 ment, and were armed as fast as the arms could 

 be procured. 



As renewed calls for troops were made, In- 

 diana responded with a promptness and patri- 

 otism unsurpassed by any State in the Union. 

 She sent into the field considerably more than 

 her quota of troops, and they were admirably 

 equipped and provided, and in the severe battles 

 in which they were engaged exhibited the most 

 undaunted and persistent bravery. In the war 

 with Mexico, one of the Indiana regiments, at 

 Buena Vista, had become panic-stricken, and 

 its flight had brought a reproach upon the re- 

 putation of the State for courage. This stain it 

 was the especial desire of the soldiers of the 

 Indiana regiments to efface, and more than one 

 regiment, on being sworn into the service, took 

 a solemn oath to " remember Buena Vista," an 

 oath they have kept most religiously, for when- 

 ever they have been engaged in battle, they 

 have been eager to advance, steady in the fight, 

 and utterly averse to retreating. 



The forces raised in the State and sent into 

 the field before the 1st of January, 1862, were, 

 in round numbers, about 60,000. Of these 

 53,500 were infantry, 4,500 cavalry, and about 

 2,000 artillery. The following statement shows 

 the arms that were distributed by the State to 

 the different regiments during the year : 



Muskets and Rifles. 



Prussian muskets 4,006 



United States rifles 6,290 



Padrei " 5,000 



Belgian " 95? 



New percussion muskets : 7,299 



Altered " " 8,800 



Long range rifles 600 



Springfield " 1,830 



Short Enflelds 960 



Long; " 13,898 



Saxony rifles 1,000 



Austrian rifles, 54 cal 3,822 



Mississippi" " 862 



Total 53,666 



Cavalry Arms. 



Colt's navy revolvers 2,547 



Cavalry pistols 1,077 



Cavalry sabres 4,411 



Burnside's carbines. 480 



Sharpe's carbines 846 



Hall's carbines 50 



Musicians' swords 626 



Non-commissioned officers' swords 922 



The most of the cavalry arms were sent to 

 the Indiana cavalry regiments direct by the 

 Government after they left the State. 



To this must be added the following pieces 

 of ordnance : 



Six-pounders 



Twelve-pound howitzers 



Six-pound rifle guns 



Ten-pound Parrott guns 



27 

 15 

 20 

 10 



The Indiana troops have been, perhaps, more 

 widely scattered through the different corj>s 

 ffarm.ee than those of any other State ; they 

 were with Gen. McClellan and his successors 

 in Western Virginia ; fought at Bull Run ; gar- 

 risoned the forts at Hatteras Inlet, and were 

 plundered of their clothing and supplies by the 

 Confederates ; participated in the victories of 

 Gen. Lyon, and in the masterly retreat of Siegel ; 

 defended Lexington under Mulligan ; formed a 

 part of Fremont's army which went in pursuit 

 of Gen. Price ; were, indeed, in every consider- 

 able action in Missouri, and in most of those 

 on the Potomac, and, during the present year, 

 have been in the actions of Mill Spring, Roa- 

 noke Island, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Pitts- 

 burgh Landing, and at the capture of Island 

 Number Ten. 



The Indiana Legislature, at its session in 

 1861, passed, on the 7th of May, a law for the 

 reorganization of the militia, which greatly fa- 

 cilitated the subsequent supplying of troops on 

 the demand of the Government. Some features 

 of this law are worthy of notice. The militia 

 were divided into two classes, sedentary and 

 active. The sedentary militia comprised all 

 white male persons liable to bear arms under 

 the State constitution except those enrolled in 

 the active militia. The active militia, styled 

 also the Indiana Legion, consisted of all such 

 able-bodied white male citizens of the State be- 

 tween the ages of eighteen and forty -five, as 

 should enroll themselves and take the oath of 

 allegiance to the United States and the State of 

 Indiana. These persons were required to pro- 

 vide themselves with a uniform, but the State 

 furnished them with arms, equipments, ammu- 

 nition, &c., and paid the expenses of company 

 and regimental drills ; and when called into ac- 

 tive service, either in behalf of the State or the 

 General Government, they were to receive the 

 same pay as corresponding grades in the United 

 States army. They were required to parade 

 four times a year, and in addition, to have not 

 less than twelve company drills in the course 

 of the year. The uniforms and equipments be- 

 ing similar to those of the United States troops, 

 the members of the companies, on being re- 

 ceived into the United States service, received 

 compensation for the cost of their uniforms 

 from the Government. 



Under this act large numbers enrolled them- 

 selves in the active militia, and, from the regi- 

 ments thus enrolled it was comparatively easy to 

 supply, as they were needed, the troops required 

 by the General Government. 



On the 7th of September a terrible railroad 

 accident occurred on the Ohio and Mississippi 

 Railroad, by which over 100 volunteers of the 

 Nineteenth Illinois Regiment, on their way to 

 Western Virginia, were killed and wounded. 



