PUTNAM COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR LOCAL HISTORY OF A CRITICAL PERIOD _____________________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of History DePauw University _____________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts _____________________ by Carl A. Zenor June 1956 Edited for publication in the DePauw University Digital Library by the DePauw University Archives 2010 ABSTRACT This thesis attempts to present life in Putnam County, Indiana, as it was during the Civil War Period – 1860‐1865. Due to the available source material it deals mainly with the political life of the county, but an attempt has been made to include some material relating to the social and intellectual life. The people of Putnam County of 1860 were mostly of Southern antecedents and the largest percentage of them lived on farms. Greencastle Township, which contained the county seat, was the one exception to this as it had more non‐farmers and more people of New England and foreign birthplaces than any other township. For these reasons Greencastle Township was the only Republican township in the Democratic county. During the pre‐election campaign of 1860 the people of Putnam County expressed themselves as favoring slavery over abolition; and in the Presidential election of that year they gave more votes to the Democratic candidates than they gave to Lincoln. However, with the firing upon Fort Sumter the people united in an effort to “sustain the Union.” This united effort lasted until the first shock of “firing on the Flag” had subsided and until the Union Armies began to suffer setbacks in the field. From these first defeats until the end of the war the people of Putnam County were divided in the degree of support they thought should be given to the Lincoln and Morton Administrations. Feeling ranged from unquestioned support of the war by the “radical” Republicans, to open criticism and opposition to the Union cause by the “butternut” Democrats. Between these two extremes were those people who sometimes supported and sometimes questioned the necessity for and the administration of the “War to Save the Union”. The end of the war and the assassination of Lincoln did not bring complete unity to Putnam County. The opinions and hatreds formed during the war were used to continue the political strife in the years following the war. 2 INTRODUCTION Putnam County in the Civil War was written as a partial fulfillment of the Requirement for a Master of Arts Degree. However, it has additional objectives. It can serve as a basis for expansion and further interpretation of materials. This in turn is projected to recreate Putnam County, Indiana, as it was during the Civil War period, and to encourage further study and interest in local history. The main source of local information for the time and place is the Putnam Republican Banner, a weekly newspaper with Republican views, published at Greencastle, Indiana. It is regrettable that no copies of the Democratic paper, the Indiana Press, have survived the years. An attempt has been made to fill in the Democratic side of the equation by using exchange items from other Democratic newspapers of the period. Other sources used in obtaining local information were maps, correspondences, county records, cemetery records, etc. The eight volumes of the Adjutant General of Indiana’s Report for the war years were used to obtain information on Putnam County men who served in the Union Army. The enrollment books used in taking the 1860 Census furnished a great amount of information regarding the background of the inhabitants of Putnam County. Lists and tables compiled from these two sources are included in the Appendices of this thesis. They go beyond anything needed for a Master’s Thesis, but the writer feels justified in including them as source material for further study. Almost any county in Indiana could have served as the subject or locale of this thesis. Putnam County was chosen because it is the writer’s home county and because the interest of its present day inhabitants in local history made it easier to locate source material. 3 CHAPTER 1 Putnam County in 1860 The Eighth Census of the United States was taken in 1860 giving a very accurate picture of Putnam County, Indiana, at that time. The population of the county totaled 20,681 people, of which 20,662 were white, 17 were Negros, and two were mulattoes.1 Included in this number were 5,887 men between the ages of 14 and 60.2 Over half of the men in Putnam were farmers, farm renters, or farm laborers. The majority of the remainder were engaged in occupations connected with or related to farming.3 The large farmer was the dominant type in Putnam County and the farm land was dotted with large farm homes.4 Putnam County was traversed by two railroads. The Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad ran east and west across the county, passing through Reelsville, Greencastle Junction, Greencastle, and Fillmore. The north and south route was the Louisville, New Albany, and Chicago Railroad which connected Cloverdale, Putnamville, Greencastle Junction, Greencastle, Bainbridge, and Carpentersville. A projected railroad was planned to run through Groveland, Bainbridge, and Morton, but never reached the rail laying stage, although p‐art of the roadbed was constructed.5 Other towns of importance in the county were Russellville, Portland Mills, New Maysville, Pleasant Garden, Mt. Meridian, Manhattan, and Fincastle. There were other towns: Cairo, Blakesburg, Alama, Brunerstown, and Jenkinsville important enough to appear on the county map of the period although few if any traces can be found of them today. Scattered throughout the county were 70 churches, which were divided among the different denominations as follows: Baptist, 18; Christian, 14; Methodist, 27; Presbyterian, 8; Cumberland Presbyterian, 2; and Universalist, 1.6 That all of these churches did not hold services every Sunday can be surmised from the fact that only 28 men in Putnam County listed themselves as clergymen on the 1860 census. 4 There were 44 school teachers in the county in 1860. This would indicate that about as many schools were being conducted throughout the county. Russellville offered higher education in the form of Harmonie College, which must have resembled a secondary school. The only real claim to giving a college education was presented by Indiana Asbury University at Greencastle. This offered courses in Mental and Moral Science, Natural Science, History, Law, Literature, Latin and Greek, and added something to the intellectual life of the community through the medium of public meetings, discussions, and programs.7 Of the 5,887 men between 14 and 60 years of age, 2,812 had been born in Indiana, 1,375 in Kentucky. Other Southern States had contributed a total of 700 of their inhabitants to Putnam County. Ohio had given 322 of its men. The Middle Atlantic States had furnished Putnam County with about 300 of their native sons, while New England Region had supplied less than 50 of the men living in Putnam County in 2860.8 There was a small minority of foreign born people living in the county. The only two countries represented in any significance were Ireland with 173, and Germany with 66. Most of these peopled lived in Greencastle and engaged in different trades although a few Irishmen did settle on small farms scattered throughout the county. Thus it can be seen that the population of Putnam County was primarily of Southern antecedents with a secondary route of migration from the Middle Atlantic States into Ohio and then into Indiana. The figures quoted above produce the picture of Putnam County in 1860 as a young agricultural area. The people were ambitious and considered themselves progressive, after the pattern of the agriculture community of the time. They were particularly interested in the development of better agricultural practices. That the latter is true is easily seen by glancing at almost any issue of the Putnam Republican Banner of this period, for about a fourth of the items were devoted to farming and better farming methods. Along with the above evidence of a progressive attitude, the county also retained certain practices that were pertinent for 1860. One of the most outstanding of these, carried 5 down from an earlier period, was the interest in militia and military companies. 9 This book advances the theories of military practices. The Putnam Republican Banner reflected this interest with two items early in 1860. On January 4, 1860, the Banner carried a notice of a meeting of the “Putnam Guards” which was to meet in Professor Fletcher’s room at 7 o’clock, on January 11, 1860. Every member was urged to be present and new members were invited to join the company which hoped to visit Indianapolis on the 22nd of February. On Tuesday, the 21st of February, a large number of the citizens of Greencastle turned out to watch the Montgomery Guards (the most beautiful Military Company in the State) pass through on their way to Indianapolis. The boys from Montgomery County were welcomed to Greencastle by the Putnam Guards under command of Captain Fletcher, partook of a repast at the Earp House, and then marched to the South Depot to the music of Dan and Will Conklin’s Fife and Drum band.10 If papers of the period can be taken as an indication, the item which aroused the most interest among the people of Putnam County was politics. It is obvious from the sectional antecedents stated above that the majority of the people of the county leaned toward the Democratic Party. There were certainly outstanding contradictions to this statement.