found this today "hidden" in an old newspaper, while looking for something
else .....
Warsaw Daily Times: Aug. 19, 1897
From an Old Comrade
Doubtless a large number of the citizens of
Warsaw who lived here at the
time of the breaking out of the war will remember the writer of the
following - Alonzo H. Hubbard. At the very beginning of the war, and within
a day or two after the calling out of the troops by President Lincoln to
suppress the insurrection, as it was then called, Mr. Hubbard enlisted in
the first company raised in this county.
At that time he was engaged as an assistant on the building of the old
Empire Block, destroyed by fire in 1870, if we remember correctly; but
dropping his employment, he determined to obey the call. The company to
which he was attached became E company of the Twelfth Indiana Infantry, and
as there were thousands of more men offered themselves for the first six
regiments that Indiana was required to raise as its quota in the call for
the first 75, 000 men, the body of men alluded to either had to accept a
longer term of service than they had enlisted for, or sneak back home.
Almost to a man they resolved to stay and form a part of the State troops
authorized by the Legislature of Indiana, then in session, to serve within
the borders of Indiana, the term of enlistment being for one year. On the
night of the first battle of Bull Run Governor Morton ordered the regiment
to Indianapolis from Evansville, where it had taken the place of Gen. Lew
Wallace's Eleventh Regiment, engaged in blockading the Ohio River at that
point. On reaching Indianapolis, the Twelfth was at once mustered into and
transferred to the United States service, and on Monday was on its way to
Washington. It staid its year in the Army of the Potomac, and immediately
after its muster out at the end of its term, reorganizing "for the war," Mr.
Hubbard having been commissioned as a First Lieutenant of Company F, in
which he served honorably, faithfully and bravely till the close of the war.
We were reminded of these facts on the reception of his letter, which is as
follows:
Nat'l Military Home, Kans., Aug. 17, 1897
Messrs. Reub Williams & Son:
Enclosed find $1 and please enter my name as a subscriber for your paper. I
remember your beautiful city as it was in the early sixties and the
hospitality of its generous citizens. I have a warm place in my heart for
the boys with whom I shared the hardships of war. I have often thought of
the editor of the old Northern Indianian, who went out as a comrade and came
back as a leader, but still a comrade. I have been without your excellent
paper for some time and am anxious to again hear from my old soldier
friends, as I always do when I receive your paper. Very respectfully,
Alonzo H. Hubbard.
YesterYear in Print
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