These letters are wonderful. I would love to have a copy of the entire
texts. There were several James and John Coles in the county, making them
hard to sort out. A James Cole is said to be the first settler in Lauramie
township, and Cole elementary school is named for him. Four or five served
in the army in the civil war. In the 40th in Company A there were a Pvt.
James W. Cole and a Pvt. John B. Cole, possibly sons of Solomon Cole,
possibly a son of that first settler. Capt. Kirkpatrick, in 1864, would
probably be Absalom Kirkpatrick of Company G. On June 27, 1864, the 40th
Indiana Volunteer Infantry led the assault on Kenesaw Mountain. The attack
may have been an attempt to duplicate the earlier successful attack on
Missionary Ridge. This time it did not work, and the 40th suffered heavy
losses. Among the dead were many from the southern half of Tippecanoe
County: the Coles of Lauramie township, Capt. Kirkpatrick of Jackson
township, and Sheffield township cousins Sergt. Scott Elliott and Captain
Charles Elliott, both of Company A. The captains led the charge for their
companies. Cyrus Kirkpatrick (who stayed with the body of his fallen
brother) and John Baer were captured and sent to Andersonville prison.
(According to a bio in the 1878 atlas, while the Kirkpatrick brothers were
gone, their sisters worked the fields and drove the reaper.) Col. Leaming
published a letter in the Lafayette Courier, July 11, 1864, saying in part:
"Than Capt. Elliott there was no more gallant spirit, no more noble and
generous gentleman, a more efficient officer in the whole army of the
Cumberland; his loss is most acutely felt. Capt. Kirkpatrick, too, gentle,
kind, brave and most efficient, beloved by all who knew him, going into
battle with a strong presentiment of the fate which befell him, yet calm and
resolute." Losses to the 40th Regt. were 106 out of 300 engaged (according
to Scribners).
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