Biographical History of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Benton,
Warren and Pulaski Counties, Indiana, Illustrated, Volume 1, pp. 75-77
Lewis Publishing Company, 1899
CAPTAIN WARREN SHEETZ
CAPTAIN SHEETZ is a native of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, his birth
occurring on the 9th of October, 1837. He was the third child of the
eleven children of FREDERICK and ELIZA C. (TAYLOR) SHEETZ, the parents
being natives of Hampshire County, Virginia, and very early pioneers of
Tippecanoe County, locating on a farm near Lafayette in 1821. There
FREDERICK grew to manhood, learning the millers trade, an occupation
which he followed for many years, and in 1845 he bought a farm and ended
his days in agricultural pursuits, his death occurring there in 1864;
and his wife survived till 1867. The Captain's ancestors on his
father's side were German, and on his mother' side they were
Scotch-Irish. Of their large family all are living so far as known to
the subject of this sketch, excepting a brother who died in the army.
EDWARD F. is a farmer in Spink county, North Dakota; HARRIET became the
wife of W. S. VAN NATTA, whose sketch is given elsewhere in this work;
WARREN, whose name heads this sketch; ALFRED, who was a member of
Company D, Tenth Indiana Infantry, and died in the army service in 1863;
MARGARET, the wife of MR. KELSO, lives near Indianapolis: her first
husband was GEORGE SHIGLEY; CHARLES is a farmer near Lafayette; WILLIAM
T. has been lost to his family for many years and is presumed to be in
the far west, if living; FREDERICK is a bookkeeper at Indianapolis;
FRANK is a farmer near Lafayette; ROBERT is a prosperous machinist at
Muncie, this state; and MARIA VIRGINIA is the wife of DR. B. F. BEASLEY,
who is a successful physician at Lafayette, this state.
The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native of Virginia,
FREDERICK SHEETZ by name; and the maternal grandfather was ROBERT
TAYLOR, also a native of the Old Dominion; and both families were
prominently identified with the history of that state.
CAPTAIN SHEETZ received a common-school education in his native county,
and his early life was spent on his father's farm, where he remained
until his enlistment in the army, at the age of twenty-four. He was one
of those who promptly responded to their country's needs, and enlisted
on the 18th of September, 1861, as a private in Company D, Tenth Indiana
Infantry. On the organization of the company he was appointed one of
the five sergeants and served in that capacity one year. In recognition
of his special fitness to command, his devotion to duty and bravery on
the battlefield, he was commissioned first lieutenant and soon
thereafter was promoted to the rank of captain; and for two years he
commanded his company and was present with it in all the dangers of
three years' active service at the front. The first rendezvous of the
regiment was at Louisville, Kentucky, where it was assigned to the
command of General Thomas; and it afterward participated in active
maneuvering and skirmishing against guerrillas in Kentucky. The first
general engagement was at Mill Springs, which was quickly followed by
the terrific battles at Shiloh and Corinth, Mississippi. It was next
attached to the Fourteenth Army Corps and marched upon Nashville,
Tennessee; made a forced march from Nashville to Louisville in pursuit
of General Bragg, of the rebel forces, and had various skirmishes in
Tennessee; returned to Nashville, and thence went out on the Chickamauga
campaign, where, going into the battle of Chickamauga with forty men,
CAPTAIN SHEETZ brought his company out with only thirteen men capable
for service, twenty having been killed or wounded. He remained at
Chickamauga from September 15, 1863, until February, 1864, during which
time the regiment was recruited and given the opportunity to re-enlist
in the field. CAPTAIN SHEETZ was detailed to bring the soldiers home on
return furlough, and was home thirty days; but as an organization they
did not improve the opportunity. The siege of Chattanooga being raised,
the Captain and his company started out on the Atlanta campaign, but his
term of service expired before he reached Atlanta, and the regiment was
relieved at Ringgold, Georgia, and returned to Indianapolis, where it
was mustered out of service, September 18, 1864.
Returning from the war, CAPTAIN SHEETZ resumed agricultural pursuits,
purchasing a farm of two hundred and forty acres southeast of Fowler,
upon which he lived till 1885. By reason of failing health he retired
from active labors of all kinds and located in Fowler, where he has
resided since his retirement from the farm.
Of the social orders CAPTAIN SHEETZ selected only the one which brings
together for mutual protection and counsel his old army comrades, and
accordingly he has been a member of the Grand Army post from its
earliest history, and in this he has taken great interest. He
recognizes the G. A. R.
button as a "badge of honor," conveying to him in unmistakable language
the mortality of man. He realizes that it is a society with a time
limit, and that soon the final reveille will call the last veteran to
his eternal rest. He recognizes the emblem of the order as the
insignia of rank, telling to the world that the wearer was not only a
defender of liberty and union, but also that his military record bore
the closest scrutiny, for no traitor or convicted coward can enter the
portals of the order. CAPTAIN SHEETZ has served in all the official
capacities of the local post, excepting that of adjutant, and is proud
of his connection with the time-limited and fire-tested fraternity.
In matrimony CAPTAIN SHEETZ was united, September 6, 1870, with MISS
HARRIET H. JOHNSON, a daughter of WILLIAM R. and MARGARET (FINCH)
JOHNSON, early settlers of Benton County. Her father was a prosperous
farmer and stock-grower, who died in 1863, at the age of fifty years,
and her mother is still living on the old home farm near Oxford, at the
age of seventy-five years. MR. and MRS. SHEETZ became the parents of
four sons and two daughters. The two first born-THEODORE M. and
MARGARET E.- died of diphtheria, the latter in infancy, their deaths
occurring within a few days of each other; LAURA A. is the wife of
CHARLES B. McKNIGHT, an attorney in Fowler; DAVID C. is a clerk in the
shoe store of Van Natta & Evans, also in Fowler; WARREN, Jr., is a
student in the Fowler schools; and CHESTER is living with his aunt at
Lafayette.
On the 31st of August, 1885, having but recently returned from the farm
to Fowler, MRS. SHEETZ died. This was a severe blow to the family, and
the Captain still realizes his loneliness and the disruption of family
affairs. Since the occurrence of this sad event he has made his home
for the most part with his married daughter, MRS. McKNIGHT.
In his political sympathies CAPTAIN SHEETZ has always voted with the
Republican party, in whose councils he has always been active and
influential; but with the advancing years and bodily infirmity he has
relinquished to some extent his former political enthusiasm. He has
held the position of trustee of Pine Township two terms, or four years,
and he held a similar position in Center Township (Fowler) for a like
period. He is not connected with any church organization, though his
wife was a devout Christian lady, a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
(**Fowler is in Benton County, IN)