Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1898 — The First Company Organized. [ARTICLE]

The First Company Organized.

And The First Man Killed In Battle. It is an extraordinary but nevertheless a truthful fact that Jasper county furnished the first company in the whole country organized for the great civil war, and also that the first man killed in battle in that war belonged to that very company. During the winter of 1860-61, when the south was seceding, Gen. Robert H. Milroy, then a lawyer living at Rensselaer, foresaw that a war was coming and organized a company to take part in it. When Sumter was fired on and the first call for troops was made, Capt. Milroy responded within 24 hours, and within three days was on his way to Indianapolis with his com pany. ‘ / The company becgme Company G., of the 9th Indiana regiment, and Capt. Milroy became its colonel. He finally became a major general and achieved a reputation for dauntlesss courage in battle second to that of no other officer, either north or south.

This same company had a notable history in several respects, one of which was the very large number of its members who became commissioned officers, either in the 9th or other regiments. Of these we give a partial list. Capt. Robert H Milroy became e Major General. Lieut. Gideon C. Moody, became colonel of the regiment and was afterwards a U. S. senator from South Dakota. Lieut. E. P. Hammond, became Lieut. Colonel of the 48th regiment, and afterwards a supreme court judge, in this state. 2nd Lieut. Albert G. Guthridge, became a captain in the 48th. John M. Garrett, became a captain in another regiment. Joshua Healey, became a captain in the 9th, a major in the 128th, and colonel of the 151st. Joseph Brenton, became Ist lieutenant in the 9th regiment. W. H. Rhoades, became Ist lieutenant in the 9th. Mordecai F. Chilcote, became a captain in the 48th regiment. Adolphus H. Green, also became a captain in the 48th. Reuben H. James, became a major and a quarter-master in another regiment. James H. Loughridge, became a surgeon in another regiment. While this record, of the first company to be formed for the war, and the great number of able officers it produced, would be glory enough for one company and for several companies, yet another and perhaps even greater distinction belongs to this Jasper county company. The first Indiana soldier certainly and the first Union soldier almost certainly, to be killed in battle in the great war, was a member of that company. In this connection, we copy from the Lafayette Courier a communication from our former honored townsman, Judge E. P. Hammond, as follows:

FIRST MAN KILLED IN THE CIVIL WAR. Editor Courier: In an item in your paper of this date, in speaking of Dyson Boothroyd, you say: “Boothroyd was a member of Co. A, ninth Indiana, and was killed at Laurel Hill, Va.,” and also that he was “the first Union soldier killed in the civil war.” This is a mistake. I was in Co. G, of the ninth Indiana, in the three month’s service. That company, on the arrival of the regiment at Laurel Hill, was sent in advance as skirmishers and attacked the enemy on Laurel Hill. This was in the forenoon of July 7, 1861. In that skirmish William T. Girard, a member of said Co, G, was instantly killed by a musket ball fired by

the enemy. In the afternoon of the same day Dyson Boothroyd, a member of Co. A, of that regiment, while on the skirmish line received a wound from which he died on July 13, 1861. This statement may be verified by reference to pages 38 and 45 of the fourth volume of Adjutant General Terrell’s reports of Indiana. I was within a few feet of Girard when he fell. I am not able to verify the statement, but I have often heard it said that Girard was the first man killed in battle on the Union side in the war of 186165. At all events, he was killed on the field of battle, receiving the fatal shot a few hours before Boothroyd received the wound from which hb died, but not until six days after receiving it. Boothroyd and Girard were equally good, brave and patroitic soldiers. The particular time when either received his mortal wound is a matter of no importance so far as bis bravery or patriotism was concerned; but* if the event is referred to as a matter of history there should be accuracy as far as possible. E. P. Hammomd. Sept. 21, 1898. To the above we may add that although a member of the Jasper county company, Girard was one of the few members from other counties, and that he c&me from Monon. And although this article is already rather long, we can not refrain from adding an authentic anecdote regarding Girard’s father, a man then about 70 years old. Some time after his son was killed, but while the war still exsisted a rebel sympathizer was “shooting off” in a very offensive manner in Girard’s hearing, and the old man knocked him stiff. Girard was taken before a justice, with about 50 men at his heels. He was fined $1 and costs, and the sentence was hardly out of justice’s mouth before every man in the room had his pocket-book out in a race to be first to pay the fine.