One week in July 1863

Lafayette S. Buckles was an unmarried 26-year-old preacher when he was mustered into service on the 10th of July 1863. And seven days later — on the 17th of July — he was mustered out.

That left reader Matt Mapes, Buckles’ distant cousin, baffled.

Matt came across a record of his cousin’s service on Ancestry.com but it just didn’t make sense to him. “I wonder why he volunteered, and then mustered right out?” Matt said. “I don’t see where he ever had a pension or there are any other records at least on Ancestry for him. I’m kind of puzzled.”

On first glance, the answer may seem obvious. The Ancestry record is an index so the second date has to be wrong, right? Or, if it’s right, then Buckles must have been unfit for service after a week, right? Easy answer…

Well, there’s an answer out there, all right. And what an answer it is!

Let’s start with the records, and there are three total on Ancestry documenting Buckles in the Civil War. The first is his draft registration, in July 1863, in Indiana’s Eighth Congressional District. It’s the one that identifies him as age 26, single, a minister, born in Ohio. But it says nothing about any actual service.¹

Then there’s an index entry in the American Civil War Soldiers database. It gives his name as Lafayette Buckles and residence as Boone County, Indiana, and reports that he “Enlisted in Company F, 102nd Infantry Regiment Indiana on 10 Jul 1863. Mustered Out Company F, 102nd Infantry Regiment Indiana on 17 Jul 1863 at Indianapolis, IN.”²

Great info, but the source is identified only as source 76 from a laundry list of published reports, none of which is numbered. No help there.

The last one is from the U.S. Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles database, another index, and it says the same thing as the first index entry — but it identifies a source: Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana.³

The Adjutant General’s reports were published in eight volumes between 1865 and 1866, and they’re all available online at the Internet Archive and/or Google Books. Buckles’ record can be found in volume 6. And sure enough, it has him enlisting in Company F of the 102nd Indiana Infantry — and mustering out seven days later.⁴

But you get a big clue about what’s going on here when you look at the pages about this regiment: everybody in every company of this regiment mustered in between the 9th and the 10th of July and everybody mustered out on or before the 17th.⁵

So now you want to go look at the regimental history. And a great source for Union regiments is a multi-volume set called The Union Army, published in 1908. Volume III includes Indiana, and it describes the 102nd Indiana Infantry this way:

One Hundred and Second Indiana Infantry.– Col., Benjamin M. Gregory; Lieut.-Col., Peter A. Huffman; Maj., David W. Hamilton. This regiment was organized as minute men from the Indiana Legion in Boone county, July 10, 1863, and numbered 623 men rank and file. It left Indianapolis by rail, July 11, reached North Vernon the next morning and marched to Vernon, where Co. K was mounted and sent in pursuit of the enemy. The regiment moved to Dupont, thence to Osgood, and on the 14th to Sunman’s station. It returned to Indianapolis on the 17th and was mustered out.⁶

Sooooo… Minute men? Pursuit of the enemy? What’s going on here?

And the answer is Morgan’s Raid.

In the summer of 1863, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan led thousands of Confederate troops on a 46-day, 1000-mile raid from Tennessee into Kentucky, Indiana and finally Ohio. The attack on Indiana began on July 8th:

After sending spies into Indiana in June, Morgan began the raid into the state on July 8, 1863, by seizing two boats and ferrying approximately 2,400 troops across the Ohio River into southern Indiana. Upon hearing news of the raid, Governor Oliver P. Morton called for the people and militia of Indiana to defend their state. Thousands responded. For 5 days Indiana militia and Federal troops attempted to capture the invaders. Morgan’s men raided Corydon, Salem, Dupont, Versailles, and other small towns. The raiders left behind a trail of destruction before crossing into Ohio on July 13. They were eventually captured in southern Ohio, and the raid ended on July 26, 1863. Morgan and his men were sent to Northern prisons, but he later escaped and made his way back to the Confederacy.⁷

There are all kinds of resources for Matt to learn about Morgan’s Raid in general, and the raid into Indiana in particular. The Indiana State Library has a bibliography of sources on the raid and its effects in Indiana online at “Morgan’s Raid Resources.” The University Library of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has the telegraph books of Governor Morton online as digital images. The Indiana Archives has records of the Indiana Legion:

The records of the Indiana Legion-the state militia or “Home Guard” during the Civil War-include muster rolls and correspondence for units in most counties. They contain many wonderful details about the effects of the war on the home front, as well as the significant role played by the Legion.⁸

But perhaps best of all, there’s a single volume of official reports on the Indiana Legion and Minute Men available online as well. The book, Operations of the Indiana Legion and Minute Men 1863–4, was published in 1865 and it contains the reports of the commanders who were there at the time.⁹

For example, Governor Morton’s message to the troops on 15 July 1863 was included, and he had told them, in part:

Having received information that a rebel force, estimated at six thousand strong, with six pieces of artillery, had crossed the Ohio river into Harrison county, I issued a call on Thursday last, to the patriotic citizens of the State to leave their various occupations and turn out for its defense, and, if possible, capture the insolent invaders. The evidence was abundant that the original purpose of the rebels was to seize, plunder and burn the capital, but as their course would be uncertain, it was necessary to make preparations to encounter them in every direction. Within forty-eight hours from the time the call was issued, not less than sixty-five thousand men had tendered their services and were on their way to places of rendezvous, while many thousands more were preparing, but were notified to remain at home. Within three days, thirty thousand men, fully armed and organized, had taken the field at various points to meet the enemy.¹⁰

John L. Mansfield, Major General of the Indiana Legion, reported to the Governor:

It is … proper … that the citizen soldier should be employed for the suppression of riots, and for the repelling of invasions. Both of these ends have been accomplished by our State Militia within the preceding two years. …

A considerable part of our Legion have undergone, within the last two years, severe hardships, and many of them have suffered in a pecuniary point of view by having been called away suddenly from their daily occupations. They obeyed the summons with alacrity and cheerfulness, and I take pleasure in assuring your Excellency that in time of need you may safely rely on the efficiency of the Indiana Legion.¹¹

And there’s even a specific report from the commanding officer of the 102nd Indiana Infantry, Col. B. M. Gregory, written 18 July 1863, the day after his troops were mustered out of active service¹² and information on the conditions under which the 102nd operated (as of 11 July 1863, the 102nd has no ammunition and no rations).¹³

So, Matt, your cousin was a citizen-soldier, a volunteer in the defense of his adopted state against invasion, who went off to war without food or weaponry, ready to lay down his life if need be.

Great story. And all from one huh? moment in looking at index entries.

And the moral of this story is: follow those leads.

Every last one of them has the capacity to enrich our family history beyond our wildest dreams.

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