A little background on why I’ve been geeked about this:
I was born in Hanover, Pa., which marked the 150th anniversary of its own Civil War battle on June 30. We lived in a Civil War era house in New Oxford - a small town on U.S. 30 about six miles east of Gettysburg. The homes of my distant relatives, including Jacob Weikert and Hettie Weikert Shriver were used as hospitals.
Now on to the point of this post.
This story tells of Col. John Wheeler, a soldier from ‘da Region who fought at Gettysburg.
It reminded me of a story I wrote some 10 years ago about another Civil War soldier who once lived about 15 miles from Gettysburg and fought for a regiment out of Northwest Indiana.
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| Col. William Howard Blake |
That story, published in The News-Dispatch on January 19, 2003, is as follows:
“Colonel commanded Bloody Ninth at Battle of Shiloh”
Civil War Col. William Howard Blake, known to his family as Howard, was born on Jan. 22, 1826, in Hampton, Pa., just northeast of Gettysburg. And while his roots are in Pennsylvania, his ties to Michigan City are strong, too.
Blake’s father and uncle were both involved in the mercantile and freight business in Hampton, and two years after Blake was born, the family sold their business and moved to Indianapolis.
Later, they moved to Frankfort and built the city’s first tavern., but the elder Blake’s principal business there was a ginseng factory.
Blake attended common school in Indianapolis and Frankfort and went on to take some college classes. While still in his teens, he taught school for two years in Clinton County, Ind.
At 18 he was appointed to West Point Military Academy through a recommendation from U.S. Rep. Henry S. Lane. The appointment stirred up some controversy since Lane was a member of the Whig party and Blake’s father was a Democrat.
Even though Blake excelled scholastically at West Point, he never graduated due to an undisclosed physical defect. He returned home briefly to brood over his misfortune and then moved to Mississippi and taught school near Vicksburg.
During his stay in Vicksburg, Blake caught “Gold Fever” and joined 100 other men on a trek to San Francisco. After spending seven years mining for gold, he made his way back to Indiana only to be arrested by one of Santa Anna’s men in Mexico and imprisoned as an alleged spy.
He spent 10 days in an 8-foot by 10-foot underground cell until he was moved to a more spacious cell for three weeks until he was released.
Blake returned to Frankfort where he studied law before moving north to Michigan City where he opened his own practice. His practice was advertised in the Dec. 15, 1860, Michigan City Enterprise. Law soon became bland for Blake and he ventured to the Dakota Territory where he opened a trading post among the Sioux.
He returned to Michigan City just in time for the city’s involvement in the Civil War. Under President Abraham Lincoln’s request for 75,000 volunteers, he organized a group of men that became Company B of Ninth Indiana Regiment, also known as the Bloody Ninth. Blake started his Army career as a captain on April 22, 1861, and rose in rank, becoming a colonel on Aug. 20, 1862.
Blake stepped into Civil War fame when he commanded the Bloody Ninth at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee. During the battle he was distinguished for his acts of personal bravery.
Due to ill health, Blake reluctantly left active service on April 16, 1863. Lincoln then appointed him U.S. Consul at the port of Manzanilla in Colima, Mexico. After several years, he grew tired of the position and pursued farming and mining.
His last journey was to Guadalajara, Mexico where he accepted a position as professor of English Literature at the State University. He died Oct. 25, 1882, in Guadalajara after suffering a stroke.
That story was packaged with another story about two men who had taken an interest in Col. Blake. They were trying to verify where he was buried in order to have a historic marker placed there.
Two veterans join to uncover grave of local Civil War colonel
John H. Wendt of Michigan City and Alfred J. Herbst of Kingsford Heights have asked U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar to support their effort to put up a historic marker at the grave of a Michigan City Civil War soldier who is buried in Mexico.
Col. William Howard Blake organized and eventually gained full command of Michigan City’s Co. B of the Indiana Ninth Regiment. The Michigan City unit, which was based at Camp Anderson near Michigan Boulevard and Carroll Avenue, saw a significant amount of action at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, a major victory for the Union.
Wendt and Herbst said they feel Blake’s service to his country merits recognition. “I think the fellow did do a service to the country, and I think he deserves some sort of a monument,” Herbst said.
Wendt first became interested in the Civil War when he adopted it as a hobby and began collecting war memorabilia.
“More and more I became interested from a research standpoint,” he said. “I started to narrow down my field.” Since the topic was so broad, he decided to focus his interests on La Porte County’s involvement in the war.
As Wendt discovered more about Blake, Herbst joined in to help with the field research. Herbst made three trips to Guadalajara, Mexico, to locate Blake’s grave. “Once I got into it, I wanted to find out more,” Herbst said.
Herbst discovered through historical records, Blake’s grave was in a walled cemetery in Guadalajara. The records gave Herbst detailed directions to a large headstone, and while the name has been chipped off the headstone, three people - a guard, a caretaker and the cemetery’s manager - all confirmed that the headstone was Blake’s.
Area Civil War history, as Wendt found, is available at the Michigan City Public Library.
“There’s tons of material in our library,” Wendt said. “All you have to do is dig it out.”
Researching Blake, though, was not easy.
“It just doesn’t all jump out at once when you start going to the library,” Wendt said.
Obtaining information was a system of favor trading for Wendt. Fellow researchers would supply him information in exchange for whatever historical material he could give them.
“People are very generous in the help they extend,” Wendt said. “They’re willing to exchange information. I have met so many truly nice people in doing this research.”
Herbst said that in the process of his research in Mexico, he learned a number of trade secrets.
“You do have to bribe them to get the information you’re looking for,” he said.
Calling themselves “ex-step-brothers-in-laws twice removed,” the duo has much in common outside of Civil War research. Both are graduates of Purdue University as well as Army veterans. “You find that people who have served are more into this rather then people who have not served,” Wendt said.
Wendt joined with the Army while attending Purdue and becoming involved with ROTC. He served directly after Korea.
“I had to serve,” Wendt said. “I liked the Army. I would have stayed in had I not been married.”
Herbst’s opinion of being in the service differed slightly from Wendt’s.
“I didn’t care that much for it,” he admitted. “Now that I’m out, it’s OK.”
As a follow up, the marker was eventually installed on Veteran’s Day in 2006, after years of negotiating with Mexican officials. Apparently the delay had to do with the fact that was a national historic site — in Mexico.
