In 1866, Union Veterans of the Civil War organized into the Grand Army of the Republic(GAR) and became a social and political force that would control the destiny of the nation for more than six decades.

Membership in the veterans’ organization was restricted to individuals who had served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Revenue Cutter service during the Civil War, thereby limiting the life span of the GAR.  The GAR existed until 1956 when the last Union survivor passed away.  The organization founded soldiers’ homes and was active in relief work and in pension legislation.

The community level organization was called a “Post”.  In Madison County there were eight posts.  They are listed in the order of their founding.

• Elwood #61, Elwood
• Major Samuel Henry #230, Pendleton
• Lew Taylor #243, Alexandria
• Major May #244, Anderson
• Howard #311, Summitville
• Frankton #349, Frankton
• Hiram G. Fisher #366, Lapel
• Warren Cole #523, Perkinsville

The strongest post in Madison County, though not the oldest, was the Major May Post, #244, in Anderson.  The post, formed pursuant to a petition by several ex-Union soldiers in Anderson, was organized on the evening of September 18, 1884, in the old Madison County Courthouse, with 71 charter members.  Over a period of 55 years, the rolls of the post carried nearly 350 names of members, but not all at the same time.  The average enrollment in the heyday of the post’s existence was around 140.

The post was named after Major Isaac M. May, 19th Indiana Infantry, a citizen of Anderson, who was killed in the Battle of Brawner Farm in Virginia on August 28, 1862.  His body was buried on the battlefield but was never recovered.  Immediately after its organization, the post had it headquarters in G.A.R. Hall, I.O.O.F. Block, on the northwest corner of Meridian and Ninth Streets.  They met there until 1894 when they moved to the third floor of the Newsome Block, on the west side of Meridian Street in the 700 block.  This is the only building where they met that survives today.

In 1895, arrangements were made with Major Charles T. Doxey, also a member of the post, to provide a permanent home in a building at the northwest corner of Ninth Street and Central Avenue.  This hall was completed in May, 1896, and the post met there through 1904.  Prominently displayed on the buildings’s face was “GAR 1895″ over the windows of the second floor meeting room known as Grand Army Hall.  Doxey’s death in 1898 may have been the reason they had to leave the building and relocate to a room in the basement of the northwest corner of the Madison County Courthouse.  A space was provided for them through the generosity of the County Commissioners.

Mayor John L. Forkner delivered the dedication speech to those assembled in the new quarters on January 11, 1905.  In his speech Mayor Forkner said, “As long as there is a remnant of Major May Post remaining, this will be your home.”  And so it was, as the members continued to meet once, and sometimes twice weekly, through 1939 when the record of their meetings ends.  Of the approximately 1,500 volunteers from Madison County who served in 32 companies during the Civil War, only two were living in 1939.  The last Civil War veteran to die in Madison County was Levi P. Keltner, on December 4, 1942, at the age of 98.  He served as a private in Company K, 12th Ohio Calvary.

For many years the post had a dinner on April 6 in memory of the Battle of Shiloh.  The affair was always the occasion of an extensive program of patriotic exercises and speeches.  The members were regular participants in Memorial Day and Verterans Day observances.  By the 1930s, the veterans were given the place of honor in parades by heading the processions.  Fourteen participated in the 1932 Memorial Day parade and by the 1935 event only five were able to participate.  The post hosted the state-wide encampment May 12-14, 1903.  It was the first and only time the Indiana Department of the GAR met in Anderson.

The encampment drew national attention by its displayof the “Living Flag.”  Two-thousand local school children stood upon inclined scaffolding reaching from the sidewalk to the roof of the courthouse at the northwest corner of the courthouse lawn dressed in red, white, and blue, forming the American flag.  The event attracted several thousand people to Anderson to watch the aged veterans parade south on Meridian Street past the colorful display.

By Stephen T. Jackson, Madison County Historian

The creek that bears his name, an elementary school, a golf course and a business are the only reminders we have today of his existence in Madison County.

His father was the well-known Delaware Indian chief, Gelelemend.  Upon the son’s baptism by the Moravian Church, May 21, 1789, he was given the Christian name, Charles Henry Killbuck.  We know him simply as Killbuck.  His baptism occurred at a place the Indians called Pettquotting, which is near Milan, Michigan, south of Ann Arbor.

Killbuck next appears in the historical record in January 1801.  The Moravian Mission at Goshen in the Ohio Territory sent him to meet with the chiefs and the Council of the Delaware on White River.  His mission was to obtain permission for the Moravians to send missionaries to work among the Delaware on White River.  Permission was obtained, although history records more than one interpretation that later led to problems for missionaries who came here.

It wasn’t until September 21, 1805, that killbuck appears again.  During his visit to the mission station east of Anderson, he translated a sermon from English into Delaware, delivered some letters and three Indian hymn books.  The purpose of his visit was to find out how the Delaware felt toward the missionaries, as there was a concern in Goshen about how successful the White River mission was in converting the local Indians.

A large gathering was held at the village of Chief Anderson two days later to hear what Killbuck had to say.  No record exists of the proceedings other than the local chiefs were anxious to have gathered about them a large number of Indians so that, outwardly, they would give an appearance of strength to Killbuck and his party, which included six Wyandotte from Ohio.  He stayed for a week, leaving on the 28th for Goshen.

Early in the year 1813, the Indians living here were directed by General William Henry Harrison to leave the area while his troops dealt with the Indian uprising led by a Shawnee Indian called The Prophet, who was the brother of the famous Tecumseh.  The Delaware relocated to Piqua, Ohio, where they stayed for some unknown period of time.  When they returned to this area, Killbuck came with them.  Some villages such as Anderson’s Town were reestablished while a few new ones were formed.

One of the new ones was Killbuck’s Town or Buck’s Town.  The site was on a high bluff east of White River, one mile northwest of the town of Chesterfield on what later became the Carroll Bronnenberg Farm.  A government survery conducted in 1821 locates the village on that specific site.  During the survey, the site produced broken flints and fire-cracked rocks.

Killbuck probably occupied this site until he was forced to leave the area in 1821 under the terms of the Treaty of St. Marys, Ohio, which he signed in 1818.  His mark on the treaty appears as Captain Killbuck.  In the Delaware tradition, the title of captain was given to the chiefs who assumed control of the tribe during times of conflict and were generally considered next in rank under the head chief.  Today’s traveler can easily find the site, which is a short distance southwest of the intersection of CR 75N and CR 300E.  A home is now situated on the bluff and over looks White River where it makes a westward bend. 

In 1821, Killbuck and his family moved to the Moravian settlement of New Fairfield in Canada.  During 1825, Chief Anderson wrote to the chiefs of the Miami demanding an indemnity of $3,000 for the murder of six Delawares that occurred over a period of years, beginning in 1809.  When the Miami refused, Anderson sent a second message to which he added a note from Captain Killbuck, reading in part, “I am the war man and the war councilor….you have heard a great deal from my head chief and you have not listened to him.  I now speak as the war chief of my peoples to you.” The Miami chiefs understood the significance of the threat, and paid, although a lesser amount, to keep the peace.

When Chief Anderson wrote to the Miami, he was living in Missouri as the tribal chief.  As war chief, Killbuck would have been next in rank to Anderson and I believe must have been living there also, but no records written or oral exist about him and thus his story comes to an abrupt end.  However, there is one local legend about him that persists.  It says that after his death, his remains were buried in an unknown site somewhere in the woods north of the dam on the creek which bears his name.  The woods are located on what was known, in earlier times, as the Sparks’ Farm, and later became Shadyside Park in Anderson.

By Stephen T. Jackson, Madison County Historian

The article above appeared Sunday, May 3, 2009, in the Herald Bulletin.

The solution, reached by the War Manpower Commission, was to ship into the area 800 German prisoners of war.  The Elwood Call-Leader had a story informing the people of Elwood that a prision camp was being hastily constructed at the old Elwood fairgrounds at North 19th Street and Fairground Road.  A huge barbed wire enclosure was erected.  The residents were promised that the prisoners would be under strict guard at all times.  It was not a popular decision.

On September 7, 1943, Elwood “bristled” with soldiers, jeeps and Army trucks, as some 800 German POWs were brought in by truck from Camp Breckenridge in Kentucky.  This method of transport saved both the POWs and the community a tense encounter.

In 1944, a larger number of German POWs were brought into nearby Windfall.  They were brought in on trains and then marched through the streets to the camp, frightening local residents.  The Elwood prisoners were quickly assigned jobs picking tomatoes on farms and working in the local canneries.  A few weeks after their arrival, the ‘Round Town’ column of the Call-Leader stated that, though many rumors had circulated about the prisoners, no problems had been reported and that those farmers who had employed the prisioners reported being happy with the work they did.  A visit by the local police chief to the camp reported no problems.

While most of the community had little contact with the POWs, the soldiers who guarded them were a different story.  Elwood formed a Service Club, which maintained a Canteen for the guard soldiers and several events to entertain them were organized.  When the POWs were returned to Camp Breckenridge, two thank-you notes from the guard regiment appeared in the Call-Leader, expressing great satisfaction with their stay in Elwood.

By late October, the tomatoes were harvested and POWs were taken back to more permanent quarters.  The Elwood camp was disbanded, but POWs continued to help with the Madison County harvest.  A more permanent camp was built in nearby Windfall in Tipton County where they would be housed for two more summers.  The POWs who were kept in Madison and Tipton Counties were just a few of the 425,000 German prisoners who were housed on U. S. soil during World War II.

Exerpts taken from an article in the Sunday, April 26, 2009, Herald Bulletin.   Written by Beth Oljace, Anderson Public Library, Indiana Room.

On the north side of White River, a few yards west of County Road 500 East, there is a small body of water, hardly noticeable today because of the larger farm pond located immediately to its north.  This body of water is what remains of a reservoir that was built to be a back-up water supply for what was called the Hydraulic Canal.  It was never used for this purpose.

The story of the canal begins December 19, 1868, when the Anderson Hydraulic Co. was organized.  Capital stock, amounting to $64,000, was subscribed, with the City of Anderson subscribing an additional $20,000.  The board of directors, chosen by the stockholders, included the following:  Peter Suman, William Crim, H. J. Blacklidge, N. C. McCullough, George Nichol, Samuel Hughel and James Hazlett.  I am sure it’s more than coincidence that the canal would cross land owned by a couple of these prominent Anderson businessmen.  Their idea was to create a flow of water that would be a source of power.

This hydraulic power would be used to power the industries along its path, such as mills and factories the stockholders hoped would develop.  The canal was to begin opposite the village of Daleville, on the river’s north bank, and follow the general course of the river eight miles to Anderson.  In that distance, the ground elevation dropped 40 feet, providing the necessary water flow.  The company planned to use the bed of the old feeder canal begun in 1838.  The “feeder” was to be a link to the Central Canal being constructed in Indiana and unite Anderson and Muncie.  It is not clear how much of the “feeder” was ever completed, as the whole Indiana canal system failed due to economic pressure in 1839.  Apparently enough of it remained to provide a nucleus for the new canal.

Contracts were let for reconstructing the canal and large force of hands was soon employed.  Dug completely by hand, the canal was to be 40 feet wide at the top and 26 feet wide at the bottom, with sloping sides to a water depth of four feet.  A large pool of water, called “slackwater,” located in White River was necessary at the beginning of the canal.  This was accomplished by building a dam across the river at Daleville.  Work progressed slowly on the canal and it wasn’t until July4, 1874, that the wicket or gate, to regulate the flow of water, was opened across from Daleville.  Disaster struck immediately as the banks gave way in numerous spots, making it necessary to turn off the flow and make repairs.  However, when the water flow was begun a second time, the resulting damage was the same.

Frustrated by failure and discouraged by monetary losses, the work was abandoned, with losses of $80,000.  The property was sold by the sheriff to Edward H. Rogers to satisfy the judgments held by him against the company for labor and materials.  The old canal remained idle, never to be used again.  The river and development along it have erased much of what was once a grand plan.  Nevertheless, traces of the canal can be found today.  In addition to the reservoir, the canal can be viewed where Indiana 32 crosses White River.  Located on the right bank of the river, beginning at the west end of the bridge, the viewer will see the river and to the left of it a ridge.  To the left of the ridge is a wide, shallow depression next to the river bluff.  This depression is the canal bed, and it runs parallel to the river almost to Lindberg Road.

A small section of the canal can be seen at the south end of Lennox and Brookline Streets and, once again, where Scatterfield Road crosses the river.  Here it can be best viewed at the north end of the bridge, on the east side.  Caution should be observed at both bridge locations, as these are heavily traveled roads.  The canal turned away from the river and followed, what is today Grand Avenue, through Park Place.  Sections of what remains of Grand Avenue can be found between East Tenth and East Eighth streets and Central and Milton Avenues.  The old canal bed became a place used for picnics and other activities until it was filled in and Grand Avenue was created.

Finally, the canal reentered White River near the present intersection of Third street, Grand Avenue and Alexandria Pike.  This was accomplished by a means of stair-step locks.  Several locks, perhaps four or five, would have lowered the canal into the river at its bend, just south of West Maplewood Cemetery.  In the years before Third Street was extended through the Anderson University Campus, traces of the lock excavation were visible on the east side of Milton Avenue, just south of High Street;  silent reminders of a once ambitious idea.

By Stephen T. Jackson, Madison County Historian

 An article that appeared in the Sunday, March 15, 2009, The Herald Bulletin