PHOTO CREDIT: Civil War veterans of the 36th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers outside Carnegie Library in 1903. Image courtesy of Ball State University’s Bracken Archive and Special Collections.
Approximately 2,500 Muncie and Delaware County residents fought in the American Civil War in Union Armies, including several dozen African American soldiers. The first local volunteers to join the conflict were the Delaware Guard, who left Muncie for Indianapolis on April 18, 1861. The earliest volunteers served in the Eighth Regiment of the Indiana Infantry Volunteers, while later enlisted men fought in 44 different units, including the Iron Brigade of the Army of the Potomac. Noted for their strong discipline, the Iron Brigade fought valiantly at the Battle of Antietam, the Second Battle of Bull Run, and at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.
On the homefront, the Ladies Aid Society of Muncie raised money for war relief while also organizing food and clothing drives. With the Confederate surrender at Appomattox in 1865, the war ends. Shortly thereafter, on April 27, 1865, a boiler explosion on the Sultana steamboat near Memphis killed 1,168 Union soldiers returning home, including 55 from Delaware County. A memorial to these soldiers is located in Beech Grove Cemetery.
Derastus Nelson, Union soldier from Muncie, circa early 1860s.
Image courtesy of Ball State University's Bracken Archive and Special Collections.
Sultana Marker at Beech Grove Cemetery.
Image courtesy Rick Zeigler.