1814 ENSIGNS. January 20-John Luce and John Morton. June 24-William Skelton, Charles Jones and William Elliott. October 10-William Stone, Timothy Downing, Julius Gipson and December 27-William Spencer and William Weatherholt. 1815 March 11-William Butler. 1816 May 4-John Hathway. The Eleventh was one of the best organized of the later territorial regiments and probably drew the most of its members from those living in Franklin County. Its first colonel was William Helm, who was commissioned April 29, 1814. Major Lews Johnston, of the First Battalion, was appointed the same day. Thomas Brown was appointed major on June 3 following, and Allen Crister was appointed major on March 4, 1815. The regiment numbered several special organizations in its body, and early in its existence, on August 9, 1814, a rifle company was accepted, of which the officers were Captain William Morgan, Lieutenant John Vance and Ensign John Reed. Samuel Lee was appointed an ensign in the rifle company on May 12, 1815. Two more rifle companies were organized and both were accepted on June 29, 1816. The officers of the first were Captain John Vance, Lieutenant Thomas Reed and Ensign John White. The officers of the other one were Captain Joseph Caldwell, Lieutenant William McGeorge and Ensign William Jackson. Among the line officers of the regiment was Edgehill Burnside, who first appears as ensign and later was promoted to a captaincy, and who was the father of General A. E. Burnside, of Civil War fame. The other officers of the regiment were: CAPTAINS. 1814 April 29-Daniel Heaton. June 3-Robert Swan, Abraham Neighbours, Peter Winchell and Samuel Ely. August 9-Benjamin Elliot and Thomas Carter. October 22--Robert Hannah. April 29-William Webb and Noah Beacham. June 3-Matthew Brown, William Glidewell, Samuel Hanna and James Minor. August 9-John Lee and Charles Davis. September 17-John Ward. 1815 February 4-Thomas Walters and Joseph McCormack. September 22-Andrew Penticost and Henry Edmunds. 1816 March 16--William Manly. June 29-Isaac Limpus. August 21-Calvin B. Howe and John H. Newland. 1814 ENSIGNS. April 29-Forest Webb and Thomas Yowell. October 22--Nathaniel Winchel, vice Robert T. Taylor, resigned. 1815 March 4-John Sutherland and Asa Dawson. September 22-William Brown. 1816 March 16-Archibald Morron. August 21-Jeremiah Wood and Samuel Lennen. The Twelfth Regiment was young when Indiana passed from the territorial stage to that of statehood. Colonel Samuel Connor, Major Ratliff Boone, who commanded the First Battalion, and Major William Black, who commanded the Second, were commissioned October 21, 1895. The only other commissions issued before the State government commenced were on March 14, 1816. Joseph Springer and Elias Roberts were made captains, Samuel Eslick and Stephen McDaniel lieutenants, and John Cassady, Michael House and William Weatherholt ensigns. The Thirteenth Regiment was organized in the last six months of the existence of Indiana Territory. The first commission was issued to Jesse Roberts as colonel commanding on February 20, 1816. The majors were appointed June 29 and William Reed was assigned to the command of the First Battalion and Joseph Pennick of the Second. The other officers were: CAPTAINS. 1816 April 20-Alexander Walker, Samuel Lewis, Eli Newlin, Thomas Coplin and William Farris. May 20-William Kedman, Pleasant Parks, James Fidler, Robert Stott and Joseph W. Doak. June 29-Daniel Freeman, Daniel Weathers and Peter Benganningannin. LIEUTENANTS. 1816 April 20-James Gisten, Reuben Kilgore, George Wolfinton, Charles Vandeveer and William Pennick. May 20-Joseph Scott, Samuel Shield, Marquis Knight, James Laughlin and Will C. Green. June 29-John Eastridge, Daniel Crowman and Joseph McGrue. 1816 ENSIGNS. April 20-John McKinney, Will Crawford, Joseph Hazlewood and Richard Kerley. May 20-John Cook, Benjamin Pinkley, Wase Glover, Charles Bayley and Coonrod Gross. June 29--Samuel Mathis and Isaac Stallcup. CHAPTER III. SIXTY YEARS OF MILITIA AND LEGION. The constitution adopted in 1816 provided for a militia organization along the same lines as the previous laws, and great care was taken to preserve the organization then in existence. The admission of Indiana to the union caused a great rush of immigrants, and the population increased by leaps and bounds. One of the first steps taken was to enroll all subject to militia duty in the State organization, and the militia increased in numbers according to the population, but the increase in population finally proved too much for the officials, and it was found to be impossible to make the organized militia keep pace with the increase. There are no State records in existence for the militia in the first twenty-five years of the State history of Indiana, and only imperfect records up to the Civil War. That the organization was maintained and that, until 1833, it was held in high repute, is well known. In the period from the beginning of statehood to the Mexican War, the militia of Indiana reached its highest and lowest points and its decline from its maximum was rapid almost beyond explanation. Every inducement that could be thought of was offered for keeping the organization to its high standard until the call to arms in 1846 accomplished in a few days that which laws and public appeals had not accomplished in years. The militia laws were found to be defective in many particulars, and slight amendments were made to them on January 3, 1817, but without effect. In his message to the General Assembly in December of the same year, Governor Jennings advocated a revison of the laws so they might meet existing conditions, but the General Assembly was too much occupied in organizing the different branches of the State government to act on the recommendation. In spite of this handicap, the militia was continued, and in it were all branches of the service. On December 20, 1819, there were in the State five divisions and ten brigades. The aggregate strength was 14,990, and the strength of the infan try was 14,567. Of infantry organizations there were twenty |