Soldiers from Bartholomew County, Indiana who died during the Civil War.

I am a member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. I serve as the secretary for the John B. Anderson Camp #223.

My ancestor who fought in the war was William Henry Harrison Polhamus. The story goes that he traveled from Sodus, New York to Cleveland, Ohio to join the Zouaves. He arrived too late, but was able to join the Ohio 2nd Volunteer Cavalry Co. B.

As I now live in Bartholomew, County Indiana I have been researching soldiers who had some connection to Bartholomew County, either born here, lived here, died here, or were buried here and sacrificed their lives during the war. – ‘Civil War took its toll on the county’ by Harry McCawley.

Helen Coffman started this in the early 1980s. Years after her death an article appeared in The Republic that stated 276 soldiers died, but 290 name were later listed. The article was ‘Civil War took its toll on the county’ by Harry McCawley.

A few years later Mrs. Herschel Murphy found 243 soldiers. This new finding was also reported in The Republic in 1990. This was also written by Mr. McCawley – ‘ List of Civil War victims sad’.

These two article were written in an attempt to gather interest and support for having a memorial in the county to honor these men and their sacrifice. Currently, the only memorials are the soldiers headstones.

Sometimes, things etched in stone do become unrecognizable — the message is lost, forever. Time and the elements have taken their toll on the gravestones of those sons of Bartholomew County who gave their lives during the Civil War. We need to do something, to create some memorial to recognize this group of men and boys who helped define our country.

Using a wide array of resources that may not have been available to Coffman and Murphy, I have found 387 soldiers who died during the war and has some connection to the county.

Our camp project is to arrive at a complete list. That list would be used to help secure interest in have some memorial in their honor.

I was asked for a quote for a news article on this work – “Sometimes, things etched in stone do become unrecognizable — the message is lost, forever. Time and the elements have taken their toll on the gravestones of those sons of Bartholomew County who gave their lives during the Civil War. We need to do something, to create some memorial to recognize this group of men and boys who helped define our country.”

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)/Women’s Relief Corp (WRC) Memorial to the Unknown Soldier reclamation project.

This is one of the facings of the Grand Army of the Republic/Women’s Relief Corp Memorial to the Unknown Soldier.

The memorial was dedicated in 1895. Time and the elements have made the inscription almost unreadable. A news article from the dedication helped tell us what was written, Our Camp plans to place a plaque over this, however we wanted to preserve the original arrangement of the words- we wanted it to be exact.

There are no pictures we could find and no records of the arrangement of words. A review of the City Cemetery from the 1960’s reported on the poor condition and only a few words were readable.

The message- No name to let us know

Who rests below.

No word of death, or birth-

Only the grasses wave

Over a mound of earth

Over an unknown

Grave.