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| Elias Teeple Company C, 11th Indiana Cavalry, likely 1864 |
Elias
Teeple, Company “C”, Eleventh (126 Regiment) Indiana Volunteer
Cavalry was perhaps 18 years old at the time of this photograph. He
was enrolled as a recruit in April of 1864.
The
Eleventh began mustering in September 1863 but would not be filled
until March 1, 1864 at which time the regiment was mustered into
Federal service. Their first movement outside of the state began May
1, when they were transferred by rail to Nashville, Tennessee, with
the majority of the regiment without mounts. They would remain at
Nashville, in camp of instruction until June 1, when they marched
to North Alabama for duty along
the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. In mid October the 11th
marched back to
Nashville and finally received their mounts. They were to be employed
as scouts, couriers, and chasing guerillas. On November 21 they were
officially attached to the Fifth Cavalry Division, (Brigadier general
Edward Hatch). At some point in the ensuing weeks, young Teeple was
wounded, and he would succumb January 5, 1865. It is unknown where he
received his wounds as official records are largely silent on the
actions of the regiment during its time of service, and no regimental
history is available. The Adjutant General of Indiana states that the
regiment was involved during the Nashville- Franklin campaign(the time frame
Teeple was wounded) and participated in the pursuit of Hood's
retreating army. The Eleventh would again be dismounted and placed on
duty near Gravely Springs, Alabama, in January 1865 and remain there
until February 7. At that time it removed to Eastport, Mississippi
and remained there(presumably still afoot) until mid May. At that
time they transferred to the Trans- Mississippi, and were remounted
for duty in Missouri and Kansas. The men were mustered out of Federal
service at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, on September 19, 1865. Their
final muster out, receipt of payment due, and discharge was at
Indianapolis on September 28, 1865. The boys were home again but they
left behind them 174 comrades, 13 killed or died of wounds. The
remainder, including Henry B. Teeple, who died at Indianapolis, April
2, 1864, (before the Eleventh left Indiana) and Samuel Teeple, who
died March 6, 1865 at New Albany, Indiana died of disease or other
causes. They may have been near cousins to Elias. The 1850 census
lists them in different households and they are quite a few years
older than Elias who was 5 years old in 1850. A fourth man, James B.
Teeple, almost assuredly the brother of Henry and Samuel, survived
the war. All four soldiers were offered up by the town of Pleasant
Mills, Adams county. They are listed by the 1850 census as being
either farmers or laborers ranging in age at that time from 5 (Elias)
to 24 years (Samuel).
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| James B. Teeple (left) and Samuel Teeple Company C, 11th Indiana Cavalry |
This
is the beginning of a side project to be known as The Soldier of
Indiana (catchy, huh?)which will be accompanied by two others. They
will be The Soldier of Illinois and the Soldier of Kentucky, CSA/USA.
There are several goals for the projects. First is to bring the
individuals to light as a way to honor them and the regiment they
served with. The Eleventh had not been around long enough to garner
everlasting fame outside of their own communities. They are being
lost to history. That is the case with many regiments from all states
North and South.
Another
goal is to gather as many of the photos to one place as possible, so as to save
time chasing around different
sites. In that way I hope to aid genealogists in finding photos of
their relatives. I also hope to help other researchers in finding
photos of the men from these states.
Finally
I hope to make some of these regiments more interesting than Fred
Dyer offered in his Compendium. The photos are the basis for this. Of
course information is limited in many instances. I hope to find
something to enhance the history of the “lost” regiments however.
They
are lofty goals, but hopefully in time they will be achieved. Your
help would be greatly appreciated. Any repository with digital
collections will be a great asset to the project, so pass along any links.
If you have a photo in your collection you can scan, that would be
great too!
And
I am always looking for diaries and letters!
The
Picket
Elias
photo from The Library of Congress, Liljenquist Family Collection of
Civil War Photographs, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010648765/
James
and Samuel photo from Find A Grave
Regiment sources include:
Report of the Adjutant General of the
State of Indiana, Volumes 3 and 7 at Google books
Dyers Compendium (1908) from Hathi
Trust http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000451327
Census information from the USGenWeb
Free Census Project/ Indiana Adams County at
http://usgwcensus.org/cenfiles/in.htm
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