For most Americans, when asked about the Civil War struggle, their minds drift to the fields and marshes of the South. Few would consider Northwest Indiana to be a hotbed of conflict. That being said, there was intrigue along the Kankakee River in south Porter and LaPorte counties that brought the war closer to our Hoosier homes.

In September, 1861 a tall, rather ungainly individual entered Porter County, across Eaton’s Ferry (today Baum’s Bridge in south Porter County) and made his way slowly up the old Lake-to-River Trail.

He was driving a one-horse buggy that sagged down on one side. On the seat beside him was an oblong grey canvas-covered valise, strapped loosely to the round-iron handle on the seat. He wasn’t taking any chances of losing it.

The stranger was asking locals: “What’s the people up this way thinking about the slavery question?” The answers were definitely in favor of abolition. Further along he found a few settlers who had been slave owners in the South, and they voiced no objection to slavery.

Whenever this mysterious traveler—who said he was an artist, and gave the name of John C. Brain—found someone as a likely member, Brain explained that he was an organizer for the Knights of the Golden Circle.

The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret society founded in 1854 by American George W. L. Bickley, the objective was to create a new country known as the Golden Circle, where slavery would be legal.

In September of 1861 Brain crossed at Baum’s Bridge on a mission to carry dispatches to Confederate officials in Montreal, Canada and recruit volunteers to the southern cause along the way. Indiana Governor Morton heard of his activities and ordered the 9th Indiana to capture him. After capture, but before he could be imprisoned, he made a daring escape to rejoin Confederate forces.

After Brain’s return south he enlisted in the Confederate Navy. With his natural leadership abilities, he quickly moved up the ladder in the navy. Eventually, being promoted to the rank of Commander, Brain was ordered to the West Indies theater of operations. Although, capturing and destroying many U. S. cargo ships, Brain could tell the tides of war were shifting. His final mission sent him back to Chesapeake Bay. On March 28, 1865, Brain landed on Barren Island, Maryland where he found 30 ships at anchor seeking refuge after a two-day gale. Taking two vessels Brain armed them for Confederate service. Needing to unload the number of prisoners he had taken, Brain sailed for Port Royal, Jamaica to land them. It was at Port Royal that on June 17, 1865 Brain received word of the South’s surrender. He set sail for Liverpool and after paying off his crew Brain surrendered and was imprisoned. Brain’s release on March 1, 1869 made him the last Civil War prisoner to be released. Brain passed away on December 6, 1906 in Tampa, Florida. So ends the story of Northwest Indiana’s part in the Civil War.

To honor Northwest Indiana’s contribution in the Civil War the Kankakee Valley Historical Society is hosting “The Civil War Comes to Northwest Indiana” program. The event will be held on Saturday February 8^th, 2025 in the Open Door Fellowship Church hall: 636 S Baums Bridge Rd Kouts IN 46347. We will be open, free to the public, from 10 am to 2 pm. During the course of the program the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War-David D Porter Camp will be showing the typical kit of a Union solder in uniform.

Civil War reenactor, Thomas Wojciski, will tell the story of local valor, and discuss about the history and accomplishments of the men from Lake, Porter, and Laporte counties who served in the 9th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. The regiment saw combat from 1861 to 1865 and is listed in the top 15% of all Union regiments versus days in combat. The unit contained a large portion of recruits from NW Indiana, several members remained key figures in the region after the war. I invite people to come hear the journey of this group of soldiers and see what they wore and used in their years of service.

Joining us for the Civil War presentation will be Bob DeRuntz, member of the Kankakee Valley Historical Society and history teacher at Chesterton High School. Bob incorporates living history and experiential learning into his history lessons, including a two-day living history Civil War Camp each year where 500 students go back in time to 1862 to learn about the life of a Civil War soldier. Part of this lesson includes a recitation of the Gettysburg Address, which Bob will include in The Civil War Comes to Northwest Indiana presentation.

Also participating is Erin Egnatz with her extensive antique Civil War collection. Erin’s collection includes weapons, uniforms, photos, letters and more!

In conjunction with the “The Civil War Comes to Northwest Indiana” program, the Kankakee Valley Historical Society will be holding the Yankee Bake Sale–including original Civil War era recipe baked goods!

Kankakee Valley Historical Society teaches

about life during Civil War

BY DOUG ROSS POST-TRIBUNE

Even longtime Civil War history buffs learned something new at the KankakeeValley Historical Society’s event Saturday in Kouts.

Tom Schmitt, of Fort Wayne, talks about the Marines’ service during the Civil War. Schmitt, Indiana commander for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, was one of the speakers at a Kankakee Valley Historical Society event

Tom Wojcinski, a Civil War reenactor, told the harrowing story of Private Jack Miller, a member of the 9th Indiana Volunteers, who earned the nickname Center Shot.

Miller was shot in the forehead and left for dead. “My head had swelled so bad it shut my eyes, and I could see to get along only by raising the lid of my eye and looking ahead, then going on till I ran afoul of something,” Miller said.

“I was begging the surgeons to operate on my head, but they all refused. I suffered for nine months, then I got a furlough to go home to Logansport.”

The musket ball was finally removed 17 years after Miller was wounded. “Miller would suffer from delusions while he had the musket ball on his head,” sometimes marching back and forth in the streets of Logansport and reliving the war, Wojcinski said. If Miller got a head cold, he would have excruciating pain.

Once the operation to remove the musket ball was completed, he lived a fairly normal life, dying in his 80s, Wojcinski said.

Miller’s tale is just one of Wojcinski’s stories about that Indiana regiment’s campaigns during the war.

Tom Schmitt, Indiana commander for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, served in the U.S. Marine Corps, his inspiration for telling about the Marines’ service during the war.

About 40% of the Marines’ officers sided with the South, he said. On the North’s side, the Marines initially were supposed to fight within 35 miles of the sea, a distinction that faded as the war raged on, Schmitt said. Marines served aboard Navy ships, acting as sharpshooters in the rigging, firing down on the enemy as the ships rocked on the waves.

They were instructed to try to target the “powder monkeys,” young boys who relayed powder and shot to the sailors operating the ships’ big guns. Marines themselves carried about 60 rounds of ammo with them, Schmitt said. The powder monkeys were orphans who were, in effect, purchased from orphanages by the Navy to serve aboard ship, he said.

When the boys grew too big, they weren’t useful for that purpose anymore. That’s why the officers didn’t want to feed them too much, Schmitt said. Southerners noticed the poor treatment those boys received from U.S. Navy officers. “You’re doing the same thing, only you’re doing it with white people,” the rebels would say.

The Navy would counter that the boys were learning a trade, but few of them wanted to stay on as sailors, Schmitt said.

Chesterton High School history teacher Bob DeRuntz told of his annual Civil War encampment, where his students get a sense of what it was like to live during the war.

The encampment includes an open fire where salt pork and bean stew are being cooked. Tents are set up, and soldiers’ equipment and weapons are all laid out too, transporting about 500 students to life in 1862 during the course of two days.

“Most of my students have very rarely attended any sort of living history. A lot of students don’t go to those sort of presentations anymore,” DeRuntz said. While they’re sitting on bales of hay arranged like an amphitheater, they can smell the salt pork cooking on a campfire. “I’m sure they’re looking forward to tasting it, and I think that’s why this lesson for them is so memorable.”

“I see students from 20 years ago. The first thing they ask me is are you still doing the Civil War campaign,” he said. “I think it’s because they see it, they hear it, they touch it, they taste it and smell it. It just touches all these senses. It’s truly experiential learning.”

DeRuntz, a longtime history teacher, said he learned facts he didn’t know from the other presenters at the Kankakee Valley Historical Society event Saturday.

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune