CHAPTER 1
The Unknown Soldier
LYLE ADAIR WAS BORN to Benjamin and Nancy Templin Adair on April 11, 1843, in Vigo County, Indiana. Sometime prior to 1860, Adair moved to Boone County, which had been organized by the State of Indiana in 1830 from territory that âhad been acquired from the Indians by the Federal government in a treaty made at St. Maryâs, Ohio, in 1818.â There Adair lived in Sugar Creek Township, in the northwest corner of the county. Its ârich and undulatingâ lands and âthe remarkable fertility of the soil in this flat districtâ produced bountiful crop yields. âOne of the most beautiful stretches of water in the Hoosier state,â Sugar Creek coursed through the county. The rural midwestern community possessed sawmills, carding mills, steam flouring mills as well as a variety of churches, among them Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian. There was also a small group of Quakers in the townshipâs Sugar Plains community.1
The 1860 federal census listed Adair as a resident of the Lyons House Hotel. James S. Adair, presumably a relative, was the hotelâs landlord. The thirty-five-year-old James and his wife and young children lived in the hotel with twelve other tenants, a group that included several carpenters, a miller, a saddler, several merchants, and even a professor of music. Lyle Adair and one other resident reported farming as their occupation. Although little is known about Adair as a farmer, one friend, Arden P. Middleton, who âwas well acquaintedâ with Adair and âlived on an adjacent farm,â described him as âan able bodyed young man,â and James Wilson considered Adair to be of âsteady habits and good moral character.â2
The Indiana teenager began his military career on August 30, 1861, when he enlisted as a sergeant in Company C of the 81st Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). No doubt, the financial incentive of the bounty system enticed a large number of young men to answer the call to arms during the early stages of the war. In the North, Congress passed a law in May 1861 that permitted the federal government to offer a bounty, or payment, to military volunteers âof up to $300.â State and local governments could also contribute to the âbounty pool.â Recruitment was a pressing issue throughout the summer of 1861 with President Abraham Lincoln receiving congressional approval to enlist as many as 500,000 volunteers.3 Perhaps monetary rewards offered during the summer rush to expand the Union military tempted Adair, who apparently had not achieved any type of meaningful material success. And the young bachelor had lost his father in March 1854 and did not seem to have any binding familial obligations. Yet, Adairâs diary contains numerous references to his love of country and expressions of unwavering patriotism. These values clearly played an essential role in sustaining him during his seven months in captivity and may have been his motivation for enlisting.
The 81st Ohio formed at Greenfield under the command of Capt. Robert N. Adams. According to regimental historian Maj. W. H. Chamberlin, the 81st Ohio was âan organization, which, perhaps, is unlike that of any other regiment sent into the field from Ohio. It is an adopted child of the State, not one of the manor born.â In August 1861, the 20th Ohio was mustered out after having fulfilled its initial three-month commitment. The unit was not reconstituted, âas was the case with most of the other three monthsâ regiments of Ohio.â However, several officers of the 20th Ohio determined to form an âindependent regiment, without the aid of the State,â and intended to muster âsingly, or in squads, or companiesâ with Gen. John C. Fremont, whose headquarters were in St. Louis, Missouri.4 The group adopted the name Mortonâs Independent Rifle Regiment, but âby some bad management ⊠one full company ⊠was actually taken possession of by Col. Crafts J. Wright, of Cincinnati, who was also organizing an independent regiment.â Additional companies were in danger of being siphoned off. As a result, âState pride fortunately intervenedâ and the 81st Ohio was commissioned by the authority of the governor of Ohio and its legislative members.5
During the winter months of 1861â62, Adairâs Company C and the 81st Ohio spent a great deal of time in northern Missouri as part of the Department of Missouri. Their mission involved âscouting, arresting accomplices and principals in the work of destroying the railroad, and in restoring peace and quiet to the whole country round about.â6 Chamberlin recalled nothing exceptional about these military tasks, nor did Corp. Charles Wright, a member of Adairâs Company C. February of 1862 was, however, an interesting time in the military life of Lyle Adair as he was âreduced to the ranksâ on the fifth day of the month. Unfortunately, Adairâs service records do not provide an explanation for his demotion to private.7
The lack of excitement in military activities was offset by âa thrilling episodeâ that occurred after the 81st Ohio took possession of Fulton, Missouri, in early 1862. âWe heard a voice in our rear,â Corporal Wright recalled, âand a moment later a young colored boy about eighteen years old dashed into our ranks exclaiming, Save me boys! Save me! Old Master is after me, and he will kill me!â The slaveholder and one associate brazenly entered the Union lines and demanded the return of his runaway slave. The slave had embedded himself with the ranks of Company C, which forced the slaveholder to approach the companyâs captain for assistance. Capt. Robert N. Adams refused to comply. Then one of the officers of Company C delivered a âsword-strokeâ that sent the mounted slaveholder âinto the bushes.â Still undeterred, the slaveholder made one final appeal to a superior officer, Lt. Col. John A. Turley. Despite the slaveâs plea for protection, and the âclick, click, of a dozen muskets,â Turley, who claimed he lacked the authority to offer safe haven to the fugitive, ordered the would-be-contraband back to his owner. According to Wright, after Turley departed, several members of his company approached the slaveholder and informed him, âWeâre going into camp not far from here, will be around here for some time, and if we ever hear tell of your abusing this boy weâll come and burn every d--d thing youâve got!â On another occasion during a camp âgrumbleâ concerning inadequate rations and chilly weather, Wright advised a comrade, âMaybe you had better go over and join the fellows on the other side and become satisfied.â After a moment of reflection, the grumbler replied, âWhen you write to your friends in Oxford tell them that I am just as black an abolitionist as you are.â8
The men of the 81st Ohio could have developed their antislavery views prior to their enlistment. Ohio produced notable abolitionists, such as Levi Coffin and John Rankin, and the Buckeye State served as a major route on the Underground Railroad. Ohio was also the scene of one of the nationâs most publicized runaway slave rescue cases. In the Oberlin-Wellington rescue case, state and federal officials and courts clashed over the legal interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. One rally in Cleveland drew more than 10,000 people, and some demonstrations resulted in mob violence.9 Another possible explanation was that the men of the 81st Ohio had been influenced by the Fremont Proclamation. Gen. John C. Fremont, the first Republican presidential candidate, commanded the Unionâs Western Department during the summer of 1861 and oversaw operations in the hotly contested border state of Missouri. From late July to late September, Fremont âlost nearly half of Missouri.â Facing logistical problems, supply and troop shortages, and âthe increasing boldness of guerrillas,â Fremont made a bold decision. On August 30 the political general âplaced Missouri under martial law, proclaimed the death penalty for guerrillas captured behind Union lines, and confiscated the property and freed the slaves of all Confederate sympathizers.â For his actions, Fremont received praise from abolitionists and a significant number of Republicans. President Abraham Lincoln, however, fearing defections among slaveholding Unionists in all border states, ordered Fremont to amend the proclamation to conform with the First Confiscation Act passed by Congress on August 6, 1861. This legislation allowed for the seizure of âslaves, used in the military aid of the rebellion.â As historian James McPherson has explained, the First Confiscation Act âapplied to only a handful of slaves then within reach of Union forces, and it did not specifically emancipate them.â Fremontâs declaration greatly exceeded the armyâs legislative authority as defined by the First Confiscation Act, and when Fremont ignored Lincolnâs demand, the president relieved the controversial general of his command.10
The anecdotes from the regimental histories of the 81st Ohio seem to confirm the findings of historian Chandra Manning, who maintains that slavery occupied a central position in âthe Union soldiersâ understanding of the war.â According to Manning, the âcommitment to emancipation was created by and during the war itself.â The development of emancipationist views evolved as Northern soldiers encountered slaves and Southern society for the first time. These interactions convinced many Union soldiers that slavery was a national, not exclusively Southern, sin, one that they, by force of arms, could âerase and atoneâ for. The Fremont Proclamation resonated and inspired those who had come to accept this sacred mission of national cleansing. Emancipation, however, did not guarantee equality, and as Manning suggests, âwhite Union troops strove to separate slavery from the more complicated issues of black rights and racial equality, embracing abolition while evading hard questions about what the nation owed the former slaves.â11 Manningâs work challenges earlier studies by such historians as James McPherson and Reid Mitchell, who examined the ideological and cultural convictions of Civil War soldiers and determined that, for the majority of Northern fighters, the abolition of slavery was not a primary war aim. âWhile restoration of the Union was the main goal for which they fought,â McPherson contends, âthey became convinced that this goal was unattainable without striking against slavery.â Moreover, âthe attitudes of a good many soldiers on this matter were more pragmatic than altruistic.â Similarly, Mitchell argues that âhatred of slaveholders did not necessarily imply love for the slave.â In fact, âmost Union soldiers ⊠did not support emancipation.â12 Based on the relatively few instances in which Adair mentioned race in his diary, one would have to assume that the Hoosier was not a doctrinaire abolitionist.
In March 1862, the 81st Ohio moved to St. Louis and was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division of the Army of the Tennessee. This new assignment placed the unit on the front lines of some key battles in the Western Theater for most of 1862. At Shiloh, generally viewed as the first major battle of the war where many raw volunteers saw the elephant for the first time,13 the 81st Ohio played an important role in stabilizing the federal lines after the initial Confederate attack. Late on the morning of April 6, the first day of the battle, the 81st was part of a mile-and-a-half-long âmakeshift perimeterâ established at Pittsburg Landing after the collapse of the Union right flank. Repositioned for the afternoon, the 81st participated in âone of the final delaying actions on the Federal leftâ at Cloud Field. The next day the 81st advanced as part of the federal counterattack that eventually forced the Confederate Army to withdraw from the field of battle.14 The first man of Company C to fall on the battlefield at Shiloh was none other than Capt. Robert Adams, who on the first day âwas struck in the head by a grape-shot and died instantly.â15
In the realm of what-if history, Shiloh could be viewed as the Confederacyâs best opportunity for military success in the Western Theater and could have possibly altered the outcome of the war. But the certainty of the Union victory abetted the federal thrust into the crucial Mississippi Valley. In the fall of 1862, the 81st Ohio helped repel the Confederate offensive against the Union-held town of Corinth, Mississippi. On both October 3 and 4, the 81st defended a position around Battery Powell, one of two points of concentration that largely determined the outcome of the battle in favor of the Union.16 The regiment lost eleven men; forty-four were wounded, and three were listed as missing. Among those numbers, Adairâs Company C had no deaths, six wounded, and one missing, Amos Swartz ânever since heard from.â17 This Union victory prevented a Confederate advance into West Tennessee and ended any possibility of a concerted Southern effort in the liberation of Kentucky.18
The 81st Ohio wintered at Pulaski, Tennessee. âThe winter of 1863â4 was a severe one,â Corporal Wright recalled. âThe citizens of Pulaski stated that it was the coldest they had known for many years, consequently picket-duty was severe around the encampments.â19 There were a few minor cases of frostbite but âno serious ones.â Warmth may have been in short supply, but the subject of reenlisting radiated throughout the regiment. The War Department had recently issued orders regarding the reorganization of veteran forces. Specifically, âtroops who had less than a year to serve under their existing enlistment, and who had served at ...