Indiana in The American Civil War - Indiana's Contributions

Indiana's Contributions

Indiana was the first state in what was then considered the American Northwest to mobilize for the Civil War. News of the attack on Fort Sumter, which began the war, reached Indiana on April 12, 1861. On the next day, two mass meetings were held in the state and the state's position was decided: Indiana would remain in the Union and would immediately contribute men to suppress the rebellion. On April 14, Governor Morton issued a call to arms in order to raise men to meet the quota set by President Abraham Lincoln. Indiana had the fifth-largest population of any state that remained in the Union, and was important for its agricultural yield which became even more valuable to the Union after the loss of the rich farmland of the South. These factors made Indiana critical to the Union's success.

Lincoln initially requested that Indiana send 7500 men to join the Union Army. Five hundred men assembled the first day, and within three weeks, more than 22,000 men had volunteered—so many that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana contributed a total of 208,367 men, 15% of the state's total population, to fight and serve in the Union Army, and 2,130 to serve in the Union Navy. Most of the soldiers from Indiana were volunteers, and 11,718 men reenlisted at least once. The state only turned to conscription towards the end of the war, and a relatively small total of 3003 men were drafted. These volunteers and conscripts allowed the state to supply the Union with 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery, and 13 regiments of cavalry. By the end of the war, 46 general officers in the Union army had resided in Indiana at some point in their lives.

More than 35% of the Hoosiers who entered the Union Army became casualties: 24,416 (about 6.75% of total war casualties) lost their lives in the conflict, and more than 50,000 were wounded.

More than 60% of Indiana's regiments were mustered and trained in Indianapolis, the state capital. The state government financed a large portion of the costs involved, including barracking, feeding, and equipping the soldiers prior to their being sent as reinforcements to the standing Union armies. Indiana also maintained a state-owned arsenal in Indianapolis that served the Indiana home guard and as a backup supply depot for the Union Army.

Abraham Lincoln established one of the United States' first national cemeteries, New Albany National Cemetery, for the war dead in New Albany, Indiana. Port Fulton, Indiana, in present-day Jeffersonville, was home to the third-largest Union military hospital, Jefferson General Hospital. Indianapolis was the site of Camp Morton, one of the Union's largest prisons for captured Confederate soldiers, with Lafayette, Richmond, and Terre Haute occasionally holding prisoners of war as well.