LOCAL

Out of Our Past: Death of Joseph Stidham hit Wayne County hard

Steve Martin
Special to The Palladium-Item

Of all the local men who perished in the Civil War, one death struck at the heart of the Wayne County community like no other.

The fourth week of August 1864, the Richmond Palladium gave the full details.

The tragic news according to that Aug. 24, 1864 paper:

“On Thursday, the 23rd of June, 1864, in a battle near Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, Captain Joseph S. Stidham of the 57th Indiana Volunteers was killed whilst gallantly cheering on his men. The deceased was in the 49th year of his age, had filled the office of Sheriff for Wayne County for one term, and was filling his second when he responded to his nation’s call.”

Stidham’s death was devastating.

The ‘Directory & Soldier’s Registry of Wayne County, Indiana’ [1865] states: “When the rebellion commenced, Mr. Stidham was sheriff of Wayne County.  Knowing that it was comparatively easy to execute the laws at home, he turned that duty over to other hands that he might assist the government in asserting its authority in the rebel states… He recruited Company C of the 57th Indiana Voluntary Infantry, and was commissioned Captain of said organization. Captain Stidham was a powerful man, and his benevolence being equal to his strength, consequently he assisted all who were debilitated by disease or by the fatigue of marching, always carrying one and sometimes two or three knapsacks while on the road, to relieve some weary fellow soldier... He was engaged in the battles of Pittsburgh Landing, Perryville and Stone River. In January, 1864, at the expiration of his term, he reenlisted with his regiment as a veteran, and was not long after promoted to the office of Major, but refused to accept the commission, preferring to remain with the men to whom he had become attached. He was in the battles at Mission Ridge, then Kennesaw Mountain, where he was instantly killed by a musket ball piercing his breast, whilst leading his men during a siege upon rebel fortifications, and although his body was in sight of his men, it was several days before they could procure it for burial, which they finally did near where he fell. Captain Stidham was never married, but left behind a widowed mother.”

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A week later on June 30, 1864, Sergeant Walter P. Wilson of the 57th Indiana wrote to his uncle: “Dear Uncle – I have just helped to bury Captain Stidhman with a half dozen others who fell on the 23rd of this month. They had been lying out exposed to a scorching hot sun, and it was all we could do to get near enough to throw a little dirt on the men as they lay; but we were determined to bury our Captain, and we did, although it made us sick and faint to get close to his body. I intend to make a board, to be set up at his grave, and the rebels say they will let me put it up in the morning. They let us come nearly up to their works [fortifications] today, and I there found a knapsack with two portfolios in it. A bullet had passed through the middle of the knapsack, penetrating everything contained in it, and no doubt killing the owner. You see what it did for this sheet of paper on which I write; there were about a dozen sheets all in this fix, so as I now have them, you may expect to receive letters for awhile written on holy paper… On Captain Stidham’s body were found his sword, grasped in his hand so tightly that when we withdrew it from his clasp it brought all the flesh off the inside of his hand. We also found his watch and Lieutenant Frank Beitzell’s*, both unharmed. I will send them home, with all his papers and money — eighteen dollars in bills and one dollar and five cents in postage currency... His sword is as bright as he always keeps it. The scabbard showed the marks of the fall it got at Dallas last May in that fiery skirmish. Captain Stidham had fallen partly on his face and we dug a grave behind him and put him in it. I have just heard that Robert Brown** has died of his wounds. I will write again. Give my love to all. — Walter P. Wilson***, Sergeant of Company C. 57th Indiana Volunteers.” 

The July 23, 1864 Quaker City Telegram carried a condolence letter to Stidham’s widowed mother: “IN THE FIELD NEAR MARIETTA, GEORGIA – July 1, 1864 – Mrs. Stidham: We members of the late Captain J.S. Stidham’s company, take this opportunity of returning to you his sword, and other effects, and give expression of our sympathy for our mutual loss in the death of as noble and brave a patriot as ever gave his life to his country’s cause. On the 23rd of June, he was ordered to advance our line and endeavor to occupy the enemy’s works. He led his men to within a short distance of their fortifications, but met with too strong a resistance and had to retire; but he again made the attempt, and fell while cheering for us, a ball having pierced his breast. His last words were, ‘Give it to them once more, boys!’ …Our loss was heavy, and the regiment was compelled to retire to our line of works, leaving many of our dead on the field, our dear captain among the number. Every effort was made to recover his remains, but it was impossible until June 30th, when we were allowed to bury his body upon the spot where he fell. We placed a board – part of an ammunition box – and it is a fit emblem of him who sleeps beneath. He needs no marble monument to mark the place of his repose. His memory will live in the hearts of us all. While we mourn his death, we look with pride at the name he has made on our country’s roll of honor. He was a father to his comrades in arms, and a true friend to all. His loss cannot be replaced, but we bow to the will of Him who ‘notices even the fall of a sparrow.’ And we will strive yet harder for a cause, made more sacred by the sacrifice of so noble and true a patriot as our lamented Commander and your affectionate son. He has watched over one hundred of the sons of Indiana, and the remnant of all that is present join in wishing you well. Very Respectfully, Your Obedient Servants, Company C - 57th Indiana.”

The following year the war ended and the body of the former Wayne County sheriff was retrieved.

According to the Dec. 16, 1865 Richmond Weekly Telegram: “The remains of Captain Joseph S. Stidham, who fell in battle before Kennesaw Mountain, were deposited in their final resting place at Earlham Cemetery on Sunday last. The funeral line was over a mile in length.” Following a lengthy procession of hundreds of uniformed men and throngs of women “…came the hearse bearing the remains of the honored dead, the coffin wrapped in the folds of that flag for which the brave man, the true soldier, and the unsullied patriot had given his life. Following the hearse was 98 carriages and a large number of citizens afoot and on horseback, aggrieved. The slow and quiet march of this great concourse presented an impressive and solemn scene, and we doubt if ever an equal number from our city and county were ever collected together to do homage to the memory on any one person before… The same board that his comrades had set up to mark the grave of Captain Stidham, when he was buried on the field of his glory, now stands by the mound of fresh earth that covers his remains at Earlham Cemetery. When it is removed, let it give place to a monument worthy of the man, worthy of the cause for which he was sacrificed, and honorable to the country and the people for whom he went forth in his strength and manhood to do battle and die.”    

On June 23, 1864, a much-beloved Wayne County man died for what he dearly believed. As sheriff he was concerned with the safety of Wayne County; as Captain of the 57th Indiana he was concerned about the security of the nation.

*Benjamin Frank Beitzell “went through the Campaigns of Generals Buell and Rosecrans; also under General Sherman in his campaign as far as Kennesaw Mountain, where he was mortally wounded while performing his duty on the skirmish line; was brought home and buried in the cemetery near his home, Centreville.” [1865 Soldier’s Registry of Wayne County.]

** Robert Brown of the 57th Indiana “was in the bloody battle of Pittsburgh Landing and in the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, New Hope Church, where he was dangerously wounded in the hip and groin.” Recuperating, he died just months before war’s termination of smallpox. He left a family residing at Centreville. [1865 Soldier’s Registry of Wayne County.]

***Walter P. Wilson of the 57th Indiana Regiment “was in the battles of Pittsburgh Landing, Stone River, Mission Ridge, and the whole campaign from there to Atlanta.” He survived the war to return to Centerville. [1865 Soldier’s Registry of Wayne County.]

Contact columnist Steve Martin at stephenmonroemartin@gmail.com.