The One Week Warriors

The Story

This is an unusual story of how five Wallick men from Peru, Indiana — their age differences spanning almost forty years — became soldiers in the same regiment for only one week in the summer of 1863.

The story begins with Confederate General John Hunt Morgan — a cunning and brilliant cavalry commander born in Alabama but raised in Kentucky. General Morgan was everything one would expect in a stereotypical sketch of a nineteenth-century southern-gentleman cavalry officer: intelligent, handsome, daring, and self-confident. He fought bravely in the Mexican War and afterwards became a successful businessman. When the Civil War began, he organized a cavalry regiment for the Confederate States of America.

The summer of 1863 saw one of the most spectacular cavalry raids of the entire Civil War. Confederate General Braxton Bragg ordered Morgan to conduct a raid from Tennessee into Kentucky to distract Union forces moving against Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and east Tennessee. Bragg ordered that under no circumstances was Morgan to cross the Ohio River. After raiding numerous towns, attacking Union supply depots, and destroying thousands of dollars worth of property in Kentucky, General Morgan exceeded his orders and crossed the Ohio River at Brandenburg, Kentucky — believing that bringing the war to the northern people would encourage the Copperheads and rally them to the Confederate cause.

On the evening of July 8th, Indianapolis received word of Confederate invaders moving toward Croydon, Indiana. Citizens were called upon to organize for defense, and by July 10th, thousands of men from across Indiana had volunteered for service. From these "Indiana Minute Men" thirteen regiments were formed, the 109th Indiana Volunteer Infantry being one of them. Five Wallicks from Peru were soldiers in this home guard and were mustered into Federal service on July 10th.

These five "One Week Warriors" were, from eldest to youngest: Benjamin Jr. (age 59), Christopher (age 48), Wesley (age 44), Jeremiah (age 31), and William F. (age 22). All were in Company F. Although he was the youngest of the five, William F. was the only officer in the group — a 2nd Lieutenant. Jeremiah was a corporal, and Wesley, Christopher, and Benjamin were privates.

The 109th left Indianapolis on July 13th for Hamilton, Ohio, and moved south toward Cincinnati. By then General Morgan had galloped out of the region and the regiment returned to Indianapolis. With the Confederate threat to Indiana ended, the 109th was mustered out of Federal service on July 17th.

General Morgan moved through central and southern Ohio, destroying bridges, railroads, and government stores. He was finally captured on July 26, 1863, near West Point, Ohio. The General and his men had ridden over 1,000 miles in 46 days, from Tennessee to northern Ohio. After his capture he was sent to the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, from which he and six others made a dramatic escape by tunneling from his cell into the prison yard and scaling the penitentiary walls. He returned to the Confederacy and was hailed a great war hero in the South — except by General Bragg, who was still angry at Morgan for defying his orders.