Indiana Men

The Union 44^th Indiana Infantry was organized October 24^th 1861 at Fort Wayne, Indiana.

A Fort Wayne, Indiana druggist, Hugh B Reed was made the Colonel of the 44^th Indiana when it was organized October 22^nd 1861.  The 44^th was made up of volunteers mostly from Indiana’s Tenth Congressional District in the northeastern part of the state.  They left for Henderson, Kentucky in December 1861 and went into camp at Calhoun, Kentucky.  In February 1862 they were moved to the Fort Henry area and then onto Fort Donelson, Tennessee, where the 44^th took heavy casualties during the siege of the fort.  Following this action they moved onto the Battle of Shiloh taking 210 casualties.  The men of the 44^th would also take part in the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi, and the Battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and Stones River.  They finished up their duty on provost guard duty at Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The 44^th was mustered out of Union service September 14^th 1865.  During their service the 44^th lost 80 killed and 229 who died from disease.

Indiana Artillery

The 12^th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was mustered into Union service January 25^th 1862.

The 12^th Indiana Battery Light Artillery was organized in Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Indiana.  It mustered into Union service January 25^th 1862 for a term of three years.  They left the same for Louisville, Kentucky.  The men took part in the siege of Corinth, Mississippi during May of 1862. The 12^th joined the Army of the Ohio in June 1862 before being moved the Defenses of Nashville in September of that year.  The 12th would also be on duty at the battles of Chattanooga, and the Battle of Nashville in 1864.

The men of the 12^th mustered out of service July 7^th 1865.  The Battery lost 24 men killed in action, and another 24 who from disease.

A West Point Man To The End

Union General George Washington Cullum died February 28th 1892.


George Washington Cullum was born February 25th 1809 in New York City. He grew up in Meadville Pennsylvania, before entering West Point. Cullum graduated third in his class of forty-three in 1833. He became a member of the Corps of Engineers, where he supervised construction projects on the East Coast, including Fort Trumbull in New London Connecticut. Cullum taught engineering at West Point from 1848 to 1855.

At the beginning of the Civil War Cullum served as the aide-de-camp for General Winfield Scott. In November 1861 he was promoted to Brigadier General and transferred to the Department of Missouri as Chief Engineer. He was the chief engineer during the Siege of Corinth. Cullum was brevetted Major General and sent back to West Point were he served as the superintendent of the military academy until 1866.

Following the war Cullum stayed in the military, working on an assortment of engineering projects designed to strengthen the United State’s coastal defenses. He retired in January 1874 and moved back to New York City. Cullum died there from pneumonia February 28th 1892. He left money to West Point for the building of a Memorial Hall and the continuations of his “Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy.