William A. Abbett was the second to last Civil War veteran to die in Bartholomew Co. (Andrew J. Hunter was last, outliving Abbett by a month.) Abbett served in Co. D, 67th Indiana Infantry, under his cousin, Maj. Augustus Abbett, and later in Co. K, 24th Infantry. He was with General Grant's army at Vicksburg and was captured twice, once by Rebel soldiers wearing Union uniforms. He was serving in Texas when he was discharged.
Abbet enlisted in July 1862, and took part in many battles, but said he considered Vicksburg (where a bullet went through his cap) the most important. "At one time (at Vicksburg) when we were on the Mississippi, we were loaded onto barges on either side of a gun boat and we were as thick as black crows. We started down the river towards the fort when the Confederate army under general Pemberton attacked us. We were fairly peppered with cannon balls, but they never struck the boat or barges. The balls splattered the water all around us and some of them would skip on the water like a piece of slate. It's a wonder we weren't killed, for if one of those cannon balls had struck the boat or barges, we would all have been drowned."
Abbett attended the 75th Reunion of the Blue and Gray soldiers at Gettysburg in 1938, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the assembly. (Excerpted from the 1976 edition of the 1888 History of Bartholomew Co., and The Evening Republican, May 29, 1936.)
Abbet enlisted in July 1862, and took part in many battles, but said he considered Vicksburg (where a bullet went through his cap) the most important. "At one time (at Vicksburg) when we were on the Mississippi, we were loaded onto barges on either side of a gun boat and we were as thick as black crows. We started down the river towards the fort when the Confederate army under general Pemberton attacked us. We were fairly peppered with cannon balls, but they never struck the boat or barges. The balls splattered the water all around us and some of them would skip on the water like a piece of slate. It's a wonder we weren't killed, for if one of those cannon balls had struck the boat or barges, we would all have been drowned."
Abbett attended the 75th Reunion of the Blue and Gray soldiers at Gettysburg in 1938, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the assembly. (Excerpted from the 1976 edition of the 1888 History of Bartholomew Co., and The Evening Republican, May 29, 1936.)
William A. Abbett was the second to last Civil War veteran to die in Bartholomew Co. (Andrew J. Hunter was last, outliving Abbett by a month.) Abbett served in Co. D, 67th Indiana Infantry, under his cousin, Maj. Augustus Abbett, and later in Co. K, 24th Infantry. He was with General Grant's army at Vicksburg and was captured twice, once by Rebel soldiers wearing Union uniforms. He was serving in Texas when he was discharged.
Abbet enlisted in July 1862, and took part in many battles, but said he considered Vicksburg (where a bullet went through his cap) the most important. "At one time (at Vicksburg) when we were on the Mississippi, we were loaded onto barges on either side of a gun boat and we were as thick as black crows. We started down the river towards the fort when the Confederate army under general Pemberton attacked us. We were fairly peppered with cannon balls, but they never struck the boat or barges. The balls splattered the water all around us and some of them would skip on the water like a piece of slate. It's a wonder we weren't killed, for if one of those cannon balls had struck the boat or barges, we would all have been drowned."
Abbett attended the 75th Reunion of the Blue and Gray soldiers at Gettysburg in 1938, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the assembly. (Excerpted from the 1976 edition of the 1888 History of Bartholomew Co., and The Evening Republican, May 29, 1936.)
Abbet enlisted in July 1862, and took part in many battles, but said he considered Vicksburg (where a bullet went through his cap) the most important. "At one time (at Vicksburg) when we were on the Mississippi, we were loaded onto barges on either side of a gun boat and we were as thick as black crows. We started down the river towards the fort when the Confederate army under general Pemberton attacked us. We were fairly peppered with cannon balls, but they never struck the boat or barges. The balls splattered the water all around us and some of them would skip on the water like a piece of slate. It's a wonder we weren't killed, for if one of those cannon balls had struck the boat or barges, we would all have been drowned."
Abbett attended the 75th Reunion of the Blue and Gray soldiers at Gettysburg in 1938, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the assembly. (Excerpted from the 1976 edition of the 1888 History of Bartholomew Co., and The Evening Republican, May 29, 1936.)
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