A lifespan of: 98 years, 1 month, and 24 days...
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Hiram Bennett BAXTER, an intelligent and progressive farmer and stock-raiser of township 17-{range} 9, near Ashland, Illinois, was born and reared in Jefferson county, Indiana. His parents were William and Jane (Kerr) Baxter, both natives of Ohio, his father having been born in Dayton. His father's father was a native of Ireland, who came to America and settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he married a German lady, named Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather was Josiah Kerr, a native of Scotland. Thus he is of Irish, German and Scotch ancestry, three of the most intelligent and progressive nationalities on the face of the earth, and he would be a sad renegade were he not likewise constituted. His parents had ten sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth. James Riddle, the eldest brother, is an attorney of Bloomfield, Greene county, Indiana; Josiah Kerr is a retired physician of Sharpsville, Indiana; Daniel Thomas, a mechanic, died in early manhood, leaving a wife and two children, all now deceased; Oliver H. P. was one of the first white settlers in Pueblo, Colorado, where he engaged in mining and speculating in cattle, in which occupations he has been very successful, having accumulated a fortune of great wealth. He is now retired from active business, and spends most of his time in traveling, has been twice to Europe, and last summer was in Alaska. William Alexander died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1877; the next in order is the subject of this sketch; George W. is a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana; Hayden Hayes is in the cattle business, near Pueblo, Colorado; Edward Arthur is in the livery and undertaking business in Sangamon county, Illinois; Leonidas Napoleon is farming the old Indiana homestead; Havanna Siloam married Robert Williams, a merchant of Madison, Indiana; Irena Hazeltine died in early childhood. In 1854 the family were called upon to mourn the loss of the devoted wife and mother, whose life had been one of self-abnegation and subservience to her family's welfare. The father afterward married her sister, and to this union one son, Virgil, was born, who died in 1861. The father died in August, 1861, and was interred by the side of his first wife, near the old home in Indiana. He was a prominent man in his community and was very popular among his associates, always heading every movement for the moral and material improvement of his locality. The second wife lives on the old homestead. She is a lady of much culture and refinement, and is universally beloved. The subject of this sketch was educated in Indiana, and was reared to farm life, and in the peaceful pursuits of rural and home life spent his earlier days. This happy routine was interrupted by civil discord, which rent the country, and on July 14, 1861, he enlisted at Madison, Indiana, in Company K, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry. He participated in the Missouri campaign, the first encounter taking place at Glasgow, that State, where Major Tanner was killed; and also took part in the fight at Blackwater, where the Union forces took 1,300 of the enemy prisoners. Thence he accompanied his regiment under the supervision of General Fremont, to Springfield, Missouri. General Hunter superseding General Fremont, they were returned to their old quarters, under the immediate command of General Curtis, with whom they marched to Springfield and thence to the battle at Pea Ridge, where the right flank suffered severely. Thence they went to Corinth, Mississippi, where they participated in the siege of Corinth, after which they returned to Iuka, that State, going from there to Florence, Alabama, and back again to Louisville, marching 400 miles in August and September, 1862. After this they went to Perryville, Kentucky, where there was an engagement, in which Mr. Baxter was shot through the left knee, lying on the battlefield all night after being wounded. There were thirty-five men in his company on going into battle, and on emerging there were but eight unharmed, ten having been killed, thirteen wounded and four taken prisoners. Mr. Baxter was sent to the hospital at Louisville where he remained from October 8, 1862, to February of the following year. He rejoined his regiment at, Tennessee, and there received his commission as First Lieutenant, being promoted from Duty Sergeant to that rank. In the absence of the captain, who had been wounded, Mr. Baxter at once assumed command of the company. His regiment remained in Murfreesboro until June, and then went on the Tullahoma campaign, following the enemy as far as Chattanooga, and participated in the historic battle of Chickamauga. It then fell back to Chattanooga, and engaged for a time in building fortifications. It next took part in the sanguinary battle of Missionary Ridge, at which it was in Sheridan'' division, and fought in the center. The following morning it started on a forced march for Knoxville, to relieve Burnside, who was surrounded by Longstreet. During this rapid march, the regiment was short of rations and had no tents. It was encamped on Strawberry Plains for six weeks, while the ground, the greater part of the time, was covered with snow. At this place the regiment re-enlisted for three years, and then returned to Chattanooga, after which the men were given a veteran furlough. At the expiration of their leave of absence, they rejoined their command at Chattanooga, whence they started with General Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. The Twenty-second Indiana being in the advance brigade. The enemy were met in force at Tunnel Hill and Rocky Face Ridge, and next at Resaca, Georgia, whence the Union forces proceeded to Snake Creek Gap, where Mr. Baxter's division was separated from the main army, and sent, under General Jefferson C. Davis, via Rome, Georgia. Here an engagement was fought, at which Mr. Baxter was again wounded in the left leg, the same as before. He remained about a month in Rome, when he secured a leave of absence for forty days, finally reporting to the officer's hospital, in Cincinnati, where the board of examiners ordered his discharge, General Slemmer being the chief of the board. On being discharge, August 29, 1864, he was granted $8.50 a month, that being half of a first lieutenant's pension. In February, 1865, Mr. Baxter assisted in raising a company for the One Hundred and Forty-eight Indiana Regiment, of which company he became First Lieutenant and afterward Captain. This regiment was sent to Columbia, Tennessee, where it did patrol duty until September 6, 1865, when it was mustered out of service. Mr. Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana, and was subsequently employed for a time in the railroad business in Indianapolis. December 15, 1866, he reached Jacksonville, Illinois, near which place he taught school two years; later, he taught school for another two years at Literberry, same State. He was afterward engaged in selling goods in the latter place, where he acted at various times as railroad agent, Postmaster and Justice of the Peace, his residence there extending over a period of nine years. In 1876 he was married, and included the Centennial Exposition in his wedding tour, visiting in old Virginia and spending a week in Washington city. Miss Lydia Ellen Crum was the lady of his choice, a daughter of Abram A. and Sarah (Buchanan) Crum, old and highly respected residents of the vicinity of Literberry, Illinois, where they still reside. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have two sons, --Albert, born October 9, 1880, and William Abram, born September 18, 1887. In 1881, Mr. Baxter sold out his mercantile interests in Literberry and removed to his present farm, five miles west of Ashland, where his father-in-law had given him $20,000 worth of land. He owns a farm of 760 acres on the garden spot of Illinois, and, as for that matter, of the world, inasmuch as there is no more fertile country on the globe than that included in the Prairie State. This season (1892) he has 260 acres of corn, 180 of wheat, and eight of oats, the balance being meadow and pasture land. He has here a substantial farm residence, neatly and comfortably arranged; large barns for his grain and stock; and many other valuable improvements. Mr. Baxter is a stanch Republican and takes an active interest in political matters. He has been a candidate for various offices, but his party being in the minority he was never elected, yet succeeded in helping to hold the party organization together. He belongs to the G. A. R. and was the first commander of John L. Douglas Post, No. 591, at Ashland, having served two terms in that capacity. Seven of Mr. Baxter's brothers were in the army, no two of whom were in the same regiment, and all returned home, and still survive. Dr. Josiah was a Surgeon in the army; and Hayden was taken prisoner, stripped of his clothing and other valuables, paroled and turned loose, walking all the way home from Arkansas Post. Of this family there were one Surgeon, two Captains, one Lieutenant, and three privates in the service. The subject of this sketch received three commissions, two as First Lieutenant, and one as Captain, all from the hands of the famous war Governor Oliver P. Morton. Mr. Baxter received two wounds at the hands of the rebels, which compelled him to spend some eight months in the hospital. During the total period of three years and eight months he served two years in command of his company; and, while he was one of the youngest soldiers in it, he thinks he did his part. Had this family lived in Napoleon's time, they would have been greatly honored, inasmuch as he valued families only in proportion to the number of sons contributed to the insatiable monster of war. It is the disadvantage of republican forms of government, that they bestow no special privileges for services rendered by their inhabitants other than the universal gratitude of millions living and unborn, which is supplemented, in the breasts of those champions of liberty in the late war, by a deep sense of duty done, which soothes the wounded spirit and begets a peace which passeth understanding.
SOURCE: "BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS, SCHUYLER and BROWN COUNTIES, Illinois - 1892", page 337. The Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago.
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BAXTER, Hiram Bennett, one of the extensive landholders of Illinois, and a well known and respected citizen of Cass County, was born near Madison, Jefferson County, Ind., September 22, 1840. He is of Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, his parents William and Jane Kerr-Baxter being natives of Ohio, the former born in the city of Dayton in 1804. His grandfather, James Baxter, a native of County Tyrone Ireland came to the United States about the time of the Revolutionary war, settling near Pittsburgh Pa., where he married a German lady whose name was Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather, Josiah Kerr, was a native of Scotland. Hiram B. Baxter is the sixth of twelve children of a family of ten sons and two daughters. The mother of this family died May 27, 1855, and the father subsequently married her sister Margaret Kerr, by whom he had one son. The father was a prosperous farmer and died on his old farm in Indiana August 25, 1861, at the age of fifty-seven years. Hiram B. Baxter was reared on a farm attended the district schools and at the age of eighteen years was himself teaching a district school in his native county. On July 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company K Twenty second Indiana Volunteer Infantry for service in the Civil war, and was mustered into the service at North Madison Ind. by Colonel (afterwards General) Thomas Wood. He participated in the Mississippi campaign under Fremont Hunter and Curtis, taking part in the engagement at Glasgow, in which Major Tanner of his regiment was mortally wounded: was in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., and at the siege of Corinth Miss. He then accompanied his regiment in General Buell's army to Louisville Ky., a distance of nearly 400 miles and participated in the battle of Perryville Ky., where he received a severe rifle wound in the left knee. Of the thirty-five men in his company who were engaged in that battle, but eight remained to answer the roll call next morning. Ten were killed, thirteen wounded, and four were captured unhurt. The wounded were all made prisoners for the night. Mr. Baxter rejoined his regiment at Murfreesboro, Tenn., after the battle of Stone River, in February, 1863, and then received his commission as first lieutenant of his company being promoted from a sergeancy. In the absence of the captain who had been wounded at the battle of Stone River, Lieutenant Baxter assumed command of the company. The regiment remained at Murfreesboro until June 24, 1863, when it marched with General Rosecranz' army on the Tullahoma campaign following the army under General Bragg to Chattanooga. Lieutenant Baxter's command was assigned to the work of guarding a pass in the mountains near the battle ground of Chickamauga, and thus was not engaged in that battle, and was then cooped-up with the balance of the army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, in Chattanooga, subsisting on short rations for two months until re-enforcements arrived, under Hooker from the east, and Sherman from the west with General Grant to take command. Then, the army aroused from its lethargy and captured Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in a grand charge all along the line, driving the enemy from their vantage ground at every point. Lieutenant Baxter was in command of Company G of his regiment in the charge on Missionary Ridge, being temporarily assigned to take charge of that company, and was in Sheridan's Division of the Fourth Corps, and ascended the ridge near where Bragg's headquarters were established. Immediately after the battle, on the next day, with his command he started in pursuit of Longstreet, to relieve Burnside at Knoxville Tenn., arriving there after a hard forced march to find Burnside's army safe, and the enemy gone. The Union army remained there for six weeks, subsisting principally by foraging over the surrounding country, camping in the woods without tents or blankets, with snow on the ground, and a damp cold wind blowing most of the time. The men cut the timber and built huge fires to keep themselves warm, taking turns at night to keep the fire burning, and to watch that the sleepers did not get burned. Under such circumstances, Lieutenant Baxter re-enlisted as a veteran and with his company, returned to Chattanooga, where they were re-mustered for three years more, or during the war. He then returned to Indiana on a veteran furlough of thirty days. At the expiration of the furlough, he went by rail with his command to Nashville Tenn., and they marched to Chattanooga, where the company and regiment were assigned to Gen. Daniel McCook's brigade in the organization of Sherman's army for the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea. Mr. Baxter was at Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and Rome Ga., where in command of his company, he was again wounded in the same leg as before. He remained in the hospital, and on a furlough until August 29, following, when he was honorably discharged by the secretary of war, on account of disability from gunshot wounds. Lieutenant Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana for a time, and attended a commercial school at Indianapolis. Recovering from his disability, in a marked degree during the fall and winter, he again entered the service in the following February, as first Lieutenant of Company B One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer infantry, and upon its organization, he was made captain of the company, and served as such, until the end of the war, being mustered-out at Indianapolis, Ind., September 6, 1865. Six of Captain Baxters brothers served in the Federal army during the Civil war, no two of them being in the same regiment, and all survived the conflict, and six of them are living at this time. Among the seven brothers of the Baxter family there were, two captains, one first lieutenant, one corporal, and two privates, all of whom enlisted as privates. The combined service of these brothers aggregated nearly fifteen years. After returning home at the end of the war, Captain Baxter for a time, was a clerk in a railroad office at Indianapolis, but becoming dissatisfied, he turned his attention westward, and on December 1, 1866, with $700 in his pocket, he arrived at Jacksonville, Ill. Near this place for a short time, he worked on a farm, built fences, and did all such tasks as came to his hand, in the meanwhile, becoming acquainted with the people. He then taught school for four years, near Jacksonville and Literberry. At the latter place, for nine years, he was afterwards, engaged in merchandising, and also filling the position of postmaster, was also railroad agent, justice of the peace, and notary public, was additionally engaged in the making of brick, and in furnishing the railroad with ties, posts, wood, etc. On January 21, 1881, he moved to the farm upon which he now resides in Cass County, Ill., about eight miles from Literberry. He and his two sons are now the owners of 1,707 acres of land 1.407 acres of which, are included in his homestead in Cass County, and 300 acres in Morgan County. He devotes his time to the feeding of stock and the management of his farming interests. On October 4, 1876 Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with Lydia Ellen Crum who died March 26, 1907. She was the only daughter of Abram A. Crum of Morgan County. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter became the parents of two sons, Albert Crum who is a physician and surgeon of Springfield, Ill., and William Abram, who is at home on the old farm Bildmore Place, with his father in politics, Mr. Baxter is a stanch protective tariff Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the John L. Douglas Post GAR of Ashland, Ill., and was its first commander. Aside from being a well-informed man and the owner of large tracts of land, Mr. Baxter's military record as detailed in this sketch enables him to bestow a priceless heritage of honor to his posterity.
SOURCE: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II. Illustrated, History of Cass County, 1915. Pages 846 and 847. By: Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, Charles Aesop Martin, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago.
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Baxter, H. B. 1881 -- listed in the "1881 Farmer's Directory of Cass, Mason, Menard and Sangamon Counties, Illinois", aka "The Farmer's Review" published in Chicago.
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US CIVIL WAR, Union Army Vet:
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010398
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 24
Date Enrolled: 1865/02/15
Where Enrolled: Indianapolis, Indiana
Regiment: 148
Company: B
Discharge Date: 1865/09/01
Notes: 1st Lieut. Promoted to Capt., 8/24/65.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=A44C2081F7D499CFC96C203AD6CEEB04
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Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010399
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 23
Date Enrolled: 1863/05/16
Where Enrolled: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Regiment: 22
Company: G
Discharge Date: 1864/08/
Notes: 1st Lieut. Discharged as 1st Sgt. Co. K, 22nd Regt., 5/15/64. Disabled 8/64.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=AFFAB4AA07BABED37C2D97A31FB7AABA
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Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010375
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 20
Date Enrolled: 1861/08/15
Where Enrolled: Madison, Indiana
Regiment: 22
Company: K
Discharge Date: 1864/08/29
Notes: Disabled. 1st Lieut.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=9909B6FF2968964C7B932D27CFC1557F
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Hiram Bennett BAXTER, an intelligent and progressive farmer and stock-raiser of township 17-{range} 9, near Ashland, Illinois, was born and reared in Jefferson county, Indiana. His parents were William and Jane (Kerr) Baxter, both natives of Ohio, his father having been born in Dayton. His father's father was a native of Ireland, who came to America and settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he married a German lady, named Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather was Josiah Kerr, a native of Scotland. Thus he is of Irish, German and Scotch ancestry, three of the most intelligent and progressive nationalities on the face of the earth, and he would be a sad renegade were he not likewise constituted. His parents had ten sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth. James Riddle, the eldest brother, is an attorney of Bloomfield, Greene county, Indiana; Josiah Kerr is a retired physician of Sharpsville, Indiana; Daniel Thomas, a mechanic, died in early manhood, leaving a wife and two children, all now deceased; Oliver H. P. was one of the first white settlers in Pueblo, Colorado, where he engaged in mining and speculating in cattle, in which occupations he has been very successful, having accumulated a fortune of great wealth. He is now retired from active business, and spends most of his time in traveling, has been twice to Europe, and last summer was in Alaska. William Alexander died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1877; the next in order is the subject of this sketch; George W. is a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana; Hayden Hayes is in the cattle business, near Pueblo, Colorado; Edward Arthur is in the livery and undertaking business in Sangamon county, Illinois; Leonidas Napoleon is farming the old Indiana homestead; Havanna Siloam married Robert Williams, a merchant of Madison, Indiana; Irena Hazeltine died in early childhood. In 1854 the family were called upon to mourn the loss of the devoted wife and mother, whose life had been one of self-abnegation and subservience to her family's welfare. The father afterward married her sister, and to this union one son, Virgil, was born, who died in 1861. The father died in August, 1861, and was interred by the side of his first wife, near the old home in Indiana. He was a prominent man in his community and was very popular among his associates, always heading every movement for the moral and material improvement of his locality. The second wife lives on the old homestead. She is a lady of much culture and refinement, and is universally beloved. The subject of this sketch was educated in Indiana, and was reared to farm life, and in the peaceful pursuits of rural and home life spent his earlier days. This happy routine was interrupted by civil discord, which rent the country, and on July 14, 1861, he enlisted at Madison, Indiana, in Company K, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry. He participated in the Missouri campaign, the first encounter taking place at Glasgow, that State, where Major Tanner was killed; and also took part in the fight at Blackwater, where the Union forces took 1,300 of the enemy prisoners. Thence he accompanied his regiment under the supervision of General Fremont, to Springfield, Missouri. General Hunter superseding General Fremont, they were returned to their old quarters, under the immediate command of General Curtis, with whom they marched to Springfield and thence to the battle at Pea Ridge, where the right flank suffered severely. Thence they went to Corinth, Mississippi, where they participated in the siege of Corinth, after which they returned to Iuka, that State, going from there to Florence, Alabama, and back again to Louisville, marching 400 miles in August and September, 1862. After this they went to Perryville, Kentucky, where there was an engagement, in which Mr. Baxter was shot through the left knee, lying on the battlefield all night after being wounded. There were thirty-five men in his company on going into battle, and on emerging there were but eight unharmed, ten having been killed, thirteen wounded and four taken prisoners. Mr. Baxter was sent to the hospital at Louisville where he remained from October 8, 1862, to February of the following year. He rejoined his regiment at, Tennessee, and there received his commission as First Lieutenant, being promoted from Duty Sergeant to that rank. In the absence of the captain, who had been wounded, Mr. Baxter at once assumed command of the company. His regiment remained in Murfreesboro until June, and then went on the Tullahoma campaign, following the enemy as far as Chattanooga, and participated in the historic battle of Chickamauga. It then fell back to Chattanooga, and engaged for a time in building fortifications. It next took part in the sanguinary battle of Missionary Ridge, at which it was in Sheridan'' division, and fought in the center. The following morning it started on a forced march for Knoxville, to relieve Burnside, who was surrounded by Longstreet. During this rapid march, the regiment was short of rations and had no tents. It was encamped on Strawberry Plains for six weeks, while the ground, the greater part of the time, was covered with snow. At this place the regiment re-enlisted for three years, and then returned to Chattanooga, after which the men were given a veteran furlough. At the expiration of their leave of absence, they rejoined their command at Chattanooga, whence they started with General Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. The Twenty-second Indiana being in the advance brigade. The enemy were met in force at Tunnel Hill and Rocky Face Ridge, and next at Resaca, Georgia, whence the Union forces proceeded to Snake Creek Gap, where Mr. Baxter's division was separated from the main army, and sent, under General Jefferson C. Davis, via Rome, Georgia. Here an engagement was fought, at which Mr. Baxter was again wounded in the left leg, the same as before. He remained about a month in Rome, when he secured a leave of absence for forty days, finally reporting to the officer's hospital, in Cincinnati, where the board of examiners ordered his discharge, General Slemmer being the chief of the board. On being discharge, August 29, 1864, he was granted $8.50 a month, that being half of a first lieutenant's pension. In February, 1865, Mr. Baxter assisted in raising a company for the One Hundred and Forty-eight Indiana Regiment, of which company he became First Lieutenant and afterward Captain. This regiment was sent to Columbia, Tennessee, where it did patrol duty until September 6, 1865, when it was mustered out of service. Mr. Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana, and was subsequently employed for a time in the railroad business in Indianapolis. December 15, 1866, he reached Jacksonville, Illinois, near which place he taught school two years; later, he taught school for another two years at Literberry, same State. He was afterward engaged in selling goods in the latter place, where he acted at various times as railroad agent, Postmaster and Justice of the Peace, his residence there extending over a period of nine years. In 1876 he was married, and included the Centennial Exposition in his wedding tour, visiting in old Virginia and spending a week in Washington city. Miss Lydia Ellen Crum was the lady of his choice, a daughter of Abram A. and Sarah (Buchanan) Crum, old and highly respected residents of the vicinity of Literberry, Illinois, where they still reside. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have two sons, --Albert, born October 9, 1880, and William Abram, born September 18, 1887. In 1881, Mr. Baxter sold out his mercantile interests in Literberry and removed to his present farm, five miles west of Ashland, where his father-in-law had given him $20,000 worth of land. He owns a farm of 760 acres on the garden spot of Illinois, and, as for that matter, of the world, inasmuch as there is no more fertile country on the globe than that included in the Prairie State. This season (1892) he has 260 acres of corn, 180 of wheat, and eight of oats, the balance being meadow and pasture land. He has here a substantial farm residence, neatly and comfortably arranged; large barns for his grain and stock; and many other valuable improvements. Mr. Baxter is a stanch Republican and takes an active interest in political matters. He has been a candidate for various offices, but his party being in the minority he was never elected, yet succeeded in helping to hold the party organization together. He belongs to the G. A. R. and was the first commander of John L. Douglas Post, No. 591, at Ashland, having served two terms in that capacity. Seven of Mr. Baxter's brothers were in the army, no two of whom were in the same regiment, and all returned home, and still survive. Dr. Josiah was a Surgeon in the army; and Hayden was taken prisoner, stripped of his clothing and other valuables, paroled and turned loose, walking all the way home from Arkansas Post. Of this family there were one Surgeon, two Captains, one Lieutenant, and three privates in the service. The subject of this sketch received three commissions, two as First Lieutenant, and one as Captain, all from the hands of the famous war Governor Oliver P. Morton. Mr. Baxter received two wounds at the hands of the rebels, which compelled him to spend some eight months in the hospital. During the total period of three years and eight months he served two years in command of his company; and, while he was one of the youngest soldiers in it, he thinks he did his part. Had this family lived in Napoleon's time, they would have been greatly honored, inasmuch as he valued families only in proportion to the number of sons contributed to the insatiable monster of war. It is the disadvantage of republican forms of government, that they bestow no special privileges for services rendered by their inhabitants other than the universal gratitude of millions living and unborn, which is supplemented, in the breasts of those champions of liberty in the late war, by a deep sense of duty done, which soothes the wounded spirit and begets a peace which passeth understanding.
SOURCE: "BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS, SCHUYLER and BROWN COUNTIES, Illinois - 1892", page 337. The Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago.
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BAXTER, Hiram Bennett, one of the extensive landholders of Illinois, and a well known and respected citizen of Cass County, was born near Madison, Jefferson County, Ind., September 22, 1840. He is of Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, his parents William and Jane Kerr-Baxter being natives of Ohio, the former born in the city of Dayton in 1804. His grandfather, James Baxter, a native of County Tyrone Ireland came to the United States about the time of the Revolutionary war, settling near Pittsburgh Pa., where he married a German lady whose name was Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather, Josiah Kerr, was a native of Scotland. Hiram B. Baxter is the sixth of twelve children of a family of ten sons and two daughters. The mother of this family died May 27, 1855, and the father subsequently married her sister Margaret Kerr, by whom he had one son. The father was a prosperous farmer and died on his old farm in Indiana August 25, 1861, at the age of fifty-seven years. Hiram B. Baxter was reared on a farm attended the district schools and at the age of eighteen years was himself teaching a district school in his native county. On July 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company K Twenty second Indiana Volunteer Infantry for service in the Civil war, and was mustered into the service at North Madison Ind. by Colonel (afterwards General) Thomas Wood. He participated in the Mississippi campaign under Fremont Hunter and Curtis, taking part in the engagement at Glasgow, in which Major Tanner of his regiment was mortally wounded: was in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., and at the siege of Corinth Miss. He then accompanied his regiment in General Buell's army to Louisville Ky., a distance of nearly 400 miles and participated in the battle of Perryville Ky., where he received a severe rifle wound in the left knee. Of the thirty-five men in his company who were engaged in that battle, but eight remained to answer the roll call next morning. Ten were killed, thirteen wounded, and four were captured unhurt. The wounded were all made prisoners for the night. Mr. Baxter rejoined his regiment at Murfreesboro, Tenn., after the battle of Stone River, in February, 1863, and then received his commission as first lieutenant of his company being promoted from a sergeancy. In the absence of the captain who had been wounded at the battle of Stone River, Lieutenant Baxter assumed command of the company. The regiment remained at Murfreesboro until June 24, 1863, when it marched with General Rosecranz' army on the Tullahoma campaign following the army under General Bragg to Chattanooga. Lieutenant Baxter's command was assigned to the work of guarding a pass in the mountains near the battle ground of Chickamauga, and thus was not engaged in that battle, and was then cooped-up with the balance of the army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, in Chattanooga, subsisting on short rations for two months until re-enforcements arrived, under Hooker from the east, and Sherman from the west with General Grant to take command. Then, the army aroused from its lethargy and captured Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in a grand charge all along the line, driving the enemy from their vantage ground at every point. Lieutenant Baxter was in command of Company G of his regiment in the charge on Missionary Ridge, being temporarily assigned to take charge of that company, and was in Sheridan's Division of the Fourth Corps, and ascended the ridge near where Bragg's headquarters were established. Immediately after the battle, on the next day, with his command he started in pursuit of Longstreet, to relieve Burnside at Knoxville Tenn., arriving there after a hard forced march to find Burnside's army safe, and the enemy gone. The Union army remained there for six weeks, subsisting principally by foraging over the surrounding country, camping in the woods without tents or blankets, with snow on the ground, and a damp cold wind blowing most of the time. The men cut the timber and built huge fires to keep themselves warm, taking turns at night to keep the fire burning, and to watch that the sleepers did not get burned. Under such circumstances, Lieutenant Baxter re-enlisted as a veteran and with his company, returned to Chattanooga, where they were re-mustered for three years more, or during the war. He then returned to Indiana on a veteran furlough of thirty days. At the expiration of the furlough, he went by rail with his command to Nashville Tenn., and they marched to Chattanooga, where the company and regiment were assigned to Gen. Daniel McCook's brigade in the organization of Sherman's army for the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea. Mr. Baxter was at Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and Rome Ga., where in command of his company, he was again wounded in the same leg as before. He remained in the hospital, and on a furlough until August 29, following, when he was honorably discharged by the secretary of war, on account of disability from gunshot wounds. Lieutenant Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana for a time, and attended a commercial school at Indianapolis. Recovering from his disability, in a marked degree during the fall and winter, he again entered the service in the following February, as first Lieutenant of Company B One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer infantry, and upon its organization, he was made captain of the company, and served as such, until the end of the war, being mustered-out at Indianapolis, Ind., September 6, 1865. Six of Captain Baxters brothers served in the Federal army during the Civil war, no two of them being in the same regiment, and all survived the conflict, and six of them are living at this time. Among the seven brothers of the Baxter family there were, two captains, one first lieutenant, one corporal, and two privates, all of whom enlisted as privates. The combined service of these brothers aggregated nearly fifteen years. After returning home at the end of the war, Captain Baxter for a time, was a clerk in a railroad office at Indianapolis, but becoming dissatisfied, he turned his attention westward, and on December 1, 1866, with $700 in his pocket, he arrived at Jacksonville, Ill. Near this place for a short time, he worked on a farm, built fences, and did all such tasks as came to his hand, in the meanwhile, becoming acquainted with the people. He then taught school for four years, near Jacksonville and Literberry. At the latter place, for nine years, he was afterwards, engaged in merchandising, and also filling the position of postmaster, was also railroad agent, justice of the peace, and notary public, was additionally engaged in the making of brick, and in furnishing the railroad with ties, posts, wood, etc. On January 21, 1881, he moved to the farm upon which he now resides in Cass County, Ill., about eight miles from Literberry. He and his two sons are now the owners of 1,707 acres of land 1.407 acres of which, are included in his homestead in Cass County, and 300 acres in Morgan County. He devotes his time to the feeding of stock and the management of his farming interests. On October 4, 1876 Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with Lydia Ellen Crum who died March 26, 1907. She was the only daughter of Abram A. Crum of Morgan County. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter became the parents of two sons, Albert Crum who is a physician and surgeon of Springfield, Ill., and William Abram, who is at home on the old farm Bildmore Place, with his father in politics, Mr. Baxter is a stanch protective tariff Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the John L. Douglas Post GAR of Ashland, Ill., and was its first commander. Aside from being a well-informed man and the owner of large tracts of land, Mr. Baxter's military record as detailed in this sketch enables him to bestow a priceless heritage of honor to his posterity.
SOURCE: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II. Illustrated, History of Cass County, 1915. Pages 846 and 847. By: Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, Charles Aesop Martin, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago.
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Baxter, H. B. 1881 -- listed in the "1881 Farmer's Directory of Cass, Mason, Menard and Sangamon Counties, Illinois", aka "The Farmer's Review" published in Chicago.
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US CIVIL WAR, Union Army Vet:
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010398
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 24
Date Enrolled: 1865/02/15
Where Enrolled: Indianapolis, Indiana
Regiment: 148
Company: B
Discharge Date: 1865/09/01
Notes: 1st Lieut. Promoted to Capt., 8/24/65.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=A44C2081F7D499CFC96C203AD6CEEB04
---
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010399
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 23
Date Enrolled: 1863/05/16
Where Enrolled: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Regiment: 22
Company: G
Discharge Date: 1864/08/
Notes: 1st Lieut. Discharged as 1st Sgt. Co. K, 22nd Regt., 5/15/64. Disabled 8/64.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=AFFAB4AA07BABED37C2D97A31FB7AABA
---
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010375
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 20
Date Enrolled: 1861/08/15
Where Enrolled: Madison, Indiana
Regiment: 22
Company: K
Discharge Date: 1864/08/29
Notes: Disabled. 1st Lieut.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=9909B6FF2968964C7B932D27CFC1557F
A lifespan of: 98 years, 1 month, and 24 days...
---
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Hiram Bennett BAXTER, an intelligent and progressive farmer and stock-raiser of township 17-{range} 9, near Ashland, Illinois, was born and reared in Jefferson county, Indiana. His parents were William and Jane (Kerr) Baxter, both natives of Ohio, his father having been born in Dayton. His father's father was a native of Ireland, who came to America and settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he married a German lady, named Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather was Josiah Kerr, a native of Scotland. Thus he is of Irish, German and Scotch ancestry, three of the most intelligent and progressive nationalities on the face of the earth, and he would be a sad renegade were he not likewise constituted. His parents had ten sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth. James Riddle, the eldest brother, is an attorney of Bloomfield, Greene county, Indiana; Josiah Kerr is a retired physician of Sharpsville, Indiana; Daniel Thomas, a mechanic, died in early manhood, leaving a wife and two children, all now deceased; Oliver H. P. was one of the first white settlers in Pueblo, Colorado, where he engaged in mining and speculating in cattle, in which occupations he has been very successful, having accumulated a fortune of great wealth. He is now retired from active business, and spends most of his time in traveling, has been twice to Europe, and last summer was in Alaska. William Alexander died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1877; the next in order is the subject of this sketch; George W. is a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana; Hayden Hayes is in the cattle business, near Pueblo, Colorado; Edward Arthur is in the livery and undertaking business in Sangamon county, Illinois; Leonidas Napoleon is farming the old Indiana homestead; Havanna Siloam married Robert Williams, a merchant of Madison, Indiana; Irena Hazeltine died in early childhood. In 1854 the family were called upon to mourn the loss of the devoted wife and mother, whose life had been one of self-abnegation and subservience to her family's welfare. The father afterward married her sister, and to this union one son, Virgil, was born, who died in 1861. The father died in August, 1861, and was interred by the side of his first wife, near the old home in Indiana. He was a prominent man in his community and was very popular among his associates, always heading every movement for the moral and material improvement of his locality. The second wife lives on the old homestead. She is a lady of much culture and refinement, and is universally beloved. The subject of this sketch was educated in Indiana, and was reared to farm life, and in the peaceful pursuits of rural and home life spent his earlier days. This happy routine was interrupted by civil discord, which rent the country, and on July 14, 1861, he enlisted at Madison, Indiana, in Company K, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry. He participated in the Missouri campaign, the first encounter taking place at Glasgow, that State, where Major Tanner was killed; and also took part in the fight at Blackwater, where the Union forces took 1,300 of the enemy prisoners. Thence he accompanied his regiment under the supervision of General Fremont, to Springfield, Missouri. General Hunter superseding General Fremont, they were returned to their old quarters, under the immediate command of General Curtis, with whom they marched to Springfield and thence to the battle at Pea Ridge, where the right flank suffered severely. Thence they went to Corinth, Mississippi, where they participated in the siege of Corinth, after which they returned to Iuka, that State, going from there to Florence, Alabama, and back again to Louisville, marching 400 miles in August and September, 1862. After this they went to Perryville, Kentucky, where there was an engagement, in which Mr. Baxter was shot through the left knee, lying on the battlefield all night after being wounded. There were thirty-five men in his company on going into battle, and on emerging there were but eight unharmed, ten having been killed, thirteen wounded and four taken prisoners. Mr. Baxter was sent to the hospital at Louisville where he remained from October 8, 1862, to February of the following year. He rejoined his regiment at, Tennessee, and there received his commission as First Lieutenant, being promoted from Duty Sergeant to that rank. In the absence of the captain, who had been wounded, Mr. Baxter at once assumed command of the company. His regiment remained in Murfreesboro until June, and then went on the Tullahoma campaign, following the enemy as far as Chattanooga, and participated in the historic battle of Chickamauga. It then fell back to Chattanooga, and engaged for a time in building fortifications. It next took part in the sanguinary battle of Missionary Ridge, at which it was in Sheridan'' division, and fought in the center. The following morning it started on a forced march for Knoxville, to relieve Burnside, who was surrounded by Longstreet. During this rapid march, the regiment was short of rations and had no tents. It was encamped on Strawberry Plains for six weeks, while the ground, the greater part of the time, was covered with snow. At this place the regiment re-enlisted for three years, and then returned to Chattanooga, after which the men were given a veteran furlough. At the expiration of their leave of absence, they rejoined their command at Chattanooga, whence they started with General Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. The Twenty-second Indiana being in the advance brigade. The enemy were met in force at Tunnel Hill and Rocky Face Ridge, and next at Resaca, Georgia, whence the Union forces proceeded to Snake Creek Gap, where Mr. Baxter's division was separated from the main army, and sent, under General Jefferson C. Davis, via Rome, Georgia. Here an engagement was fought, at which Mr. Baxter was again wounded in the left leg, the same as before. He remained about a month in Rome, when he secured a leave of absence for forty days, finally reporting to the officer's hospital, in Cincinnati, where the board of examiners ordered his discharge, General Slemmer being the chief of the board. On being discharge, August 29, 1864, he was granted $8.50 a month, that being half of a first lieutenant's pension. In February, 1865, Mr. Baxter assisted in raising a company for the One Hundred and Forty-eight Indiana Regiment, of which company he became First Lieutenant and afterward Captain. This regiment was sent to Columbia, Tennessee, where it did patrol duty until September 6, 1865, when it was mustered out of service. Mr. Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana, and was subsequently employed for a time in the railroad business in Indianapolis. December 15, 1866, he reached Jacksonville, Illinois, near which place he taught school two years; later, he taught school for another two years at Literberry, same State. He was afterward engaged in selling goods in the latter place, where he acted at various times as railroad agent, Postmaster and Justice of the Peace, his residence there extending over a period of nine years. In 1876 he was married, and included the Centennial Exposition in his wedding tour, visiting in old Virginia and spending a week in Washington city. Miss Lydia Ellen Crum was the lady of his choice, a daughter of Abram A. and Sarah (Buchanan) Crum, old and highly respected residents of the vicinity of Literberry, Illinois, where they still reside. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have two sons, --Albert, born October 9, 1880, and William Abram, born September 18, 1887. In 1881, Mr. Baxter sold out his mercantile interests in Literberry and removed to his present farm, five miles west of Ashland, where his father-in-law had given him $20,000 worth of land. He owns a farm of 760 acres on the garden spot of Illinois, and, as for that matter, of the world, inasmuch as there is no more fertile country on the globe than that included in the Prairie State. This season (1892) he has 260 acres of corn, 180 of wheat, and eight of oats, the balance being meadow and pasture land. He has here a substantial farm residence, neatly and comfortably arranged; large barns for his grain and stock; and many other valuable improvements. Mr. Baxter is a stanch Republican and takes an active interest in political matters. He has been a candidate for various offices, but his party being in the minority he was never elected, yet succeeded in helping to hold the party organization together. He belongs to the G. A. R. and was the first commander of John L. Douglas Post, No. 591, at Ashland, having served two terms in that capacity. Seven of Mr. Baxter's brothers were in the army, no two of whom were in the same regiment, and all returned home, and still survive. Dr. Josiah was a Surgeon in the army; and Hayden was taken prisoner, stripped of his clothing and other valuables, paroled and turned loose, walking all the way home from Arkansas Post. Of this family there were one Surgeon, two Captains, one Lieutenant, and three privates in the service. The subject of this sketch received three commissions, two as First Lieutenant, and one as Captain, all from the hands of the famous war Governor Oliver P. Morton. Mr. Baxter received two wounds at the hands of the rebels, which compelled him to spend some eight months in the hospital. During the total period of three years and eight months he served two years in command of his company; and, while he was one of the youngest soldiers in it, he thinks he did his part. Had this family lived in Napoleon's time, they would have been greatly honored, inasmuch as he valued families only in proportion to the number of sons contributed to the insatiable monster of war. It is the disadvantage of republican forms of government, that they bestow no special privileges for services rendered by their inhabitants other than the universal gratitude of millions living and unborn, which is supplemented, in the breasts of those champions of liberty in the late war, by a deep sense of duty done, which soothes the wounded spirit and begets a peace which passeth understanding.
SOURCE: "BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS, SCHUYLER and BROWN COUNTIES, Illinois - 1892", page 337. The Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago.
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BAXTER, Hiram Bennett, one of the extensive landholders of Illinois, and a well known and respected citizen of Cass County, was born near Madison, Jefferson County, Ind., September 22, 1840. He is of Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, his parents William and Jane Kerr-Baxter being natives of Ohio, the former born in the city of Dayton in 1804. His grandfather, James Baxter, a native of County Tyrone Ireland came to the United States about the time of the Revolutionary war, settling near Pittsburgh Pa., where he married a German lady whose name was Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather, Josiah Kerr, was a native of Scotland. Hiram B. Baxter is the sixth of twelve children of a family of ten sons and two daughters. The mother of this family died May 27, 1855, and the father subsequently married her sister Margaret Kerr, by whom he had one son. The father was a prosperous farmer and died on his old farm in Indiana August 25, 1861, at the age of fifty-seven years. Hiram B. Baxter was reared on a farm attended the district schools and at the age of eighteen years was himself teaching a district school in his native county. On July 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company K Twenty second Indiana Volunteer Infantry for service in the Civil war, and was mustered into the service at North Madison Ind. by Colonel (afterwards General) Thomas Wood. He participated in the Mississippi campaign under Fremont Hunter and Curtis, taking part in the engagement at Glasgow, in which Major Tanner of his regiment was mortally wounded: was in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., and at the siege of Corinth Miss. He then accompanied his regiment in General Buell's army to Louisville Ky., a distance of nearly 400 miles and participated in the battle of Perryville Ky., where he received a severe rifle wound in the left knee. Of the thirty-five men in his company who were engaged in that battle, but eight remained to answer the roll call next morning. Ten were killed, thirteen wounded, and four were captured unhurt. The wounded were all made prisoners for the night. Mr. Baxter rejoined his regiment at Murfreesboro, Tenn., after the battle of Stone River, in February, 1863, and then received his commission as first lieutenant of his company being promoted from a sergeancy. In the absence of the captain who had been wounded at the battle of Stone River, Lieutenant Baxter assumed command of the company. The regiment remained at Murfreesboro until June 24, 1863, when it marched with General Rosecranz' army on the Tullahoma campaign following the army under General Bragg to Chattanooga. Lieutenant Baxter's command was assigned to the work of guarding a pass in the mountains near the battle ground of Chickamauga, and thus was not engaged in that battle, and was then cooped-up with the balance of the army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, in Chattanooga, subsisting on short rations for two months until re-enforcements arrived, under Hooker from the east, and Sherman from the west with General Grant to take command. Then, the army aroused from its lethargy and captured Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in a grand charge all along the line, driving the enemy from their vantage ground at every point. Lieutenant Baxter was in command of Company G of his regiment in the charge on Missionary Ridge, being temporarily assigned to take charge of that company, and was in Sheridan's Division of the Fourth Corps, and ascended the ridge near where Bragg's headquarters were established. Immediately after the battle, on the next day, with his command he started in pursuit of Longstreet, to relieve Burnside at Knoxville Tenn., arriving there after a hard forced march to find Burnside's army safe, and the enemy gone. The Union army remained there for six weeks, subsisting principally by foraging over the surrounding country, camping in the woods without tents or blankets, with snow on the ground, and a damp cold wind blowing most of the time. The men cut the timber and built huge fires to keep themselves warm, taking turns at night to keep the fire burning, and to watch that the sleepers did not get burned. Under such circumstances, Lieutenant Baxter re-enlisted as a veteran and with his company, returned to Chattanooga, where they were re-mustered for three years more, or during the war. He then returned to Indiana on a veteran furlough of thirty days. At the expiration of the furlough, he went by rail with his command to Nashville Tenn., and they marched to Chattanooga, where the company and regiment were assigned to Gen. Daniel McCook's brigade in the organization of Sherman's army for the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea. Mr. Baxter was at Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and Rome Ga., where in command of his company, he was again wounded in the same leg as before. He remained in the hospital, and on a furlough until August 29, following, when he was honorably discharged by the secretary of war, on account of disability from gunshot wounds. Lieutenant Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana for a time, and attended a commercial school at Indianapolis. Recovering from his disability, in a marked degree during the fall and winter, he again entered the service in the following February, as first Lieutenant of Company B One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer infantry, and upon its organization, he was made captain of the company, and served as such, until the end of the war, being mustered-out at Indianapolis, Ind., September 6, 1865. Six of Captain Baxters brothers served in the Federal army during the Civil war, no two of them being in the same regiment, and all survived the conflict, and six of them are living at this time. Among the seven brothers of the Baxter family there were, two captains, one first lieutenant, one corporal, and two privates, all of whom enlisted as privates. The combined service of these brothers aggregated nearly fifteen years. After returning home at the end of the war, Captain Baxter for a time, was a clerk in a railroad office at Indianapolis, but becoming dissatisfied, he turned his attention westward, and on December 1, 1866, with $700 in his pocket, he arrived at Jacksonville, Ill. Near this place for a short time, he worked on a farm, built fences, and did all such tasks as came to his hand, in the meanwhile, becoming acquainted with the people. He then taught school for four years, near Jacksonville and Literberry. At the latter place, for nine years, he was afterwards, engaged in merchandising, and also filling the position of postmaster, was also railroad agent, justice of the peace, and notary public, was additionally engaged in the making of brick, and in furnishing the railroad with ties, posts, wood, etc. On January 21, 1881, he moved to the farm upon which he now resides in Cass County, Ill., about eight miles from Literberry. He and his two sons are now the owners of 1,707 acres of land 1.407 acres of which, are included in his homestead in Cass County, and 300 acres in Morgan County. He devotes his time to the feeding of stock and the management of his farming interests. On October 4, 1876 Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with Lydia Ellen Crum who died March 26, 1907. She was the only daughter of Abram A. Crum of Morgan County. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter became the parents of two sons, Albert Crum who is a physician and surgeon of Springfield, Ill., and William Abram, who is at home on the old farm Bildmore Place, with his father in politics, Mr. Baxter is a stanch protective tariff Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the John L. Douglas Post GAR of Ashland, Ill., and was its first commander. Aside from being a well-informed man and the owner of large tracts of land, Mr. Baxter's military record as detailed in this sketch enables him to bestow a priceless heritage of honor to his posterity.
SOURCE: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II. Illustrated, History of Cass County, 1915. Pages 846 and 847. By: Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, Charles Aesop Martin, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago.
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Baxter, H. B. 1881 -- listed in the "1881 Farmer's Directory of Cass, Mason, Menard and Sangamon Counties, Illinois", aka "The Farmer's Review" published in Chicago.
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US CIVIL WAR, Union Army Vet:
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010398
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 24
Date Enrolled: 1865/02/15
Where Enrolled: Indianapolis, Indiana
Regiment: 148
Company: B
Discharge Date: 1865/09/01
Notes: 1st Lieut. Promoted to Capt., 8/24/65.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=A44C2081F7D499CFC96C203AD6CEEB04
---
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010399
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 23
Date Enrolled: 1863/05/16
Where Enrolled: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Regiment: 22
Company: G
Discharge Date: 1864/08/
Notes: 1st Lieut. Discharged as 1st Sgt. Co. K, 22nd Regt., 5/15/64. Disabled 8/64.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=AFFAB4AA07BABED37C2D97A31FB7AABA
---
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010375
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 20
Date Enrolled: 1861/08/15
Where Enrolled: Madison, Indiana
Regiment: 22
Company: K
Discharge Date: 1864/08/29
Notes: Disabled. 1st Lieut.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=9909B6FF2968964C7B932D27CFC1557F
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Hiram Bennett BAXTER, an intelligent and progressive farmer and stock-raiser of township 17-{range} 9, near Ashland, Illinois, was born and reared in Jefferson county, Indiana. His parents were William and Jane (Kerr) Baxter, both natives of Ohio, his father having been born in Dayton. His father's father was a native of Ireland, who came to America and settled in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he married a German lady, named Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather was Josiah Kerr, a native of Scotland. Thus he is of Irish, German and Scotch ancestry, three of the most intelligent and progressive nationalities on the face of the earth, and he would be a sad renegade were he not likewise constituted. His parents had ten sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth. James Riddle, the eldest brother, is an attorney of Bloomfield, Greene county, Indiana; Josiah Kerr is a retired physician of Sharpsville, Indiana; Daniel Thomas, a mechanic, died in early manhood, leaving a wife and two children, all now deceased; Oliver H. P. was one of the first white settlers in Pueblo, Colorado, where he engaged in mining and speculating in cattle, in which occupations he has been very successful, having accumulated a fortune of great wealth. He is now retired from active business, and spends most of his time in traveling, has been twice to Europe, and last summer was in Alaska. William Alexander died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1877; the next in order is the subject of this sketch; George W. is a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana; Hayden Hayes is in the cattle business, near Pueblo, Colorado; Edward Arthur is in the livery and undertaking business in Sangamon county, Illinois; Leonidas Napoleon is farming the old Indiana homestead; Havanna Siloam married Robert Williams, a merchant of Madison, Indiana; Irena Hazeltine died in early childhood. In 1854 the family were called upon to mourn the loss of the devoted wife and mother, whose life had been one of self-abnegation and subservience to her family's welfare. The father afterward married her sister, and to this union one son, Virgil, was born, who died in 1861. The father died in August, 1861, and was interred by the side of his first wife, near the old home in Indiana. He was a prominent man in his community and was very popular among his associates, always heading every movement for the moral and material improvement of his locality. The second wife lives on the old homestead. She is a lady of much culture and refinement, and is universally beloved. The subject of this sketch was educated in Indiana, and was reared to farm life, and in the peaceful pursuits of rural and home life spent his earlier days. This happy routine was interrupted by civil discord, which rent the country, and on July 14, 1861, he enlisted at Madison, Indiana, in Company K, Twenty-second Indiana Infantry. He participated in the Missouri campaign, the first encounter taking place at Glasgow, that State, where Major Tanner was killed; and also took part in the fight at Blackwater, where the Union forces took 1,300 of the enemy prisoners. Thence he accompanied his regiment under the supervision of General Fremont, to Springfield, Missouri. General Hunter superseding General Fremont, they were returned to their old quarters, under the immediate command of General Curtis, with whom they marched to Springfield and thence to the battle at Pea Ridge, where the right flank suffered severely. Thence they went to Corinth, Mississippi, where they participated in the siege of Corinth, after which they returned to Iuka, that State, going from there to Florence, Alabama, and back again to Louisville, marching 400 miles in August and September, 1862. After this they went to Perryville, Kentucky, where there was an engagement, in which Mr. Baxter was shot through the left knee, lying on the battlefield all night after being wounded. There were thirty-five men in his company on going into battle, and on emerging there were but eight unharmed, ten having been killed, thirteen wounded and four taken prisoners. Mr. Baxter was sent to the hospital at Louisville where he remained from October 8, 1862, to February of the following year. He rejoined his regiment at, Tennessee, and there received his commission as First Lieutenant, being promoted from Duty Sergeant to that rank. In the absence of the captain, who had been wounded, Mr. Baxter at once assumed command of the company. His regiment remained in Murfreesboro until June, and then went on the Tullahoma campaign, following the enemy as far as Chattanooga, and participated in the historic battle of Chickamauga. It then fell back to Chattanooga, and engaged for a time in building fortifications. It next took part in the sanguinary battle of Missionary Ridge, at which it was in Sheridan'' division, and fought in the center. The following morning it started on a forced march for Knoxville, to relieve Burnside, who was surrounded by Longstreet. During this rapid march, the regiment was short of rations and had no tents. It was encamped on Strawberry Plains for six weeks, while the ground, the greater part of the time, was covered with snow. At this place the regiment re-enlisted for three years, and then returned to Chattanooga, after which the men were given a veteran furlough. At the expiration of their leave of absence, they rejoined their command at Chattanooga, whence they started with General Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. The Twenty-second Indiana being in the advance brigade. The enemy were met in force at Tunnel Hill and Rocky Face Ridge, and next at Resaca, Georgia, whence the Union forces proceeded to Snake Creek Gap, where Mr. Baxter's division was separated from the main army, and sent, under General Jefferson C. Davis, via Rome, Georgia. Here an engagement was fought, at which Mr. Baxter was again wounded in the left leg, the same as before. He remained about a month in Rome, when he secured a leave of absence for forty days, finally reporting to the officer's hospital, in Cincinnati, where the board of examiners ordered his discharge, General Slemmer being the chief of the board. On being discharge, August 29, 1864, he was granted $8.50 a month, that being half of a first lieutenant's pension. In February, 1865, Mr. Baxter assisted in raising a company for the One Hundred and Forty-eight Indiana Regiment, of which company he became First Lieutenant and afterward Captain. This regiment was sent to Columbia, Tennessee, where it did patrol duty until September 6, 1865, when it was mustered out of service. Mr. Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana, and was subsequently employed for a time in the railroad business in Indianapolis. December 15, 1866, he reached Jacksonville, Illinois, near which place he taught school two years; later, he taught school for another two years at Literberry, same State. He was afterward engaged in selling goods in the latter place, where he acted at various times as railroad agent, Postmaster and Justice of the Peace, his residence there extending over a period of nine years. In 1876 he was married, and included the Centennial Exposition in his wedding tour, visiting in old Virginia and spending a week in Washington city. Miss Lydia Ellen Crum was the lady of his choice, a daughter of Abram A. and Sarah (Buchanan) Crum, old and highly respected residents of the vicinity of Literberry, Illinois, where they still reside. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have two sons, --Albert, born October 9, 1880, and William Abram, born September 18, 1887. In 1881, Mr. Baxter sold out his mercantile interests in Literberry and removed to his present farm, five miles west of Ashland, where his father-in-law had given him $20,000 worth of land. He owns a farm of 760 acres on the garden spot of Illinois, and, as for that matter, of the world, inasmuch as there is no more fertile country on the globe than that included in the Prairie State. This season (1892) he has 260 acres of corn, 180 of wheat, and eight of oats, the balance being meadow and pasture land. He has here a substantial farm residence, neatly and comfortably arranged; large barns for his grain and stock; and many other valuable improvements. Mr. Baxter is a stanch Republican and takes an active interest in political matters. He has been a candidate for various offices, but his party being in the minority he was never elected, yet succeeded in helping to hold the party organization together. He belongs to the G. A. R. and was the first commander of John L. Douglas Post, No. 591, at Ashland, having served two terms in that capacity. Seven of Mr. Baxter's brothers were in the army, no two of whom were in the same regiment, and all returned home, and still survive. Dr. Josiah was a Surgeon in the army; and Hayden was taken prisoner, stripped of his clothing and other valuables, paroled and turned loose, walking all the way home from Arkansas Post. Of this family there were one Surgeon, two Captains, one Lieutenant, and three privates in the service. The subject of this sketch received three commissions, two as First Lieutenant, and one as Captain, all from the hands of the famous war Governor Oliver P. Morton. Mr. Baxter received two wounds at the hands of the rebels, which compelled him to spend some eight months in the hospital. During the total period of three years and eight months he served two years in command of his company; and, while he was one of the youngest soldiers in it, he thinks he did his part. Had this family lived in Napoleon's time, they would have been greatly honored, inasmuch as he valued families only in proportion to the number of sons contributed to the insatiable monster of war. It is the disadvantage of republican forms of government, that they bestow no special privileges for services rendered by their inhabitants other than the universal gratitude of millions living and unborn, which is supplemented, in the breasts of those champions of liberty in the late war, by a deep sense of duty done, which soothes the wounded spirit and begets a peace which passeth understanding.
SOURCE: "BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF CASS, SCHUYLER and BROWN COUNTIES, Illinois - 1892", page 337. The Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago.
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BAXTER, Hiram Bennett, one of the extensive landholders of Illinois, and a well known and respected citizen of Cass County, was born near Madison, Jefferson County, Ind., September 22, 1840. He is of Scotch Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry, his parents William and Jane Kerr-Baxter being natives of Ohio, the former born in the city of Dayton in 1804. His grandfather, James Baxter, a native of County Tyrone Ireland came to the United States about the time of the Revolutionary war, settling near Pittsburgh Pa., where he married a German lady whose name was Rebecca Riddle. Mr. Baxter's maternal grandfather, Josiah Kerr, was a native of Scotland. Hiram B. Baxter is the sixth of twelve children of a family of ten sons and two daughters. The mother of this family died May 27, 1855, and the father subsequently married her sister Margaret Kerr, by whom he had one son. The father was a prosperous farmer and died on his old farm in Indiana August 25, 1861, at the age of fifty-seven years. Hiram B. Baxter was reared on a farm attended the district schools and at the age of eighteen years was himself teaching a district school in his native county. On July 14, 1861, he enlisted in Company K Twenty second Indiana Volunteer Infantry for service in the Civil war, and was mustered into the service at North Madison Ind. by Colonel (afterwards General) Thomas Wood. He participated in the Mississippi campaign under Fremont Hunter and Curtis, taking part in the engagement at Glasgow, in which Major Tanner of his regiment was mortally wounded: was in the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., and at the siege of Corinth Miss. He then accompanied his regiment in General Buell's army to Louisville Ky., a distance of nearly 400 miles and participated in the battle of Perryville Ky., where he received a severe rifle wound in the left knee. Of the thirty-five men in his company who were engaged in that battle, but eight remained to answer the roll call next morning. Ten were killed, thirteen wounded, and four were captured unhurt. The wounded were all made prisoners for the night. Mr. Baxter rejoined his regiment at Murfreesboro, Tenn., after the battle of Stone River, in February, 1863, and then received his commission as first lieutenant of his company being promoted from a sergeancy. In the absence of the captain who had been wounded at the battle of Stone River, Lieutenant Baxter assumed command of the company. The regiment remained at Murfreesboro until June 24, 1863, when it marched with General Rosecranz' army on the Tullahoma campaign following the army under General Bragg to Chattanooga. Lieutenant Baxter's command was assigned to the work of guarding a pass in the mountains near the battle ground of Chickamauga, and thus was not engaged in that battle, and was then cooped-up with the balance of the army of the Cumberland, under General Thomas, in Chattanooga, subsisting on short rations for two months until re-enforcements arrived, under Hooker from the east, and Sherman from the west with General Grant to take command. Then, the army aroused from its lethargy and captured Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge in a grand charge all along the line, driving the enemy from their vantage ground at every point. Lieutenant Baxter was in command of Company G of his regiment in the charge on Missionary Ridge, being temporarily assigned to take charge of that company, and was in Sheridan's Division of the Fourth Corps, and ascended the ridge near where Bragg's headquarters were established. Immediately after the battle, on the next day, with his command he started in pursuit of Longstreet, to relieve Burnside at Knoxville Tenn., arriving there after a hard forced march to find Burnside's army safe, and the enemy gone. The Union army remained there for six weeks, subsisting principally by foraging over the surrounding country, camping in the woods without tents or blankets, with snow on the ground, and a damp cold wind blowing most of the time. The men cut the timber and built huge fires to keep themselves warm, taking turns at night to keep the fire burning, and to watch that the sleepers did not get burned. Under such circumstances, Lieutenant Baxter re-enlisted as a veteran and with his company, returned to Chattanooga, where they were re-mustered for three years more, or during the war. He then returned to Indiana on a veteran furlough of thirty days. At the expiration of the furlough, he went by rail with his command to Nashville Tenn., and they marched to Chattanooga, where the company and regiment were assigned to Gen. Daniel McCook's brigade in the organization of Sherman's army for the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea. Mr. Baxter was at Tunnel Hill, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca, and Rome Ga., where in command of his company, he was again wounded in the same leg as before. He remained in the hospital, and on a furlough until August 29, following, when he was honorably discharged by the secretary of war, on account of disability from gunshot wounds. Lieutenant Baxter then returned to his home in Indiana for a time, and attended a commercial school at Indianapolis. Recovering from his disability, in a marked degree during the fall and winter, he again entered the service in the following February, as first Lieutenant of Company B One Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer infantry, and upon its organization, he was made captain of the company, and served as such, until the end of the war, being mustered-out at Indianapolis, Ind., September 6, 1865. Six of Captain Baxters brothers served in the Federal army during the Civil war, no two of them being in the same regiment, and all survived the conflict, and six of them are living at this time. Among the seven brothers of the Baxter family there were, two captains, one first lieutenant, one corporal, and two privates, all of whom enlisted as privates. The combined service of these brothers aggregated nearly fifteen years. After returning home at the end of the war, Captain Baxter for a time, was a clerk in a railroad office at Indianapolis, but becoming dissatisfied, he turned his attention westward, and on December 1, 1866, with $700 in his pocket, he arrived at Jacksonville, Ill. Near this place for a short time, he worked on a farm, built fences, and did all such tasks as came to his hand, in the meanwhile, becoming acquainted with the people. He then taught school for four years, near Jacksonville and Literberry. At the latter place, for nine years, he was afterwards, engaged in merchandising, and also filling the position of postmaster, was also railroad agent, justice of the peace, and notary public, was additionally engaged in the making of brick, and in furnishing the railroad with ties, posts, wood, etc. On January 21, 1881, he moved to the farm upon which he now resides in Cass County, Ill., about eight miles from Literberry. He and his two sons are now the owners of 1,707 acres of land 1.407 acres of which, are included in his homestead in Cass County, and 300 acres in Morgan County. He devotes his time to the feeding of stock and the management of his farming interests. On October 4, 1876 Mr. Baxter was united in marriage with Lydia Ellen Crum who died March 26, 1907. She was the only daughter of Abram A. Crum of Morgan County. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter became the parents of two sons, Albert Crum who is a physician and surgeon of Springfield, Ill., and William Abram, who is at home on the old farm Bildmore Place, with his father in politics, Mr. Baxter is a stanch protective tariff Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the John L. Douglas Post GAR of Ashland, Ill., and was its first commander. Aside from being a well-informed man and the owner of large tracts of land, Mr. Baxter's military record as detailed in this sketch enables him to bestow a priceless heritage of honor to his posterity.
SOURCE: Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II. Illustrated, History of Cass County, 1915. Pages 846 and 847. By: Newton Bateman, Paul Selby, Charles Aesop Martin, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago.
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Baxter, H. B. 1881 -- listed in the "1881 Farmer's Directory of Cass, Mason, Menard and Sangamon Counties, Illinois", aka "The Farmer's Review" published in Chicago.
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US CIVIL WAR, Union Army Vet:
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010398
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 24
Date Enrolled: 1865/02/15
Where Enrolled: Indianapolis, Indiana
Regiment: 148
Company: B
Discharge Date: 1865/09/01
Notes: 1st Lieut. Promoted to Capt., 8/24/65.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=A44C2081F7D499CFC96C203AD6CEEB04
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Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010399
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 23
Date Enrolled: 1863/05/16
Where Enrolled: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Regiment: 22
Company: G
Discharge Date: 1864/08/
Notes: 1st Lieut. Discharged as 1st Sgt. Co. K, 22nd Regt., 5/15/64. Disabled 8/64.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=AFFAB4AA07BABED37C2D97A31FB7AABA
---
Hiram B. Baxter - Civil War Record Series: Military Records
Collection: Civil War County: Statewide IN.
Reference number: CIV010375
Accession Number: 1938001
Party: Name
Age: 20
Date Enrolled: 1861/08/15
Where Enrolled: Madison, Indiana
Regiment: 22
Company: K
Discharge Date: 1864/08/29
Notes: Disabled. 1st Lieut.
Cavalry/ Battery Unit:
Name: Hiram B. Baxter
Party Type: Name
Source: http://www.indianadigitalarchives.org/ViewRecord.aspx?RID=9909B6FF2968964C7B932D27CFC1557F
Gravesite Details
Buried with wife, Lydia who preceded him in death.
Family Members
Siblings
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Dr Josiah Kerr Baxter
1831–1921
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Daniel Thomas Baxter
1833–1859
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CPT Oliver Hazard Perry Baxter
1835–1910
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William Alexander Baxter
1838–1877
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Pvt John W. Baxter
1842–1873
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George Washington Baxter
1843–1920
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Alonzo Hayden Hayes Baxter
1845–1930
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CPT Edward A Baxter
1847–1934
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Havanna Salome Baxter Williams
1852–1935
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Emlona Hazeltone Baxter
1854–1856
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