The Hancock County Historical Society will host the second webinar history talk for 2022 with a program on February 8th at 7 PM called “The Rufus Dawes And Mary Gates Love Story” a true life Civil War love story. These programs for 2022 will be available online due to the continuing COVID issues and as a way to keep history alive here in Hancock County. Advanced registration is required and once registered, participants will receive the link through email to join the program online.
The program is open to anyone and registration can be found here.
This program features Steve Magnusen speaking on his book “To My Best Girl: Courage, Honor, And Love In The Civil War”, the Rufus Dawes And Mary Gates Love Story.
Steve Magnusen is Vice President, Indianapolis Civil War Round Table Historian. Steve’s particular interest in the Civil War’s elite “Iron Brigade” led him to diligently research the life of Rufus R. Dawes, the intrepid young commander of the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Extensive original documentation not only revealed extraordinary battlefield heroism, but also an incredible wartime romance involving delightful Mary Beman Gates of historic Marietta, Ohio. Steve was inspired to bring their captivating personal saga to life in “To My Best Girl.”
The 19th Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry was one of the original regiments in the Army of the Potomac’s “Iron Brigade”. 19th was raised at Indianapolis, Indiana, on July 29, 1861. It saw severe fighting in the 1862 Northern Virginia Campaign.
In their first battle at Gainesville, the 19th supported the left flank of the embattled 2nd Wisconsin, fighting Confederates near the buildings of John Brawner’s Farm. They also fought in the main part of the Second Battle of Bull Run, where they, along with the rest of the Iron Brigade, were part of the rear guard covering the retreat of Union Army General John Pope. During the subsequent Maryland Campaign, the 19th attacked Turner’s Gap in the Battle of South Mountain, and then suffered considerable casualties battling Hood’s Texas Brigade in the D.R. Miller cornfield at Antietam.
Many of Hancock County Civil War soldiers fought in the 19th Indiana Vols. One such soldier was James L. Mitchell who enlisted in Co. A, 19th In Vols on July 29, 1861, wounded at Wilderness, Virginia on May 6, 1864, and came home to Greenfield in July, 1864. He was elected Auditor in Greenfield many times, was a member of the Christian Church, and member of the Dunbar GAR Post. He attended reunions of the 19th Regiment many times after the war, including one of the last in Nov 1910, held in Cambridge City with over 40 other veterans of the 19th in attendance. Mitchell said that the “soldiers of the Iron Brigade were all brave soldiers.”
