THE BEGINNING IN INDIANA (BIRTH OF THE MODERN DAY INDIANA NATIONAL GUARD) Background on the officially recognized birth date of the Indiana National Guard does not really fall within the context of this half-century history of the Indiana Guard.. But since it has just recently been officially recognized and established add the fact that it does not appear in any other hard-back publication, the medium of this appendix is used to present and to record it. The issue was raised in late 1985 when Adjutant General Major General Alfred F. Ahner made the decision that the Indiana Guard would participate in a nation-wide celebration of the 350th birthday,of the United States National Guard that was scheduled for December 1986 all across the country (see Chapter 20 of Volume One) . It would also be fitting, he thought, for the Indiana National Guard to celebrate its own years of service to the state and nation at the same time. it had never been formally done before, and it would make a dual celebration possible. But in the course of initial planning, there appeared a divergence of opinion on just what date the Indiana Guard as we know it today was actually conceived. This author was given the task:of coordinating a research effort to determine and have formally established the recognized birth date of the, Indiana National Guard . Amature and professional historians alike participated. What follows is the product of that research . Major General Ahner retired in the summer of 1986 and was succeeded by then Brigadier General Carl G. Farrell, who strongly supported General Ahner's original plan for a dual celebration. Before General Ahner retired, while General Farrell was still the Assistant Adjutant General Army and designated to succeed Ahner, both of them gave their approval to the account that follows, and in doing so jointly and formally established the-official birth date of the present day Indiana National Guard. 1. TWO criteria were established early as the working parameters for eventual determination of the date. The foremost consideration was that it must be traced to early ,militia elements that were organized on soil that is now within the borders of the present State of Indiana. And secondly, it must be the start of an unbroken trace to the present day Indiana National Guard. It is known that there were early militia elements in the area as far back as the time when Great Britian owned the-land prior to acquisition by the United States. And subsequent to that there were militia elements prior to Indiana statehood.; But the official birth date had to be a date from which an unbroken lineage could be established; ;from the militia days to the present, of military activity that could be truly associated with the people, cities, and towns of what is now the soil of the state of Indiana: It had to be a true and continuous Indiana entity. To reach that end a careful examination of the events.of yesteryear--are in order.To understand the development of the militia in Indiana requires an understanding of the development of the state itself. And it is somewhat confusing to say the least. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 following the Revolutionary War set the stage for the eventual development of Indiana. It officlly gave the United States its independence from Great Britian, and included among its provisions the annexation of one-half billion acres of land west to the Mississippi River, north to Canada, and south to Florida. Four years later the United States Congress passed the Ordinance of 1787, which formally designated 248,000 square miles of that area as the "...Territory of the United States, North-west [sic] of the River Ohio.". 2. This Northwest Territory, as it was to be commonly called, included what are now the present States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a portion of Minnesota. It is the subsequent division and sub-division of the Northwest Territory each time resulting in boundry changes and adjustments, that presents part of the confusing element in determining and recognizing the origin of the present day Indiana National Guard. On 25 July 1788; Northwest Territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair issued an act (a law) that provided for the organization of a militia for the entire territory. It was this law from which all subsequent militia direction within the territory was taken, and it was used over and again as the basic pattern. But early militia units prior to the turn of the century cannot be used as a direct historical trace to the present day Indiana Guard. For example, militia companies were organized at Vincennes as early as 1777, but the area was still under British control. Following annexation in 1783, to issuance of the militia act in 1788 many militia units that were organized were nothing more than names on a roster of sort. Even after the act of 1788 many companies of militia were organized only only for short periods of time to meet immediate defensive needs against the Indians. When called to duty they were in almost every instance employed for brief periods of time under command of officers from the regular Army. A good example was the Indian campaign led by "Mad" Anthony Wayne. A great many of the militiamen in that campaign came from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and other eastern states, and Northwest Territory militiamen were comingled with the easterners. In some militia companies that did organize as such there were periodic meetings, but for the most part there was no formal organized program of training. As crossroad villages and towns sprang up, prospered, or died, the nature of local militia protection changed. There was a lack of militarily designated units as organic elements of larger organizations, and except in rare circumstances, there was no formally established chain of authority. Records were-kept-in rare instances and:many cases those that were kept were. later destroyed by fire, flood,or were simply lost. But all of this is not to belittle those early militiamen. At the time in the Northwest-Territory there was simply no mandate :for large, organized military forces other than a few scattered outposts manned by small detachments of regular Army troops , Local independent militia units were just formed where and when the need arose: The turning point, so to speak, came on 1 March 1800 when a complete reorganization of the territorial militia became effective. 3. It provided for an organization of brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies, and further provided for uniformed troops for the first time (albiet each soldier had to furnish his own uniform). The territorial governor was designated commander in chief, and he was authorized to appoint an adjutant general. This new general approach to militia organization that was taken within the Northwest Territory; in March was adopted four months later by the new Indiana Territory. Geography now enters the picture. Even as the British before, the United States had divided the Northwest Territory into counties that themselves were normally larger than most of the individual states that would later be created out of them. During territorial Governor St. Clair's absence in 1790, acting Governor Winthrop Sargent organized Knox County. It included all land north of the Ohio River to the Canadian border between the Great Miami River (in what is now Ohio) on the east to an irregular north-south line on the west beyond what is now Chicago. ;The later creation of Wayne County reduced the size of Knox County by taking part of what is now eastern Illinois, all of what is now Michigan (including ,a strip of land in what is now northern Indiana), and what is now western Ohio . "By the year 1800, the boundries of Knox County, Northwest Territory somewhat esembled those of present day Indiana. On 4 July 1800, the new Indiana Territory was created out of the old Northwest Territory. William H. Harrison was appointed its first governor, and established office in Vincennes, the new Indiana territorial seat of government. But although it was the Indiana Territory, it included practically all of the old Northwest Territory except what is row Ohio and eastern Michigan. Part of Knox County was soon split off to form Clark County in what is now southeastern, Indiana, and the remainder of Knox County was divided into Vincennes and Clarksville Townships at the Blue River. Knox and Clark Counties now comprised most of what would become the State Indiana 4. The first adjutant general of the new Indiana Territory was appointed on 6 February 1801. John Small was appointed with the rank of lieutenant collonel [sic] in the territorial militia. 5. In order of appointment, Henry Hurst, William Mackintosh, and Nicholas Jarrol were each appointed as aides-de-camp with the rank of major. Adjutant General, Lieutenant Collonel [sic] Small was a gunsmith by trade. He had been the sheriff and executive head of Knox County when it was still a part of the Northwest Territory, and was elected to the lower house of the county legislature.in 1798 as .the Northwest Territory advanced to the second stage of the statehood process: The: early duties of adjutant general were not so pressing that Small, even while he was adjutant general, was also appointed and served as the Knox County surveyor. He served as adjutant general into 1812. No record could be found of the the first adjutant general's pay, but two years after he relinquished the-job the pay was fixed at $25 annually in time of peace and-.$50 annually in time-of war. The militia reorganization of March 1800 only set the pattern. It did not guarantee that units could. or would be Organized. In 18OO the total militia strength in all of Knox County was only 535 men maximum. There were some militia units in other counties, but they did not lie within what are the present borders of the State of Indiana. The first organization under the new brigade system on soil that would eventually become part of the State of Indiana occured in 1802 when officer commissions were tendered in the Second Battalion, First Regiment, of the Knox County militia. 6. To complete the complicated but necessary geographic picture, changes in boundries were made throughout the region in the early 1800s that eventually established the boundries of the State of Indiana. 7. In 1803 Ohio was admitted as a state (the east), in 1805 the Michigan Territory was established (the north), in 1809 the Illinois Territory came into being (the west), nothing below the Ohio River was added (the south), and on 11 December 1816 Indiana was admitted as a state. There were militia elements in various parts of what is now the State of Indiana that came and went before and through both territorial periods. In most instances they took on titles that identified them with a county, or in some cases they, were identified by the name of the commander or some other prominent person. But as can be seen above, some began to take on combined numerical/county designations in the Indiana territorial period. And 1810 marked the beginning of a new identification system based totally on numerical designations. Some were even organized and in place during the transition from a territory to a state. Official federally recognized military continuity for Indiana units is documented by the U.S. Army Center of Military History in Washington as having been started on 24 June 1846 with the organization; of three regiments of the;Indiana Brigade 8. Prior to that date several Indiana counties have recorded evidence in their county histories of the.existence of.one or more militia units at one time or another. In 1846 each of the three regiments were formed by- the consolidation and incorpration of regional county militia units that were in being at the time. But during the period 1801 through 1846 it was the office of the adjutant general that provided the continuous and unbroken attention to the military affairs of the territory and the state and kept the militia concept alive. It was the appointment of Indiana Territorial Adjutant General Lieutenant Collonel [sic] John Small in Vincennes on 6 February 1801 that established what would become the birth date of the Indiana. National Guard, and would start an unbroken trace of militia and National Guard heritage for Indiana. During the 16-year history-of the-Indiana Territory the seat of government and the territorial adjutant general's office remained intact at Vincennes from 1800-13 and at Corydon from 1813-16. Following statehood the adjutant general's office.has remained as-a continuous part of Indiana state government at Corydon-from 1816-24 and at Indianapolis from 1924 through today. To the casual: reader, the foregoing-may seem somewhat cumbersome and possibly even confusing: But a ,close, examination of how the state was formed in relation to the early militia organization is necessary in order to properly evaluate the milestones and meet the criteria for establishment of the formal Vincennes. Of a11 cities and towns in the State of Indiana, none is tied more closely to the Indiana National Guard than Vincennes. It was the capital of Indiana Territory from its creation in 1800 until the capital was moved to Corydon in 1813; just three years before statehood. The assembly building framework was held together by wooden pins, and official documents were protected by a huge lock with a key weighing a half-pound. In this settIng in 1801 at Vincennes Lieutenant Collonel (sic) John Small was appointed the first the territorial adjutant general. From him today's Indiana National Guard traces its unbroken history (see Appendix 9). The 2d Battalion, 1st Regiment, Knox County Territorial Militia was formed in 1802 with Judge of C Common Pleas Luke Decker appointed as "major of the battalion." For most of the following six decades there were militia units off and on at Vincennes through the early 1860s into the War Between the States. Men belonged to units such as the Union Guards the Palmyra Legion the Vigo Home Guards, and the Wheatland Home Guards. In the late 1870s the Vincennes National Guards was formed as an independent company.! The Indiana Legion was present later as well as its successor in 1895, the Indiana National Guard. Men from Knox County served on the Mexican Borderi in 1916, and during the World War I two units of the 2d Regiment, Indian Infantry were drafted for federal; service and became part of the new 152d Infantry Regiment. There was no unit stationed at Vincennes when the Indiana National Guard was mobilized m January 1941 for, subsequent service in World War. II. On 30 Mardi 1948 following the war Battery C, 163d Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm Howitzer, Towed) was organized there by Lieutenant Philip E. Heacox, one other officer, and 15 enlisted men. The battalion headquarters was at Evansville. Battery C's first armory consisted of temporary quarters in a 30 x 24-foot room of the City Hall that was earmarked for sale by the city. It then moved into a small rented store front commercial building, at 1804 Washington Avenue (see photograph in Chapter 6 of Volume One). In early 1950 construction was completed at 101 North 4th Street on a combined motor storage building with an attached administrative and office "header" building that would serve as the armory. In 1959 during reorganization of the-.38th Infantry Division into the pentomic structure, Battery:C was redesignated and reorganized as Battery A (105nm Howitzer,,Towed) 1st . Howitzer battalion 139th Artillery. The new battalion headquarters was at Princeton. During-another reorgariization of the 38th Infaniry Divi ion in 1963, this time into the ROAD structure , Battory A was redesignated and reorganized as Battery A, 1st Battalion (105mm Howitaer), 139th Artillery: The battalion headquarters was now at Evansville. The SRF/RR era began in 1965, and Battery A was redesignated and reorganized as Battery A (155mm Howitzer, Towed), 2d Battalion, 150th Artillery. The battalion headquarters was now at Bloomington. In 1967 when the 38th Infantry Division was realigned from one to three states the armory at Princeton was closed and the battery of the 139th Artillery at Princeton was relocated to Vincennes and merged with Battery A. Vincennes had been included in the state's new armory construction program as far back as 1955. But federal and state funding was not solidified for over 10 years hence. The City of Vincennes donated a site on Emison Avenue and ground was finally broken in September 1969. Construction was completed and Battery A moved :into its new $302,161 home on 1 November 1970. Governor Edgar D. Whitcomb delivered the principal address and headed the list of distinguished guests during dedication ceremonies on Sunday, 17 January 1971 (30 years to the day following mobilization of the Indiana National Guard just before World Wax II). The former armory on 4th Street is now part of the Vincennes University building complex. In 1972 Battery A and all of the battalion's other batterys became part of the 150th Field Artillery again as opposed to the 150th Artillery. The 38th Infantry Division was realigned again in 1977 from three to two states. Concurrently Battery A was redesignated and reorganized as Battery A, 1st Battalion (105mm Howitzer, Towed), 163d Field Artillery. The battalion headquarters was established at Evansville. The last organizational change at Vincennes was made in 1978, and in reality was a switch of units. Battery A was relocated to Evansville in order to consolidate the entire battalion there . In turn Company A, 1st Battalion,, 152d Infantry was relocated from Evansville to Vincennes. Company A remains at Vincennes through the end of 1991 .The unit and armory address is 115 Emison Avenue, Vincennes, Indiana 47591-0281. birth date of the present day Indiana National Guard. Lieutenant Collonel [sic] Small provided that date 190 years ago. 1. Col. Robert T. Fischer (Re t), "From Paris to Vincennes, In the Beginning ... The Indiana National Guard," Indiana Guardsman (Jan/Feb 1986): pp. 6-7. This appendix representes a rewrite and expansion of the original 1986 article. 2. Robert M. Taylor, Jr., ed., The Northwest Ordinance 1787 A Bicentennial Handbook; softbound (Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1987). 3. _A History of the National Guard of Indiana (Indianapolis: W. D. Pratt, 1901), p. 7. 4. Carlyle R. Buley, The Old Northwest Pioneer Periods 1825-1840, 2 vols. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1950 , Chap. II, Vol. I. 5. William Wesley Woollen, et al., eds., _Executive Journal of Indiana Territory 1800 - 1816, reprinted with revisions, (Indianolis : Indiana Historical Society, 1985), p. 11. 6. A History of the National Guard of Indiana, p. 12. 7. Buley, loc. cit. 8. Those regiments are today's 151st, 152d, and 2934 Infantry Regiments. Certificates of lineage and Honors issued by the center area on file in each of the regiments' battalions, and in the military history archives in Headquarters Military Department of Indiana (MDI) in Indianapolis. Together the three are part of the 24th oldest group of regiments in the entire Army National Guard structure nationwide.