The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-10-13

Gil hitcii46c1ts CONSCIENTIOUS anu tfC
chaplain; there could be no person about a
more positively useless and none
who could bring greater reproach upon re-
ligion than the inconsequential chaplain.
The frontispiece of the History of the
Fifty-eighth Regiment of Indiana Volunteer
Infantry is a full-page picture of Chap
lain John ]. Hight. Of that regiment. 1t is
a face at once masterful and refined. The
clear-cut features. the firm mouth, the reso-
lutte, quick eye. the fine forehead, declare a
man Of Individuality and power. A. the
head Of a division he would have been a
leader; as a chaplain he was, by instinct
and example. a soldier. promoting disci-
pline. inspiring manliness, preaching a stall
wart Christianity and ministering to the
sick and wounded with a woman's tender
ness. He was near the front in battle, car
ing for the wounded and addressing words
of hot wrath to skulkers.
Such a chaplain Mr.. Hight must lave
been; but, beyond the service rendered. the
men of the gallant Fifty-eighth during the
conflict, he rendered a greater service to it's
dead and living and their posterity by keep
ing n diary during all those days. That
diary is the warp and wool of one of the
most valuable and interesting histories of
organizations in the late war, making a
book of $50 pages. While in the service
Chaplain Hight wrote from day to day. or
while the impressions were fresh in his
mind, over two thousand sheets OF manu-
script. which he sent home from time to
time. 1t was his purpose to prepare these
sheets for publication while he lived; but
so useful and jealous a man found too
much to do as Methodist preacher and as
sociate editor of the Western Christian Ad-
vocate to make the revision. Perhaps it is
well that he did mot revise for publication
himself, as It is probable that. in his ma
turer years, he would have toned down the
expressions, the judgments and the criti-
cisms of an intense patriot, written while
the battle was going on.
1t Is fortunate that the work of revision
fell to a man so admirably qualified to per-
form 1t as Gilbert r. Stormont, editor of the
Princeton Clarion, and past commander of
Indiana Department of the Grand Army.
He has been able to condense the two thou
sand sheets of manuscript so as to retain
the war flavor and spirit of the man who
wrote in the field. AT times, whole pages
must have been condensed. while again the
diary of the writer is transcribed.
The Fifty-eighth Indiana Infantry was
raised in the counties Of Gibson, Pike, Spen-
GER, Dubois, Davies and others in that vi
cinity, late in September, 1861, under the dH-
rection of DR.. Lewis, of Princeton, where it
was mustered. Col. II. NJ. Carr, of Craw-
louisville. was the Fifty-eighth's first COM
manding officer; George p. Buell., Of Law
renceburg. lieutenant colonel; James T..
Embree, of Princeton, major, and Lee Var
yam. Of Richmond, adjutant. The regiment
left Princeton for the seat of war Dec. Is.
1851, passing through Louisville as the gate
way to the South. From that time until the
end of the war this regiment was in the
field. Failing into the hands of good officers
it became one Of the most effective regi-
ments in the various organizations to which
1t was attached. After it veteranized, it was
assigned pontoon service, the late Lieu
| tenant Colonel Joseph Moore, a well-known
| resident of this city, being it's commander
for a long time. After its assignment to
tina special and arduous duty. Shiloh was
| the regiments first battle. Then it was in
the siege of Corinth. and, in succession it
saw the Stone river campaign, Chicka-
manga, the siege of Chattanooga, being in
| Woods division that went up the sides of
Missionary ridge. 1t was In the winter cam
paign to relieve Knoxville. SO full of hard
ship. 1t was. in the ATLANTA campaign with
Sherman, and marched to the sea and saw
the end with Johnston's surrender in North
Carolina.
The diaryiof a very prosy person who
was with the Fifty-eighth during these
years of marching. countermarching and
lighting could not be without interest to-
| day; but this history Is made up from the
diary of a man of rare mental powers, of
| quick perceptions, and whose soul was fired
with patriotism and zeal for his Masters
| cause and impatient of the seeming delays
which postponed the final result Of the
war in which he had an abiding faith.
There is no attempt to describe cam
paigns or. depict great battles. for that is
the work of the historian of after days.
| The book is simply the biography. so to
speak, Of one good regiment. It's many
marches are described by one who partic-
ipated while suffering the fatigue and pri-
vations which come to every in
the field, related in the midst of them. and
includes descriptions OF the numerous bat
| tlehelds on which he was present. The
book contains the notes of what a regi-
ment did in battle, and what it did from
day to day. The reader who has been
through campaigns is carried back to them,
| while the reader who has not shared the
dangers and privations wonders that such
things could be endured and survived
This jealous chaplain went wherever he
thought duty called -him-at the front in
battle, at the hospital looking after the
sick, among the men with whom he was in
full sympathy. looking out for their we'll
being as far as possible, and promoting
military discipline by example. In all these
| positions he was w~.de-awake. and wrote
what he saw.
In this diary are depleted all the fears
and anxieties OF a. loyal man in the army
who heard the reports of treason in In
diana He records the vote OF the Fifty
eighth in camp the day OF the State cleo
ton at home In October. 1864: For Morton
49,; for Mcdonald. a." He rails at the
indian Legislature which "disfranchisee
these men because hey are fighting to pre-
serve the union.' In that portion OF thu
book devoted to the march to the sea-
viii be found that which cannot be found
elsewhere-a glimpse of the life OF a regi
ment In that most remarkable movement.
The Fifty-eighth- Indiana has been for
tunate in the zeal and persistence Of some
OF its members and friends in that it wa.
the first to erect a monument In Princeton
In honor of its dead. and now in a regi
mental history which preserves In a mos
remarkable form the story II Its deeds o.