9th Indiana Infantry Regiment The 9th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War . It was organized on April 22 , 1861 , for three - months ' service in Indianapolis . After being reorganized for three years ' service in late August and early September 1861 , the 9th took part in many major battles , including Shiloh , Stones River , Chickamauga , Lookout Mountain , Missionary Ridge , Kennesaw Mountain and the Siege of Atlanta . The 9th was mustered out on September 28 , 1865 , after duty at San Antonio and New Braunfels , Texas . Personnel . Governor Oliver Hazard Perry Morton appointed Robert H . Milroy as colonel of the 9th on April 26 , 1861 , nearly two weeks after the firing began at the Battle of Fort Sumter . By September 3 , 1861 , Milroy had become a brigadier general . He continued to command troops in West Virginia ( as Commander of the Cheat Mountain District ) into 1862 . By the time the 9th was assigned to William B . Hazen ' s 19th Brigade of Buell ' s Army of the Ohio in March 1862 , Colonel Gideon C . Moody , a former prosecutor and politician , commanded the regiment . Hazen called Moody " a most gallant officer . " Isaac C . B . Suman , initially the captain of Company H , then became colonel of the 9th . He commanded the 9th during such major battles as Chickamauga . William H . Blake , initially a major , later became colonel of the 9th . Dudley H . Chase served as a Captain in Company K of the 9th in the three - month regiment . William P . Lasselle began as a Sergeant in Company K in the three - month regiment and finished as a Lt . Colonel in the three - year regiment . James Nutt of Company I began as a 1st Sergeant and ended as a Captain of the three - year regiment . Photographs of some of these officers and a number of other officers and enlisted men from the 9th can be found at " Indiana Civil War Soldiers , 9th Infantry " . Service records . The NPS System includes 816 troop records ( three - month ) and 2916 troop records ( three - year ) classified as 9th Regiment , Indiana Infantry . These are not complete listings , and they include a number of apparent duplicates ( due to alternate name spellings ) , but the listings do consist of many useful records . For example , Author Ambrose Bierce ' s record of service in the three - year regiment is as follows : Other sources such as the Bierce biography by Roy Morris , or at least the sources Morris relied on , confirm the accuracy of this particular record . Other kinds of service documentation that exist include muster rolls , identification discs , and discharge papers . In the case of the 9th , George Bickel ' s documentation is representative . Bickel served in Company C of the three - month regiment and , for a short period , in the three - year regiment before he received a medical discharge . Photos of his identification disc , images of the other documentation such as his three - year regiment service papers and a narrative of Bickel ' s service are available at . Death Records . Records of some 9th ' s troops who died during the War can be found at national cemeteries in states where the 9th served , such as Grafton and Shiloh National Cemeteries . Grafton National Cemetery . According to the available records , 19 soldiers from the 9th are buried at the Grafton National Civil War Cemetery , West Virginia . All of these men were killed in action in what is now West Virginia between the fall of 1861 and the winter of 1861 - 1862 . Shiloh National Cemetery . There are 22 dead buried in Shiloh National Cemetery at Pittsburg Landing , Tennessee identified as soldiers from the 9th Indiana Infantry , according to the cemetery ' s records . Stones River Hazen Brigade Monument . The west face of this monument indicates that Capt . Isaac M . Pettit and 2nd Lt . Henry Kessler were among those from the 9th killed at the Battle of Stones River on December 31 , 1862 . 113 men from the 9th were killed or wounded in the battle . Capt . A . Johnson of the 9th and a detail of officers selected the location of the monument on a crest located between the railroad and the Nashville Pike . Lt . Edward Crebbin of the 9th supervised the detachment that constructed the monument in 1863 . Engagements . Soldiers from the 9th Indiana Infantry were among the first troops of Major General George B . McClellan ’ s Department of the Ohio to enter western Virginia in the spring of 1861 . As the first Indiana regiment to depart , the 9th was reviewed by Governor Morton and General McClellan , then departed for Grafton , Virginia ( now Grafton , West Virginia ) via railroad at midnight on May 29 , 1861 . Crowds in central Ohio cheered for the troops as the train passed . Battle of Philippi . June 3 , 1861 . After some skirmishes at Grafton , one of the first land battles of the Civil War , the Battle of Philippi , took place in Philippi , Barbour County , in what is now West Virginia . The battle began when a Federal battery started lobbing shells into a camp of around 825 surprised Confederate recruits who had been asleep . In response , the Confederates ran , thus earning the battle the name “ Philippi Races . ” After the battle , the 9th camped on the same hill where the battery was located . Ambrose Bierce mentioned being at Philippi Races . He had enlisted as a private in Company C . Years later , in 1903 , Bierce revisited the town . He recalled that visit and the battle in a 1904 piece written for the Eighth Annual Reunion of the 9th Indiana , noting that the Union battery involved " did nothing worse than take off a young Confederate ' s leg . " Laurel Mountain ( West Virginia ) . July 7 – 11 , 1861 . The Battle of Laurel Mountain , also known as Laurel Hill , pitted 3 , 500 forces under Union Brigadier General Thomas A . Morris against what Morris perceived to be superior forces of 4 , 000 under Confederate Brigadier General Robert S . Garnett . McClellan had ordered Morris to occupy Garnett while McClellan ' s own force of 5 , 000 attacked 1 , 300 men under Lt . Col . John Pegram at Rich Mountain . As part of Morris ' brigade , the 9th Indiana , taking cover behind trees , exchanged fire with Confederates , who were behind breastworks . Tiring of the stalemate that ensued , the Union troops charged the breastworks and did " well enough , considering the hopeless folly of the movement , " according to Ambrose Bierce . After Corporal Dyson Boothroyd of the 9th ' s Company A was wounded in the neck and paralyzed during the charge , Bierce carried Boothroyd " fully 20 rods " ( 100 m ) under enemy fire to safety , only to see him die later , according to an " Indianapolis Journal " reporter ' s account . Garnett and his forces retreated to the Cheat River , 10 miles to the northeast . The 9th along with the rest of Morris ' brigade ( including the Seventh Indiana and the 14th Ohio ) pursued Garnett to Corrick ' s Ford . Corrick ' s Ford . July 12 – 14 , 1861 . Heavy rains complicated Garnett ' s retreat , resulting in a wagon train becoming mired in the mud at Corrick ' s Ford , located east of Philippi near St . George ( now St . George , West Virginia ) . By July 13 , 1861 , the bulk of Garnett ' s troops had moved north of Job ' s Ford , near Parsons on the Cheat River . During their retreat , they had crossed the river numerous times to evade the Union forces . To ensure the escape of most of his forces , Garnett ordered the 23rd Virginia Infantry to make a stand in a laurel thicket on the east side of Shaver ' s Fork at Corrick ' s Ford . He stayed with this regiment and used the wagon train in the mud as a decoy . This planned ambush ultimately failed . Morris ' brigade successfully attacked and displaced the 23rd , and a member of the Seventh Indiana managed to shoot Garnett in the spine , killing him . Battle of Cheat Mountain . September 12 – 16 , 1861 . Morris asserts that the 9th was in Elkwater on September 12 and was not engaged during Lee ' s attack , but another source states that a column of Lee ' s attacked Elkwater on or about September 12 , and that the Unionists drove them off with no difficulty . Bierce didn ' t mention this attack in any of his surviving writings . Battle of Greenbrier River . October 3 – 4 , 1861 . Bierce did mention the fighting at Greenbrier River , which he called a " reconnaissance in force . " A Union force of 5 , 000 under Joseph J . Reynolds exchanged artillery fire with a Confederate force of 2 , 000 under H . R . Jackson remaining at Camp Bartow to guard the Staunton - Parkersburg Pike . The Confederates succeeded in defending the road because their artillery was well placed , protected and effective . During a 1903 visit to the site , Bierce noted Union graves , most of which had been opened , with the bodies relocated to the National Cemetery at Grafton . He observed that some graves had been apparently overlooked . There were also between 80 and 100 graves behind the Confederate earthworks that were neglected . One of the bodies initially buried at Greenbrier River was that of J . A . Abbott of Bierce ' s company . After a 1909 visit to the area , Bierce recounted the manner of Abbott ' s death , although he did not personally witness it : " He was lying flat upon his stomach and was killed by being struck in the side by a nearly spent cannon - shot that came rolling in among us . The shot remained in him until removed . It was a solid round - shot , apparently cast in some private foundry , whose proprietor , setting the laws of thrift above those of ballistics , had put his ' imprint ' upon it ; upon it : it bore , in slightly sunken letters , the name ' Abbott . ' " Camp Allegheny . December 13 , 1861 . The 9th formed part of a brigade under their old regimental commander , now Brigadier General Robert H . Milroy , that attacked Col . Edward Johnson ' s forces protecting the Staunton - Parkersburg Pike . They exchanged fire for a good portion of that morning , and the Confederates managed to force a Union retreat back to the Cheat Mountain camps . The 9th participated in building the Union fortification at the summit of Cheat Mountain during the winter of 1861 , according to Bierce , who said the following about this after a visit in 1909 : " Here we slew the forest and builded us giant habitations ( astride the road from Nowhere to the southeast ) commodious to lodge and army and fitly loopholed for discomfiture of the adversary . The long logs that it was our pride to cut and carry ! The accuracy with which we laid them one upon another , hewn to the line and bulletproof . The Cyclopean doors that we hung , with sliding blots fit to be the ' mast of some great admiral ! ' And when we had ' made the pile complete ' some marplot of the Regular Army came that way and chatted a few moments with our commander , and we made an earthwork away off on one side of the road ( leaving the other side to take care of itself ) and camped outside it in tents ! But the Regular Army fellow had not the heart to suggest the demolition of our Towers of Babel , and the foundations remain to this day . " Battle of Shiloh . April 6 – 7 , 1862 . The Department of the Ohio was converted to the Army of the Ohio in March 1862 . Don Carlos Buell led this Army until he was relieved of command after the Battle of Perryville in October 1862 . The Shiloh Union order of battle indicates that the 9th was a part of William " Bull " Nelson ' s Fourth Division and William B . Hazen ' s 19th Brigade after the conversion . Three of Buell ' s divisions — Nelson ' s , Thomas L . Crittenden ' s and Alexander M . McCook ' s — arrived on the evening of April 6 to reinforce Ulysses S . Grant ' s Army of West Tennessee , which happened to be located on the west bank of the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing , Tennessee during the battle . Under fire , two small steamers ferried Buell ' s 30 , 000 troops across the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing . Bierce described what the 9th saw of Pittsburg Landing that evening in vivid detail in " What I Saw of Shiloh . " After an exhausting march from the village of Savannah , Tennessee through swamps and jungle to the banks of the Tennessee opposite the landing , the 9th waited to be ferried across to the western side . Once on a steamer riding precariously low in the water under the weight of the troops , the 9th had a closer view of two Union gunboats , the " Lexington " and the " Tyler " . These gunboats had taken advantage of the high river bank and the opportune location of the mouth of a bayou to lob shells at the enemy from a protected vantage point on the river , effectively silencing Confederate small arms fire as much as a mile away . After debarking , the 9th passed through the chaos and carnage evident from the first day ' s battle . They pushed past fearful soldiers who were trying to escape by boarding the steamers for the trip back to the east bank . Men with bayonets kept those attempting to flee off the boats , and if not initially successful , subsequently threw them into the water . During the night of April 6 and the early morning of the 7th , Buell positioned Nelson ' s division closest to the river of all the troops under his command . By the time daylight came , Buell had directed Nelson to advance toward William J . Hardee ' s corps . Assuming the enemy had retreated all the way to Corinth , Bierce ' s platoon at one point advanced up an incline over open ground to strengthen the skirmish line , only to discover that Confederate forces in the woods on the far side had been waiting quietly to open fire upon them . Once they did , " a dozen of my brave fellows tumbled over like tenpins . " Bierce ' s platoon made a retreat back across the field to rejoin the rest of the regiment . The 9th spent the remainder of the battle 1 ) positioned behind the Union guns ( at first lying face down , trying to avoid being killed by the enemy ' s own artillery ) , and 2 ) countering the flanking movements of several succeeding lines of Confederate infantry , which eventually retreated when Union reinforcements arrived . Battle of Corinth . April 29 - May 30 , 1862 Battle of Perryville . October 8 , 1862 Battle of Stones River . December 30 – 31 , 1862 , and January 1 – 3 , 1863 . On December 31 , the 9th as part of Hazen ' s brigade defended the left flank of the Union line at Round Wood , now known as " Hell ' s Half Acre " because of the intensity of the battle at this location . Hazen ' s forces were the only part of the original line to hold , despite a number of attacks by Breckenridge ' s division and reinforcements from Polk ' s corps . 113 men from the 9th were killed or wounded during this battle . Battle of Chickamauga . September 19 – 20 , 1863 . Colonel Isaac C . B . Suman ' s official report described the 9th ' s activities before and during this battle . Siege of Chattanooga . September 22 - November 23 , 1863 Battle of Lookout Mountain . November 23 – 24 , 1863 Battle of Missionary Ridge . November 25 , 1863 Battle of Resaca . May 14 – 15 , 1864 Battle of Kennesaw Mountain . June 27 , 1864 Siege of Atlanta . July 22 - August 25 , 1864 Battle of Jonesboro . August 31 - September 1 , 1864 Battle of Franklin II . November 30 , 1864 Battle of Nashville . December 15 – 16 , 1864 References . Bierce , Ambrose , Russell Duncan , and David J . Klooster . " Phantoms of a Blood - Stained Period : The Complete Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce . " Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press , 2002 . Cozzens , Peter . " This Terrible Sound : The Battle of Chickamauga . " Urbana : University of Illinois Press , 1992 . Hazen , William Babcock . " A Narrative of Military Service . " Boston : Ticknor and Company , 1885 . Ketchum , Richard M . " The American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War . " New York : American Heritage , 1960 . Morris , Roy . " Ambrose Bierce : Alone in Bad Company . " New York : Crown Publishers , 1995 . United States . War Dept . , United States . Record and Pension Office . , United States . War Records Office . , et al . " The war of the rebellion : a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies . " Washington , D . C . : Govt . Print . Office , 1890 available online at . Excerpts from this compendium with each Indiana regimental history are available at Kristopher and Larry Liggett , " Indiana in the Civil War , " .