The Times from Munster, Indiana • 43

150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL WAR FIND MORE LOCAL NEWS ONLINE AT NWI.COM RO I MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011 I PAGE A7 Group works to preserve memories i n. few tM -i 1G61 Porter County Sons of Union Veterans of Civil War pay homage WOO ft if i A I I 1 'it p- PT iil 4. 1 ft! r-? r- tti L2 wlfr, wm new mm 3r rf i fttl fc En ST 3 3 00 I V. r. ri.

ri fi 1 If you go The David D. Porter Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War will sponsor a Civil War program to honor John Auten on July 23. Auten was the first Hoosier slain In the Civil War, as recognized by the Indiana Department of the Grand Army of the Republic The program will be held in South Bend on the courthouse steps where Auten's funeral was held, with a procession to the city cemetery and a dedication of a new headstone. Re-enactors, artillery groups and anyone interested are welcome to attend. For more Information, email Mike Downs at mdownsd) sbcsc.kl2.in.us.

In conjunction with the Auten program, the Northern Indiana Center for History will host an encampment on July 23. Contact Travis Childs at educationHcenterforhistory. org or call (574) 235-9664, ext. 242, for more information. provide the labor for their installation.

The group previously replaced 16 headstones at a GAR plot within Valparaiso's Maplewood Cemetery and works to replace others. In 2003 the SUVCW embarked on the Last Soldier Project, a national effort to locate and mark the grave of the last Civil War soldier buried in each county. The Porter Camp installed such a memorial plaque on the grave of Jacob Mooker on Memorial Day weekend 2004. -jrn 4 r.J iu l. Wb if 'a 3 tfLix ifi rr 1 'iS rs i BY JOYCE RUSSELL joyce.russellnwi.com, (219) 762-1397, ext.

2222 For Al Loomis, participating in the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is a way to keep alive the memories of his two greatgrandfathers and to pay homage to all of the men and women who fought for the Union during the Civil War. Loomis, of Valparaiso, is the past national commander of the group formed in 1881 as an auxiliary unit of the Grand Army of the Republic. The GAR was a charitable, fraternal and patriotic organization composed of Civil War veterans. In 1954, the SUVCW became the GAR's legal successor by congressional charter. The mission of the SUVCW, said member Ed Krieser, is to "honor our ancestors." Initially, he said it was made up of the firstborn sons of Civil War veterans.

As the years progressed, membership expanded to any son, then any descendant of a Civil War veteran. At one time, said Loomis, there were 399 chapters called camps of the SUVCW. Today, there are only seven. The local camp 1 itl dk KJ fe-a lW fcitf fS JOHN LUKE I THE TIMES The David D. Porter Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War meets one Saturday a month at the Valparaiso Public Library.

is named after David D. Porter, an admiral in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. The local camp has about 38 members with 20 to 25 in the core group. While most are from northern Indiana, membership includes people from as far as Ohio and Florida.

The group involves itself in several activities to promote education of the Civil War, such as participating in encampments. It also is sponsoring a sesquicentennial event July 23 in South Bend. In addition to promoting education, it also tends graves of Civil War veterans. While the federal government will provide replacement headstones for Civil War veterans at no charge, the SUVCW must The Porter County Memorial Opera House was built by Grand Army of the Republic as a memorial to Civil War soldiers. U.S.

6, U.S. 12 memorials to soldiers of the Civil War CK'-- i Iliii i 1 I II tHWl I II 'I I JOHNJ.WATKINS PHOTOS I THE TIMES 11 fimifiir rr Opera House a tribute be used by the entire community. Construction began in 1893 with the GAR raising an additional $9,000 to complete the brick building at 104 Indiana Ave. The building was completed Nov. 8, 1893, and its opening was marked by a parade three days later on Nov.

11, 1893. The hall was also the headquarters for the local GAR post. Owned and operated by Porter County since the early 1920s, the building has undergone several renovations and is slated for additional renovations in the near future, Schafer said. "From the historic standpoint alone, it is an unique setting. When you walk in, there is a definite sense of history," said Schafer, adding that for some visitors it is reminiscent of Ford's Theater because of its ornate boxes high above the stage.

The opera house is also open for tours. Its hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Thursday and Friday; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. BY JOYCE RUSSELL joyce.russellnwi.com, (219) 762-1397, ext. 2222 VALPARAISO I Walking into the Memorial Opera House here is like walking into the past.

The 118-year-old structure has hosted the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, John Phillips Sousa, the Marx brothers and Beulah Bondi and been a home to hundreds of local productions and events. Listed on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, the Memorial Opera House was built as a memorial hall to pay tribute to Union soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War. At the end of the war, the state gave each county $1,000 to build a monument to honor Civil War veterans, said Brian Schafer, opera house director. However, the Chaplain Brown Post 106 of the Grand Army of the Republic wanted more than a monument. They lobbied the state until 1890 to include the use of the money for the construction of memorial halls.

The idea was to build a hall that could BY JOYCE RUSSELL joyce.russellnwi.com, (219) 762-1397, ext. 2222 Two major highways that cross through Northwest Indiana and Illinois also serve as memorials to Union forces who fought during the Civil War. Across the nation, U.S. 6 is also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Maj.

William L. Anderson Jr. of the U.S. Army conceived the idea to honor the Union forces in 1934, according to the Federal Highway Administration's website. The idea was promoted by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Because the highway, which stretches from Massachusetts to California, was owned by the states, each state was asked to approve the designation. Massachusetts was the first to do so in 1937. Indiana made the designation official in 1946. A formal dedication of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway took place on May 2, 1953, in Long Beach, where a monument now stands marking the distinction. The Grand Army of the Republic Highway, stretches 3,652 miles in 14 states.

Meanwhile, U.S. 12 as it stretches through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin is named the Iron Brigade Memorial Highway. A historical marker at U.S. 20 and Ind. 49 in Chesterton marks the distinction.

Al Loomis, a Valparaiso member of the David D. Porter Camp of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, was involved in having the marker erected. Loomis said there was disagreement as to whether the marker should be on U.S. 12 or U.S. 20 when it was erected in 1995.

At that time, recalled Loomis, it was planned for U.S. 12 through Northwest Indiana would become a part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. When that was to happen, U.S. 12 then would officially be rerouted to run along with U.S. 20.

The designation memorializes The Iron Brigade, composed of regiments from Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan who fought with the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. It received its name for valor at the battle of South Mountain, where it sustained combat fatalities among the highest in the Union armies. About the series The Times reconstructed the stories of dozens of Calumet Region Civil War veterans in honor of the 150th anniversary of the war, which began at Fort Sumter in South Carolina in a two-day battle spanning April 12 and 13, 1861. SUNDAY Who were the men, boys and at least one woman from the Calumet Region who served their country in the Civil War, and what role did Indiana play in the four-year conflict? From farmers to doctors, and from colonels to lowly privates, scores of men fought in the war between the states, some paying with their lives and others with their lost limbs and other battle wounds. TODAY An interest developed as a little girl cutting weeds away from old headstones led to a woman's quest of revealing the stories of Civil War veterans buried at a historical Merrillville Cemetery.

Meanwhile, a Porter County organization dedicates itself to keeping alive the memory of region Civil War veterans. TUESDAY A look at the life of the last Civil War veteran who died in Porter County and was among the party that searched for John Wilkes Booth following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. We hear his story, in part, through his great niece, a Valparaiso resident Also, a look at two re-enactment groups, the 99th Indiana Infantry and the 66th Western. Sharpshooters, and their efforts to keep the lessons of the Civil War alive. ONLINE: Find (T more coverage on NWI.COM.

fx1 -1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE Al History These were her questions as she trimmed weeds -a task earning her $5 from the caretakers of the cemetery bordering her childhood home. Today, Smedstad, 61, who majored in history at Purdue University, reconstructs the lives of the men and women at the cemetery, including at least 31 Civil War veterans who are buried or memorialized on headstones there. In 2007, Smedstad, co-president of the Merrillville Ross Township Historical Society, published a book about veterans buried in the cemetery, telling their stories through old photos, military service records, old obituaries and Civil War pension records. "I've heard other historians conclude that the Civil War had very little effect on our region," Smedstad said, staring out over the graves of men who fought in a war that began 150 years ago. "But behind each of these headstones is a story of how the war did affect our region and the people in it." The stories include that of Pierce, a Merrillville farmer who survived the war but hung himself 20 years after it ended after a long struggle with the government to obtain an invalid soldier's pension.

And there is the account of Cpl. Jarius P. Jones, a veteran of the 20th Indiana Infantry, who was present in at least four of the war's major engagements, including the Battle of Gettysburg and the virtual war-ending surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox Court House, on Palm Sunday in 1865. Not far from Jones' grave is the headstone of Pvt. James D.

Merrill, a son of Merrillville 's founder, Dudley Merrill. James Merrill died in the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, and his family brought his body back to rest at the cemetery. To recapture their stories, Smedstad pored over dozens of reels of microfilm, extracting century-old i i i i' PROVIDED BY ALICE SMEDSTAD SgL Israel Pierce, left, poses with brother Wesley in his 99th Indiana Infantry uniform. Pierce, of Merrillville, survived fierce fighting but ended his own life 20 years after returning home from the war after being denied a disability pension. news clippings and obituaries.

Where she could, she ordered pension records of the veterans buried there. And the photos came from relatives, descendants and the History of the 99th Indiana Infantry, an adaptation of a diary kept by a chaplain who served with many of the men buried at the cemetery. "It's important that we maintain interest in these people and what they did," Smedstad said, surveying the cemetery grounds. "These men all went through so much together, and now they're all here in this place." JOYCE RUSSELL I THE TIMES A historical marker recognizing the Iron Brigade stands at the intersection of U.S. 20 and Ind.

49 here even though U.S. 12 has been designated the Iron Brigade Memorial Highway..