Abel Streight: Difference between revisions

|birth_place= [[Wheeler, New York|Wheeler]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.A.

|death_place= [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]] U.S.A.

|image= ACol. Abel D. Streight, 51st Ind. UAInf. ACWUSA.jpg

|caption= Col. Abel D. Streight, U.S.A. (1828-1892)

|serviceyears= 1861 - 18651861–1865

|battles= [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865)

'''Abel Delos Streight''' (June 17, 1828 – May 27, 1892) was a peacetime lumber merchant and publisher, and was commissioned a [[United States Army]] / [[Union Army]] [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] in the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865). His command precipitated a notable cavalry raid in April–May 1863, known as [[Streight's Raid]] into northern [[Alabama]]. He was a prisoner of war for 10 months following his surrender in the Confederate States capital of [[Richmond, Virginia]]. On March 12, 1866, his nomination for appointment to the grade of [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]], to rank dating from March 13, 1865 was confirmed. He later became a politician, and served as a [[state senator]] in the [[Indiana Senate]] (upper chamber of the [[Indiana General Assembly]] - state legislature) back home in the state capital of [[Indianapolis, Indiana]] for two terms.

Abel Delos Streight was born in [[Wheeler, New York]] ([[Steuben County, New York|Steuben County]]), son of Asa Streight and Lydia Spaulding Streight.<ref name="Rev. Phineas Spaulding 1838 page 48">The Ancestors and Descendants of Rev. Phineas Spaulding (1759-18381759–1838), by Michael Spaulding, (c) 2000, page 48.</ref> On 14 Jan 1849 he married Lavina or Lovina McCarty, who was born 1830, Bath Twp., Steuben Co., NY and died 5 Jun 1910, Marion Co., IN.<ref name="Rev. Phineas Spaulding 1838 page 48"/> He moved west to [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]], port city on the north bank of the [[Ohio River]] as a young man, and by 1859 was living further west in [[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]], the state capital of [[Indiana]], where he wasbecame a publisher of books and maps.

Streight was enlisted in the Federal cause at the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] and was appointed [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the [[51st Regiment Indiana Infantry|51st Indiana Infantry]] regiment on December 12, 1861, and commisioned into the [[United States Army]] / [[Union Army]].<ref name=Eicher515>Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher]], ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-3641-1}}. p. 758.</ref> His Indiana regiment was soon attached to the UnionFederal [[Army of the Cumberland]].

Streight and his regiment saw very limited action during the first two years of their service, as the war progressed further south which is said to have disappointed him greatly.

In 1863, he proposed a plan to his superior Brig. Gen. [[James A. Garfield]] (then chief of staff of the Army of the Cumberland, and future 20th [[President of the United States]], March 1881, and shot in July, dying two months later in 1881) that he be allowed to raise a force to make a raid deeply into the [[Southern United States|South]]. His proposal was to disrupt the [[Western & Atlantic Railroad]] from [[Chattanooga, Tennessee|Chattanooga]] in the northeast to [[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]] further southwest, a crucial southeastern Confederacy rail transport hub and manufacturing town, which carried supplies to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Confederate Army of Tennessee|Army]] offurther Tennessee]]northwest. The Union Army's regional commander, General [[William S. Rosecrans]], gave him permission.

Union forces assigned were from Col. Streight's own 51st Indiana, [[73rd Regiment Indiana Infantry|73rd Indiana Infantry]], [[80th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment|80th Illinois Infantry]], and [[3rd Ohio Infantry]] regiments were placed under Streight's command. This force encompassed approximately 1,700 troops. The original intent was to have this force mounted suitably for fast travel and attacks, living off the land for supplies and rations; however, due largely to wartime shortages, Streight's brigade were equipped with [[mule]]s instead of swifter horses. This obvious disadvantage, combined with Streight's own military inexperience, was to eventually prove disastrous.

Streight led this force to [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], departed [[Tuscumbia, Alabama]], on April 26, 1863, and then to Eastport, Mississippi. From there he decided to push to the southeast, initially screened by another Union force commanded by Brig. Gen. [[Grenville Dodge]]. On April 30, Streight's brigade arrived at Sand Mountain, where he was intercepted by a Confederate cavalry force under notable [[Brigadier General (CSA)|Brig. Gen.]] [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] and harassed for several days. Streight's force won the [[Battle of Day's Gap]] but the battle set off a series of skirmishes that eventually led the Union forces being surrounded and captured.<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/hps/abpp/battles/al001.htm Day's Gap]</ref> Streight himself was captured along with his larger force at [[Cedar Bluff, Alabama]] on May 3, 1863, and taken east to the infamous [[Libby Prison]] as a [[prisoner of war]] in the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]] capital in [[Richmond, Virginia]] for the next ten months.<ref name=Eicher515/>

Lovina McCarthy Streight and the couple's five-year-old son accompanied the 51st Indiana Regiment into the South with Lovina acting as a nurse for the regimentunit. The soldiers dubbed her "The Mother of the 51st" for her contributions. Lovina was captured herself three times by Confederate soldiers. Twice she was exchanged in return for Southern prisoners of war. The third time she brazenly escaped using a gun she had hidden under her skirts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2015/03/23/hoosier-women-aidedcivil-war-soldiers/70321670/|title=Hoosier Women aided Civil War soldiers|last=Mitchell|first=Dawn|date=March 23, 2015|website=IndyStar|access-date=October 21, 2017}}</ref>

On February 9, 1864, after ten months of incarceration and 14 months before the end of the war, Col. Streight and 107 other soldiers escaped from the horrible devastating conditions at the Libby Prison in downtown Richmond by tunnelling from their barracks to freedom.<ref name=Eicher515/> Eventually, Streight was able to sneak through Confederate Virginia and cross through enemy territory and, on his return, gave a debriefing report to his Union commanders.

Eventually Streight was restored to active duty being placed in command of the [[Horn Brigade|1st Brigade]], 3rd Division, [[IV Corps (ACW)|IV Corps]]. He participatedreturned to the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Theater]], participating in the later battles of [[Battle of Franklin (1864)|Franklin]] and [[Battle of Nashville|Nashville]] in [[Tennessee in the American Civil War|Tennessee]]. Thirteen months after his escape, Streight resigned from the Federal army on March 16, 1865, three weeks before Confederate General [[Robert E. Lee]]'s surrender at [[Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia|Appomattox Courthouse]] in April 1865.<ref name=Eicher515/>

OnNine months after Lee's surrender and the virtual end of the war, on January 13, 1866, new 17th [[President of the United States|President]] [[Andrew Johnson]] (1808-1875, served 1865-1869) nominated Streight for appointment to the grade of [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] of volunteers, to rank backdated from March 13, 1865, and the [[United States Senate]] finally confirmed the appointment two months later on March 12, 1866.<ref>Eicher, 2001, p. 758.</ref>

==PostbellumCivilian career==

InThe year after the war, after returning home to "The Hoosier State", in 1866, Streight and his wife built a houselarge landmark [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival]] / [[Classical Revival architecture|Classical Revival]] style architecture with tall white columns and portico (reminiscent of old-style Southern antebellum plantation manor houses) of a two-story brick mansion on a wooded 23 acres estate in the then rural / country at 4121 East [[Washington Street (Indianapolis)|Washington Street]]. The old luxurious estate facing on the historic east-west [[National Road]] (from [[Baltimore, Maryland]] to [[Vandalia, Illinois]] near the [[Mississippi River]], (later in the [[1920s]] designated as [[U.S. Route 40 in Indiana|U.S. Route 40]]), just east of Indianapolis.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2014/03/21/indiana-womens-history-trail/6711737/|title=Ground-Breaking sites for women in Indianapolis|last=Rudavsky|first=Shari|date=March 21, 2014|website=IndyStar|access-date=October 21, 2017}}</ref> InA decade later, in the [[American Centennial]] year of 1876, Streight ran successfully for a seat as a state senator in the [[Indiana Senate]], (the upper chamber of the state legislature [[Indiana General Assembly]], sitting in the [[Indiana Statehouse]] ([[state capitol]]), serving a two-year term. InAnother decade later in 1880, he ran unsuccessfully as the dominant [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]] candidate for [[List of Governors of Indiana|governorGovernor of Indiana]]. In 1888, he was once again elected as a State Senator. He died in Indianapolis four years later, in May 1892, from complications of [[Bright's Disease]].<ref name=":0">Lovina Streight Research Files 1861-20031861–2003 at the Indiana Historical Society. Processed by Kate Scott, May 2014. Collection # M 1099. See biographical sketch.</ref> Although initially buried on the front lawn of his residence at his widow's request, his grave was eventually moved ten years later in 1902 to the nearby prominent [[Crown Hill Cemetery]]. The impressive grave site includes a bronze head bust of the merchant, publisher, colonel, prisoner-of-war, and later general, followed by state senator, The sculpture is inserted into and surrounded / surmounted by a huge monumental granite temple-like structure with places beneath for Streight, his wife Lovina and their oldest son John. Special collections of his and his wife Lovina's papers and memorabilia are held at the [[Indiana Historical Society]] in Indianapolis.<ref name=":0" />

Streight was also the author of ''The Crisis of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-one in the Government of the United States'', published in 1861 at the outbreak of the conflict then tearing at the nation.<ref name=Eicher515/>

Streight's wife Lovina joined her husband on his southern campaign during the war, often ministering helpas a nurse to help the wounded men during theand after battlebattles. She was captured three times and exchanged for prisoners. When Abel died in 1892 she had him buried in the front yard of their home, stating, "I never knew where he was in life, but now I can find him."<ref>Willett, Robert L.; ''The Lightning Mule Brigade'', Carmel, IN, 1999, p. 196.</ref> Lovina Streight was known as the "Mother of the 51st", and upon her death 45 years after the war in 1910, her funeral too like his in 1892 was afforded full military honors and attended by a large concourse of veterans and Indiana citizens. It was said at the time that her funeral drew the largest crowd of mourners to [[Crown Hill Cemetery]] in Indianapolis since the earlier turn-of-the-century funeral of fellow Indianan. and 23rd President [[Benjamin Harrison]] (1833-1901, served 1889-1893).<ref>obit. of Lavina Streight, Indianapolis Star, 7 & 9 Jun 1910, p. 1</ref> In her probated will, she directed that the large elaborate Streight family mansion on Washington Street should become a home for aged women; however, other relatives successfully challenged the will in orphans court on the grounds that she was of “unsound mind.” TheTheir main arguments used by the plaintiffs were that she believed in spiritualism and was under the influence of a B. Frank Schmid, a spiritualist.<ref>the The controversial trial, held in nearby [[Shelbyville, INIndiana]], over Lavina's will was a big news story in its day, and iswas covered in the followingseveral local daily newspapers: of the time.<ref>''[[Indianapolis News]]'', 27 Aug 1910, p. &nbsp;2, 5 Apr 1911, p. &nbsp;1, 16 Apr 1911, p. &nbsp;8; ''[[Indianapolis Star]]'', 28 Apr 1911, p. &nbsp;1; ''[[Shelbyville Democrat]]'', 4-284–28 Apr 1911</ref>

{{Portal|United States Army|American Civil War|Biography}}

{{WikisourceparWikisource|Report of Col. Abel D. Streight, August 22, 1864}}