Processed by
AJ Salkoski
15 March 2004
Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF |
1 document case |
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COLLECTION |
1862–1883 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Robert O. Parmley, P.E., S. Ladysmith, WI 54848, 22 October 2003 |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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COPYRIGHT: |
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REPRODUCTION |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE |
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RELATED |
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ACCESSION |
2004.0015 |
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NOTES: |
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At some point between January and July of 1843, John L. Martyn was born in Washington County, Indiana. He remained in Washington County until the he enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 as a private in the Thirty-Eighth Indiana Infantry. Martyn served through his three years of enlistment and reenlisted in 1864 in the now-veteran infantry regiment. After the war, he was eventually mustered out of the Army in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1865.
While on active duty, the Thirty-Eighth Indiana Infantry fought throughout Kentucky and Tennessee before joining Gen. Sherman on his March to the Sea. They also fought in the Carolinas before being shipped back home at the conclusion of the war. During his time in the war, Martyn rose in the ranks from corporal, to sergeant major, and finally became captain of his regiment.
He married Sarah (McBride?) in 1868 and they moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where they remained until his death sometime in the 1880s. While in Iowa, Martyn received a teaching license and was given the informal title of “Doc.” He was served several times with affidavits to help the government determine who should or should not receive pension checks. His exact date of death is unknown, but Martyn seems to have passed away in 1883.
Sources:
Ancestry.com. National Archives and Records Administration. Civil War Pension Index. [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Data indexed and imaged from National Archives and Records Administration. General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934. T288, 544 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. (http://www.ancestry.com/main.aspx) accessed 6 February 2004.
Ancestry.com. Indiana Marriage Records Index, 1845-1920. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original Data: Works Progress Administration. Index to Marriage Records Indiana: Indiana Works Progress Administration, 1938-1940. (http://www.ancestry.com/main.aspx) accessed 6 February 2004.
Orange County Military Veterans (http://www.usgennet.org/usa/in/county/orange/civwar.htm) accessed 3 February 2004.
1850 Vernon Township Census Records (http://165.138.44.13/washington/vernon.htm) accessed 6 February 2004.
Materials in collection.
This collection contains the letters and documents of John Martyn from the Civil War through the early 1880s. The collection includes 12 letters; 11 newspaper clippings; and approximately 80 pension papers, general orders, or other service records or documents. There are two series within this collection. The first series is made up of letters and documents, while the second series contains newspaper articles.
The first series includes certificates for Martyn’s promotions to corporal, sergeant major, and eventually captain in the Union army. The documents verifying his discharge from the army in both 1863 and 1865 are also included. The other documents vary greatly, but are all documents from the Civil War period itself or within a few months of its conclusion. They include general orders given while Martyn was an officer, invoice statements concerning the arrival and return of clothing and equipment to Martyn’s regiment, and a roll that provides the names of soldiers mustered in and out of the Union army. There are also forty documents bound together that include general orders, receipts, and other handwritten documents from the conclusion of the war. There is an advertisement for General B.F. Scribner’s How Soldiers Were Made. The last item of this section is a blank certificate for soldiers who became disabled during service in the army.
The series also contains brochures from lawyers specializing in pension claims, letters claiming pension fees that are due to lawyers, a letter from a claims solicitor, and letter from the Department of the Interior, which worked with pension funds at this time. There are also affidavits from pension lawyers asking for a statement or opinion in cases concerning soldiers from the Civil War who were beneath Martyn in the chain of command.
The final section of the series contains miscellaneous letters and documents that John Martyn either signed or received after the Civil War. Within this section there are letters, a check stub, a teaching license, and a telegraph from the late 1860s. This section also has a property tax form and letters from the assistant surgeon general and the House of Representatives from the later portion of the 1870s. Finally this miscellaneous grouping of documents contains a debt statement, unsigned letters, a poem looking back on the Union success, and a postcard from the Johnson County Medical Society.
The second series contains newspaper articles that Martyn collected in relation to the Civil War, and men who fought in the war. The majority of these newspapers were printed in New Albany, Indiana, and either gave figures of casualties of a battle or for the war as a whole. There are also articles that contain obituaries of prominent leaders, and that document local matters like the celebration of a regiment returning home.
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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Certificates for Military Promotions |
Box 1, Folder 1 |
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Military Discharges: 1863, 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 2 |
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Muster In Soldiers Roll, 26 Mar 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 3 |
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Inventory and Inspection Report, 6 Apr 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 4 |
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Clothing Return Label, May 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 5 |
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Monthly Returns of Equipment, May and June 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 6 |
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Invoice of Stores, 8 June 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 7 |
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General Orders Pamphlet, 15 June 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 8 |
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Mustered Out Soldiers Roll, 15 June 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 9 |
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Balance Sheet, 28 July 1865 |
Box 1, Folder 10 |
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Letter for Property Return |
Box 1, Folder 11 |
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Acknowledgement of Clothing Received |
Box 1, Folder 12 |
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Forty General Order, Receipts and Handwritten Documents |
Box 1, Folder 13 |
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General B.F. Scriber, How Soldiers Were Made [advertisement] |
Box 1, Folder 14 |
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Certificate, Army Disability Form |
Box 1, Folder 15 |
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Pension Brochures, A.W. McCormick and Sons |
Box 1, Folder 16 |
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Pension Fee to William Welch from J.B. Cralle |
Box 1, Folder 17 |
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Pension Fee to J.L. Martyn from H.G. Curtis |
Box 1, Folder 18 |
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Pension Letter to J.L. Martyn from George Lemon |
Box 1, Folder 19 |
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Pension Letters to J.L. Martyn from the United States Department of the Interior |
Box 1, Folder 20 |
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Affidavits to J.L. Martyn from Various Pension Lawyers |
Box 1, Folder 21 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn, 3 July 1866 |
Box 1, Folder 22 |
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Check, 2 Nov 1867 |
Box 1, Folder 23 |
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Teaching License, 23 Oct 1868 |
Box 1, Folder 24 |
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Telegraph to J.L. Martyn, 20 Jan 1869 |
Box 1, Folder 25 |
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Letters to J.L. Martyn, 1869 |
Box 1, Folder 26 |
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Property Tax Form, 15 Aug 1874 |
Box 1, Folder 27 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn from Coffman, 1 Mar 1879 |
Box 1, Folder 28 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn from Asst. Surgeon General, 18 Nov 1879 |
Box 1, Folder 29 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn from House of Representatives, 15 Dec 1879 |
Box 1, Folder 30 |
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Debt Statement, 23 Mar 1883 |
Box 1, Folder 31 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn, 24 Sept 1883 |
Box 1, Folder 32 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn from C.P. Bacon |
Box 1, Folder 33 |
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Twenty Page Letter [unsigned] |
Box 1, Folder 34 |
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Letter to J.L. Martyn from F.A. Emmons |
Box 1, Folder 35 |
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Re-Union Poem, “Old Glory” 28th Iowa Regiment |
Box 1, Folder 36 |
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Postcard to J.L. Martyn from Johnson County Medical Society |
Box 1, Folder 37 |
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CONTENTS |
CONTAINER |
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Killed, Wounded and Missing Soldiers, 1862–65 |
Box 1, Folder 38 |
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Obituaries of James Steedman, Daniel Griffin, and Frank Cheatham |
Box 1, Folder 39 |
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Articles Concerning 38th Indiana Infantry and the Civil War |
Box 1, Folder 40 |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://157.91.92.2/
2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.
3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.
4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0809).
5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.