Troy Times - 8th Indiana Regiment

June 18, 1863

BLAKELY, PRIVATE ISAAC - In Memoriam - Killed, at the battle of Champion Hill, before Vicksburg, May 22nd, 1863, Private Isaac Blakely, of the 8th Indiana, Regt., aged 22 years.　 How dear to every true patriot must be the name of every soldier who falls in this conflict!　 How sweetly will their memories perfume the air of America!　Time, with its arising hand, cannot erase, the name of Isaac Blakely from the hearts of the American people.

For six years previous to the breaking out of this rebellion, he was a citizen of this part of Miami Co. but at the time of the President's call for 75,000 Volunteers, he was living in Wabash town, Indiana.　As soon as the news of the firing upon Fort Sumter reached him, he volunteered in the 8th Indiana, in the three months service. Soon as the regiment was organized, it was ordered to Western Virginia.　He passed unhurt through the battle of Rich Mountain, fought by McClellan's forces under command of Gen. Rosecrans.　He was also in several other severe engagements in the mountains of this part of Virginia.  After the term of his three months service had expired, he again volunteered in the same regiment for three years or during the war.--Soon, after the re-organization of the regiment it was ordered to Missouri. Six different times did our young hero cross the state of Missouri with the army of the West after the rebels. He was in the terrific battle of Pea Ridge, fought by Gen. Sigle, in which Ben McCullough was killed, and the rebels were routed.　Last fall he came with Granger's Division from Arkansas through Cincinnati on its way to join the army of the Mississippi Valley.　On the 22nd of May he was detailed to do duty close to the fortifications of Vicksburg as a Sharp Shooter, and it was here while doing service for his Country, that he was shot in the forehead by a Minnie ball from a rebel rifle, and he died almost instantly.　He was a brave and fearless young soldier, and a young man who was loved by all who were acquainted with him.　His Captain says in a letter written to his friends, "Isaac was a brave boy, and as good a soldier as I had in my Company; but alas! he had one fault, and that was this--he was to reckless with his bravery, and there is not doubt had he been more cautious, he might have escaped the sudden death which he met." In regard to his true patriotism, I will just relate one incident to prove it.　 Soon after the term of his three months service had expired, he was in Wabash town, Indiana, one day when one of those Butternuts came up to him and offered to pay his way to Canada, if he would leave and not enlist in the service again.　 Isaac told him that he loved his Country too well, to desert her in this her hour of need; he said that he had started to put down this rebellion, and he was going to see it through.　 But alas! he has fallen in the service he loved so well; and he who endeavored  to persuade him to desert his country, still survives to spit forth his poisonous venom.　 May infamy, shamo, and disgrace rest upon the heads of all those who will forget the need, and who will dare to poison the minds of our young men with treason's foul poison.　 He was buried by his Company in a quiet grave before Vicksburg, where a plain wooden slab marks his resting place until this rebellion shall be over, when his body will be gathered, with our Country's sacred ties and when it shall sleep on the soil of our loyal Sister State of Indiana.　May the cause for which he offered his life, inspire our hearts with ardent zeal for our country's welfare; and may that flag under which he fought, wave in triumph oe'r every battlefield; and may the time soon come when the STARS and STRIPES shall wave triumphantly over every foot of American soil, and when the foes of this government wherever found shall be put down, and when treason shall be driven down to its native perdition and traitors meet their just reward, and when our country shall be an asylum for the oppressed and the down trodden of the nations of the earth.　 Let us keep in sweet remembrance the names of BLAKELY, MURRAY, COLEMAN, and a host of others who have fallen in defense of our Liberty, and ask this solemn question to ourselves--

　Sons of our Country where are they now,

　　 Where sleep our mighty dead!

Show me what high and holy pile

　　 Is reared oe'r their low bed.

　Then let us all revere their names,

　　 Over hold dear our sacred trust

And raise a Monument to mark