(continued from Vanderburgh County, Indiana, in the Mexican War, page 7)
he returned home, but all he ever revealed of his search is embodied in his statement, “I am satisfied.”
John Smith Gavitt served several years, first as city marshal of Evansville, and then as sheriff of Vanderburgh County. At the outbreak of the Civil war he volunteered in the service, became major of the First Indiana Cavalry, and in a gallant charge against the enemy at Frederickstown, Mo., fell, the first commissioned officer from Indiana killed in the Civil war.
Captain Tucker recruited at Evansville 26 men for Company K, United States Mounted Riflemen. The recruits were William Anderson, Robert Ashley, Edward H. Bean, Daniel Bonacomb, George Collins, Samuel Collins, Thomas Conaway, John David, Thomas Embree, Benjamin F. Freebone, Michael Frest, John Ewing Hudson, William Hemmington, William Hutchcroft, Andrew J. Hutchinson, John Kirkbride, James Millard, James McGinnis, William Patton, Wesley Powers, Hamilton G. Shrodes, J. W. Q. Smith, Robert Smith, John Van Asdale, Abel Washburne, and Absalom R. Yard.
Some of these are remembered but not sufficient information is at hand to justify an attempt to make personal mention of any of them.
Colonel Charles C. Schreeder
Colonel Charles C. Schreeder was born on January 19, 1847 in Berlin, Germany. His father, Charles Frederick Schreeder, reportedly took part in “those noted fights” in the streets of Berlin during the outbreak of violence there in 1848, which seems to have been related to a number of other rebellions across Europe at that time. Sources indicate that Charles Frederick died of cholera in 1849, and in April 1852 the widowed Mrs. Schreeder boarded the sailing vessel Adolphphena with her young son and set out for the United States. She fell dangerously ill during the voyage, and it has been recorded that at one point they were uncertain if she would live. She survived the passage, however, and she and her young son arrived in Baltimore in August, and immediately set out toward the home of friends in Huntingburg, Indiana. After living for approximately a year in Huntingburg, Mrs. Schreeder married the Rev. Frederich Weithaup, minister of the German Evangelical church in Evansville, and they relocated there. Charles attended school for a period of time in Evansville, as well as other locations where his step-father was stationed, eventually ending up in Dayton, Ohio. It was there that he enlisted in Company D of the 2nd Ohio at a young age, and served with that regiment until he was discharged due to disabilities. He relocated to Evansville, where he worked for a time before re-enlisting in Company E of the 143rd Indiana Infantry in January 1865. He was wounded in August of that year, and returned home in October. He was married twice, first, to Miss Louisa Behrens in 1868, and following Louisa’s death, to Mrs. Rebecca Keller in 1892. There were two children by his first marriage, Emma M., who died in 1919, and a son, Walter D. Schreeder. Charles held a number of political offices in the years following the War, both in Evansville and in Huntingburg, where he relocated in 1876. His obituary lists him as a delegate to the GOP National Convention in 1880 and 1884, and he was a member of several organizations including the G.A.R. posts in Evansville and Huntingburg. The weekly paper, the Huntingburg Argus, was established and edited by Schreeder, and he was, by all accounts, well-known and well-respected. He died at his home in Evansville on January 18, 1930, and is buried at Fairmount Cemetery in Huntingburg, Indiana.