A look back at our Civil War past: the death of a Noblesville soldier

There is a small headstone in Riverside Cemetery in Noblesville. It is at the end of a line of family markers for the Mallery family. This military stone marks the grave of Garrick Mallery, a Civil War soldier who served with Company D of the Indiana 75th Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

It is unusual because it is a footstone – a prone-style stone rather than the upright marble stones issued to Civil War veterans. It is also unusual because Garrick Mallery died during the war and was interred in Noblesville.

Garrick Mallery is listed on the Veterans Memorial next to the Hamilton County Courthouse. He was one of 277 soldiers from Hamilton County that died during the Civil War. (Photo provided by Kevin Yaney)

Riverside Cemetery is the city’s oldest graveyard, dating back to 1820. It is the final resting place of 75 veterans of the Civil War. The majority of these veterans survived the war, came back to live in Hamilton County, and were buried here. Two thousand, four hundred men from Hamilton County enlisted to fight during the war years of 1861 to 1865. Of those, 277 lost their lives during the war and, most of them, were buried at military cemeteries near where they fell. That is not the case with Private Garrick Mallery. His body was returned to Noblesville.

There are several modern legends about the Civil War that have been shaped by war movies, reenactments, or photos of old soldiers at reunions. The death of Garrick Mallery debunks some of these myths.

The first myth is that Civil War soldiers were middle-aged men. Garrick Mallery was 17 years old when he died. It was not unusual for someone this young to enlist to fight. Teenagers and men in their early twenties fought this war. In fact, John Shay of Noblesville was only 12 years old when he also enlisted in the 75^th Indiana as a drummer. If I put that in modern terms, Garrick Mallery would have been a junior in high school and John Shay a sixth grader in middle school when they signed up as soldiers!

The second myth is the majority of deaths were from battlefield casualties. Although battlefield deaths during the Civil War far outpace any other war American soldiers have fought, diseases caused the death of over 400,000 of the 620,000 soldiers who died during the war. In other words, for every battlefield death, there were two caused by sickness. Garrick Mallery died of pneumonia in a regimental hospital in Scottsville, Ky. Scottsville did not have a battle, but there was a large Federal camp there for a time. Records show that 57 soldiers died of disease at Dumont Hill in Scottsville’s military hospitals.

On Nov. 23, 1862, Garrick Mallery became one of those casualties.

Private Garrick Mallery died while serving with the 75th Indiana Infantry, a regiment that was heavily recruited from Hamilton County. (Photo provided by Kevin Yaney)

After the war, there was a large-scale effort to find all the remains of fallen soldiers and place them in a proper cemetery. The dead of Scottsville’s cemeteries were exhumed and most of them taken to the National Cemetery in Nashville, Tenn. Garrick Mallery was brought home to Noblesville and laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery.

If you are interested in more information on Noblesville’s Civil War heritage, Kevin Yaney is leading a Civil War Walking Tour at Riverside Cemetery at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. You can register at yaney.net/history-tours.