This week in Indiana’s history …
1862 – Indiana soldiers fought in the Battle of Perryville, a Union victory in Kentucky. Among the 20 states represented at the battle, the Indiana 22nd Volunteer Regiment suffered the highest casualty rate. Over 60 percent of the men in that unit were killed or wounded. Kentucky, a border state, was secured for the Union for the rest of the war.
1866 – John and Simeon Reno, brothers from Jackson County, staged the first robbery of a moving train in the United States. They stopped the Ohio and Mississippi train in a sparsely populated area outside of Seymour and made off with $13,000. Their new method of railroad robbery quickly became popular in western states.
1890 – The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) was organized in Washington, D.C. The first President General was Caroline Scott Harrison, the wife of President Benjamin Harrison. A local Indianapolis chapter of the DAR is named for the former first lady.
1949 – The state celebrated the centennial birthday of poet James Whitcomb Riley. In his hometown of Greenfield, a 77-foot tower on the lawn of the Hancock County Courthouse was covered with flowers sent by Indiana children. In Indianapolis, students brought bouquets of flowers to Riley’s home on Lockerbie Street, and Governor Henry Schricker dedicated a new research wing at the Riley Hospital for Children.
1956 – Janice Voss was born in South Bend. She earned engineering degrees from Purdue University and MIT. Accepted into NASA’s Astronaut Program, she flew on five space shuttles, travelling a total of 18.8 million miles in 779 orbits.
1969 – Robert Merrill, star baritone of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, was the guest soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Izler Solomon, in his 14th year as ISO conductor, introduced Merrill to the capacity crowd at Clowes Hall. Indianapolis News reviewer Charles Staff reported that the famous baritone “capped his success by charming listeners right out of their seats.”