Status - John Baer - 40th Indiana Regiment:
On January 4, 1862, the 40th Indiana was in transit to Bardstown, KY to begin training in the Union Army.
Background - Events of Late 1861
Soon after John Baer returned home, on August 20, authority was granted to organize 40th Indiana regiment at Lafayette, IN. William C. Wilson, who would be the first commander of the regiment with the rank of Colonel, was the organizer.
At this time almost all the regiments being formed in Indiana were sent to the Eastern Theater near Washington, or to the West, where fighting was focused on Missouri. In October, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was in command of the Department of Kentucky. Kentucky was initially neutral, but that ended in September, and forces from both North and South had moved into the state.
On October 16th, Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War, visited Sherman on his return to Washington from a tour of the West. Sherman explained that he had few troops, as new regiments were diverted elsewhere; Cameron immediately initiated the sending of any available regiments to Kentucky.
As the discussion went further, Sherman talked of the future and the number of troops needed to subdue the rebellion, and at one point mentioned 200,000 (this number being the eventual need, and not an immediate request). The 200,000 number got into the newspapers as Sherman's immediate request for Kentucky, and was thus described as "insane", and the ensuing controversy led to Sherman's replacement with General Don Carlos Buell. On November 15th, Buell assumed command of a newly reorganized department, and he would control the disposition of new Indiana and Ohio regiments.
Meanwhile, the 40th Indiana was assembling - John Baer's Company "A" was mustered in on October 31st at what was then known as Culver's Station (this Wikipedia page shows the location as North Crane, the railroad stop being known as Culver's Station. That location would be somewhere near the intersection of S 500 E road and E 550 S in Tippecanoe County, and along the old railroad that ran between Lafayette and Indianapolis through Stockwell and other towns near the current highway US 52).
This online 40th Indiana Infantry website has numerous interesting and informative articles on the regiment, and will be linked many times as we go along. This entry from that website provides a newspaper report on the regiment as it was being mustered in to the army at the end of December in Indianapolis:
Click this link to see the entry: Description of the 40th.
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