The 104th Indiana Infantry Regiment was organized as an emergency response to Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raid into Indiana during the American Civil War. On July 8, 1863, after Morgan crossed the Ohio River into southern Indiana, Governor Oliver P. Morton called for volunteers to defend the state. The rapid mobilization demonstrated the state's commitment to repelling the Confederate incursion, with an extraordinary 65,000 men volunteering their services within forty-eight hours.
The 104th Indiana Infantry Regiment mustered into service at Greensburg on July 10, 1863, under the command of Colonel James Gavin. The regiment was composed of six companies of "Minute Men" and four companies from the Indiana Legion, the state's militia. The majority of the regiment's soldiers came from Marion County, Decatur County, Fayette County, and Dearborn County, Indiana. During its brief period of active service, the regiment marched from Greensburg to Lawrenceburg by way of Sunman's Station, then proceeded toward Harrison, Ohio, positioning itself to intercept or monitor Morgan's movements.
The threat to Indiana concluded on July 14, 1863, when it was confirmed that Morgan had crossed into Ohio, ending the immediate danger to the state. Following this development, the 104th returned to Greensburg and mustered out of service on July 18, 1863. Although the regiment saw no major engagement during its eight-day term of service, it represented Indiana's rapid mobilization capability and the state's determination to defend itself against Confederate invasion. Morgan was subsequently captured in eastern Ohio on July 26, ending the raid.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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