The Wabash Inn Mess presents a Wabash Inn Dispatch narrated by Beau: "The Shot That Killed the Fighting Bishop: Simonson's Battery, Fifth Indiana Light Artillery." In the fall of 1861, about 150 Hoosier volunteers from Allen, Noble, Whitley, Marshall, and LaPorte counties mustered in at Indianapolis under Captain Peter Simonson, and for three years the 5th Independent Battery, Indiana Light Artillery fought across Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. At Perryville it fired until its limbers were empty, at Stones River it was driven back and complimented for holding on, and at Chickamauga it fired 1,247 rounds in two days. Then, at Pine Mountain on June 14, 1864, the battery was credited in the official reports with the shot that killed Confederate Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk, the "Fighting Bishop." Bibliography OR , Series I, Vol. XVI, Part I — Captain Peter Simonson, Report of the 5th Indiana Battery, Camp near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, October 12, 1862 (Perryville).OR, Series I, Vol. XXX, Part I — Captain Peter Simonson, Report of the 5th Indiana Battery, Camp at Chattanooga, Tennessee, October 10, 1863 (Chickamauga).OR, Series I, Vol. XXXVIII — Atlanta Campaign reports, including Captain Peter Simonson, Report of operations May 3 – June 9, 1864, and the reports of Major General David S. Stanley and Brigadier General Walter C. Whitaker crediting the 5th Indiana at Pine Mountain.Holm, D. D. History of the 5h Indiana Battery: Compiled and Written from the "Field Diary" of Lieutenant Daniel H. Chandler, and from Official Reports of Officers of the Army of the Cumberland (1900).Dyer, Frederick H. A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion (Des Moines, IA: Dyer Publishing Co., 1908) — detailed service record and the 36-man casualty total.Terrell, W. H. H., Adjutant General of Indiana. Report of the Adjutant General of the State of Indiana, Vol. 3 (1866, officer roster) and Vol. 7 (1867, soldier roster) — including Alfred Morrison's captaincy dated August 1, 1864, and Simonson's death on June 16, 1864.Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States Army, 1861–1865, Part VI (Indiana–Illinois), Adjutant General's Office, Washington, August 31, 1865, pp. 1–2 — 5th Battery roster as it stood at muster-out.Berkley, John Lee, ed. In the Defense of This Flag: The Civil War Diary of Pvt. Ormond Hupp, 5th Indiana Light Artillery (Bradenton, FL: McGuinn & McGuire, 1994)."The Union Army," Vol. 3 (Federal Publishing Company, 1908), regimental history of the 5th Indiana Light Battery, as reproduced by the Civil War Index.National Park Service, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, "Union Order of Battle" — Atlanta Campaign order of battle, listing the 5th Indiana (4 Napoleons and 2 3-inch ordnance rifles).National Park Service, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, "A Hurricane of Shot and Shell — 5th Indiana Battery versus the Polks" (special program, June 14, 2025).National Park Service, "Brown, Smith" biography — Sergeant Smith Brown, 5th Indiana Battery."Who Fired the Fatal Shot?" HistoryNet — analysis of the competing claims for Polk's death, crediting the 5th Indiana on the basis of Stanley's and Whitaker's reports, Sherman's memoirs, and Blakeslee's map."Simonson's Battery" historical marker, Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky, and "Captain Peter Simonson" historical marker, Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia — via the Historical Marker Database.Foote, Shelby. The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. 3: Red River to Appomattox (New York: Random House, 1974); and Smith, Derek. The Gallant Dead: Union & Confederate Generals Killed in the Civil War (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005).Castel, Albert. Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864; and Sherman, William T. Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman. Contact The Wabash Inn Mess via email: wabashinnmess@gmail.com Visit our website at: www.wabashinnmess.com
