Hoosiers' honor

by William Thomas Venner

In July 1861 one thousand excited, patriotic Indiana farm boys and shopkeepers left Indianapolis, ready to do their part in ending the rebellion. Together with the other Western regiments from Wisconsin and Michigan which formed the Iron Brigade, they received their baptism of fire and famous nickname at the Brawner farm in 1862. Three years after their enlistment, barely one hundred survivors of the battlefields of Antietam, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness returned to their homes and loved ones. Hoosier's Honor is more than a regimental history of the 19th Indiana Infantry. William Thomas Venner has portrayed the men's suffering from disease and poor leadership as well as fighting the Army of Northern Virginia in every major battle from Second Manassas to Cold Harbor.