Fountain County IN Archives Biographies.....McIrvin, Samuel 1827 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 19, 2006, 4:15 am

Author: H. W. Beckwith (1881)

   Maj. Samuel McIrvin, grocer and fanner, Veedersburg, is a native of
Rockbridge county, Virginia, born in 1827, and came to Fountain county in.
1835.with his parents, Hugh and Sarah (Ripley) McIrvin, both of whom were
natives of Virginia. They settled in Richland township. The Major's father died
there in 1838. He received his education in the common schools of Richland
township. In 1845 he began a two-years' apprenticeship to learn the trade of
blacksmithing, and in 1847 he enlisted in the 5th Ind. Vols., as a private
soldier, in the Mexican war, and owing to the fact that the part of the army to
which he belonged being detailed to follow Gen. Scott's army to the city of
Mexico, he served to the close of the war without once being engaged in battle.
He returned home in 1849, and was married to Martha J. Webster, daughter of
William and Nancy Webster, both natives of Ohio, and settlers at Newport in an
early day. She is a native of Indiana, born in 1850. By this union he has five
children: Elvessa (deceased), Alphonso, Blanch, Ureka, and Joseph K. In 1859 he
resumed his trade till 1854, when he engaged in the mercantile business at
Newtown, and in 1858 went to farming. In 1861 he enlisted and served three years
in the 22d N. Y. Cav. At the time of his going out no cavalry troops were being
raised in Indiana. He and three others arranged with the war department to
receive 400 cavalry. They each raised a company for the army, which was received
and placed in the 22d N. Y. Cav. The Major was appointed as captain of his
company, and afterward promoted to the rank of major, which office he held till
the term of his enlistment expired. The Major was in twenty-seven battles, and
skirmishes too numerous to mention. He was in Gen. Pope's retreat from Bull Run,
in 1862, upon Washington, the battles of Chantilly, Centreville, and Leesburg,
Virginia, Allodie, Upersville, Middlesex, and Culpepper; was with Gen. Grant in
his march on Richmond in 1864, and fought in the battles of the Wilderness,
Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg; was with Gen. Burnside at
Fredericksburg; was in Gen. Wilson's raid, and the cavalry raid south of
Petersburg. The Major was taken prisoner at Warren-ton Station, and paroled. In
1862 he was wounded by a saber in an engagement at Wilson's Ridge, taken
prisoner, and sent to the Libby prison pen, where he remained six months,
subsisting on a halt-ration of corn-bread and a potato a day, and "scarce
remembering what meat meant." In 1865 he returned to his family and farm. In
1875 he located in Veedersburg, where he now resides, and engaged in the grocery
trade, which he still carries on. He is a Mason, lodge No. 491. Besides his
store he has a good farm of 160 acres under cultivation. In polities he is
thoroughly republican.

Additional Comments:
Van Buren Township

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY,

TOGETHER WITH
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY,

GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS
PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST
PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES.

BY H. W. BECKWITH,
OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF
WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO.

WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS.
1881.

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