Indiana Spirit Quest #628 - Old Bethel Cemetery Traditional Cache

This quest will bring you to the Old Bethel Cemetery in Warren Township in Putnam County. This cemetery is well cared for, but many of the headstones are difficult to read. The cemetery is also known as Bethel Methodist Cemetery. The gravel road that will take you to the cemetery is about 1/2 mile west of the junction of US 40 and SR 231. The is no sign for the road, so let your GPS be your guide.

A Civil War Casualty

Military headstones for Civil War veterans usually do not show birth or death dates, but this one does and indicates this soldier died while he was a member of the 115th Indiana volunteer regiment. His older headstone also says Philo Welker, "died while in service."

The 115th saw little action in the front lines, spending much of its service time in Kentucky. It is quite likely Mr. Welker died from disease.

A Mexican-American War Veteran

Thomas Bridges was a member of company A of the 1st Indiana regiment during the Mexican-American War. Indiana formed 5 regiments of volunteers during the Mexican-American war. The first three entered service at the onset of the war, while the 4th and 5th regiments were sent as replacements when the first three regiments were mustered out.

Company A of the 1st Indiana Volunteers were made up of men from Putnam County. A company consisted of 64 privates, 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 4 sergeants, 4 corporals and 2 musicians.

While the 2nd and 3rd Indiana saw much action in Mexico, the 1st Indiana spent most of the war on garrison duty, primarily guarding the mouth of the Rio Grande River. The men were ordered to march to the front at one point and were excited at the prospect of seeing action. However, upon arrival at the front, General Zachary Taylor ordered them back to the Rio Grande.

For those with an interest in Indiana's part in the Mexican-American War, the 1908 book, "Indiana in the Mexican War" is public domaine and is available for download

Indiana 57th Indiana Regiment

William Gose was a member of the 57th Indiana regiment during the Civil War. The 57th was organized in 1861 and was active throughout the war. Much of the first year was spent on guard duty in Kentucky, but from mid-1862 until the end of the war, the 57th was involved in several big battles and saw continuous action. They participated in the battles at Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Stones River, and Mission Ridge. The 57th then took part in the early battles of the Atlanta campaign, before returning to Tennessee where the regiment took heavy losses in the battle of Franklin.

FIND LOGS ON THIS CACHE THAT INDICATE NIGHT CACHING WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE!!

The cache container is A MEDIUM-SIZED PEANUT BUTTER JAR. You MUST sign the log to claim a Smilie. If you cache at night, or don't sign the log, or reveal the additional hint in your log, or don't fulfill any additional requirements, your find log will be deleted without notice...If you think these terms to be unfair, don't bother to hunt this cache. The cache is not located near a grave... If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful of our pioneer dead and cache in, trash out.

None genuine without this official SixDogTeam seal. Photographs taken by Lead Dog, (C) 2006 by RikSu Outfitters, unless otherwise noted.

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