“INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST”
The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries and historic sites built by Hoosier Pioneers. In just over two years, the quest has grown to over six hundred caches hidden in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Colorado, Michigan and Ontario and the hiders have grown to 30 cacher teams, most of which are comprised of Dogs and their Humans. Thousands of cacher teams have logged over 50,000 finds. .
Photos by Pirate for Hire
INDIANA SPIRIT QUEST #676
"Washington's Drummer Boy"
This quest will bring you to the Round Hill Cemetery in Perry Township of Marion County. This is an encore visit for the ISQ series. ISQ #211 is also here and pointed out the two Revolutionary War veterans buried here. New information and a new monument have come to light on Sgt John George that made it worthwhile to add another cache to tell the next chapter on this American patriot.
The posted coordinates will take you to a new monument for Sgt John George. This is an offset cache. To find the final location go 70 feet at 230 degrees from the monument/headstone of Sgt. George. Just looking in the right direction should let you see a fairly obvious hiding spot.
Sgt John George Military Headstone
As you can see from the monument, it is believed that John George served at least the first three years of the Revolutionary War as the drummer boy for George Washington's Headquarter Guard. A researcher, Christopher Swift did extensive study of muster rolls, fields reports, pension records and other war paperwork and came to the conclusion that George could indeed have served in this roll. John George enlisted in 1777, at the age of 17, in the First New Jersey Battalion. This battalion was part of the Maxwell Brigade which did serve under Washington's direct command. George is listed on muster rolls as the drummer boy. The brigade saw there first action that year at Brandywine, and took part in the battles at Germantown and Monmouth. They were also at Valley Forge. George served two 3-year enlistments. His first three years were served as a private. When he re-enlisted in 1780 he came back as a sergeant. He was present at Yorktown and continued in the Continental Army until 1783.
At that time the members of the elite unit were personally awared a badge of Military Merit by General Washington. After his service ended George received a veteran's land grant of 100 acres near Mercer Kentucky. There he married and raised a large family. He would not receive his Revolutionary War pension for almost 40 years. After his wife died in 1838, the 80-year old John George moved to Indianapolis to live with a daughter and son-in-law, Peter Struck, who had a house just east of the current location of the University of Indianapolis. He would live there until 1847, which is how he came to be buried in Round Hill Cemetery.
FIND LOGS ON THIS CACHE THAT INDICATE NIGHT CACHING WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE!!
The cache container is A CAMOUFLAGED PRESCRIPTION BOTTLE. 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.
"Indiana Spirit Quest" is brought to you by the following fellows of GEOISQ*: SixDogTeam (Earthdog Patrick, Lead Dog, Wheel Dog) , Kodiak Kid, *The Shadow*, Team Shydog, Rupert2, Torry, ~Mystery Dog~, Team Tigger International, Awsome Ev, bbsurveyors, Wishbone 86, DoverDuo, -{LoS}-Xile, Prairiepartners WilliamsFamGC, Team Itchy & Scratchy, Bean Blossom Gang, krisNjoe , bikinibottomfeeders, 501 Gang , Lord Elwood, Donsdi,Joypa, Doobies, DougSmiley , Che K, JCurtis55, Team GCHound, Nursenine, Cowboy1829, S Keillan, CAR 54, Team Lost in the woods,ICQ cache crew, ClayC, Odyssey Posse, Jenishmeni and a host of others. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email SixDogTeam.
*Grand Exalted Order of the Indiana Spirit Quest
Happy Hunting!!