Biographies and Obituaries
In loving memory
Henry McCracken
Henry McCracken was bor 5 March 1843 in Daviess County, Indiana. His parents were John McCracken and Sarah Jane Webber. Henry enlisted as a private in Company "G" 42nd Regiment of Indiana Volunteers on 28 September 1861 at the age of 18. His brothers John James, Thomas,and William Nelson McCracken enlisted at the same time. They were mustered in on 10 October 1861 at Evansville.
During December of 1861 the 42nd was ordered to move its camp from Henderson to Calhoun, Knetucky, where there was a concentration of Union troops. The weather was cold and rainy making the roads ankle-deep in mud. Each man was required to carry about seventy-five pounds of equipment in his knapsack in addition to his rifle and haversack. At night the regiment usually had to make camp in the mud and get their water from any availables stream. It was not long until one-third of the regiment was sick with typhoid, measles, pneumonia and dysentery. The result for Henry McCracken was frostbitten feet which caused him to have painful, swollen feet throughout his three years of service.
In the spring of 1863 Henry became ill with fever and was in a regimental hospital near Murfeesboro, Tennessee. His brother "Nelson" went to visit him every day until the 42nd moved on, leaving Henry in the hospital. When Henry rejoined his unit several months later his relatives were shocked to see him because he had lost his hair as a result of his illness.
At the Battle of Resaca, 15 May 1864, the 42nd was being supported by a battery of six pound Napoleon guns. These were muzzle-loading cannons with a maximum effective range of 800 to 1,000 yards. They fired two to three rounds a minute. The cannons were on a hill above a branch of water. Company "G:, 42nd, as below the artillery and some of the men were ordered to lay down in the water to protect henselves. The water was cold and Henry went into the water reluctantly and only after he was ordered to do so by his officers. He laid in the water for several hours with cannons being fired over his head. When he came out of the water after dark he had a fever. As a result of fever, exposure and the concussion of the cannons, his hearing was damaged.
Henry McCracken was discharged as a Corporal, 17 October 1864 at Villanova, Georgia. He returned to his father's farm and worked there for one season before he moved to Patoka, Gibson County, Indiana. There he worked at Coleman's Sawmill as an engineer and fireman, running the stationary engine, but he occasionally worked in the planing mill and sometimes stacked lumber as well.
On 12 September 1867 Henry McCracken married Mary Jane Hanks in Gibson County, Indiana.
After working at the sawmill for a number of years, Henry decided that he was not able to do that kind of work any longer and that he must get on a farm. The McCrackens moved to Kansas, but only stayed for a short time and then returned to Patoks. henry went back to the sawmill and worked there another year. He and mary Jane then moved to Daviess County and Henry went back to farming in Barr Township, having been away for about 10 years.
Mary Jane died 13 October 1904, leaving Henry a widower for over twenty years. Henry died 30 December 1924 and was buried in Bethany Christian Church Cemetery with his wife.
Contributed by: Mrs. Jeanne Everett, McCracken Family Historian