At this time of year, we look back to the Civil War, that portion of our history which subsequently resulted in the holiday we know today as Memorial Day. On the southwest corner of W. Erie and S. Eaton Streets in Albion is the Peabody Place housing development.
It was named after prominent Albion merchant David Peabody (1823-1873) whose elegant brick home, demolished in 1966, once stood here. David was the son of Albion’s first settler, Tenney Peabody (1792-1856). It was on this property that Albion’s participation in the Civil War had its origins.
As the political situation deteriorated at the beginning of the 1860s, local Michigan Central Railroad accountant Harrison Soule (1832-1922) took leadership and organized a militia group named the Albion Rifle Rangers. The group would regularly meet on the aforementioned property, where they had a practice range and a small storage building. The group met and drilled weekly.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Soule and fourteen of the Albion Rifle Rangers enlisted together in the Sixth Michigan Infantry Volunteers, Company I, later renamed the Sixth Michigan Infantry and Heavy Artillery. Soule was named Captain. The men trained at Fort Wayne in Detroit from June 19 to August 5, 1861, at which time they briefly returned to Albion for two weeks. During that time, Soule recruited more men, and the company would drill on the streets of Albion, around public buildings, and in our parks.
The men reported at Camp Fremont on August 20, 1861, where they were housed at the county fairgrounds. The Albion Company was composed of Captain Soule; Lieutenants Alfred J. Ralf, 21, of Jonesville and Second Lieut. Charles S. Fassett, 23, of Sandstone; Sergeant Henry Bascom, 29, of Albion, Sgt. Alonzo E. Pickett, 34, of rural Albion, Sgt. Byron Stoddard, 20, of rural Concord; and Corporals: Charles Davis of rural Albion, George Murray, 23, of Albion, George C. Perry, 19, of rural Albion, Jabez Piper, 23, of Parma, J. Blake Stoddard, 23, of Concord, Willett W. Tompkins, 21, of rural Albion; the Company musician and bugler John Conroy, 21, of Albion, and 70 privates.
The Sixth Regiment spent the winter of 1861-62 at Baltimore, Maryland, and in 1862 headed for Mississippi. On August 6, 1862, the Sixth was involved in a heavy battle at Baton Rouge, LA, in which after a valiant charge they captured the enemy flag of the Ninth Louisiana battalion. The regiment suffered many casualties, including Corporals Murray and Piper who were killed in the battle.
For many years after the War the Sixth regiment held annual reunions. A 25th reunion was held in Albion in 1898 at the Grand Army of the Republic Hall. The last reunion was held in 1928 in Charlotte, when only 5 surviving members of the Sixth were present.
From our Historical Notebook this week we illustrate the Peabody property from the 1868 Bird’s Eye View of Albion, where the Albion Rifle Rangers practiced in the early 1860s. By 1868 the Peabody house had been erected, and apparently David had planted an orchard on his back property. Notice the small storage shed in the lower right corner at W. Ash St, which may have been the storage shed for the Albion Rifle Rangers, site of today’s layered old sidewalk wall. Next Week: Major Harrison Soule.
