Porter County in the Mexican-American WarVeterans of the Mexican-American War from Porter County . . . .
The following information concerning Porter County
residents in the Mexican-American War comes from the following source:
The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 4, Page 9.
Background Information
On May 11, 1846, the United States Congress declared war on Mexico at the
request of President Polk. The dispute arose over a border issue between the
Republic of Texas, then annexed to the United States, and Mexico. Three
volunteer infantry were recruited from Indiana. In 1846, Joseph P. Smith, at
that time being Clerk of Lake County, Indiana, resigned his position and
recruited a company; this company consisted of some men residing in Porter County and was
mustered into service in 1847. The company was not assigned to any of the three
Indiana regiments, rather it was assigned as Company H, Sixteenth United States
Infantry, commanded by Colonel John W. Tibbets. Company H was mainly responsible
for guarding wagon trains and never experienced battle. Although Company H never
saw battle, only 36 of the 119 men of the company returned home, nearly all
deaths being caused by tropical disease. Note that the veterans of the Mexican
War from Porter County listed below is very likely to be incomplete due to the
lack of muster rolls.
Porter County Mexican-American War Veterans
Jacob Alyea
Daniel Brown, Sergeant
Oliver Conklin, died in service
Hudson S. Farwell
M. Hopkins
Clinton Jackson
David Mussellman
Simeon P. Patterson
Newell Pulsifer, Sergeant
Cyrus H. Risden, died in service
John Sparks, died in service
Lewis P. Streeter
Gilbert Wariner
Information abstracted by Steven R. Shook