78th Indiana Infantry

This soldier was my great great grandfather. I would like to find out as much as possible about the man and the regiment

This soldier was my great great grandfather. I would like to find out as much as possible about the man and the regiment

After the outbreak of the Civil war Watson Dills offered his services to the government, first going to the front with the Forty-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry as a teamster. He was in the south for six months, largely in Kentucky with General Buell's division. Later he returned home and in 1863 re-enlisted, becoming a member of Company A, Seventy-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry for sixty days. He went south to Kentucky, was taken prisoner at Uniontown and subsequently was paroled, after which he returned home. It was in February, 1865, that Mr. Dills was united in marriage to Miss Jane Johnston, a native of Parke county, Indiana, and a daughter of Samuel H. Johnston, one of the early settlers of Parke county. Mr. Dills came through with teams to Iowa in the same year and located on land which he had previously purchased in Dallas county. The farm is situated on section 32, Beaver township, and was at that time all wild and unimproved, but he built a plank house and with characteristic energy began to turn the furrows. Soon the sod was broken and the first crops were planted. He commenced here with one hundred and sixty acres of land but later bought an adjoining tract of forty acres. He made a change in his original farm, however, by selling off eighty acres and buying one hundred and sixty acres more. Subsequently he bought an improved place of seventy acres, upon which he lived until 1901, when he removed to the town of Minburn and since that time he has disposed of his seventy-acre farm. His son has built a good house on the old home place, also a substantial barn, granary and cribs. Mr. Dills has likewise tiled and fenced his land and has a fine farm, which is indicative of his progressive spirit and the energy that he ever displayed in his active farming interests. He bought a lot and built a good residence in Minburn, which he now occupies, and although he started out in life empty-handed he is today a substantial citizen of the county with excellent property holdings. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Dills has been born one son, who is yet living, Edward P., who operates the home farm. He wedded Nora Mortimer, a daughter of William Mortimer, and they have two children, Leslie and Vera. Mr. Dills is a democrat, having supported the party since he cast his presidential ballot for Stephen A. Douglas. While living on the farm he was township trustee for several years and has been a member of the school board for several years. His wife belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. They can relate many interesting incidents of the early days when Dallas county was a pioneer district, for they have lived here for forty years. They have seen much of the land reclaimed for the uses of civilization, the wild prairie being converted into productive fields, while churches and schools have been built and towns and villages have sprung up, containing all of the business interests and evidences of a modern civilization. Watson P Dills was my great great Grandfather David a Carman

No family notes have been added.

Resided in Centerville, Wayne County, IN at time of elistment on Aug 7 1862. Commissioned as Second Lieutenant on Aug 11, 1862. Mustered out on Oct 3, 1862 at Evansville, IN.